A Case of Hepatitis in Pregnancy.

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is rare, and the diagnosis is not always clear-cut. It is associated with increased morbidity and mortality for the pregnant mother and fetus. Frequent pregnancy testing of women in childbearing years who have a known diagnosis of AIH may be necessary, even after counseling on family planning takes place.

"My feelings and my thoughts are my lived experience, not the numbers they show me on a piece of paper": Indigenous experiences of liver transplantation in British Columbia, Canada.

Indigenous Peoples in Canada face healthcare inequities impacting access to solid organ transplantation. The experiences of Indigenous patients during the liver transplant process, and how transplant professionals perceive challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples, has not been studied. Thirteen semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted via telehealth with Indigenous liver transplant patients ( = 7) and transplant care providers ( = 6) across British Columbia, Canada between April 2021-May 2022.

Genetic Transformation of Plasmid DNA into Using High Frequency Electromagnetic Energy.

We present a novel technique of genetic transformation of bacterial cells mediated by high frequency electromagnetic energy (HF EME). Plasmid DNA, pGLO (5.4 kb), was successfully transformed into JM109 cells after exposure to 18 GHz irradiation at a power density between 5.

Unraveling the Effects of Cationic Peptides on Vesicle Structures: Insights into Peptide-Membrane Interactions.

Antimicrobial resistance is a pressing global health issue, with millions of lives at risk by 2050, necessitating the development of alternatives with broad-spectrum activity against pathogenic microbes. Antimicrobial peptides provide a promising solution by combating microbes, modulating immunity, and reducing resistance development through membrane and intracellular targeting. PuroA, a synthetic peptide derived from the tryptophan-rich domain of puroindoline A, exhibits potent antimicrobial activity against various pathogens, while the rationally designed P1 peptide demonstrates enhanced antimicrobial activity with its specific composition.

Analyzing trends in the spatial-temporal visitation patterns of mainland Chinese tourists in Sabah, Malaysia based on Weibo social big data.

Conducting on-site surveys to assess tourists' spatial visitation patterns and preferences is both time and labor intensive. However, an assessment of regional visitation patterns based on social media data can be an important decision-making tool for tourism management. In this study, an assessment of the visitation patterns of Chinese mainland tourists in Sabah is conducted to identify high-visitation hotspots and their changes, as well as large-scale and small-scale temporal characteristics.

The roles of machine learning methods in limiting the spread of deadly diseases: A systematic review.

Machine learning (ML) methods can be leveraged to prevent the spread of deadly infectious disease outbreak (e.g., COVID-19).

Typicality in quasispecies evolution in high dimensions.

We study quasispecies and closely related evolutionary dynamics like the replicator-mutator equation in high dimensions. In particular, we show that under certain conditions, the average fitness of almost all quasispecies of a given dimension becomes independent of mutational probabilities in high dimensional sequence spaces. This result is a consequence of concentration of measure on a high dimensional hypersphere and its extension to Lipschitz functions known as the Levy's Lemma.

Effect of Septoplasty on Cepstral Analysis of Voice.

Resonance change is a common clinical symptom in individuals with deviated nasal septum. Often this anatomical deficit is surgically treated by septoplasty. Therefore monitoring resonance changes using acoustical tools is vital.

Anti-biofilm and sporicidal activity of peptides based on wheat puroindoline and barley hordoindoline proteins.

The broad-spectrum activity of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and low probability of development of host resistance make them excellent candidates as novel bio-control agents. A number of AMPs are found to be cationic, and a small proportion of these are tryptophan-rich. The puroindolines (PIN) are small, basic proteins found in wheat grains with proposed roles in biotic defence of seeds and seedlings.

Bilateral distal tibial transitional ankle fractures.

A 13-year-old boy presented to the emergency department with bilateral ankle pain and swelling following a 5-foot fall from a swing set.

Adenomatous polyposis in a young jamaican male of african descent.

We report a case of adenomatous polyposis in a 20-year old African Jamaican male. This is to highlight the importance of aggressively investigating unexplained recurrent anaemia in the young and the impact of psychosocial issues that arise in managing such a patient.

Guillain-Barré syndrome and its variants: a case of acute motor-sensory axonal neuropathy in Jamaica.

This paper reports a case of a Jamaican young woman who experienced flaccid quadriparesis and bulbar weakness over a three-week period after a gastrointestinal illness. Nerve conduction studies confirmed an axonal type neuropathy consistent with the acute motor-sensory axonal neuropathy variant of the Guillain-Barré syndrome. Recovery, although evident, was slow and was augmented after a course of intravenous immunoglobulin.

