Symptoms Analysis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Adolescents and Adults in a Teaching Hospital.

Introduction: Obsessive-compulsive disorder has a broadly diverse clinical expression that reflects heterogeneity. Several studies have identified consistent symptom dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The purpose of this study was to conduct an exploratory symptoms analysis of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in adolescents and adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Life cycle assessment of domestic and agricultural rainwater harvesting systems.

To further understanding of the environmental implications of rainwater harvesting and its water savings potential relative to conventional U.S. water delivery infrastructure, we present a method to perform life cycle assessment of domestic rainwater harvesting (DRWH) and agricultural rainwater harvesting (ARWH) systems.

Touch me not.

Central Poststroke Pain syndrome (CPSP) can occur due to disruption of the somatosensory pathways of the brain at any level such as the thalamus, medulla, or cerebral cortex. It is characterized by sensory abnormalities and hyperesthesia in the part of the body correlating to the central lesion. The treatment of this pain syndrome is often difficult, and it does not usually respond to traditional analgesics.

Nepalese traditional medicine and symptoms related to Parkinson's disease and other disorders: Patterns of the usage of plant resources along the Himalayan altitudinal range.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Nepal is a hotspot for cultural and biological diversities. The tremendous diversity of ecosystems and climates and the blend of medicinal practices inherited from Ayurvedic and Traditional Tibetan Medicine are well suited to a study aimed at discovering information about medicinal plants to treat Parkinson's disease (PD). In addition, this study across Nepal's altitudinal range is relevant to understanding how cultural and ecological environments influence local traditional medicines.

A systematic analysis of the suitability of preimplantation genetic diagnosis for mitochondrial diseases in a heteroplasmic mitochondrial mouse model.

Study Question: What is the reliability of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) based on polar body (PB), blastomere or trophectoderm (TE) analysis in a heteroplasmic mitochondrial mouse model?

Summary Answer: The reliability of PGD to determine the level of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) heteroplasmy is questionable based on either the first or second PB analysis; however, PGD based on blastomere or TE analysis seems more reliable.

What Is Known Already: PGD has been suggested as a technique to determine the level of mtDNA heteroplasmy in oocytes and embryos to avoid the transmission of heritable mtDNA disorders. A strong correlation between first PBs and oocytes and between second PBs and zygotes was reported in mice but is controversial in humans.

Right atrial appendage aneurysm: a systematic review.

Background: Right atrial appendage aneurysm (RAAA) is rare with fewer than 20 cases reported in the literature. We sought to systematically review the published cases of RAAA in terms of demographics, clinical characteristics, treatment, complications, and outcome.

Methodology: Electronic search for case reports, case series, and related articles published until July 2013 was carried out and clinical data were extracted and analyzed.

Oncology trial abstracts showed suboptimal improvement in reporting: a comparative before-and-after evaluation using CONSORT for Abstract guidelines.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the quality of randomized controlled trial (RCT) abstracts published in the field of oncology and identify characteristics associated with better reporting quality.

Study Design And Setting: All phase III trials published during 2005-2007 [before Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT)] and 2010-2012 (after CONSORT) were searched electronically in MEDLINE/PubMed and retrieved for review using an 18-point overall quality score (OQS) for reporting based on the CONSORT for Abstract guidelines. Descriptive statistics followed by multivariate linear regression were used to identify features associated with improved reporting quality.

Fitness trade-offs and developmental constraints in the evolution of soma: an experimental study in a volvocine alga.

Background: The evolution of mortal somatic cells was a critical step in the evolution of complex body plans and the major radiations of multicellular life. In the volvocine green algae, somatic cells are hypothesized to mitigate an increasing cost of reproduction as colony size increases, primarily by providing motility to the colony during reproduction.

Questions: Does selection on colony size cause an evolutionary response in proportion of somatic cells? Does the effect of selection on colony size differ in environments that differ in the importance of motility?

Methods: We subjected an outcrossed population of the volvocine alga to selection on colony size in still and mixed environments.

Psychiatric Comorbidities in Patients with Deliberate Self-Harm in a Tertiary Care Center.

Introduction: Deliberate self-harm (DSH) is one of the common psychiatric emergencies in medical practice. It has become a global health problem with rates increasing over time. Very few studies have been conducted on this important health issue in Nepal.

Evaluation of predictions of volatile fatty acid production rates by the Molly cow model.

Predicting ruminal volatile fatty acid (VFA) production is important, as VFA are an energy source to the animal, affect nutrient partitioning, and dictate methane production. The VFA production submodel in the Molly cow model was evaluated using data from 8 publications that reported VFA production rates for cattle. Evaluations were conducted with ruminal water balance predictions enabled and the ruminal VFA stoichiometry coefficients set to "mixed" for all diets, or "mixed" when forage represented between 20 and 80% of the diet, "concentrate" when <20% forage, or "forage" when >80% forage.

Treatment of human embryos with the TGFβ inhibitor SB431542 increases epiblast proliferation and permits successful human embryonic stem cell derivation.

Study Question: Is there an effect of the TGFβ inhibitor SB431542 (SB) on the epiblast compartment of human blastocysts, and does it affect subsequent human embryonic stem cell (hESC) derivation?

Summary Answer: SB increases the mean number of NANOG-positive cells in the inner cell mass (ICM), and allows for subsequent hESC derivation.

What Is Known Already: It is known that inhibition of TGFβ by SB has a positive effect on mouse ESC self-renewal, while active TGFβ signalling is needed for self-renewal of primed ESC.

Study Design, Size, Duration: From December 2011 until March 2012, 263 donated spare embryos were used from patients who had undergone IVF/ICSI in our centre.

