Comparative Study of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinogenesis in Different Hairless Murine Models.

: In recent decades, a significant global increase in the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer has been observed. To explore the pathogenesis of and potential therapeutic approaches for squamous cell carcinoma, various in vivo studies using mouse models have been conducted. However, investigations comparing different hairless mouse models, with or without melanin, as well as models with hypercholesterolemia and immunosuppression, in terms of their ability to induce squamous cell carcinoma have yet to be undertaken.

Reducing Tyre Wear Emissions of Automated Articulated Vehicles through Trajectory Planning.

Effective emission control technologies and eco-friendly propulsion systems have been developed to decrease exhaust particle emissions. However, more work must be conducted on non-exhaust traffic-related sources such as tyre wear. The advent of automated vehicles (AVs) enables researchers and automotive manufacturers to consider ways to further decrease tyre wear, as vehicles will be controlled by the system rather than by the driver.

Sensor Fusion and Advanced Controller for Connected and Automated Vehicles.

Nowadays, intelligent vehicles are equipped with a number of advanced sensors, such as radar and cameras [...

Insertable cardiac monitor with a long sensing vector: Impact of obesity on sensing quality and safety.

Background: Fat layers in obese patients can impair R-wave detection and diagnostic performance of a subcutaneous insertable cardiac monitor (ICM). We compared safety and ICM sensing quality between obese patients [body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m] and normal-weight controls (BMI <30 kg/m) in terms of R-wave amplitude and time in noise mode (noise burden) detected by a long-sensing-vector ICM.

Materials And Methods: Patients from two multicentre, non-randomized clinical registries are included in the present analysis on January 31, 2022 (data freeze), if the follow-up period was at least 90 days after ICM insertion, including daily remote monitoring.

Diagnostic yield of an insertable cardiac monitor in a large patient population.

Background: Insertable cardiac monitors (ICMs) are increasingly used for cardiac rhythm diagnosis with expanding indications. Little has been reported about their use and efficacy.

Objective: The study sought to evaluate the clinical utility of a novel ICM (Biotronik BIOMONITOR III) including the time to diagnosis in unselected patients with different ICM indications.

Multi-Criteria Evaluation for Sorting Motion Planner Alternatives.

Automated vehicles are expected to push towards the evolution of the mobility environment in the near future by increasing vehicle stability and decreasing commute time and vehicle fuel consumption. One of the main limitations they face is motion sickness (MS), which can put their wide impact at risk, as well as their acceptance by the public. In this direction, this paper presents the application of motion planning in order to minimise motion sickness in automated vehicles.

Development of an Electrochemical Sensor Using a Modified Carbon Paste Electrode with Silver Nanoparticles Capped with Saffron for Monitoring Mephedrone.

Mephedrone, also known as 4-methylmethcathinone, is growing into a prominent recreational drug for young people. When it came to detecting mephedrone, limited efforts were made using electrochemical sensors. As a result, this application depicts the fabrication of a new, sensitive, selective, and economical electrochemical sensor capable of detecting mephedrone by using silver nanoparticles capped with saffron produced through electropolymerization to modify carbon paste electrodes (CPEs).

Perinatal management of enlarged bronchogenic cyst causing hydrops fetalis.

Bronchogenic cysts are rare congenital anomalies that they are usually diagnosed prenatally during the routine second trimester scan. We present such a rare case of bronchogenic cyst in a fetus. Our initial scan demonstrated a big cystic mass, which enlarged progressively causing shifting of the mediastinum and compression of the fetal heart.

Optimization of psoriasis mouse models.

Introduction: Psoriasis, is a common, chronic, autoimmune, inflammatory, relapsing disease, which would benefit from reliable and human-relevant animal models to test drugs pre-clinically and to understand their mechanism of action. Because of its ease of use, convenience and low cost, the imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis-like model is widely utilized; however, it is not known whether all mouse strains are equivalent and if the hairless mouse is appropriate, so that the imiquimod model can be further optimized.

