Adverse pathological outcomes of patients with de novo muscle invasive bladder cancer in Northern Ontario.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the clinical and pathological characteristics of patients with de novo muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) who underwent radical cystectomy in Northern Ontario.

Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study of patients with de novo T2 MIBC who underwent radical cystectomy over a 2-year-period in Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Clinical and pathological characteristics of Trans Urethral Resection of Bladder Tumors and cystectomy specimens were analyzed.

Non-Poissonian Ultrashort Nanoscale Electron Pulses.

The statistical character of electron beams used in current technologies, as described by a stream of particles, is random in nature. Using coincidence measurements of femtosecond pulsed electron pairs, we report the observation of sub-Poissonian electron statistics that are nonrandom due to two-electron Coulomb interactions, and that exhibit an antibunching signal of 1 part in 4. This advancement is a fundamental step toward observing a strongly quantum degenerate electron beam needed for many applications, and in particular electron correlation spectroscopy.

Emotion-focused group therapy among women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder: A randomized clinical trial.

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) contributes to couple burnout, reduced quality of life, sexual dysfunction, and social isolation. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of emotion-focused group therapy (EFGT) in pain perception, self-compassion, sexual function, and couple burnout in women with PMDD. Among married females with PMDD, 72 participants were selected and randomly assigned to experimental and waitlist control groups.

Does co-inoculation of mycorrhiza and Piriformospora indica fungi enhance the efficiency of chlorophyll fluorescence and essential oil composition in peppermint under irrigation with saline water from the Caspian Sea?

Symbiotic associations with endophytic fungi are ecologically important for medicinal and aromatic plants. Endophytic fungi highly affect the quantity and quality of herbal products. In this study, a pot experiment was carried out in the greenhouse to investigate the interactive effects of Piriformospora indica and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AMF) inoculation on the chlorophyll fluorescence, essential oil composition, and antioxidant enzymes of peppermint under saline condition.

Salicylic acid alleviated the effect of drought stress on photosynthetic characteristics and leaf protein pattern in winter wheat.

Salicylic acid (SA) is a promising compound to increase plant tolerance to drought stress, and it can affect many aspects of physiological and biochemical processes. This study was focused on the changes in proteins, photosynthesis, and antioxidant system of Sardari wheat ecotypes leave in response to the application of SA under drought stress conditions. Treatments included Sardari wheat ecotypes (Baharband, Kalati, Fetrezamin, Gavdareh, Telvar, and Tazehabad), salicylic acid at 0.

Essential oil composition of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) in symbiotic relationship with Piriformospora indica and paclobutrazol application under salt stress.

Essential oil content and oil composition of paclobutrazol treated sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) plant inoculated with Piriformospora indica under salt stress were investigated by GC-MS. The results show a slight increase in essential oil content when basil plants subjected to moderate salinity stress (3 dS m of NaCl).

Renal frame count and renal blush grade: quantitative measures that predict the success of renal stenting in hypertensive patients with renal artery stenosis.

Objectives: This study sought to identify angiographic parameters of favorable clinical response to renal artery stenting.

Background: Stenting improves blood pressure (BP) control in patients with renal artery stenosis (RAS), but markers predicting a favorable clinical response are limited.

Methods: Renal perfusion was quantified in hypertensive patients (BP >or=140/90 mm Hg) without RAS by determining renal frame count (RFC) (angiographic frames [30 frames/s] for contrast to reach distal renal parenchyma after initial renal artery opacification) and renal blush grade (RBG) (0: none, 1: minimal, 2: normal, 3: hyperemic parenchymal blush).

Elevated plasma fibrinogen and diabetes mellitus are associated with lower inhibition of platelet reactivity with clopidogrel.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to identify factors associated with lower platelet inhibition (PI) with clopidogrel in subjects with cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Background: A heterogeneous platelet reactivity response to clopidogrel exists, and the clinical or biochemical predictors of suboptimal PI with clopidogrel remain unclear.

Methods: This study prospectively enrolled subjects with CVD requiring treatment with clopidogrel (75 mg daily for > or =7 days or 600-mg bolus > or =24 h before recruitment).

