Differences in Mortality Among Patients With Asthma and COPD Hospitalized With COVID-19.

Background: It remains unclear whether patients with asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at increased risk for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Objective: Compare in-hospital COVID-19 outcomes among patients with asthma, COPD, and no airway disease.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 8,395 patients admitted with COVID-19 between March 2020 and April 2021.

Pigmented villonodular synovitis: dedicated PET imaging findings.

Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is an uncommon entity, which has the potential to cause severe pain. The gold standard for evaluation is MRI, and previous PET findings associated with PVNS have only been documented in the setting of concurrent malignancy. In the setting of recurrent disease, PET is being used to evaluate prebiological and postbiological treatment responses.

Practical implementation issues and challenges for biobanks in the return of individual research results.

Whether or not to give research results back to individuals whose specimens are used for biomedical research is a subject of considerable controversy. Much of the debate has been focused around the ethical and legal concerns with some consideration of broader social issues such as whether or not people will be affected by such information for employment or health care. Much less attention has been paid to biobanks that collect the specimens used to generate the research findings and the issues and operational requirements for implementing return of individual research results.

Mathematical representation of fluorescence intensity of probes in aqueous binary solvent mixtures.

Fluorescence intensities of propranolol and atenolol in binary solvent mixtures at various temperatures are measured and mathematical models are proposed to represent the fluorescence intensity data. The results showed that the proposed models are able to correlate/predict the data with reasonable error. The fluorescence intensity of pyridoxal HCl in binary solvents at 25 °C is also determined and represented by the proposed model as an additional test probe.

Evaluation of a nanoemulsion-based formulation for respiratory delivery of budesonide by nebulizers.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the in vitro performance of a nebulized nanoemulsion formulation which had been optimised previously. To do so, a transparent nanoemulsion preparation containing 1.5 mg/ml of budesonide was prepared and diluted to achieve concentrations of 250 and 500 μg/ml budesonide.

Evaluation of supercritical fluid engineered budesonide powder for respiratory delivery using nebulisers.

Objectives: Currently, suspensions prepared from micronised drug substances are the only delivery system marketed for nebulisation of steroids, and reported inconsistent or low bioavailability arising from their use provides a rationale for researching alternative formulations. Supercritical fluid processing of drug substances to obtain respirable-sized particles has been used over the last decade to formulate dry powder inhalers. We aimed thus to process budesonide powder to improve its deposition characteristics.

Factors affecting the stability of nanoemulsions--use of artificial neural networks.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the dominant factors affecting the stability of nanoemulsions, using artificial neural networks (ANNs).

Methods: A nanoemulsion preparation of budesonide containing polysorbate 80, ethanol, medium chain triglycerides and saline solution was designed, and the particle size of samples with various compositions, prepared using different rates and amounts of applied ultrasonic energy, was measured 30 min and 30 days after preparation. Using ANNs, data were modelled and assessed.

Comparison between monolithic and particle-packed platinum C18 columns in HPLC determination of acidic and basic test mixtures.

Herein we report the results of a comparative study on the performance of Monolithic RP-18e and Platinum C(18) 3 mum columns for isocratic separation of acidic and basic test compounds. The inter- and intraday precision of different practical parameters including number of theoretical plates (N), capacity factor (K'), tailing factor (T(0.05)), and resolution (R(s)) were determined for both columns.

Development and validation of a rapid and efficient method for simultaneous determination of methylxanthines and their metabolites in urine using monolithic HPLC columns.

A new rapid, sensitive and validated HPLC method has been developed for the determination of methylxanthines and their metabolites in asthmatic patients. The method was initiated by using spiked urine samples on a silica monolithic column as a novel packing material. The mobile phase consisted of 10 mM potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer/methanol (87.

Determination of factors controlling the particle size in nanoemulsions using Artificial Neural Networks.

The purpose of this study was to use Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) in identifying factors, in addition to surfactant and internal phase content, that influence the particle size of nanoemulsions. The phase diagram and rheometric characteristics of a nanoemulsion system containing polysorbate 80, ethanol, medium chain triglycerides and normal saline loaded with budesonide were investigated. The particle size of samples of various compositions prepared using different rates and amounts of applied energy was measured.

Tissue banking in a regulated environment--does this help the patient? Part 1--Legislation, regulation and ethics in the UK.