Methods: Under similar experimental conditions, common mouse strains (BALB/c, C57BL/6J, and ApoE) and a new hairless strain (ApoE/SKH-hr2) as well as several inducers (IMQ, IMQ + acetic acid (AcOH) topical and IMQ + AcOH systemic) were compared by clinical, histopathological, biophysical and locomotor activity assessments.

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and myelodysplastic syndrome: Disappearance of cytogenetic abnormalities.

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare life-threatening disease resulting from clonal hematopoietic stem cell evolution. There is a strong link between PNH and other acquired bone marrow failure syndromes, including myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Cytogenetic, morphological abnormalities or both are observed in the range of MDS/PNH diagnosis.

Management of sleep apnoea syndrome (SAS) in patients with vasovagal syncope (VVS): a protocol for the VVS-SAS cohort study.

Introduction: Recurrent vasovagal syncope (VVS) is associated with decreased quality-of-life and frequent use of emergency services. The evidence base for causality, diagnostic procedures and potential VVS treatments is poor. Scattered observations in the literature suggest a link between respiratory disturbances during sleep and VVS.

Protective Effects of Bark Extract and Nicotine on Cigarette Smoke-induced Oxidative Stress in Keratinocytes.

Background/aim: Cigarette smoke (CS) is a major environmental health threat. The oxidative stress induced by CS on keratinocytes and the possible protective effect of nicotine, its receptor inhibitors, and Pinus halepensis bark extract in relation to known antioxidants were investigated.

Materials And Methods: Primary mouse keratinocytes were exposed to cigarette smoke in the presence and absence of Pinus halepensis bark extract (1 μg/ml), rutin (50 μM) and ascorbic acid (250 μM), nicotine (1 μM) with or without mecamylamine (5 μM) and α-bungarotoxin (0.

Diabetic skin and UV light: Protection by antioxidants.

Non-invasive biophysical methods were used to study the effect of antioxidant gels, which were prepared from Pinus halepensis bark extracts, vitamin C and water, on the skin of diabetic hairless mice irradiated with UV radiation of 1 and 2 minimal erythemal doses (MEDs). The calculated transepidermal water loss (TEWL) for diabetic mice was found to be fivefold higher on day 11 after irradiation, and in all cases, the TEWL values converged to their initial values on day 21. Both pinus and vitamin C gels inhibited the dehydration of the skin, while water gels did not show similar protection.

Twenty-Four-Hour Central Pulse Pressure for Cardiovascular Events Prediction in a Low-Cardiovascular-Risk Population: Results From the Bordeaux Cohort.

Background: Central blood pressure (BP) is a promising marker to identify subjects with higher cardiovascular risk than expected by traditional risk factors. Significant results have been obtained in populations with high cardiovascular risk, but little is known about low-cardiovascular-risk patients, although the differences between central and peripheral BP (amplification) are usually greater in this population. The study aim was to evaluate central BP over 24 hours for cardiovascular event prediction in hypertensive subjects with low cardiovascular risk.

Investigating the association of vitamin D with blood pressure and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in hypertensive subjects: a cross-sectional prospective study.

The hypothesis that vitamin D (25(OH)D) insufficiency plays a role in occurring of various disease has led to a rise in requests of dosages and to an increase of health-care costs. 25(OH)D insufficiency is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension in many studies. Animal studies demonstrated that 25(OH)D insufficiency activates renin angiotensin system but corresponding humans data are limited.

Low-Molecular-Weight Hydrophilic and Lipophilic Antioxidants in Nonmelanoma Skin Carcinomas and Adjacent Normal-Looking Skin.

Low-molecular-weight antioxidants are some of the most efficient agents of the skin defense mechanism against environmental factors, such as cosmic rays, smoke, and pollutants. The total skin concentrations of hydrophilic ascorbic and uric acids, as well as lipophilic α-tocopherol, β-carotene, and ubiquinol-10 antioxidants were determined by an HPLC-EC detector from 18 biopsies of human nonmelanoma skin carcinomas and 18 biopsies from skin areas adjacent to carcinomas. No significant differences in the concentrations of lipophilic antioxidants in both carcinomas and normal-looking skin areas adjacent to carcinomas were observed.

