The ability to leverage visual cues in speech perception - especially in noisy backgrounds - is well established from infancy to adulthood. Yet, the developmental trajectory of audiovisual benefits stays a topic of debate. The inconsistency in findings can be attributed to relatively small sample sizes or tasks that are not appropriate for given age groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Although most surgeons treating patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) believe that surgical treatment is superior to conservative measures, systematics reviews have concluded that no solid evidence support this.
Research Question: To compare change at 1-year of walking ability, health-related quality of life, leg and back pain in patients with symptomatic LSS referred to a spine surgery clinic who opted for surgery and those who did not.
Material And Methods: The study included 149 operated and 149 non-operated patients seen by spine surgeons and diagnosed with LSS.
Recent years have seen the emergence of the S100 calcium-binding protein B (S100B) biomarker used in the initial management of minor traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. S100B has been found to reduce cerebral computed tomography (CT-C) scans and was recently implemented in the Scandinavian Neurotrauma Committee (SNC) guidelines. In a clinical setup, we retrospectively investigated the use of the S100B biomarker in relation to the SNC guidelines in the respective year before and after implementation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this case report a rare case of Ureaplasma parvum arthritis affecting the left knee, hip, and the sacroiliac joint in a 57-year-old woman is investigated. The patient was initially treated with intravenous piperacillin/tazobactam and later on meropenem with no clinical effect. After surgery of the hip and knee, tissue biopsies and synovial fluids were all culture negative.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFew estuaries remain unaffected by water management and altered freshwater deliveries. The Caloosahatchee River Estuary is a perfect case study for assessing the impact of altered hydrology on natural oyster reef (Crassostrea virginica) populations. The watershed has been highly modified and greatly enlarged by an artificial connection to Lake Okeechobee.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The aim of this study was to determine inter- and intraobserver reliability of delta rod extension, and total rod length measured on digital x-rays in patients with early onset scoliosis (EOS) treated with magnetically controlled growing rods (MCGR). For the last decade, patients with EOS have been treated with MCGR. Replacement of MCGR relies heavily on the measurement done at every lengthening session.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Inuit experience the highest cancer mortality rates from lung cancer in the world with increasing rates of other cancers in addition to other significant health burdens. Inuit who live in remote areas must often travel thousands of kilometers to large urban centres in southern Canada and negotiate complex and sometimes unwelcoming health care systems. There is an urgent need to improve Inuit access to and use of health care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLinks between hydrologic modifications, flow and salinity regimes, and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) species composition and abundance were assessed with an empirical analysis of 33 years of monitoring data collected at nine sites in Florida's Caloosahatchee River Estuary (CRE). Freshwater inflows to the estuary (30-day means) were often outside the previously recommended envelope of 12.74 to 79.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCellular inflammation following acute myocardial infarction has gained increasing importance as a target mechanism for therapeutic approaches. We sought to investigate the effect of syngeneic cardiac induced cells (CiC) on myocardial inflammation using 18F-FDG PET (Positron emission tomography)-based imaging and the resulting effect on cardiac pump function using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in a mouse model of myocardial infarction. Mice underwent permanent left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) ligation inducing an acute inflammatory response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: The cancer burden among Circumpolar Inuit is high. Palliative radiotherapy is a mainstay treatment for controlling symptoms of advanced cancers, but Inuit are required to travel far distances to access this service. Access to palliative radiotherapy and time away from home communities have not been explored among this population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In relation to the general Canadian population, Inuit face increased cancer risks and barriers to health services use. In shared decision-making (sdm), health care providers and patients make health care decisions together. Enhanced participation in cancer care decisions is a need for Inuit.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Delay of surgery for hip fracture is associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality, but the effects of surgical delays on mortality and resource use in the context of other emergency surgeries is poorly described. Our objective was to measure the independent association between delay of emergency surgery and in-hospital mortality, length of stay and costs.
Methods: We identified all adult patients who underwent emergency noncardiac surgery between January 2012 and October 2014 at a single tertiary care centre.
Understanding anthropogenic and hydro-climatic influences on nutrient concentrations and export from highly managed catchments often necessitates trend detection using long-term monitoring data. This study analyzed the temporal trend (1979-2014) of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations and export from four adjacent coastal basins in south Florida where land and water resources are highly managed through an intricate canal network. The method of integrated seasonal-trend decomposition using LOESS (LOcally weighted regrESSion) was employed for trend detection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany surgical departments are interested in quality improvement (QI). For sustainable success, front-line involvement is crucial for improving culture. Without improved culture, any QI strategy will be a struggle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFlorida legislation requires determining and implementing an appropriate range and frequency of freshwater inflows that will sustain a fully functional estuary. Changes in inflow dynamics to the Caloosahatchee Estuary, Florida have altered salinity regimes that, in turn, have altered the ecological integrity of the estuary. The purpose of this current project is to determine how changes in freshwater inflows affect water quality, and in turn, benthic macrofauna, spatially within the Caloosahatchee Estuary and between multiyear wet and dry periods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOyster beds are disappearing worldwide through a combination of over-harvesting, diseases, and salinity alterations in the coastal zone. Sensitivity of oysters to variable discharge and salinity is particularly acute in small sub-tropical estuaries subject to regulated freshwater releases. South Florida has sub-tropical estuaries where watershed flood control sometimes results in excessive freshwater inflow to estuaries during the wet season (May-Oct) and reduced discharge and increased salinities in the dry season (Nov-Apr).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of disability and death among young people. Although much is already known about secondary brain damage the full range of brain tissue responses to TBI remains to be elucidated. A population of neurons located in cerebral areas associated with higher cognitive functions harbours a vesicular zinc pool co-localized with glutamate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of diamond for advanced applications has been the dream of mankind for centuries. Until recently this dream has been realized only in the use of diamond for gemstones and abrasive applications where tons of diamonds are used on an annual basis. Diamond is the material system of choice for many applications, but its use has historically been limited due to the small size, high cost, and inconsistent (and typically poor) quality of available diamond materials until recently.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Opin Obstet Gynecol
August 2008
Purpose Of Review: In the practice of 'bioidentical hormone therapy', it is our belief that pharmacists are compounding bioidentical hormone therapy with the best intentions. These pharmacists are, however, ill informed regarding the lack of scientific underpinning associated with the efficacy and safety of the practice of bioidentical hormone therapy. It is the purpose of this review to systematically examine the scientific rigor of the arguments posed by the proponents of bioidentical hormone therapy, and to differentiate the practice of bioidentical hormone therapy from the legitimate practice of pharmacy compounding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTraumatic brain injury results in loss of neurons caused as much by the resulting neuroinflammation as by the injury. Gold salts are known to be immunosuppressive, but their use are limited by nephrotoxicity. However, as we have proven that implants of pure metallic gold release gold ions which do not spread in the body, but are taken up by cells near the implant, we hypothesize that metallic gold could reduce local neuroinflammation in a safe way.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study aims at evaluating the significance of zinc ions on the development of brain damage in a model of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The zinc ion specific autometallographic technique, the ZnSe(AMG) method, using silver enhancement of in vivo-captured zinc ions bound in zinc-selenium nanocrystals was applied to follow changes in the vesicular zinc pattern. Balb/c mice, ZnT3 knockout (ZnT3-Ko) mice, a mouse genetically knocked out for the protein ZnT3 responsible for sequestering zinc into synaptic vesicles, and littermates from the genetically un-manipulated mother type mice, wild type (Wt), were used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF