Cost-effectiveness of ambroxol in the treatment of Gaucher disease type 2.

Objective: Our aim was to compare the costs and efficacy of ambroxol in combination with imiglucerase with the costs and efficacy of imiglucerase only in the treatment of Gaucher disease type 2 (GD2) in the socio-economic settings of the Republic of Serbia, an upper-middle-income European economy.

Methods: The perspective of the Serbian Republic Health Insurance Fund was chosen for this study, and the time horizon was 6 years. The main outcomes of the study were quality-adjusted life years gained with ambroxol + imiglucerase and comparator, and direct costs of treatment.

The Impact of Cytokines on Health-Related Quality of Life in Adolescents with Allergic Rhinitis.

Background: Frequent episodes of nasal symptoms are the usual clinical manifestations (CM) of allergic rhinitis (AR) and have a significant negative impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adolescents. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to test the hypothesis that cytokines in nasal mucus may be associated with HRQoL in adolescents with AR.

Methods: European Quality of Life 5 Dimensions 3 Level Version (EQ-5D-3L), "The Adolescent Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire" (AdolRQLQ) and the Total 4 Symptom Score (T4SS) scoring system were administered to 113 adolescents with AR, nonallergic rhinitis (NAR) and to healthy control subjects.

A calibration of cellulose isotopes in modern prostrate Nothofagus and its application to fossil material from Antarctica.

Carbon and oxygen isotopes (δC and δO) in tree rings are widely used to reconstruct palaeoclimate variables such as temperature during the Holocene (12 thousand years ago - present), and are used increasingly in deeper time. However, their use is largely restricted to arboreal trees, which excludes potentially important data from prostrate trees and shrubs, which grow in high latitude and altitude end-member environments. Here, we calibrate the use of δC and δO as climatic archives in two modern species of southern beech (Nothofagus) from Tierra del Fuego, Chile, at the southern limit of their current range.

Impact of Camera Deviation on Penile Curvature Assessment Using 2D Pictures.

Background: An accurate curvature assessment (CA) is required in the decision-making process for patients with Peyronie's disease. In-office CA following induced erection is the gold standard for CA, although penile photography is commonly used due to its convenience. Camera deviations during 2D image acquisition might affect CA accuracy.

miR-618: possible control over TIMP-1 and its expression in localized prostate cancer.

Background: The imbalance between the action of the tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMPs) and the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) is one component of metastasis physiology. TIMP-1 overrides MMP-9 activity in cancer and might be regulated by miR-618. The aims of this study were to clarify whether TIMP-1 expression is modified by miR-618 and to clarify the effect of miR-618 expression on the invasion of prostate cancer cells.

The silicon cycle impacted by past ice sheets.

Globally averaged riverine silicon (Si) concentrations and isotope composition (δSi) may be affected by the expansion and retreat of large ice sheets during glacial-interglacial cycles. Here we provide evidence of this based on the δSi composition of meltwater runoff from a Greenland Ice Sheet catchment. Glacier runoff has the lightest δSi measured in running waters (-0.

Coherent deglacial changes in western Atlantic Ocean circulation.

Abrupt climate changes in the past have been attributed to variations in Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) strength. However, the exact timing and magnitude of past AMOC shifts remain elusive, which continues to limit our understanding of the driving mechanisms of such climate variability. Here we show a consistent signal of the Pa/Th proxy that reveals a spatially coherent picture of western Atlantic circulation changes over the last deglaciation, during abrupt millennial-scale climate transitions.

Recurrent Penile Fracture-Case Report and Alternative Surgical Approach.

Introduction: Penile refracture is an exceedingly rare event, with very few published studies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documented case in the literature of penile fracture with 3 same-site recurrences.

Aims: To describe the case of a 25-year-old Caucasian man with recurrent penile fracture ultimately treated with resuture and patch reinforcement.

Global peatland initiation driven by regionally asynchronous warming.

Widespread establishment of peatlands since the Last Glacial Maximum represents the activation of a globally important carbon sink, but the drivers of peat initiation are unclear. The role of climate in peat initiation is particularly poorly understood. We used a general circulation model to simulate local changes in climate during the initiation of 1,097 peatlands around the world.

miR-29b enhances prostate cancer cell invasion independently of MMP-2 expression.