Post-operative drop in hemoglobin and need of blood transfusion in cesarean section at Dhulikhel Hospital, Kathmandu University Hospital.

Background: Cesarean section has been identified as one of the commonest indication for blood transfusion in obstetric practice because it involves risk of major intra-operative blood loss. Different figures varying from less than 500 ml to more than 1000 ml have been quoted as estimated blood loss associated with caesarean section. There is also a wide variation in blood ordering practices for this surgery.

Evaluation of anti-secretory and anti-ulcerogenic activities of avipattikar churna on the peptic ulcers in experimental rats.

Background: Avipattikar churna, a poly-herbal formulation, is one of the popular ayurvedic formulations which is used for peptic ulcer diseases but the scientific documentation with regards to its effect for the indication is lacking.

Aims: This study was carried out to evaluate the anti-secretory and the anti-ulcerogenic activities of the churna and to compare its activity with that of ranitidine in a pyloric ligated model of rats.

Material And Methods: Four groups of rats with 6 animals in each served as the ulcer controls, churna low dose (500 mg/kg), churna high dose (750mg/kg) and ranitidine (25mg/kg).

Reporting trends of outcome measures in phase II and phase III trials conducted in advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background: The methodology of conducting clinical trials in lung cancer has been challenged by the particular characteristics of new targeted agents. Thus, the choice of correct outcome measures and selection of best study designs are essential. We assessed the trends in reporting of outcome measures in phase II and phase III trials conducted in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

The ghost of outcrossing past in downy brome, an inbreeding annual grass.

We investigated the frequency of outcrossing in downy brome (Bromus tectorum L.), a cleistogamous weedy annual grass, in both common garden and wild populations, using microsatellite and single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) markers. In the common garden study, 25 lines with strongly contrasting genotypes were planted in close proximity.

An evidence-based approach for providing cautionary recommendations to sulfonamide-allergic patients and determining cross-reactivity among sulfonamide-containing medications.

What Is Known And Objective: Prescribing sulfonamide-containing medications for patients with sulfonamide allergy continues to complicate medical decisions. We examined the cautionary recommendations in the approved drug monographs and primary literature, and formulated an evidence-based grading of cautionary recommendations for sulfonamide allergy and cross-reactivity among sulfonamide-containing medications.

Methods: Drug monographs were collected from six countries and three drug compendia.

Magnesium supplementation reduces postoperative arrhythmias after cardiopulmonary bypass in pediatrics: a metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials.

Postoperative arrhythmia (POA) is the most common complication encountered after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The preventive effect of magnesium in POA has been confirmed by metaanalyses in adults, but less is known in pediatric patients. A metaanalysis of published trials was conducted to examine the efficacy of magnesium supplementation in POA prevention among pediatric patients undergoing CPB.

Deletion of the fungal gene soft disrupts mutualistic symbiosis between the grass endophyte Epichloë festucae and the host plant.

Hyphal anastomosis, or vegetative hyphal fusion, establishes the interconnection of individual hyphal strands into an integrated network of a fungal mycelium. In contrast to recent advances in the understanding of the molecular basis for hyphal anastomosis, knowledge of the physiological role of hyphal anastomosis in the natural habitats of filamentous fungi is still very limited. To investigate the role of hyphal anastomosis in fungal endophyte-plant interactions, we generated mutant strains lacking the Epichloë festucae soft (so) gene, an ortholog of the hyphal anastomosis gene so in the endophytic fungus E.

What affects Clean Delivery Kit utilization at birth in Nepal? A qualitative study.

Background: Infection is one of the biggest causes of maternal and neonatal death in low-income countries. Clean Delivery Kits (CDKs) promote clean delivery and neonatal care. Our qualitative research explores reasons for low CDK utilization, and describes community perceptions of CDKs in Nepal.

X-ray and optical wave mixing.

Light-matter interactions are ubiquitous, and underpin a wide range of basic research fields and applied technologies. Although optical interactions have been intensively studied, their microscopic details are often poorly understood and have so far not been directly measurable. X-ray and optical wave mixing was proposed nearly half a century ago as an atomic-scale probe of optical interactions but has not yet been observed owing to a lack of sufficiently intense X-ray sources.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor blockers, and risk of appendicitis.

Purpose: Angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and, less commonly, angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), have been associated with angioedema, including small bowel angioedema. We sought to determine whether this process might be associated with appendicitis.

Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study of incident appendicitis in a subcohort of 305,958 commercially insured hypertensive adults throughout the United States.

The combination of inhibitors of FGF/MEK/Erk and GSK3β signaling increases the number of OCT3/4- and NANOG-positive cells in the human inner cell mass, but does not improve stem cell derivation.

In embryonic stem cell culture, small molecules can be used to alter key signaling pathways to promote self-renewal and inhibit differentiation. In mice, small-molecule inhibition of both the FGF/MEK/Erk and the GSK3β pathways during preimplantation development suppresses hypoblast formation, and this results in more pluripotent cells of the inner cell mass (ICM). In this study, we evaluated the effects of different small-molecule inhibitors of the FGF/MEK/Erk and GSK3β pathway on embryo preimplantation development, early lineage segregation, and subsequent embryonic stem cell derivation in the humans.

Assessment of adherence to the CONSORT statement for quality of reports on randomized controlled trial abstracts from four high-impact general medical journals.

Background: The extended Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement for Abstracts was developed to improve the quality of reports of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) because readers often base their assessment of a trial solely on the abstract. To date, few data exist regarding whether it has achieved this goal. We evaluated the extent of adherence to the CONSORT for Abstract statement for quality of reports on RCT abstracts by four high-impact general medical journals.