Articles Related to SP

Endothelial heterogeneity reflects many functions performed by endothelial cells (ECs) in various tissues. However, the origin of this heterogeneity is unclear. Here, we report that tissue-specific ECs in lungs, brain, and liver co-expressed the lineage markers of their coordinating tissue-specific cells at very early stages. Specifically, we found that the pulmonary EC population was significantly suppressed after pulmonary epithelial-specific (Nkx2.1-Cre mediated) deletion of fetal liver kinase-1 (Flk1). Together, the results suggest that tissues-specific ECs may originate from the same progenitor cells as tissue-specific cells.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Colpodella species are free-living alveolates that possess an apical complex used for attaching to eukaryotic prey protists for ingestion of the cytoplasmic contents of the prey. Colpodella sp. are the closest relatives of the Apicomplexa, a phylum that includes the important human pathogens Plasmodium falciparum, Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium parvum. In this study, we investigated morphological characteristics of Colpodella (ATCC 50594) in a diprotist culture containing Bodo caudatus as prey in order to identify features differentiating both protists. The level of apical complex protein conservation among free living alveolate relatives of apicomplexans and intracellular apicomplexan pathogens is unknown. Antibodies against proteins of the apical complex in Colpodella sp. are currently unavailable. We performed staining and immunological characterization of Colpodella in a diprotist culture containing B. caudatus to aid routine differentiation of predator and prey in culture. Staining revealed distinguishing morphological features of both protists. The kinetoplast in B.caudatus was identified using Giemsa staining and was used to differentiate B. caudatus from Colpodella sp. trophozoites.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Current cancer treatments by immune checkpoint blockades are limited due to severe adverse events caused by alteration of the immune system required for homeostasis of normal tissues. Common cancer chemotherapy alters the quality of patients’ lives. Platinum-based treatment can lead to severe neurotoxicity with chronic debilitation. Additionally, survival of patients with epithelial ovarian cancers (EOCs) has remained poor despite extensive cytoreductive surgery, high dose chemotherapy, checkpoint blockades and immunotherapies effective in some other types of cancer. The pathobiology of EOC cancer stem cells (CSCs) is not well understood. Observations demonstrate that EOCs exhibit in vivo two distinct CSC types - perivascular diploid CSCs dividing asymmetrically with the help of the host suicidal CD8+ T cells, and haploid CSCs at the cancer abdominal surface originating from meiosis I cytokinesis of bulk surface cancer cells. The perivascular CSCs contribute to the cancer cell bulk and, via left ovary venous blood, can cause EOC liver metastases. Haploid CSCs released from the bulk cancer surface cause the common pelvic and abdominal EOC spread. Former elimination of the host antibodies blocking T cell effectors by intermittent doses of cyclophosphamide exhibiting significant immunomodulatory anticancer effects, facilitation of the immune system reactivity against alloantigens of cancer cells by blood transfusions, and augmentation of anticancer immunity by bacterial toxins, resulted during the subsequent treatment-free period into rejection of inoperable EOCs without any adverse events during the treatnment. To help prevent cancer relapses, patients treated for advanced primary epithelial cancers should be considered as candidates for continuously stimulating immune anticancer activity by treatments such as daily metformin and weekly lentinan consumptions.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Despite several studies having highlighted that candidaemia and invasive fungal disease (IFD) are associated with high mortality and increased costs, there are currently few published studies which provide an insight into real-life practice of invasive candidal diseases. In a medium-sized district general hospital in the UK we sought to compare the efficacy, safety and treatment cost of micafungin versus caspofungin and low dose of liposomal amphotericin B (L-AmB) 1mg/kg/day for the treatment of confirmed candidaemia or clinically diagnosed invasive fungal disease (CDIFD). In the present retrospective audit, a total of 126 patients with candidaemia or CDIFD were reviewed from hospital records and 94 were included in our audit.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Hospitalist physicians face increasing pressure to maximize productivity while maintaining high quality of care. Their success, however, depends on the effective exchange of information among a patient’s care team. The latter comprises the digital team (caregivers who document in—not just access—the patient’s electronic health record) and a physical team (caregivers who directly communicate with the hospitalist). To determine the association between hospitalist total daily processing time per patient and the size and evolution over the patient’s LOS of the digital and physical teams as well as patient-level characteristics. We measured hospitalist daily processing times and captured the physical team through a time-and-motion study of hospitalists. The digital team interactions were extracted from patient Electronic Health Records. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, a large academic urban hospital in Chicago. Participants Our case study selected four hospitalists at random who cared for 107 inpatient stays over 17 days in June-July 2014 and collaborated with 2046 caregivers: 301 were observed physical collaborators and 1745 were digital-only collaborators.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Medical records of each occurrence of neurologic signs in 181 South American Camelids admitted on 185 occasions (90 alpacas and 95 llamas) were evaluated. Age ranged from 0 days to 20 years, but 70.5% of cases were ≥ 1 year old. Specific clinical diagnosis was achieved by cerebrospinal fluid analysis (CSF), radiographs, computed tomography, laboratory testing, or necropsy in 74% of cases. 54% of cases survived; 46% of cases died or were euthanized. The most common diagnosis (31%) was parasitic myelopathy/encephalopathy (PME). CSF eosinophilia ≥10% was found in 85% of parasitic spinal migrations but only in 55% of intracranial migrations, and 73% had increased protein in CSF. There was a seasonal bias for PME with 79% of cases occurring between October and March. Survival of PME cases was 77% for spinal migration but only 7% when intracranial migration occurred. The most common diagnoses, excluding PME, were infectious disease (15%) and trauma (12%). Most trauma cases involved the cervical spine of which 50% survived.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to examine the prevalence of psychological flag signs (yellow, black and blue) in workers who had sustained a low back injury and to examine the relationship between the presence and number of these signs and the level of pain, disability, anxiety, depression and ability to work. Methods: This study involved a review of the electronic files of injured workers with an active work-related claim related to the lumbar spine. The information on demographics, presence and number of psychosocial and workplace risk factors, level of disability as measured by the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), pain intensity as measured by the numeric pain rating scale (NPRS), and anxiety and depression as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was extracted from standardized forms.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Since a common question arises toward the end of life about prognosis and that clinicians vary widely in the accuracy of their survival predictions, it is important that advancements be developed, one of which is to design or improve prognostic tools. To test the reliability of the new Prognostat tool for survival. Prospective multi-site mixed methods study with data collection, survey, and focus groups. prediction in palliative care patients. Prognostat form completed during first assessment by a palliative physician or nurse on admission to a palliative care unit or first ward or home consult.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