Background: The ability to metastasize is one of the most important characteristics of neoplastic cells. An imbalance between the action of some matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of MMPs drives the invasion process. Some studies have suggested that MMP-2 is involved in metastasis, while other studies have reported that collagen production by cancer cells might also contribute to motility.

Expression of micro-RNAs and genes related to angiogenesis in ccRCC and associations with tumor characteristics.

Background: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the third most common urological cancer in adults. Our aim is to evaluate genes and miRNAs expression profiles involved with angiogenesis and tumor characteristics in ccRCC.

Methods: The expression levels of miRNAs miR-99a, 99b, 100; 199a; 106a; 106b; 29a; 29b; 29c; 126; 200a, 200b and their respective target genes: mTOR, HIF1-α, VHL, PDGF, VEGF, VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 were analyzed using qRT-PCR in tumor tissue samples from 56 patients with ccRCC.

Ecosystem state shifts during long-term development of an Amazonian peatland.

The most carbon (C)-dense ecosystems of Amazonia are areas characterized by the presence of peatlands. However, Amazonian peatland ecosystems are poorly understood and are threatened by human activities. Here, we present an investigation into long-term ecohydrological controls on C accumulation in an Amazonian peat dome.

Robot-assisted single port radical nephrectomy and cholecystectomy: description and technical aspects.

Introduction: Robot-Assisted Single Site Radical Nephrectomy (RASS-RN) has been reported by surgeons in Europe and United States (1-3). To our best knowledge this video presents the first RASS-RN with concomitant cholecystectomy performed in Latin America.

Case: A 66 year-old renal transplant male due to chronic renal failure presented with an incidental 1.

Abrupt Bølling warming and ice saddle collapse contributions to the Meltwater Pulse 1a rapid sea level rise.

Elucidating the source(s) of Meltwater Pulse 1a, the largest rapid sea level rise caused by ice melt (14-18 m in less than 340 years, 14,600 years ago), is important for understanding mechanisms of rapid ice melt and the links with abrupt climate change. Here we quantify how much and by what mechanisms the North American ice sheet could have contributed to Meltwater Pulse 1a, by driving an ice sheet model with two transient climate simulations of the last 21,000 years. Ice sheet perturbed physics ensembles were run to account for model uncertainties, constraining ice extent and volume with reconstructions of 21,000 years ago to present.

MMP9 overexpression is associated with good surgical outcome in children with UPJO: Preliminary results.

Background: Ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) diagnosed prenatally occurs in 1:150 - 1:1200 pregnancies. Although many studies investigating the molecular changes of this obstructed segment have been performed, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. The role of extracellular matrix (ECM) components remains controversial, and the investigations in the field of ECM changes, might help the better understanding of the pathogenesis of this common condition.

[Birth weight and later nutritional status, cognitive development and job status: a critical revision].

The impact of prenatal nutritional status, assessed through birth weight (BW) and their effects in the short, medium and long-term on nutritional status, cognitive development and job status in the adult life, has been a problem of interest for several researchers; as regards, some of these report a positive and significant association between these variables and others do not find any relation. Children with insufficient, low or very low BW despite the early more deteriorate nutritional status should present higher risk for brain maturation, failure cognitive development and lowered head circumference which implies both lowered brain volume and intellectual development. In the short and medium-term, this situation damages the learning process at school-age, while in the long-term this might condition the quality of jobs.

Impact of nutritional status at the onset of elementary school on academic aptitude test achievement at the end of high school in a multicausal approach.

Like in many other countries, few investigations have been carried out in Chile to measure the long-term effects of nutritional status at an early age on scholastic achievement in a multicausal approach. The objectives of the present study were to describe the impact of nutritional, intellectual, family, educational and socio-economic variables at the onset of elementary school in 1987 that may affect achievement on the academic aptitude test (AAT) taken in 1998 at the end of high school, and to quantify the impact of these independent variables on the AAT. The present study comprises two cross-sectional stages: in 1987, a representative sample of 813 elementary school first-grader Chilean children from the Metropolitan Region was randomly chosen; in 1998, 12 years later, 632 school-age children were located and only 351 of them graduated from high school and, from these, 260 students took the AAT.

Twelve-year follow-up study of the impact of nutritional status at the onset of elementary school on later educational situation of Chilean school-age children.