The difficulties with 'retained organs' in the UK have resulted in a new legislation relating to human organs, tissues, and bodies - the Human Tissue Act 2004 and the Human Tissue Act Scotland 2006 are now in place. The new laws apply to a wide range of activities including transplantation, education, clinical audit, the practice of autopsies, anatomical examination and others, including the use of human tissues in research. Pathobiology research that uses human tissues is now undertaken in a regulated environment in the UK.

Protocol for the use of polymerase chain reaction in the detection of intraocular large B-cell lymphoma in ocular samples.

To determine the usefulness of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses in the diagnosis of lymphoid infiltrate cells in ocular samples, PCR was performed using oligonucleotide primers specific for immunoglobulin heavy chain rearrangement at framework 2, framework 3, and t(14;18) translocation of the bcl-2 gene. These were used to successfully generate amplicons of 220 to 230 bp, 110 to 120 bp, and 175 to 200 bp, respectively. After PCR amplification, primers directed against the t(14;18) detected 10 pg of B-cell lymphoma DNA.

Isolation and characterization of murine Cds (CDP-diacylglycerol synthase) 1 and 2.

Phototransduction in Drosophila is a phosphoinositide-mediated signalling pathway. Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) plays a central role in this process, and its levels are tightly regulated. A photoreceptor-specific form of the enzyme CDP-diacylglycerol synthase (CDS), which catalyzes the formation of CDP-diacylglycerol from phosphatidic acid, is a key regulator of the amount of PIP2 available for signalling.

Expression analysis of SIX3 and SIX6 in human tissues reveals differences in expression and a novel correlation between the expression of SIX3 and the genes encoding isocitrate dehyhrogenase and cadherin 18.

SIX3 and SIX6 are transcription factors expressed during early stages of eye development. Limited expression data for SIX3 and SIX6 are available in the literature but, to date, there are no reports of the relative levels of expression of these genes throughout the human body and in adult tissues in particular. In this paper, we report extensive real-time quantitative PCR analyses of SIX3 and SIX6 expression in many different tissues of the adult human body, including ocular tissues, and a comparison of expression data with that of many other genes to identify similarity in expression.

Fourth meeting of the European Network of Research Tissue Banks - future strategy to increase collaborations in the supply of human tissue for biomedical research.

This report records the Fourth meeting of the European Network of Research Tissue Bank (Brussels, 18th March 2004) which was attended by Mel Read MEP. The existing membership of this informal group represents European Human Research Tissue Bankers, biomedical researchers seeking access to human tissue and allied groups including animal welfare representatives. This Fourth meeting provided a forum to update members on individual activity in this area.

GAPDH as a housekeeping gene: analysis of GAPDH mRNA expression in a panel of 72 human tissues.

Quantitative gene expression data are often normalized to the expression levels of control or so-called "housekeeping" genes. An inherent assumption in the use of housekeeping genes is that expression of the genes remains constant in the cells or tissues under investigation. Although exceptions to this assumption are well documented, housekeeping genes are of value in fully characterized systems.

Absence of SIX6 mutations in microphthalmia, anophthalmia, and coloboma.

Purpose: To investigate whether 173 patients with microphthalmia, anophthalmia, and coloboma have mutations in the eye-development gene SIX6.

Methods: The two exons of the SIX6 gene were amplified by PCR from patients' genomic DNA and directly sequenced to search for mutations. The PCR products of 75 patients were also analyzed by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC).

Orthogonal separations of nicotine and nicotine-related alkaloids by various capillary electrophoretic modes.

The migration behaviour of nicotine and related tobacco alkaloids was investigated using three different capillary electrophoretic (CE) modes. Novel separations were achieved both using microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) and nonaqueous CE (NACE). Improved resolution compared to previous studies was obtained using free-solution CE (FSCE).

The expression of the Leber congenital amaurosis protein AIPL1 coincides with rod and cone photoreceptor development.

Purpose: The Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) protein AIPL1 is present only in the rod photoreceptors of the adult human retina and is excluded from the cone photoreceptors. LCA, however, is characterized by an absence of both rod and cone function at birth or shortly thereafter. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine whether AIPL1 is present in the rod and cone photoreceptors of the developing human retina.

Comparison of different algorithms to calculate electrophoretic mobility of analytes as a function of binary solvent composition.

Ten different mathematical models representing the electrophoretic mobility of analytes in capillary electrophoresis in mixed solvents of different composition have been compared using 32 experimental data sets. The solvents are binary mixtures of water-methanol, water-ethanol and methanol-ethanol, respectively. Mean percentage deviation (MPD), overall MPD (OMPD) and individual percentage deviation (IPD) have been considered as comparison criteria.