The critical period of weed control in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) in north of Iran conditions.

A field study was conducted in 2006 at Sari Agricultural and Natural Resources University, in order to determine the best time for weed control in soybean promising line, 033. Experiment was arranged in randomized complete block design with 4 replications and two series of treatments. In the first series, weeds were kept in place until crop reached V2 (second trifoliolate), V4 (fourth trifoliolate), V6 (sixth trifoliolate), R1 (beginning bloom, first flower), R3 (beginning pod), R5 (beginning seed) and were then removed and the crop kept weed-free for the rest of the season.

Successful percutaneous treatment of acute bilateral lower limb ischemia.

Acute limb ischemia is a surgical emergency as a delay in reperfusion is associated with a high risk of irreversible tissue infarction potentially leading to limb loss and death. However, in medically compromised patients, perioperative morbidity and mortality remain high. An elderly woman with multiple comorbidities developed acute bilateral lower limb ischemia and was not felt to have a surgical revascularization option.

Elevated plasma fibrinogen level predicts suboptimal response to therapy with both single- and double-bolus eptifibatide during percutaneous coronary intervention.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the factors associated with suboptimal platelet inhibition (PI) with single- and double-bolus eptifibatide during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Background: Although PI > or = 95% measured 10 min after glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor therapy is associated with improved outcomes following PCI, this level of PI often is not achieved.

Methods: We prospectively studied 150 patients undergoing PCI with single-bolus eptifibatide (180 microg/kg) (n = 100) and double-bolus eptifibatide (180 microg/kg administered 10 min apart) (n = 50) followed by standard infusion (2 microg/kg/min).

Expanded applications of rotational atherectomy in contemporary coronary and peripheral interventional practice.

Percutaneous rotational atherectomy is mainly utilized in contemporary interventional practice to alter lesion compliance, facilitating stent delivery and antirestenotic drug delivery at the site of the underlying lesion. This enables a percutaneous revascularization strategy in a group of patients who would otherwise require a surgical revascularization. We identify and present three novel uses for this device in percutaneous coronary and peripheral interventional procedures, which further expands the applications of rotational atherectomy.

Severe ostial saphenous vein graft disease leading to acute coronary syndromes following proximal aorto-saphenous anastomoses with the symmetry bypass connector device: is it a suture device or a "stent"?

The Symmetry Bypass Connector (St. Jude Medical, St. Paul, Minnesota) is a nitinol, star-shaped device that was designed to facilitate placement of sutureless aorto-saphenous anastomoses during off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG).

Dilation of the coronary sinus on echocardiogram: prevalence and significance in patients with chronic pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Although rarely seen in healthy patients, the coronary sinus (CS) is often visualized on echocardiography in patients with right-sided heart disease. However, the prevalence of this finding and its relation to right-sided heart structure and pressure remains undefined.

Methods: We examined the transthoracic echocardiograms of 43 consecutive patients referred for the evaluation of pulmonary hypertension (26 men, 17 women) with a mean age of 53 +/- 15 years (range 21 to 82 years).

Infrahepatic interruption of the inferior vena cava with azygos continuation: a potential mimicker of aortic pathology.

Infrahepatic interruption of the inferior vena cava (IVC) with azygos or hemiazygos continuation is a rare finding. In this anatomic entity, the intrahepatic segment of the IVC is absent, and the hepatic veins empty directly into the right atrium. Venous blood flow from the lower body is directed from the IVC into the azygos system at the level of the renal veins, with resultant dilation of the azygos and/or hemiazygos veins.

What is the best way to determine oropharyngeal classification and mandibular space length to predict difficult laryngoscopy?

Background: Previous studies have suggested that the degree of visibility of oropharyngeal structures (OP class) and mandibular space (MS) length can predict difficult laryngoscopy. However, those studies were either inconsistent or omit description of how to perform these tests with regard to body, head and tongue position, and the use of phonation, hyoid versus thyroid cartilage and inside versus outside of the mentum. The purpose of this investigation was to determine which method of testing best predicts difficult laryngoscopy.