Cationic polymers for successful flocculation of marine microalgae.

Flocculation of microalgae is a promising technique to reduce the costs and energy required for harvesting microalgae. Harvesting marine microalgae requires suitable flocculants to induce the flocculation under marine conditions. This study demonstrates that cationic polymeric flocculants can be used to harvest marine microalgae.

Lone aortic insufficiency and conduction disease: a marker of reactive arthritis.

A 48-year-old male with history of chronic arthritis and uveitis presented with 1 year of progressively reduced exercise capacity and nonexertional chest pain. Physical examination was consistent with severe aortic insufficiency. An electrocardiogram demonstrated sinus rhythm with first degree atrioventricular block.

Screening for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) using wide-angle digital retinal photography by non-ophthalmologists: a systematic review.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the leading and preventable causes of blindness. The investigation of choice for diagnosing ROP is binocular indirect ophthalmoscope (BIO) done by ophthalmologists. Since the number of ophthalmologists available to do BIO examination is limited, especially in developing countries, there is a need for an alternate, cheap, reliable and feasible test.

Influence of subretinal fluid in advanced stage retinopathy of prematurity on proangiogenic response and cell proliferation.

Purpose: The clinical phenotype of advanced stage retinopathy of prematurity (ROP, stages 4 and 5) cannot be replicated in an animal model. To dissect the molecular events that can lead up to advanced ROP, we examined subretinal fluid (SRF) and surgically dissected retrolental membranes from patients with advanced ROP to evaluate its influences on cell proliferation, angiogenic properties, and macrophage polarity.

Methods: We compared our findings to SRF collected from patients with uncomplicated rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RD) without proliferative vitreoretinopathy and surgically dissected epiretinal membrane from eyes with macular pucker.

Intimate partner sexual aggression against Chinese women: a mixed methods study.

Background: Although intimate partner sexual aggression has been shown to be associated with adverse mental health outcomes, there is scant information about sexual aggression in Chinese intimate relationships in general and about its mental health impact in particular. This article aimed to investigate sexual aggression in Chinese intimate relationships, including the use of force or threat of force and non-physical coercive tactics in unwanted sex.

Methods: The quantitative and qualitative data used in this paper were drawn from a prospective cohort study conducted in Hong Kong between September 2010 and September 2012.

Evaluating the Chinese Revised Controlling Behaviors Scale.

The present study evaluated the utility of the Chinese version of the Revised Controlling Behaviors Scale (C-CBS-R) as a measure of controlling behaviors in violent Chinese intimate relationships. Using a mixed-methods approach, in-depth, individual interviews were conducted with 200 Chinese women survivors to elicit qualitative data about their personal experiences of control in intimate relationships. The use of controlling behaviors was also assessed using the C-CBS-R.

Detection of efaproxiral (RSR13) and its metabolites in equine by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

Efaproxiral (RSR 13) is an experimental synthetic allosteric modifier of haemoglobin (Hb) that acts by increasing the release of oxygen from Hb to the surrounding tissues. It has been shown to increase maximum oxygen uptake (VO(2max)) in a canine skeletal muscle model. The ability to increase maximal muscle oxygen uptake makes efaproxiral a potential performance-enhancing agent and is therefore prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Fluorescein angiographic observations of peripheral retinal vessel growth in infants after intravitreal injection of bevacizumab as sole therapy for zone I and posterior zone II retinopathy of prematurity.

Aim: To evaluate vascularisation of the peripheral retina using fluorescein angiography (FA) digital recordings of infants who had been treated with intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) as sole therapy for zone I and posterior zone II retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Methods: A retrospective evaluation was performed of medical records, RetCam fundus images and RetCam fluorescein angiogram videos of 10 neonates (20 eyes) who received intravitreal bevacizumab injections as the only treatment for zone I and posterior zone II ROP between August 2007 and November 2012.

Results: All eyes had initial resolution of posterior disease after IVB injection as documented by RetCam colour fundus photographs.

Camper learning and friendship at pediatric oncology camps in North America.

