New Technique for Preconditioning of the Spinal Cord Before Endovascular Repair of Descending Thoracic and Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysms.

To propose a new simplified technique to occlude multiple segmental arteries for staging and preconditioning of the spinal cord to decrease the potential for spinal cord ischemia after thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair. A thoracic stent-graft that flares out to a maximum of 51 mm is deployed in a standard fashion covering all segmental arteries where graft-wall apposition occurs in the first ~20 cm of the aneurysm. The segmental arteries are always closed at their ostia in contrast to selective coil embolization, where there is a risk of more peripheral closure.

Treatment of Laryngeal Granulomas.

 Laryngeal granulomas are benign, recurrent lesions of many causes (reflux, voice abuse, intubation, and idiopathic), which renders its treatment difficult.  To describe our experience in the treatment of laryngeal granulomas.  From 16 medical records of the patients with laryngeal granulomas seen between 2010 and 2017 in a university hospital, the following data were analyzed: age, gender, vocal and gastroesophageal symptoms, vocal overuse, intubation, treatments, videolaryngoscopy before and after the treatment.

Experimental designs for optimizing the purification of immunoglobulin G by mixed-mode chromatography.

The main aim of this study was to define the optimal adsorption and elution conditions for the purification of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) by mixed-mode chromatography using the multimodal resin Capto MMC. To this end, Central Composite Experimental Design (ED) was performed for both the adsorption and desorption stages. In the first case, the conditions were systematically studied in batch mode while in the latter case, these were performed in column.

Juxtarenal endovascular therapy with fenestrated and branched stent grafts after previous infrarenal repair.

Background: The treatment strategy for proximal aortic disease or type I endoleak after previous infrarenal repair has traditionally been open surgery. As endovascular treatment options with fenestrated and branched stent grafts increasingly rival open surgery for juxtarenal and pararenal aortic aneurysms, secondary proximal repair may similarly be performed endovascularly. Fenestrated stent grafts are individually tailored to each patient, whereas a more readily available "off-the-shelf" branched stent graft is often suitable in more urgent settings.

Neural control properties of the external anal sphincter in young and elderly women.

Aims: The prevalence of fecal incontinence (FI) increases with age and affects more than 15% of the elderly population. Sarcopenia, skeletal muscle structural, and functional decline with aging, is known to be caused by neuromuscular dysfunction. However, age-related alterations of the neuromuscular function of the external anal sphincter (EAS) have not been studied.

The South American Fruit Fly: An Important Pest Insect With RNAi-Sensitive Larval Stages.

RNA interference (RNAi) technology has been used in the development of approaches for pest control. The presence of some essential genes, the so-called "core genes," in the RNAi machinery is crucial for its efficiency and robust response in gene silencing. Thus, our study was designed to examine whether the RNAi machinery is functional in the South American (SA) fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) and whether the sensitivity to the uptake of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) could generate an RNAi response in this fruit fly species.

Preferences for Use and Design of Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Objectives: Collection of patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures is critical to fully understand chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management and progression, as the impact on health-related quality of life is not well understood by objective measures alone. Electronic PROs (ePROs) are increasingly used because of their advantages over paper data collection, including elimination of transcription errors, increased accuracy and data quality, real-time data reporting, and increased compliance. The objective of this study was to characterize how patients with COPD prefer to use various types of technology to report disease symptoms, and their preferences for ePRO design and display.

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair with stent grafts alone or with a composite device design in patients with acute type B aortic dissection in the setting of malperfusion.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare short-term outcomes in patients who underwent thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) with stent grafts alone or with a composite device design (stent graft plus bare-metal aortic stent) for acute type B aortic dissection in the setting of malperfusion.

Methods: This retrospective analysis included patients with acute (≤14 days of symptom onset) complicated type B dissection in the setting of malperfusion who were treated with stent grafts alone (TEVAR cohort) at two European institutions vs those who underwent TEVAR with a composite device design (Cook Medical, Bloomington, Ind) in the investigational STABLE I feasibility study and STABLE II pivotal study (STABLE cohort). Preoperative characteristics and 30-day outcomes (including mortality, malperfusion-related mortality, morbidity, and secondary interventions) were compared between the two groups.

A Systematic Literature Review of the Current State of Knowledge Related to Interventions for Bereaved Parents.

Aims: The purpose of this systematic literature review is to describe the interventions for bereaved parents, evaluate intervention effectiveness through study methodology rigor, replicability, and theoretical foundations.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE via PubMed (1966-2018), CINAHL (1937-present), PsycINFO (1887-present), and Embase (1947-present) using various search words and MeSH terms related to the study purpose. A blinded screening of title/abstract was performed, with conflicting inclusion decisions resolved through group discussions.

Global Innervation Zone Identification With High-Density Surface Electromyography.

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the performance of three strategies in determining the global innervation zone (IZ) distribution.

Methods: High-density surface electromyography was recorded from the biceps brachii muscle of seven healthy subjects under isometric voluntary contractions at 20%, 50%, and 100% of the maximal voluntary contraction and supramaximal musculocutaneous nerve stimulations. IZs were detected: first, by visual identification in a column-specific manner (IZ-1D); second, based on decomposed bipolar mapping of motor unit action potentials (IZ-2D); and third, by source imaging in the three-dimensional muscle space (IZ-3D).

Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome causative single nucleotide polymorphism frequency in Warmblood horses in Brazil.

Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome (WFFS) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the procollagen-lysine, 2-oxoglutarate 5-dioxygenase 1 (PLOD1) gene, associated with collagen biosynthesis. WFFS causes lesions and malformations of the skin in neonatal foals, and abortion. The objective of this study was to investigate the allelic frequency of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) c.

