Clinicomicrobiological analysis of patients with cholangitis.

Acute cholangitis is inflammation of biliary ductal system from infection with an associated biliary obstruction. This retrospective study was done to determine the factors responsible for cholangitis and the microbiological profile of the bile in patients with cholangitis. In the study involving 348 patients, 36.

Revamping the role of biofilm regulating operons in device-associated Staphylococci and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Extensive use of indwelling devices in modern medicine has revoked higher incidence of device associated infections and most of these devices provide an ideal surface for microbial attachment to form strong biofilms. These obnoxious biofilms are responsible for persistent infections, longer hospitalization and high mortality rate. Gene regulations in bacteria play a significant role in survival, colonization and pathogenesis.

Mesenchymal stem cells and transplant tolerance.

Different strategies are being tried to induce transplant tolerance in clinical settings; however, none of them are both safe and effective. Mesenchymal stem cells have been found to be potent immunomodulators and immunosuppressants. We discuss in this review different sources of mesenchymal stem cells and the potent role of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells in induction of transplant tolerance including when to use them and how to use them for achieving the Utopian dream of transplant tolerance.

Relationship of immunologic response to antiretroviral therapy with non-AIDS defining cancer incidence.

Objective: To estimate the association between immunologic response to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and non-AIDS defining cancer (NADC) incidence in HIV-infected patients.

Design: A prospective cohort including patients with at least 1 cell/μl CD4 cell count and HIV-1 RNA measure after ART initiation between 1996 and 2011 in the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems, a collaboration of eight HIV clinics at major academic medical centres in the United States.

Methods: Measures of immunologic response were 6-month CD4 post-ART, latest CD4 and CD4 count-years, a cumulative measure of CD4 lymphopenia.

A single-dose, open-label, parallel, randomized, dose-proportionality study of paliperidone after intramuscular injections of paliperidone palmitate in the deltoid or gluteal muscle in patients with schizophrenia.

Paliperidone palmitate (PP) is a long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotic, developed for monthly intramuscular (i.m.) administration into deltoid/gluteal muscle, approved for the treatment of schizophrenia in many countries.

Antioxidant, antibacterial, and cytoprotective activity of agathi leaf protein.

In the present study a protein termed agathi leaf protein (ALP) from Sesbania grandiflora Linn. (agathi) leaves was isolated after successive precipitation with 65% ammonium sulphate followed by purification on Sephadex G 75. The column chromatography of the crude protein resulted in four peaks of which Peak I (P I) showed maximum inhibition activity against hydroxyl radical.

Measuring community integration using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and participatory mapping for people who were once homeless.

Measures of community integration rely on self-report assessments that often quantify physical or social participation, but fail to capture the individual׳s spatial presence in the community. The current study documents the activity space, or area of daily experiences, of 37 individuals who were once homeless through participatory mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Contrary to expectations, there was no significant relationship between activity space size and community integration measures, except a negative association with physical integration.

Relapse prevention study of paliperidone extended-release tablets in Chinese patients with schizophrenia.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term efficacy, safety, and tolerability of paliperidone extended-release (pali ER), in Chinese patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: In this parallel-group, relapse prevention, phase-3 study (screening [14-day], pali ER open-label run-in [8-week] and stabilization [6-week] phases, and double-blind (DB) treatment [variable duration], and open-label extension phases [24-week]), 136/201 patients with schizophrenia were randomized (1:1) to pali ER (3-12 mg) or placebo during the DB phase.

Results: Final analysis showed that, out of 135 patients in ITT (DB) population, 71 (52.

A rare content in inguinal hernial sac, masquerading as scrotal tumour.

Some of the commonly performed operations can become difficult due to unusual findings which are seen during surgery. One such sort of operation is hernia repair. Decision making during such situations could be challenging, even for experienced surgeons.

HIV viremia and incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in patients successfully treated with antiretroviral therapy.

Background: The incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients remains high despite treatment with antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Methods: We evaluated NHL incidence in HIV-infected patients followed in the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems who started combination ART and achieved suppression of HIV. We estimated the hazard ratio for NHL by time-varying HIV viremia categories, accounting for time-varying CD4 cell count using marginal structural models.

Regenerative potential of dental pulp mesenchymal stem cells harvested from high caries patient's teeth.

Dental pulp are known to contains stem cells or dentinogenic progenitors that are responsible for dentin repair. Dental pulp Stem cells from Human Exfoliated Deciduous teeth (SHED) represent a population of postnatal stem cells capable of extensive proliferation and multipotential or multilineage differentiations. This potential for tissue regeneration has become the current basis for dental pulp stem cell banking.

Identification and analysis of novel R308K mutation in glucokinase of type 2 diabetic patient and its kinetic correlation.

Glucokinase (GK) plays a critical role in glucose homeostasis and the mutations in GK gene result in pathogenic complications known as Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young 2, an autosomal dominant form of diabetic condition. In the present study, GK was purified from human liver tissue and the pure enzyme showed single band in SDS-PAGE with a molecular weight of 50 kDa. The kinetics of pure GK showed enzyme activity of 0.

ZFHX4 interacts with the NuRD core member CHD4 and regulates the glioblastoma tumor-initiating cell state.

Glioblastoma (GBM) harbors subpopulations of therapy-resistant tumor-initiating cells (TICs) that are self-renewing and multipotent. To understand the regulation of the TIC state, we performed an image-based screen for genes regulating GBM TIC maintenance and identified ZFHX4, a 397 kDa transcription factor. ZFHX4 is required to maintain TIC-associated and normal human neural precursor cell phenotypes in vitro, suggesting that ZFHX4 regulates differentiation, and its suppression increases glioma-free survival in intracranial xenografts.