The antimicrobial domains of wheat puroindolines are cell-penetrating peptides with possible intracellular mechanisms of action.

The puroindoline proteins (PINA and PINB) of wheat display lipid-binding properties which affect the grain texture, a critical parameter for wheat quality. Interestingly, the same proteins also display antibacterial and antifungal properties, attributed mainly to their Tryptophan-rich domain (TRD). Synthetic peptides based on this domain also display selectivity towards bacterial and fungal cells and do not cause haemolysis of mammalian cells.

The prevalence and significance of oestrogen receptor (ER) positivity in breast cancer at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Jamaica.

Objective: To identify the prevalence of oestrogen receptor (ER) positivity, and determine the relationship of ER status with patient and tumour characteristics, in patients with breast cancer

Subjects And Methods: A retrospective review was conducted regarding the prevalence and clinical significance of ER in patients with breast cancer at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI). Oestrogen receptor status results of 243 patients treated at UHWI were collected for the period January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2009. One hundred and ninety-nine were available for review.

Lateral medullary infarct/Wallenberg syndrome--Jamaica.

We describe two cases of lateral medullary syndrome at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. This diagnosis is often missed and not well understood, so we will discuss the underlying pathophysiology.

Stability of puroindoline peptides and effects on wheat rust.

Peptides modelled on the tryptophan rich domain of puroindolines and the related grain softness protein-1 have a broad range of antibacterial and antifungal activities. With the aims of further investigating the activities of these antimicrobial peptides we studied their activity against wheat rust diseases and environmental stability. PINA-based peptides were found to have high pH and thermal stability in addition to being stable over long periods at room temperature.

Long-term field data and climate-habitat models show that orangutan persistence depends on effective forest management and greenhouse gas mitigation.

Background: Southeast Asian deforestation rates are among the world's highest and threaten to drive many forest-dependent species to extinction. Climate change is expected to interact with deforestation to amplify this risk. Here we examine whether regional incentives for sustainable forest management will be effective in improving threatened mammal conservation, in isolation and when combined with global climate change mitigation.

Home range and ranging behaviour of Bornean elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis) females.

Background: Home range is defined as the extent and location of the area covered annually by a wild animal in its natural habitat. Studies of African and Indian elephants in landscapes of largely open habitats have indicated that the sizes of the home range are determined not only by the food supplies and seasonal changes, but also by numerous other factors including availability of water sources, habitat loss and the existence of man-made barriers. The home range size for the Bornean elephant had never been investigated before.

Acute limb ischaemia in a septic patient with diabetic ketoacidosis.

This is a patient with septicaemia and diabetic ketoacidosis who developed an acute ischaemic lower limb from an arterial thrombus. The patient had decreased protein S function.

Large-scale production of murine embryonic stem cell-derived osteoblasts and chondrocytes on microcarriers in serum-free media.

The generation of tissue-engineered constructs from stem cells for the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases may have immense impact in regenerative medicine, but there are difficulties associated with stem cell culture and differentiation, including the use of serum. Here we present serum-free protocols for the successful production of murine embryonic stem cell (mESC) derived osteoblasts and chondrocytes on CultiSpher S macroporous microcarriers in stirred suspension bioreactors. Various inoculum forms and agitation rates were investigated.

Efficient suspension bioreactor expansion of murine embryonic stem cells on microcarriers in serum-free medium.

Large numbers of cells will be required for successful embryonic stem cell (ESC)-based cellular therapies or drug discovery, thus raising the need to develop scaled-up bioprocesses for production of ESCs and their derived progeny. Traditionally, ESCs have been propagated in adherent cultures in static flasks on fibroblasts layers in serum-containing medium. Direct translation of two-dimensional flatbed cultures to large-scale production of the quantities of cells required for therapy simply by increasing the number of dishes or flasks is not practical or economical.

A case of lupus-associated pancreatitis in Jamaica.

Pancreatitis complicating a diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is rarely reported in the literature and there are no known published cases thus far in the Caribbean. A 50-year old female diagnosed with SLE and discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) since 1990, presented in February, 2009, to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), Kingston, Jamaica, with symptoms suggestive of lupus pancreatitis. Serum amylase level was 2341 IU/L and serum lipase was 203 IU/L.