Barriers to Exercise in Patients With Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease: A Patient Survey.

Background: Although adequate physical activity is an essential component of treatment for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), the majority of people with MASLD do not engage in regular exercise and lead sedentary lifestyles. We aimed to identify perceived barriers to exercise and to examine awareness about the role of exercise in the treatment of MASLD.

Methods: Individuals aged 18 years and above were recruited from a hepatology outpatient clinic.

Cancer stem cell metabolism: a potential target for cancer therapy.

Cancer Stem cells (CSCs) are a unipotent cell population present within the tumour cell mass. CSCs are known to be highly chemo-resistant, and in recent years, they have gained intense interest as key tumour initiating cells that may also play an integral role in tumour recurrence following chemotherapy. Cancer cells have the ability to alter their metabolism in order to fulfil bio-energetic and biosynthetic requirements.

Persistent pain following lumbar disc replacement.

Background: Pain patterns associated with the facet and sacroiliac joints following lumbar total disc replacement correlate with biomechanical modeling observations, such as load transfer to the posterior spinal elements in total disc replacement with an artificial disc. When conventional treatment options are exhausted, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) offers clinically favorable outcomes to treat intractable pain.

Objectives: To contribute to the literature on neuroaugmentive techniques and on pain following disc replacement, and to highlight recent advances and forward-thinking concepts for nonsurgical intradiscal therapies.

Spinal cord stimulation to treat postthoracotomy neuralgia: non-small-cell lung cancer: a case report.

Surgery is the mainstay of therapy for resectable-type tumors associated with non-small-cell lung cancer. Today, thoracotomy and video-assisted thoracotomy are surgical options. The prevalence of chronic pain with neuropathic symptoms is relatively high after thoracotomy.

Feasibility of combined epicranial temporal and occipital neurostimulation: treatment of a challenging case of headache.

Background: Evidence of a paradigm shift towards epicranial neurostimulation treatment techniques aimed at the site of headache pain is beginning to populate the literature. This is most apparent by 2 recently published reports describing alternative approaches to peripheral nerve stimulation techniques for refractory migraine, including hemiplegic migraine.

Objectives: To contribute to the emerging literature on epicranial-based neuroaugmentative approaches which target site-specific areas of distinct, but relatively diffuse, headache pain.

Radiation exposure in percutaneous spinal cord stimulation mapping: a preliminary report.

Background: The utilization of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) to treat intractable pain has increased substantially in recent years. Integral to this therapy, the fluoroscope assists with requisite mapping protocols during trialing procedures to identify topographical dermatomal representations of spinal segments, and its use demands measurements of radiation exposure. However, such data is not found in the literature.

The use of self-interaction chromatography in stable formulation and crystallization of proteins.

This paper reviews the basic principles of the recently developed self-interaction chromatography (SIC) technique with regard to protein solution stability and protein crystallization. It gives experimental protocols for both normal-scale and micro-scale SIC experiments and reviews recent developments and current applications of this novel technique in the biopharmaceutical area. This paper aims to be a benchmark in the further proliferation of this highly effective and fast technology for the rational design of stable aqueous formulations of therapeutic proteins and the determination of solution conditions favoring protein crystallization.

Protein self-interaction chromatography on a microchip.

This paper presents the development of a novel miniaturized experimental procedure for the measurement of protein-protein interactions through Self-Interaction Chromatography (SIC) on a microchip, without the use of chromatographic resins. SIC was recently demonstrated to be a relatively easy method to obtain quantitative thermodynamic information about protein-protein interactions, like the osmotic second virial coefficient B(22), which relates to protein phase behavior including protein crystallization. This successful miniaturization to microchip level of a measurement device for protein self-interaction data is a first key step to a complete microfluidic screening platform for the rational design of protein crystallizations, using substantially less expensive protein and experimentation time.

Spinal cord stimulation for pain management in ankylosing spondylitis: a case report.

Introduction.  The classic presentation of ankylosing spondylitis not only impairs spinal mobility but also imposes functional limitations, and fatigue is common. Methods.

Incidence of intravascular uptake during fluoroscopically guided lumbar disc injections: a prospective observational study.

Background: Although there are many in vivo studies evaluating lumbar disc injections, no studies have described the occurrence of intravascular uptake of contrast on discography. This phenomenon, however, has been well documented for other fluoroscopically-guided, contrast-enhanced spinal injections.

Objectives: To document the phenomenon and incidence of intravascular uptake during fluoroscopically-guided, contrast-enhanced lumbar disc injections.

Surviving severe acute respiratory distress syndrome: utility of open-lung biopsy and large doses of dexamethasone.

The etiology of acute respiratory distress syndrome is wide and mortality is extremely high. We describe a patient dying from severe acute respiratory distress syndrome who had a tremendous recovery after receiving dexamethasone (1 g daily). This patient required positive end-expiratory pressure (up to 18 mm/Hg) and fractional inspiratory oxygen (up to 100%).

The incidence of infectious complications of central venous catheters at the subclavian, internal jugular, and femoral sites in an intensive care unit population.

Objective: The objective was to assess the risk of central venous catheter infection with respect to the site of insertion in an intensive care unit population. The subclavian, internal jugular, and femoral sites were studied.

Design: An epidemiologic, prospective, observational study.

Liver failure, transplantation, and critical care.

The management of patients for end-stage liver disease in the ICU mandates a multidisciplinary approach and intense monitoring. Orthotopic liver transplantation still remains the only definitive therapy. Given the increasing disparity between the number of potential recipients and available cadaver organs, the current challenge is to optimize outcome with the limited resource.

Length-normalized pulse photoplethysmography: a noninvasive method to measure blood hemoglobin.

To determine whether blood hemoglobin concentration ([Hb]) could be measured noninvasively as the ratio of pulsatile changes in attenuation (absorbance plus scatter) of light (D) across a body part to changes in light path length (l), we measured transmission of near-infrared light (905 +/- 10 nm) through a finger, using a modified pulse oximeter, and simultaneously monitored fingertip diameter, using a sonomicrometer. In 25 subjects with [Hb] ranging from 3.1 to 18.