Correlation of computed tomography with carotid plaque transcriptomes associates calcification with lesion-stabilization.

Background And Aims: Unstable carotid atherosclerosis causes stroke, but methods to identify patients and lesions at risk are lacking. We recently found enrichment of genes associated with calcification in carotid plaques from asymptomatic patients. Here, we hypothesized that calcification represents a stabilising feature of plaques and investigated how macro-calcification, as estimated by computed tomography (CT), correlates with gene expression profiles in lesions.

Perspectives on Cancer Pain Assessment and Management in Children.

Objective: To report evidence regarding pain assessment and management for children and adolescents receiving treatment for cancer.

Data Sources: Published research and clinical guidelines.

Conclusion: Children and adolescents experience multiple sources of pain across the cancer continuum.

Malperfusions in Acute Type B Aortic Dissection-Predictors of Outcomes.

Background: Acute type B aortic dissection (AoD) with malperfusion is a rare and complex disease. In this specific setting, invasive treatment is generally required to improve aortic branch vessel flow. Thoracic aorta stent grafting (TEVAR) of the proximal descending thoracic aorta to cover/exclude the proximal intimal entry tear would promote resolution of the dynamic component (the most prevalent) of the malperfusion conflict by redirecting the flow within the true lumen.

Development and pharmacokinetics of a combination vaginal ring for sustained release of dapivirine and the protein microbicide 5P12-RANTES.

The past fifteen years have witnessed a resurgence of interest in vaginal ring technologies for drug delivery applications, mostly driven by the impetus for development of vaginally-administered antiretroviral microbicides to help reduce the high acquisition rates for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among Sub-Saharan African women. Currently, the lead candidate microbicide is a 28-day silicone elastomer vaginal ring releasing dapivirine (Ring-004), an experimental non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor. The ring was tested in two pivotal Phase III clinical studies in 2016 and is currently undergoing review by the European Medicines Agency.

Endovascular Treatment of Post Type A Chronic Aortic Arch Dissection With a Branched Endograft: Early Results From a Retrospective International Multicenter Study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the outcome of endovascular aortic arch repair for chronic dissection with a custom-made branched endograft.

Background: Acute type A aortic dissections are often treated with prosthetic replacement of the ascending aorta. During follow-up, repair of an aneurysmal evolution of the false lumen distal to the ascending prosthesis can be a challenge both for the surgeon and the patient.

Isotope dilution method for determination of vitamin B2 in human plasma using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is an essential constituent of the coenzymes flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide and is critical for human metabolism and energy production. Liquid chromatography separation, then tandem mass spectrometry detection (LC-MS/MS) is a highly specific technique that enables quick analysis. An isotope dilution method for determination of riboflavin in human plasma using LC-MS/MS has been developed and validated in this study.

A Refinement of the Robertson-Schrödinger Uncertainty Principle and a Hirschman-Shannon Inequality for Wigner Distributions.

We propose a refinement of the Robertson-Schrödinger uncertainty principle (RSUP) using Wigner distributions. This new principle is stronger than the RSUP. In particular, and unlike the RSUP, which can be saturated by many phase space functions, the refined RSUP can be saturated by pure Gaussian Wigner functions only.

Effects of delivery mode and age on motor unit properties of the external anal sphincter in women.

Introduction And Hypothesis: This study aimed to assess the individual and interactive effects of delivery mode and age on the function of the external anal sphincter (EAS) by analyzing the motor unit properties with intramuscular electromyography (EMG). Results are expected to improve the understanding of delivery-related occult obstetric EAS injuries and its development over the aging process and further support early clinical detection and intervention.

Methods: A total of 49 postpartum women were recruited into four test groups according to their age and delivery mode: young vaginal delivery (Y-VD), elderly vaginal delivery (E-VD), young cesarean section (Y-CS), and elderly cesarean section (E-CS) groups.

Congenital Chagas disease: alert of research negligence.

Introduction: Chagas disease (CD), a neglected endemic disease in Latin America, has acquired new epidemiological characteristics with an increase in the importance of alternative transmission routes such as congenital transmission. We evaluated the scientific research on this subject.

Methods: We searched the Scielo, BVS, and PubMed databases from 2006 to 2017.

High Levels of Soluble Lectinlike Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor-1 Are Associated With Carotid Plaque Inflammation and Increased Risk of Ischemic Stroke.

Background When the lectinlike oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox LDL) receptor-1 ( LOX -1), a scavenger receptor for ox LDL , binds ox LDL , processes leading to endothelial dysfunction and inflammation are promoted. We aimed to study release mechanisms of LOX -1 and how circulating levels of soluble LOX -1 ( sLOX -1) relate to plaque inflammation and future risk for ischemic stroke. Methods and Results Endothelial cells and leukocytes were used to study release of sLOX -1.

Vaginal rings with exposed cores for sustained delivery of the HIV CCR5 inhibitor 5P12-RANTES.

Antiretroviral-releasing vaginal rings are at the forefront of ongoing efforts to develop microbicide-based strategies for prevention of heterosexual transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, traditional ring designs are generally only useful for vaginal administration of relatively potent, lipophilic, and small molecular weight drug molecules that have sufficient permeability in the non-biodegradable silicone elastomer or thermoplastic polymers. Here, we report a novel, easy-to-manufacture 'exposed-core' vaginal ring that provides sustained release of the protein microbicide candidate 5P12-RANTES, an experimental chemokine analogue that potently blocks the HIV CCR5 coreceptor.