Palliative Care Interventions for Patients with Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: To systematically characterize interventions and effectiveness of palliative care for advanced heart failure (HF) patients.

Background: Patients with advanced heart failure experience a high burden of distressing symptoms and diminished quality of life. Palliative care expertise with symptom management and healthcare decision-making benefits HF patients.

Subtraction-based approach for enhancing the depth sensitivity of time-resolved NIRS.

The aim of this study was to evaluate enhancing of the depth sensitivity of time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy with a subtraction-based approach. Due to the complexity of light propagation in a heterogeneous media, and to prove the validity of the proposed method in a heterogeneous turbid media we conducted a broad analysis taking into account a number of parameters related to the method as well as various parameters of this media. The results of these experiments confirm that the depth sensitivity of the subtraction-based approach is better than classical approaches using continuous-wave or time-resolved methods.

Joint blood flow is more sensitive to inflammatory arthritis than oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin, and oxygen saturation.

Joint hypoxia plays a central role in the progression and perpetuation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Thus, optical techniques that can measure surrogate markers of hypoxia such as blood flow, oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin, and oxygen saturation are being developed to monitor RA. The purpose of the current study was to compare the sensitivity of these physiological parameters to arthritis.

Architectural and functional heterogeneity of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells in non-del(5q) myelodysplastic syndromes.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) are hematopoietic stem cell disorders in which recurrent mutations define clonal hematopoiesis. The origin of the phenotypic diversity of non-del(5q) MDS remains unclear. Here, we investigated the clonal architecture of the CD34CD38 hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC) compartment and interrogated dominant clones for MDS-initiating cells.

Implementation of an in-house quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction method for Hepatitis B virus quantification in West African countries.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. HBV infection is diagnosed by serological tests, while real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays are used to quantify viral load, which is a crucial parameter to determine viral replication and to monitor antiviral treatments. However, measuring viral load in resource-limited countries remains nonsystematic, due to the high cost of commercial kits.

[Anatomical bases of external pudendal artery injuries during surgical treatment of pelvic limb varices].

Introduction: External pudendal artery is a collateral branch of the common femoral artery which is the primary blood supply to the penis or the clitoris. Its relationship with the venous arch of the great saphenous vein and its afferents in femoral triangle, are very narrow. This often entails injuries during crossectomy and great saphenous vein stripping.

Assessment of a multi-layered diffuse correlation spectroscopy method for monitoring cerebral blood flow in adults.

Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) is a promising technique for brain monitoring as it can provide a continuous signal that is directly related to cerebral blood flow (CBF); however, signal contamination from extracerebral tissue can cause flow underestimations. The goal of this study was to investigate whether a multi-layered (ML) model that accounts for light propagation through the different tissue layers could successfully separate scalp and brain flow when applied to DCS data acquired at multiple source-detector distances. The method was first validated with phantom experiments.

[Ito hypomelanosis: Four case reports].

Ito hypomelanosis is a rare neurocutaneous condition. We report on four observations in infants aged between 8 and 20 months. They all presented with epilepsy, psychomotor delay, and diffuse hypomelanosis.

Crystal structure of 2-methyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium hydrogen oxalate dihydrate.

Single crystals of the title mol-ecular salt, C4H7N2 (+)·HC2O4 (-)·2H2O, were isolated from the reaction of 2-methyl-1H-imidazole and oxalic acid in a 1:1 molar ratio in water. In the crystal, the cations and anions are positioned alternately along an infinite [010] ribbon and linked together through bifurcated N-H⋯(O,O) hydrogen bonds. The water mol-ecules of crystallization link the chains into (10-1) bilayers, with the methyl groups of the cations organized in an isotactic manner.

Insights on stock structure of round sardinella Sardinella aurita off north-west Africa based on otolith shape analysis.

This study examines the geographic variability in otolith shape of round sardinella Sardinella aurita as a tool for stock discrimination. Fish were analysed from six sampling locations from Senegal to the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. A combination of otolith shape indices and elliptic Fourier descriptors was investigated by multivariate statistical procedures.

Crystal structures of the two salts 2-methyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium nitrate-2-methyl-1H-imidazole (1/1) and 2-methyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium nitrate.

The title salts, C4H7N2 (+)·NO3 (-)·C4H6N2, (I), and C4H7N2 (+)·NO3 (-), (II), were obtained from solutions containing 2-methyl-imidazole and nitric acid in different concentrations. In the crystal structure of salt (I), one of the -NH H atoms of the imidazole ring shows half-occupancy, hence only every second mol-ecule is in its cationic form. The nitrate anion in this structure lies on a twofold rotation axis.

Crystal structure of bis-(2-methyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium) μ-oxalato-bis-[n-butyl-tri-chlorido-stannate(IV)].

The Sn(IV) atom in the centrosymmetric anion of the title salt, (C4H7N2)2[Sn2(C4H9)2(C2O4)Cl6], is coordinated in a distorted octa-hedral mode by two O atoms of a bridging oxalate moiety, three Cl atoms and a C atom of an n-butyl group. The latter is disordered over two sets of sites in a 0.66:0.

Assessment of freshness and freeze-thawing of sea bream fillets (Sparus aurata) by a cytosolic enzyme: Lactate dehydrogenase.

