Interventions to enhance psychological resilience in forcibly displaced children: a systematic review.

Background: Children represent nearly 40% of forcibly displaced populations and are subject to stressors that affect well-being. Little is known about the effects of interventions to enhance psychological resilience in these children, outside clinical settings.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review, following Cochrane methods.

Comparison of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of insulin degludec and insulin glargine 300 U/mL in healthy cats.

Insulin glargine 300 U/mL (IGla-U300) and insulin degludec (IDeg) are synthetic insulin analogs designed as basal insulin formulations. In people, IGla-U300 is more predictable and longer acting compared with glargine 100 U/mL. The duration of action of IDeg in people is > 42 h, allowing flexibility in daily administration.

prediction of breast tumour response to chemotherapy using quantitative ultrasound imaging and artificial neural networks.

We demonstrate the clinical utility of combining quantitative ultrasound (QUS) imaging of the breast with an artificial neural network (ANN) classifier to predict the response of breast cancer patients to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) administration prior to the start of treatment. Using a 6 MHz ultrasound system, radiofrequency (RF) ultrasound data were acquired from 100 patients with biopsy-confirmed locally advanced breast cancer prior to the start of NAC. Quantitative ultrasound mean parameter intensity and texture features were computed from the tumour core and margin, and were compared to the clinical/pathological response and 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) of patients.

Locally advanced breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and adjuvant radiotherapy: a retrospective cohort analysis.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is increasingly used to treat locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). Improved response to NAC correlates with better survival outcomes. The dual purpose of this study is to report recurrence and survival outcomes for LABC patients treated with NAC, surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy and to correlate these outcomes with tumour response after NAC using multiple response assessment methods.

Risk Factors for Wound Infections after Deformity Correction Surgery in Neuromuscular Scoliosis.

Objective: This study aims to elucidate surgical risk factors in neuromuscular scoliosis (NMS) with respect to wound site infection after spinal fusion.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of all patients treated surgically for NMS between January 2008 and December 2016 (minimum 6 months' follow-up). A sub-cohort of 60 patients with minimum 2 years of follow-up data was also analyzed.

Bifunctional fluorescent probes for detection of amyloid aggregates and reactive oxygen species.

Protein aggregation into amyloid deposits and oxidative stress are key features of many neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. We report here the creation of four highly sensitive bifunctional fluorescent probes, capable of HO and/or amyloid aggregate detection. These bifunctional sensors use a benzothiazole core for amyloid localization and boronic ester oxidation to specifically detect HO.

Image Guidance to Aid Pedicle Screw Fixation of a Lumbar Fracture-Dislocation Injury in a Toddler.

Background: Pedicle screw fixation of the lumbar spine in children age <2 years is particularly challenging, as successful cannulation of the small pedicle dimensions requires a high level of precision and there are no implants specifically designed for the infant spine. Image-guided navigation is commonly used in adult spinal surgery and may be particularly helpful for the placement of spinal screws in areas where the bony anatomy is small and/or anatomically complex, as in the upper cervical area.

Case Description: A 19-month-old female presented with a fracture-dislocation injury of L1-2.

A priori Prediction of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response and Survival in Breast Cancer Patients using Quantitative Ultrasound.

Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) can probe tissue structure and analyze tumour characteristics. Using a 6-MHz ultrasound system, radiofrequency data were acquired from 56 locally advanced breast cancer patients prior to their neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and QUS texture features were computed from regions of interest in tumour cores and their margins as potential predictive and prognostic indicators. Breast tumour molecular features were also collected and used for analysis.

Quantitative ultrasound assessment of breast tumor response to chemotherapy using a multi-parameter approach.

Purpose: This study demonstrated the ability of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) parameters in providing an early prediction of tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC).

Methods: Using a 6-MHz array transducer, ultrasound radiofrequency (RF) data were collected from 58 LABC patients prior to NAC treatment and at weeks 1, 4, and 8 of their treatment, and prior to surgery. QUS parameters including midband fit (MBF), spectral slope (SS), spectral intercept (SI), spacing among scatterers (SAS), attenuation coefficient estimate (ACE), average scatterer diameter (ASD), and average acoustic concentration (AAC) were determined from the tumor region of interest.

Pre-morbid glycemic control modifies the interaction between acute hypoglycemia and mortality.

