LUS me up: elevating ARDS diagnosis.

Boumans et al. conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of lung ultrasound (LUS) in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The study found that LUS has high specificity (0.

Assessment of acute toxicity, genotoxicity, and anti-inflammatory activity of SteLL, a lectin from Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi. Leaves, in mice.

Ethnopharmacology Relevance: Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi (Anacardiaceae), known as Brazilian pepper tree, stands out as a medicinal plant widely used in traditional medicine. The leaves are popularly used as anti-inflammatory agent and to relieve inflammatory conditions such as bronchitis, ulcers, and wounds, for example.

Aim Of The Study: The present study evaluated the acute toxicity, genotoxicity, and anti-inflammatory activity of S.

Acupuncture for migraine prevention.

Background: Migraine is a complex and multifactorial brain disorder affecting approximately 18% of women and 5% of men in the United States, costing billions of dollars annually in direct and indirect healthcare costs and school and work absenteeism and presenteeism. Until this date, there have been no medications that were designed with the specific purpose to decrease the number of migraine attacks, which prompts a search for alternative interventions that could be valuable, such as acupuncture.

Methods: Acupuncture origins from ancient China and encompasses procedures that basically involve stimulation of anatomical points of the body.

Clinical aspects of medication overuse headaches.

Medication overuse headache (MOH) is a subset of chronic daily headache, occurring from overuse of 1 or more classes of migraine abortive medication. Acetaminophen, combination analgesics (caffeine combinations), opioids, barbiturates (butalbital), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and triptans are the main classes of drugs implicated in the genesis of MOH. Migraine seems to be the most common diagnosis leading to MOH.

Effect of hydrogen bond formation on the NMR properties of glycine-HCN complexes.

The influence of the hydrogen bond formation on the nuclear magnetic resonance parameters has been investigated for the binary (1:1) and ternary (1:2) glycine-HCN complexes in the gas phase using high-level density functional theory with the B3LYP/6-31++G(2d,2p)//B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p) model of quantum chemistry. The calculated isotropic/anisotropic shielding parameters of the isolated glycine and HCN molecules are reported and compared with other theoretical results and experimental measurements. Six different conformations of hydrogen-bonded clusters have considered for both 1:1 and 1:2 glycine-HCN complexes.

Medication overuse headache: history, features, prevention and management strategies.

Medication overuse headache (MOH) is a daily, or almost daily, headache form that arises from overuse of one or more classes of migraine-abortive or analgesic medication. The main classes of drugs that cause MOH are opioids, butalbital-containing mixed analgesics, triptans, ergotamine tartrate derivatives, simple analgesics (except for plain aspirin), and perhaps non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. MOH can be debilitating and results from biochemical and functional brain changes induced by certain medications taken too frequently.

Classification of edible oils and modeling of their physico-chemical properties by chemometric methods using mid-IR spectroscopy.

This research work describes two studies for the classification and characterization of edible oils and its quality parameters through Fourier transform mid infrared spectroscopy (FT-mid-IR) together with chemometric methods. The discrimination of canola, sunflower, corn and soybean oils was investigated using SVM-DA, SIMCA and PLS-DA. Using FT-mid-IR, DPLS was able to classify 100% of the samples from the validation set, but SIMCA and SVM-DA were not.

Acute treatment of migraines.

Migraine is a prevalent and disabling brain disorder that costs billions of dollars annually in direct healthcare costs, and school and work absenteeism and presenteeism. The objective of acute treatment is a cost-effective, rapid restoration of functional ability, with minimal recurrence and adverse effects. The acute treatment of migraine includes specific drugs, which currently all have vasoconstrictive effects (dihydroergotamine and triptans), and nonspecific drugs that include paracetamol (acetaminophen), combination analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), dopamine antagonists, narcotics and corticosteroids.

Rapid characterization of transgenic and non-transgenic soybean oils by chemometric methods using NIR spectroscopy.

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and multivariate classification were applied to discriminate soybean oil samples into non-transgenic and transgenic. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to extract relevant features from the spectral data and to remove the anomalous samples. The best results were obtained when with Support Vectors Machine-Discriminant Analysis (SVM-DA) and Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) after mean centering plus multiplicative scatter correction.