The evaluation of freshness and freeze-thawing of fish fillets was carried out by assessment of autolysis of cells using a cytosolic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase. Autolysis plays an important role in spoilage of fish and postmortem changes in fish tissue are due to the breakdown of the cellular structures and release of cytoplasmic contents. The outflow of a cytosolic enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase, was studied in sea bream fillets and the Sparus aurata fibroblasts (SAF-1) cell-line during an 8day storage period at +4°C.

[Particularities of liver abscesses in children in Senegal: Description of a series of 26 cases].

Unlabelled: Liver abscess is a serious infection that can cause life-threatening complications.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology, diagnosis, and progression of liver abscess at the Dakar National Albert-Royer Children's Hospital.

Method: A retrospective study was conducted from over a period of 5 years (1st January 2010 to 31st December 2014).

Crystal structure of di-chlorido-bis-(dimethyl N-cyano-dithio-imino-carbonate)zinc.

The Zn(II) atom in the title complex, [ZnCl2(C4H6N2S2)2], is coordinated in a distorted tetra-hedral manner by two Cl atoms and two terminal N atoms of two dimethyl N-cyano-dithio-imino-carbonate ligands. In the crystal, the complex mol-ecules are connected through C-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds and Cl⋯S contacts, leading to a two-dimensional structure extending parallel to the ab plane.

Crystal structure of bis-(2-methyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium) di-hydroxidobis(oxalato-κ(2) O (1),O (2))stannate(IV) monohydrate.

In the structure of the hydrated title salt, (C4H7N2)2[Sn(C2O4)2(OH)2]·H2O, the asymmetric unit comprises one stannate(IV) dianion, two organic cations and one water mol-ecule of crystallization. The [Sn(C2O4)2(OH)2](2-) dianion consists of an Sn(IV) atom chelated by two oxalate anions and coordinated by two OH(-) ligands in a cis octa-hedral arrangement. Neighbouring anions are connected through O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds between hydroxide groups and non-coordinating oxalate O atoms into layers expanding parallel to (100).

Crystal structure of N-[(methyl-sulfan-yl)carbon-yl]urea.

The almost planar (r.m.s.

Sleep quality assessment in 35 Parkinson's disease patients in the Fann Teaching Hospital, Dakar, Senegal.

Introduction: Sleep disorders are diverse in Parkinson's disease. We aimed to assess the quality of sleep in patients with Parkinson's disease in an African population.

Methods: In a transversal and prospective study from April to June 2014, all parkinsonian patients followed at the Fann Teaching Hospital Neurology Clinic (Dakar, Senegal) were assessed using the Hoehn and Yahr's scale and filled out the following questionnaires: Parkinson's disease sleep scale (PDSS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).

Time-resolved subtraction method for measuring optical properties of turbid media.

Near-infrared spectroscopy is a noninvasive optical method used primarily to monitor tissue oxygenation due to the absorption properties of hemoglobin. Accurate estimation of hemoglobin concentrations and other light absorbers requires techniques that can separate the effect of absorption from the much greater effect of light scattering. One of the most advanced methods is time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy (TR-NIRS), which measures the absorption and scattering coefficients of a turbid medium by modeling the recorded distribution time of flight of photons.

Mercury concentrations in the coastal marine food web along the Senegalese coast.

This paper presents the results of seasonal (wet and dry seasons) and spatial (five sites) variation of mercury concentration in seven marine organisms representative for shallow Senegalese coastal waters and including species of commercial importance. Total mercury levels were recorded in the green algae (Ulva lactuca); the brown mussel (Perna perna); the Caramote prawn (Penaeus kerathurus); and in the liver and muscles of the following fish: Solea senegalensis, Mugil cephalus, Saratherondon melanotheron, and Sardinella aurita. The total selenium (Se) contents were determined only in the edible part of Perna perna, Penaeus kerathurus and in the muscles of Sardinella aurita and Solea senegalensis.

DNMT3A(R882H) mutant and Tet2 inactivation cooperate in the deregulation of DNA methylation control to induce lymphoid malignancies in mice.

TEN-ELEVEN-TRANSLOCATION-2 (TET2) and DNA-METHYLTRANSFERASE-3A (DNMT3A), both encoding proteins involved in regulating DNA methylation, are mutated in hematological malignancies affecting both myeloid and lymphoid lineages. We previously reported an association of TET2 and DNMT3A mutations in progenitors of patients with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphomas (AITL). Here, we report on the cooperative effect of Tet2 inactivation and DNMT3A mutation affecting arginine 882 (DNMT3A(R882H)) using a murine bone marrow transplantation assay.

Crystal structure of di-chlorido-bis-(dimethyl N-cyano-dithio-imino-carbonate)cobalt(II).

The structure of the mononuclear title complex, [{(H3CS)2C=NC  N}2CoCl2], consists of a Co(II) atom coordinated in a distorted tetra-hedral manner by two Cl(-) ligands and the terminal N atoms of two dimethyl N-cyano-dithio-imino-carbonate ligands. The two organic ligands are almost coplanar, with a dihedral angle of 5.99 (6)° between their least-squares planes.