The occurrence of cystic echinococcosis (CE) at a national level or in large regional areas is an issue difficult to determine in a cost-effective way, integrating both human and animal data, and thus leading to effective control measures. In Portugal, the abattoirs in north Douro region receive a large percentage of heads of cattle from the whole country which makes them ideal places for the implementation of a surveillance system for this zoonosis. Data was obtained for cattle slaughtered in 9 abattoirs in north region of Douro River, with visible CE-like cysts at meat inspection. An excel database was constructed with the records of condemned viscera due to hydatid cysts in cattle for 2008, 2009, 2010, and the first half of 2011. Most of the cysts were found in the lungs and livers (23.5%), only in livers (21.5%) or only in lungs (18.1%). Individual information concerning each animal contributed to the depiction of a distribution map by regions of the occurrence of positive cases in Portugal. From the 149 cases registered, it was possible to identify the place of infection in 93 cases (62.4%), in which the rate of distribution was 21 (22.6%) in the north, 14 (15.1%) in the center, 57 (61.3%) in Alentejo and 1 case (1.1%) in Algarve. This distribution of cases coincides with the location of human and animal cases reported before, with special focus on the Alentejo and in the northeast of the country.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

In this paper, we introduce the notion of a complex interval which is significant for interval-valued data and interval-based signal processing. First, we present the space of complex intervals and investigate the quasilinear structure of the space of complex intervals. We observe that this space is Hilbert quasilinear space with a set-valued inner product.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

In order to detect if there is any correlation between the level of total and specific Chlamydia serology titre and the degree of tubal disease at laparoscopy in sub fertile women and to compare the results with a control group. A retrospective controlled clinical study was conducted in a hospital setting (both inpatient and outpatient clinic). A total of hundred and twenty two sub fertile women who underwent laparoscopy/tubal surgery in the period between January 2011-January 2014 were included. This included 40 women with positive Chlamydia Trachomatis specific titre (group 1), 40 with positive Chlamydia serology total titre only (group 2) and 42 women with negative Chlamydia serology titre (control group). Chlamydia serology titre was measured by ELISA. The differentiated Chlamydia specific titres were measured using Microscopic Immunofluorescence Assay (MIF) to determine the immunity status. The Chlamydia Trachomatis IgG titres were classified for the purpose of the study into normal (<1/16), Mild (1/16), Moderate (1/32), and severe (>=1/64). Laparoscopic grading of tubal disease was performed into grades 1-3 according to the severity of the tubal damage which was compared to the Chlamydia titre. Pearson`s correlation test was used as a descriptive measure.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Background: Echocardiography and lung ultrasound are important tests for assessing left the ventricular function in patients presented to the emergency department with acute pulmonary edema. Chest ultrasound is becoming an important tool in diagnosing acute pulmonary edema. Aim: To investigate the relationship between the B profile on ultrasound chest and Spectral tissue Doppler echocardiography (E/e’ratio) in patients presented with the suspicion of acute pulmonary edema. Methods: This paper reports a prospective observational study of 61 consecutive patients, which was presented with symptoms and signs of pulmonary edema and B - profile detected by echocardiography with a 5 MHz curvilinear probe. Critical care physicians trained in ultrasound examination performed echocardiography and chest ultrasounds.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

