Recent Articles

POEMS (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M-protein and skin changes) syndrome is a rare multisystem disease characterized by plasma cell dyscrasia and overproduction of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Skin changes are usually multiple cutaneous angiomas, leukonychia, necrotizing vasculitis, cutaneous thickening of sclerodermiform type and hypertrichosis. VEGF is assumed to be useful in monitoring disease activity, because VEGF levels usually decrease after treatment. We described the case of a young woman with POEMS syndrome characterized by hirsutism and hypertrichosis who underwent autologous bone marrow transplantation . Evolutionwas hallmarked by an improvment of radiological signs and biological markers specially VEGF, while hirsutism didn’t regress.

Hospitalized patients are at an increased risk for acquiring Clostridium Difficile Infection (CDI). Increased virulence of C. difficile strains and increased use of antimicrobials have led to an increase of CDI cases that are more difficult to treat (CDC, 2013). Proper hand hygiene techniques, room cleaning, and equipment cleaning are not consistently being followed by healthcare workers, leading an increased spread of CDI between hospitalized patients. The purpose of this integrative review was to determine the best evidencebased methods to reduce hospital-acquired CDI rates. The evidence reviewed supports the implementation of a multifaceted approach including: (a) proper hand hygiene practices, (b) adequate and appropriate surface cleaning practices, (c) compliance to contact isolation procedures, and (d) strengthening of an existing antimicrobial stewardship committee to reduce hospital-acquired CDI rates.

There are increasing numbers of overweight and obese nurses working the night shift. The purpose of this correlational and cross-sectional study was to determine if there are statistically significant associations between insufficient sleep, abnormal eating patterns, working 12-hour shifts, years of working night shift, age, stress, marital status, nursing units, decreased physical activity, and level of weight gain among female Filipino nurses working the night shift in the hospital. The theoretical foundation of this study was locate evidence, evaluate evidence, assess evidence, and informed decision model. An online survey through Survey Monkey was used to access nurses via a convenient sampling. Data were analyzed using Spearman correlation, multiple regression, and ANOVA. According to study findings, there were significant associations between insufficient sleep, abnormal eating patterns, marital status, 12-hour shifts, number of years working on night shift, and increased in body mass index. The implications for social change include information that nurses can use to better understand the negative implications of night shift work on health. At the organizational level, this study provides information for administrators and nursing leaders that might facilitate change in policies by improving working conditions for nurses.

Dietary restraint has been hypothesized to be a risk factor to develop disordered eating behavior with the consequence of clinical eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder. Because of mostly unsuccessful dieting efforts restrained eaters are supposed to suffer from stress, indicated by a higher cortisol response. The present investigation tested this hypothesis in 41 subjects undergoing a laboratory stress test with the measurement of salivary cortisol. The results show lower stress induced cortisol in the restrained eaters. This is discussed with regard to a possibly dysregulated intake behavior in restrained eaters.

A 26-year-old woman who was previously diagnosed as immature, right ovarian teratoma, was presented to Hangzhou obstetrics and gynecology hospital. The patient had previously undergone a laparotomy and right salpingo-oophorectomy with partial omentectomy 14-year before. Initial laboratory tests showed the serum markers: cancer antigen (CA)-125 was 44.5IU/ml (increased) and CA199, AFP levels were normal. Sonographic examination revealed a complex mass, measuring 12.6cmx10.5cm x8.5 cm, behind the uterus. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings were in favour of teratoma, originated from the right adnexa, occupying pouch of Douglas. The patient underwent exploratory laparotomy with a right intraligamentary teratoma cystectomy along with residual omentectomy,andrandom peritoneal biopsies. The pathology revealed mature teratoma, glioma, with no malignant components.

An individual’s voice holds the characteristics to identify that individual uniquely. Automatic Speaker Recognition (ASR) is a technique for recognizing an individual by his/her voice. Controlling access privileges and forensic is the major application areas of Speaker recognition systems. To develop a robust speaker recognition system it is required that the system is able to provide acceptable performance with several operating conditions.

The group decision making is a very useful technique for ranking the group of alternatives, the cubic averaging operator is new tool in group decision making problems. In this article, we develop a series of new operators so called cubic weighted averaging (CWA) operator, cubic ordered weighted averaging (COWA) operator and cubic hybrid averaging (CHA) operator. We also discussed some particular cases and properties of these operators. Furthermore, we apply the proposed aggregation operators to deal with multiple attribute group decision making in which decision information takes the form of cubic numbers. Finally, we used some practical examples to illustrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed methods by comparing with other methods.

We experience the world around us by our five main senses, namely, vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell that are demonstrated in the following by artworks. Senses feed our brain with bits of information that help us to build a picture of the complicated world around us. Scientifically a sense is defined as a means of receiving information from the environment or from the body and converting it to an electrical-chemical code that is processed by the brain.

Hormones belong to metabolic factors that control and regulate feed intake in ruminants and rats. Estrogen depresses feed intake. Insulin is an important hormone possessing both long-term and short-term effects on ruminant nutrient partitioning and feed intake. Insulin is associated with overconsumption in rats. The role of glucagon in feed intake regulation in ruminants has not been thoroughly described. Some evidence exists that exogenous glucagon reduces feed intake in sheep. Intravenous glucagon induced satiety in humans. Intraperitoneal glucagon has not affected feed intake in rats. Research is needed to elucidate how to manipulate animal and human endocrinology to optimize feeding strategies and systems in food-producing animals and to improve human health.