Validation of cardiac output studies from the Mostcare compared to a pulmonary artery catheter in septic patients.

Background: The Mostcare monitor is a non-invasive cardiac output monitor. It has been well validated in cardiac surgical patients but there is limited evidence on its use in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.

Methods: The study included the first 22 consecutive patients with severe sepsis and septic shock in whom the floatation of a pulmonary artery catheter was deemed necessary to guide clinical management.

Parallel genome-scale loss of function screens in 216 cancer cell lines for the identification of context-specific genetic dependencies.

Using a genome-scale, lentivirally delivered shRNA library, we performed massively parallel pooled shRNA screens in 216 cancer cell lines to identify genes that are required for cell proliferation and/or viability. Cell line dependencies on 11,000 genes were interrogated by 5 shRNAs per gene. The proliferation effect of each shRNA in each cell line was assessed by transducing a population of 11M cells with one shRNA-virus per cell and determining the relative enrichment or depletion of each of the 54,000 shRNAs after 16 population doublings using Next Generation Sequencing.

Pre-transplant co-infusion of donor-adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells and hematopoietic stem cells may help in achieving tolerance in living donor renal transplantation.

Transplantation tolerance is still a Utopian dream for many transplanters. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have shown immuno-modulatory and tolerogenic effects in experimental models. We present a 29-year-old male with end stage renal disease (ESRD) who was transplanted with HLA 4/6 matched kidney from 51-year-old father in June 2010 preceded by co-infusion of donor-adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSC) and bone marrow derived hematopoietic stem cells (BM-HSC) under non-myeloablative conditioning for deleting rejecting T and B-cells.

Novel therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus: infusion of in vitro-generated insulin-secreting cells.

Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is a metabolic disease usually resulting from autoimmune-mediated β-cell destruction requiring lifetime exogenous insulin replacement. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) hold promising therapy. We present our experience of treating IDDM with co-infusion of in vitro autologous adipose tissue-derived MSC-differentiated insulin-secreting cells (ISC) with hematopoietic stem cells (HSC).

Evaluation of fracture resistance of reattached vertical fragments bonded with fiber-reinforced composites: an in vitro study.

Aim: Aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the resistance to fracture of vertically fractured and reattached fragments bonded with fiber-reinforced composites.

Materials And Methods: Root canals of 45 teeth were prepared, and the teeth were intentionally fractured into two separate fragments. Control groups (n = 15 each) consisted unfractured teeth with instrumented and obturated.

Effect of parental age on treatment response in adolescents with schizophrenia.

Background: Advanced paternal age (APA) is associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, but its effect on treatment response has not been longitudinally studied.

Methods: Association of parental ages at the time of the child's birth with age of onset, initial symptom severity and treatment response (to placebo and three different weight-based doses of paliperidone ER) in adolescents with schizophrenia was assessed in a post-hoc analysis using data from a 6-week double-blind study, the primary results of which are published (NCT00518323).

Results: The mean (SD) paternal age was 29.

Role of biliary tract cytology in the evaluation of extrahepatic cholestatic jaundice.

Background: Endoscopic evaluation is critical in assessing the cause of obstructive jaundice. Cytological techniques including bile aspiration and biliary brushings have become the initial diagnostic modality.

Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of endoscopic biliary tract cytology as a diagnostic tool in the evaluation of extrahepatic cholestatic jaundice.

Incidence and time course of extrapyramidal symptoms with oral and long-acting injectable paliperidone: a posthoc pooled analysis of seven randomized controlled studies.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare incidence rates and time course of extrapyramidal symptom (EPS)-related treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) between oral and long-acting injectable (LAI) paliperidone.

Methods: The analysis included pooled data (safety analysis set, 2,256 antipsychotic-treated and 865 placebo-treated patients with schizophrenia) from seven randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled paliperidone studies (three oral [6 weeks each] and four LAI [9-13 weeks]) and assessed comparable doses (oral, 3-15 mg; LAI, 25-150 mg eq. [US doses 39-234 mg]).

Contact inhibition of locomotion probabilities drive solitary versus collective cell migration.

Contact inhibition of locomotion (CIL) is the process whereby cells collide, cease migrating in the direction of the collision, and repolarize their migration machinery away from the collision. Quantitative analysis of CIL has remained elusive because cell-to-cell collisions are infrequent in traditional cell culture. Moreover, whereas CIL predicts mutual cell repulsion and 'scattering' of cells, the same cells in vivo are observed to undergo CIL at some developmental times and collective cell migration at others.

PRIMO: A Transferable Coarse-grained Force Field for Proteins.

We describe here the PRIMO (PRotein Intermediate Model) force field, a physics-based fully transferable additive coarse-grained potential energy function that is compatible with an all-atom force field for multi-scale simulations. The energy function consists of standard molecular dynamics energy terms plus a hydrogen-bonding potential term and is mainly parameterized based on the CHARMM22/CMAP force field in a bottom-up fashion. The solvent is treated implicitly via the generalized Born model.

Early experience after developing a pathology laboratory in Malawi, with emphasis on cancer diagnoses.

Background: Despite increasing cancer burden in Malawi, pathology services are limited. We describe operations during the first 20 months of a new pathology laboratory in Lilongwe, with emphasis on cancer diagnoses.

Methods And Findings: We performed a cross-sectional study of specimens from the Kamuzu Central Hospital pathology laboratory between July 1, 2011 and February 28, 2013.