To determine the causes of wildlife morbidity and mortality in East Tennessee, we performed a retrospective analysis using 14,303 records from cases presented to the wildlife clinic of the University of Tennessee between 2000 and 2011. The cases were first categorized into herptile (includes reptiles and amphibians), mammal, or avian and then classified into 1 of 20 groups based on the primary admitting/presenting sign. The top reasons for presentation were trauma, found abandoned/orphaned, hit by automobile, cat-related injury, and dog-related injury. Overall mortality was 45.3% for the herptile cases, 57.6% for mammal cases, and 65.1% for avian cases. There are a variety of reasons animals were presented to the clinic, and some appear to be attributed to anthropogenic factors such as automobiles (n = 1253) and habitat destruction (n = 218), while the origin of others, such as trauma and disease remain unknown. This study confirms the importance of monitoring wildlife morbidity and mortality as an indicator of ecosystem health and of focusing efforts to reduce the anthropogenic threat on native habitats and resident wildlife populations.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Aim: In the present study we aimed to determine the prevalence of thyroid cancer and the clinicopathological properties of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) in a patient population undergoing dialysis for end-stage renal failure (ESRF). Material and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all thyroid ultrasonography (USG) examinations performed between January 2007 and December 2015 to determine the incidence of nodular thyroid disease in ESRF and normal patient populations. For both patient groups, differences between patient and tumor characteristics were evaluated in patients diagnosed to have PTC.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

In the current study, we have experimentally and comparatively investigated and compared malignant human cancer cells and tissues before and after irradiating of synchrotron radiation using Two-Dimensional Infrared Correlation Spectroscopy, Linear Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy and Non-Linear Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

With this special issue of JMSN we are pleased to present significant contributions to a fascinating topic in the field of materials nanostructing, which is the anodization of valve metals. By this treatment porous oxides of controlled geometry can be grown on the respective metal surfaces. To date, aluminum (Al) has been used most often, as confirmed in this special issue where nine out of ten contributions deals with its anodization.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Human odor detection technologies have drawn attention due to the wide possibility of potential applications they open up in areas such as biometrics, criminal investigation and forensics, search for survivors under rubble, and security checkpoint screening. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) has been the most successful and powerful analytical approach developed to date for human odor analysis, and hundreds of human odorants have been identified using this tool.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

The application of electronic-nose (E-nose) technologies in forensic science is a recent new development following a long history of progress in the development of diverse applications in the related biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Data from forensic analyses must satisfy the needs and requirements of both the scientific and legal communities. The type of data collected from electronic-nose devices provides a means of identifying specific types of information about the chemical nature of evidentiary objects and samples under investigation using aroma signature profiles of complex gaseous mixtures containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from manufactured products and parts of the human body. E-nose analyses also provide useful qualitative information about the physicochemical characteristics and metabolic conditions of human subjects without the need for time-consuming analyses to identify all chemical components in human-derived volatile mixtures.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

The collection of human odor volatiles is of interest to forensic applications as a path to investigate canine scent discriminations in legal investigations. A study using a selected array of previously identified human odor compounds has been conducted to determine the retention and release capabilities of five (5) natural and synthetic fabric types, cotton (mercerized fabric and gauze matrix), polyester, rayon and wool.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

The anodization of aluminum foils having micrometer thickness is a common process and results in hexagonally self-ordered alumina membranes. However, anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes fabricated from nanometer-thin films present new challenges to the anodization process, since aluminum films adheres poorly on supporting substrates and the smoothness of the film is highly related to the kind of substrate.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Anodisation of pure titanium has been carried out in sulphuric and in phosphoric acid solutions at potentials ranging from 50 to 150V. The SEM and AFM morphological analysis indicates that, within this potential range, oxidation in sulphuric acid solution produces better developed mesoporous oxide layers.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

We investigated a method for preparation of ordered nanopore arrays with the interpore distance of 60 nm by guided self-organization of anodic aluminum oxide with a prepatterned array of pits in the starting Al film.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

The design of an electrochemical reactor for the preparation of self-supported comparatively thin (up to 10 μm) and large area (up to 50 cm2) anodic alumina membranes is described allowing growth of porous alumina at high applied potential (up to 150 V) without burning.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text

Anodic aluminum oxide doped with vanadyl citrate chelate complex anions was formed by a two-step self-organized anodization in 2 wt. % sulfuric acid containing 0.04 M V2O5 and 0.08 M citric acid at voltage range 13-23 V, and at 0 and 15 oC. The combination of two temperatures and at least four voltages (depending on the applied temperature) was applied as the operating conditions of anodization.

View complete article: PDF  |  Full-text