Complex Rearrangement Involving Three Chromosomes, Four Breakpoints and a 2.7-Mb Deletion in the 18q Segment Observed in a Girl with Mild Learning Difficulties.

Complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs) are balanced or unbalanced structural rearrangements involving 3 or more cytogenetic break events on 2 or more different chromosomes. Here, we report a 7-year-old girl referred to our unit because of mild dysmorphic facial features, mild learning difficulties together with very mild mental retardation. Standard cytogenetic banding analysis revealed a de novo CCR involving chromosomes 1, 2 and 18.

Increased arterial stiffness is an independent predictor of atrial fibrillation in hypertensive patients.

Objective: Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia, and confers a high risk of stroke and heart failure. Hypertension and ageing are two important risk factors of incident atrial fibrillation and are both associated with increased arterial stiffness. The possible relationship between arterial stiffness and atrial fibrillation is insufficiently documented and is probably complex.

k(+)-buffer: An Efficient, Memory-Friendly and Dynamic k-buffer Framework.

Depth-sorted fragment determination is fundamental for a host of image-based techniques which simulates complex rendering effects. It is also a challenging task in terms of time and space required when rasterizing scenes with high depth complexity. When low graphics memory requirements are of utmost importance, k-buffer can objectively be considered as the most preferred framework which advantageously ensures the correct depth order on a subset of all generated fragments.

Organization, structure and data of the Hellenic Heart Registry on Percutaneous Coronary Interventions: a step forward towards outcomes research.

Introduction: The Hellenic Heart Registry on Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (HHR-PCI) was a prospective, observational registry of patients with stable angina or acute coronary syndromes who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between January 2008 and October 2010.

Methods: HHR-PCI was a database that used a secure web-based interface for data entry by individual users. All PCI centers and operators were invited to participate.

Determination of central blood pressure by a noninvasive method (brachial blood pressure and QKD interval): a noninvasive validation.

Objective: We validated against invasive measurements a measure of central SBP based on the QKD interval. The present objective is a comparison to the SphygmoCor device.

Materials And Methods: A first cohort was used to redefine an algorithm for estimating ascending aorta SBP (cSBP) with respect to SphygmoCor.

Arterial stiffness from monitoring of timing of korotkoff sounds predicts the occurrence of cardiovascular events independently of left ventricular mass in hypertensive patients.

Several studies have established that the increase in arterial stiffness (AS) is a cardiovascular risk factor but to date no studies have evaluated in hypertensive patients its prognostic value in comparison with another powerful risk factor, left ventricular mass (LVM) as measured by echocardiography. We prospectively evaluated the prognostic value of AS and LVM in patients with essential hypertension. The population studied comprised 793 patients (56% men) aged 54±14 years.

Prognostic value of the extent of left ventricular hypertrophy and its evolution in the hypertensive patient.

Objective: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a marker of cardiovascular risk. However, the progression of the risk as a function of the course of the LVH has only been the subject of few studies.

Methods: We report the consequences of the evolution of the left ventricular mass (LVM) in a cohort of hypertensive patients whose LVM was measured before any antihypertensive treatment.

Stent for Life Initiative--the Greek experience.

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (p-PCI) is considered the gold standard reperfusion strategy for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). In the last two years, the Stent for Life (SFL) Initiative has aimed at expanding the use of p-PCI in Greece and several other European countries. During this short period of time, intensive efforts towards propagating the main objectives of the programme in Greece and important actions on the organisation and activation of two p-PCI networks in Athens, the Greek capital, and Patras in south-western Greece, have led to a dramatic nationwide increase of p-PCI rates among STEMI patients (from 9% to 32%).

ECG detection of left ventricular hypertrophy: the simpler, the better?

Objective: ECG is commonly employed to identify left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and a high risk of cardiovascular events (CVE) in hypertensive patients. However, the multiplicity of the existing criteria does not simplify interpretation of the data. We compared a number of common criteria in hypertensive patients by taking as references left ventricular mass (LVM) measured by echocardiography and prediction of incident CVE.