This study was conducted at Lake Hashenge, Tigray, Ethiopia to identify parasites of fish. The objective of this study was to identify parasite of fish at Lake Hashenge, to determine the prevalence of parasitic disease of fish, to have baseline information about fish parasite in The lake Hashenge. A total of 442 different species of were sampled from the period of November 2008 to April 2009. Those include 217 of Mirror carp and 225 of Oreochromis niloticus. The fish were thoroughly examined both externally and internally for the presence of parasites. In this study the major parasites identified were CLinostomum genera 96(44.2%) in the Mirror carp and 64(28.4%) of Orechromis niloticus. Clinostomum species recovered from the feaces of the fish (gastrointestinal tract). The nematode genera of Capillaria identified from the GIT of 13(6%) Mirror carp and 14(6.2%) Oreochromis niloticus. The genera of Acanthocephalus were recovered from the GIT of 29(13.4%) of Mirror Carp and 25(11.1%) Oreochromis Niloticus. The adult of the genera Camllanus was recovered from 20(9.2%) of Mirror Carp and 27(12%) of Oreochromis Niloticus.

Murine osteoarthritis (OA) models are important for exploring OA pathology and treatment in the pre-clinical study. Longitudinal in vivo imaging modalities, including X-ray, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, are commonly used diagnostic tools in OA clinic, while end-point histomorphometry analysis is the major outcome measurement in the pre-clinical study because clinical imaging modalities have limited resolution for small animals.

Evans syndrome is a rare haematological disease characterised by concurrent occurrence of autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA) and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. The autoimmune haemolysis can lead to hyperbilirubinaemia, profound anaemia and haemodynamic instability. It can be difficult to treat and when refractory to medical treatment it could necessitate emergency splenectomy. Plasmapheresis is used in refractory haemolytic anaemia to aid removal of disease causing autoimmune complexes whilst immunomodulators act to reduce autoantibody response and effectiveness. However, this is an expensive and resource intensive process that is limited to tertiary referral centres. In this case study we present a successful novel alternative for life threatening AIHA in Evans Syndrome using haemofiltration with on-going fresh frozen plasma transfusion when resources are limited or it is not an accessible method.

Analytical cross-sectional study using data from the SB Brazil 2010. The dependent variable was malocclusion (absent, set, severe, very severe). Independent variables were classified into: individual (socio-demographic, oral health problems; education, utilization of dental services; self-perception, impact on activities) and contextual (Family Financial Grant, National Health System Development Index (IDSUS), Human Development Index (HDI) and interaction of Gross National Product (GNP) with fluoridated water). A multilevel analysis was executed.

Asthma is a chronic inflammation of airway tract characterized by airway obstruction and hyper responsiveness presenting with symptoms of wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and dyspnoea. It is a serious health issue with the worldwide occurrence. Antiasthmatic drugs have unfavorable effects on oral health causing dental caries, xerostomia, dental erosion, periodontal disease and orofacial deformities. This review concludes that asthma drastically affects oral health but preventive measures can help to improve quality of life.

A major issue in adherence to medical treatment in nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) is mothers’ fear of perceived teratogenic damage. The objective of this study was to identify predictors of adherence to medication treatment in NVP. A prospective cohort study based on telephone interviews among women who experienced NVP and counseled by Motherisk Israel NVP Helpline, located in a teratology information service. The consultation was divided into pharmacological and non-pharmacological recommendations. Data on adherence to medications and pregnancy outcomes were collected during telephone follow up interviews which were carried out soon after the birth of the child.

Darunavir (DRV) boosted with ritonavir (RTV) is currently among the preferred antiretroviral agents. Cobicistat (COBI), a new cytochrome P450 inhibitor is replacing RTV as pharmacoenhancer. Coformulated DRV/COBI has been approved based on bioequivalence data; however, results on efficacy and safety in clinical practice are scarce. COBI inhibits creatinine tubular secretion, thus raising concerns about its renal safety.

Juvenile idiopathic epilepsy (JIE) is a self-limiting neurological disorder with a suspected genetic predisposition affecting young Arabian foals of the Egyptian lineage. The condition is characterized by tonic-clonic seizures with intermittent post-ictal blindness, in which most incidents are sporadic and unrecognized. This study aimed to identify genetic components shared across a local cohort of Arabian foals diagnosed with JIE via a combined whole genome and targeted resequencing approach: Initial whole genome comparisons between a small cohort of nine diagnosed foals (cases) and 27 controls from other horse breeds identified variants uniquely shared amongst the case cohort.

It is widely held that older adults are unlikely to self-report their abusive situation to officials such as adult protective services (APS). The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which older adults self-report or alternatively, disclose to informal sources of support who in turn place official reports. Interviews were conducted with 71 APS caseworkers, 55 of their older clients, and 32 non-abusive persons familiar with the situation. The same person who detected also reported the abuse in only 69% of the cases. While 39.5% of the older victims detected their abuse, only 18.3% also reported the abuse. The remaining older victims disclosed to someone who in turn placed a report. By listening to victim’s voices, it was revealed that at least some older adults exercise considerably more self-efficacy in their abusive situation than official reporting statistics indicate. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly population. Aspirin usage has been reported to be associated with an increased risk of developing this disease. This study aims to determine whether the increased risk of AMD with chronic aspirin usage is related to genetic polymorphisms in the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGFA) and Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) genes.

I present some key considerations of the biofilm disease as part of two complex pathologies such as bone and joint infections and prosthetic joint infections, taking into account the bacterial pathogenic factors to understand the particular nature of these infections, and to achieve an accurate diagnosis and management beyond the antimicrobial therapy. I mention some personal experience of many years in the medical microbiology laboratory and next to the patient’s bed.