Purpose: To study the impact of pre-morbid glycemic control on the association between acute hypoglycemia in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and subsequent hospital mortality in critically ill patients.

Methods: We performed a multicenter, multinational, retrospective observational study of patients with available HbA1c levels within the 3-month period preceding ICU admission. We separated patients into three cohorts according to pre-admission HbA1c levels (<6.

Heterotopic pregnancy following induction of ovulation with clomiphene citrate.

Background: Although heterotopic gestation is common in assisted reproductive techniques, it is very rare in natural conception and clomiphene induced pregnancy. Diagnosis and appropriate intervention of heterotopic pregnancy requires a high index of suspicious.

Case: In this paper a case of heterotopic pregnancy in a 30-year old woman with hemoperitoneum from ruptured tubal pregnancy with live intrauterine gestation at 9 weeks of gestation is reported.

The effects of metformin or orlistat on obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a prospective randomized open-label study.

Purpose: Comparing the effects of metformin or orlistat on hormone, lipid profile and ovulation status in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Methods: A total of 80 women were prospectively recruited to receive either metformin (n = 40) or orlistat (n = 40). Weight, BMI, waist, serum LH, total serum testosterone and lipid profile were assessed at baseline and after 3 months.

Hypertensive disease in twin pregnancies: a review.

Reports over the past seventy years show that twin gestations lead to an increased risk of hypertensive disorders. Numerous studies discuss the incidence of hypertensive disease in twin versus singleton gestations, as well as effects of parity, race, age, income level, smoking, zygosity and heritability on this condition. The range of relative risk of gestational hypertension, preeclampsia and eclampsia for twin compared to singleton gestations is 1.

Seminal plasma biochemical markers and their association with semen analysis findings.

Objectives: To examine the clinical value of six seminal plasma components in the evaluation of sperm quality and in the differential diagnosis of men with infertility.

Methods: We analyzed 202 seminal plasmas for prostate-specific antigen, glucose, pepsinogen C, insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3, prostaglandin D synthase (PGDS), and BRCA1-like immunoreactive protein (BRCA1-LIP) using quantitative immunofluorometric procedures. The semen donors were categorized in four clinical groups: normal, oligospermic, azoospermic, and vasectomy patients.

Characteristics of the intestinal epithelial barrier during dietary manipulation and glucocorticoid stress.

Objectives: a) To determine the significance of stress-induced alterations in intestinal permeability by measuring the transmucosal flux of formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (f-MLP), a ubiquitous neutrophilic chemoattractant present in the human and rodent colon; and b) to determine whether stress and/or diet influence(s) bacterial adherence-induced changes in epithelial permeability by affecting the production of secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA), the main immune mechanism preventing bacterial adherence.

Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled study.

Setting: University animal research laboratory.

Enhanced access to rare brain cDNAs by prescreening libraries: 207 new mouse brain ESTs.

To use single-pass cDNA sequencing to characterize low-frequency cDNA clones from a region of the brain that includes the primary site of neurodegeneration in human Parkinson disease, we have developed a prescreening procedure using single brain region first-strand cDNA probes. Selection of cDNA clones giving low hybridization signals allowed the elimination of clones resulting from abundant messages and enrichment for clones corresponding to low-copy messages. Comparative sequencing of standard and prescreened cDNA libraries (191 and 124 clones, respectively) showed that this procedure raised the frequency of novel sequences encountered from 54 to 81%.

Causes and consequences of bacterial adherence to mucosal epithelia during critical illness.

The interaction between host and pathogen during catabolic stress represents a dynamic battlefield, where the microbe's strategy to ensure its survival and multiplication come face to face with the repertoire of the host's immune system. From the microbe's point of view, the ICU offers the least optimal living condition, representing at times an outright holocaust for entire populations of fellow bacteria. This situation is especially true for intestinal bacteria, which can be exposed to all sorts of extreme conditions, such as starvation, turgor pressure, altered temperature, antibiotics, and osmolality changes.

Idiopathic splenomegaly in Iran.

During the past 5 years we have investigated 45 patients with the clinical manifestations suggestive of cirrhosis. We found 40 of them having cirrhosis but 3 patients had idiopathic splenomegaly. They underwent splenctomy and after 1-5 years they have remained free of the disease.