Objective: To determine the impact of nutritional status in a multicausal approach of socio-economic, socio-cultural, family, intellectual, educational and demographic variables at the onset of elementary school in 1987 on the educational situation of these children in 1998, when they should have graduated from high school.

Setting: Chile's Metropolitan Region.

Design: Prospective, observational and 12-year follow-up study.

Scholastic achievement: a multivariate analysis of nutritional, intellectual, socioeconomic, sociocultural, familial, and demographic variables in Chilean school-age children.

Objective: We determined relative effects of nutritional status, intellectual ability, exposure to mass media, and socioeconomic, sociocultural, familial, demographic, and educational variables on scholastic achievement (SA).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Exposure to mass media and nutritional, intellectual, socioeconomic, sociocultural, familial, demographic, and educational factors, including approximately 2000 variables, were measured in a representative and proportional sample of 4509 school-age children from elementary and high schools in Chile's Metropolitan Region.

[Food and nutrition knowledge of school-age children's mothers from elementary and high school from different socioeconomic levels].

The objective of this study was to determine the degree of knowledge on food and nutrition of school-age children's mothers from Chile's Metropolitan Region and to measure the impact of socioeconomic, sociocultural and demographic variables on knowledge. A representative and proportional sample of 4,509 school-age children was chosen from Chile's Metropolitan Region and the degree of knowledge on food and nutrition on mothers of 1,985 of them was determined. The sample was stratified according to grade (I, II, IV, VI, VIII elementary school grades and I and IV high school grades), sex, type of school and geographic area.

[Food and nutrition knowledge of elementary and high school-age children from Chile's Metropolitan Region].

Background: In Chile there is scarce food and nutrition knowledge among school age children.

Aim: To determine the degree of food and nutrition knowledge of elementary and high school children and its relationship to socioeconomic status, sex, type of school and geographic area.

Subjects And Methods: Between 1986 and 1987, a representative and proportional sample of 4509 children was chosen from the Metropolitan Region.

Nutrition and learning in Chilean school age children: Chile's Metropolitan Region Survey 1986-1987.

The objective of this study was to determine the interrelationship between the scholastic achievement (SA) test and nutritional status of a representative sample of 4,509 elementary and high school children from Chile's Metropolitan Region. Percentages of weight/age (W/A), height/age (H/A), and weight/height (W/H) were compared to WHO (World Health Organization) Tables, head circumference/age (HC/A) to the Tanner Tables, and brachial anthropometry to Frisancho's norms. Socioeconomic status (SES) was measured by means of Graffar's Modified Method; SA by means of a language and mathematics test.

[Head circumference in Chilean school children 5 to 18 years of age and socioeconomic status].

The objectives of this study were to determine the head circumference (HC) values of a representative sample of 4,346 school children aged 5 to 18 years from Chile's Metropolitan Region, to carry out a comparative study with international reference data of Tanner, Nellhaus and Roche et al and to compare the HC values by socioeconomic status (SES). The sample included school children of both sexes, from public, private subsidized and private non-subsidized schools and from urban and rural areas. HC was measured according to Jelliffe norms and SES through Graffar's Modified Method.

[Nutritional status of school children in poverty conditions from urban and rural areas. Metropolitan region. Chile. 1986-1987].

The aim of this study was to compare the nutritional status of poor children from urban and rural areas and to quantify the impact of socioeconomic, sociocultural and family variables on nutritional status. Weight/age, height/age, weight/height and head circumference percentages were measured in a representative sample of 4509 school children, 39% belonging to a low socioeconomic status and living in the Metropolitan region, chosen according to grade, type of school, sex and geographic area. Children coming from rural areas had significantly higher percentages of undernutrition than children from urban areas according to weight/age (47 vs 34%, and weight/height (7.

Sources of nutrition information of Chilean schoolers, metropolitan region, Chile, survey 1986-1987.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the relative importance of different sources of nutrition information used by Chilean schoolers to learn the basics of nutrition. In this respect, a representative sample of 4,509 elementary and high-school children was randomly selected and stratified according to grade, sex, type of school and geographic area. Schoolers were individually interviewed in order to collect data related with socioeconomic status (SES) and sociocultural conditions, as well as to learn as to what they considered to be the most important sources of nutrition information influencing their nutritional learning, gathering the necessary data through a questionnaire especially designed for this purpose.