Intrapleural migration of a spinal catheter in a patient with arachnoiditis and extensive epidural scarring after tethered cord release: a case report and review of literature.

Objective: The objective of this study was to report a case of new onset refractory pain from intrapleural migration of a spinal catheter five months after the implantation of an intrathecal drug delivery system (IDDS).

Materials And Methods: A 57-year-old man had intractable pain because of multiple intradural spinal explorations for tethered cord release. His pain was effectively treated with intrathecal morphine via an IDDS.

Gamma Knife surgery for brain metastases from gastrointestinal cancer.

Object: Brain metastases from gastrointestinal cancers are rare. However, the incidence is increasing because patients with gastrointestinal carcinoma tend to live longer due to earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment of systemic disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) for the treatment of brain metastases from gastrointestinal cancers.

Petroclival meningiomas: surgical management and common complications.

Petroclival meningiomas are technically challenging lesions. They have a tendency to grow slowly, involve cranial nerves and compress the brainstem and basilar artery, pushing them to the opposite side. Their natural history is marked by clinical deterioration and fatal outcome.

Early brain tumor metastasis reduction following Gamma Knife surgery.

Object: Unlike whole-brain radiation therapy, Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) is delivered in a single session for the treatment of brain metastases. The extent to which GKS can facilitate early tumor control was the focus of this study.

Methods: The authors reviewed 134 metastatic lesions in 82 patients treated with GKS at the University of Virginia who underwent follow-up MR imaging within 30 days or less of GKS.

Bone health in patients with brain tumors.

Background: Several factors, including the use of antiepileptic drugs, glucocorticoids, anticoagulants, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and hemiplegia-associated osteopenia, render patients with brain tumor susceptible to bone disease.

Methods: The authors review the pathophysiology of these factors and their impact upon bone integrity.

Results: Steps that can be taken to minimize or eliminate bone morbidity including measurement of bone mineral density at treatment onset, adequate calcium intake, vitamins D and K supplementation, adequate sunlight exposure, weight-bearing exercises, fall prevention, avoidance of antiepileptic drugs linked to osteopenia, and judicious use and choice of glucocorticoids and anticoagulants are suggested.

Adrenal insufficiency secondary to glucocorticoid withdrawal in patients with brain tumor.

Background: Glucocorticoids are the main drug used to control vasogenic edema in patients with brain tumor. Rapid GC tapering may not only decompensate intracranial pressure, but also unmask SAI, and some symptoms of SAI can be mistakenly attributable to increased intracranial pressure or side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Methods: The University of Virginia Neuro-Oncology Database was reviewed from February 2002 to January 2006, and 5 neuro-oncology patients with clinical and laboratory evidence of SAI were identified.

Rare pathological variants and presentations of primary central nervous system lymphomas.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare form of primary brain neoplasm, accounting for less than 3% of all primary brain tumors. Ninety percent of cases involve a large B-cell lymphoma that presents as a homogeneously enhancing lesion or lesions, typically deep-seated in the brain parenchyma. The authors describe unusual pathological forms of PCNSLs, including low-grade, T-cell, and Burkitt types, and also rare presentations such as neurolymphomatosis and pituitary lymphomas.

Effects of the antimicrobial peptide PGLa on live Escherichia coli.

The activity of PGLa, an antimicrobial peptide isolated from hemocytes of frog skin and its secretions on living Escherichia coli, was investigated by imaging the cells with atomic force microscopy (AFM) in physiological conditions and by measuring its cellular stiffness. The treatment of bacteria with the antimicrobial peptide PGLa in the culture medium had two stages. The first was characterized by the loss of surface stiffness and consequent loss of bacteria topographic features and the formation of micelles probably originating from the disruption of the outer membrane.

NMR structure of PW2 bound to SDS micelles. A tryptophan-rich anticoccidial peptide selected from phage display libraries.

PW2 (HPLKQYWWRPSI) was selected from phage display libraries through an alternative panning method using living sporozoites of Eimeria acervulina as target. Synthetic PW2 shows anticoccidial activity against E. acervulina and Eimeria tenella with very low hemolytic activity.