Children with cancer and their families often attend specialized camps (therapeutic recreation) through their cancer treatment journey, yet little is known about the effects of these camps. A qualitative cohort study was used to assess learning and friendship development by campers attending one of four pediatric oncology summer camps during 2010 in North America. Standardized perceived change questionnaires developed by the American Camp Association were administered following camp attendance.

Intranasal topical local anesthetic and decongestant for flexible nasendoscopy in children: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Importance: To our knowledge, the present study is the first double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in children to compare nasal preparation sprays administered before flexible nasendoscopy with placebo.

Objective: To compare the degree of pain experienced by children undergoing flexible nasendoscopy after 1 of 3 intranasal sprays: placebo, decongestant with topical local anesthetic (TLA), or decongestant without TLA.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A randomized placebo-controlled trial with blinding of participants, caregivers, observers, and otolaryngologists was conducted in a tertiary pediatric otolaryngology ambulatory clinic.

Constitutive activation of the Nrf2/Keap1 pathway in insecticide-resistant strains of Drosophila.

Pesticide resistance poses a major challenge for the control of vector-borne human diseases and agricultural crop protection. Although a number of studies have defined how mutations in specific target proteins can lead to insecticide resistance, much less is known about the mechanisms by which constitutive overexpression of detoxifying enzymes contributes to metabolic pesticide resistance. Here we show that the Nrf2/Keap1 pathway is constitutively active in two laboratory-selected DDT-resistant strains of Drosophila, 91R and RDDTR, leading to the overexpression of multiple detoxifying genes.

Initial experience with a dual-balloon catheter for the management of postpartum hemorrhage.

Objective: When uterotonics fail to cause sustained uterine contractions and satisfactory control of hemorrhage after delivery, tamponade of the uterus can be effective in decreasing hemorrhage secondary to uterine atony.

Study Design: These data are from a postmarketing surveillance study of a novel dual-balloon catheter tamponade device, the Belfort-Dildy Obstetrical Tamponade System (ebb).

Results: A total of 57 women were enrolled: 55 women had the diagnosis of postpartum hemorrhage, and 51 women had uterine balloon placement within the uterine cavity.

Education as a social determinant of health: issues facing indigenous and visible minority students in postsecondary education in Western Canada.

The level of educational attainment is increasingly being recognized as an important social determinant of health. While higher educational attainment can play a significant role in shaping employment opportunities, it can also increase the capacity for better decision making regarding one's health, and provide scope for increasing social and personal resources that are vital for physical and mental health. In today's highly globalized knowledge based society postsecondary education (PSE) is fast becoming a minimum requirement for securing employment that can afford young adults the economic, social and personal resources needed for better health.

Multiplanar 3D ultrasound imaging to assess the anatomy of the upper airway and measure the subglottic and tracheal diameters in adults.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of using three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound to assess the anatomy of the airway.

Methods: 11 young volunteers were recruited for 3D ultrasound and MRI of the airway. 3D ultrasound data were obtained from the level of the true vocal cords, cricoid cartilage and upper trachea.

Genetic ablation of epidermal EGFR reveals the dynamic origin of adverse effects of anti-EGFR therapy.

Cancer patients treated with anti-EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) drugs often develop a dose-limiting pruritic rash of unknown etiology. The aims of our study were to define causal associations from a clinical study of cutaneous and systemic changes in patients treated with gefitinib and use these to develop and characterize a mouse model that recapitulates the human skin rash syndrome caused by anti-EGFR therapy. We examined the patients' plasma before and after treatment with gefitinib and documented changes in chemokines and leukocyte counts associated with the extent of rash or the presence of pruritus.

Detection and elimination profile of cathinone in equine after norephedrine (Propalin®) administration using a validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method.

Cathinone is the principal psychostimulant present in the leaves of khat shrub, which are widely used in East Africa and the Arab peninsula as an amphetamine-like stimulant. Cathinone readily undergoes metabolism in vivo to form less potent cathine and norephedrine as the metabolites. However, the presence of cathine and norephedrine in biological fluids cannot be used as an indicator of cathinone administration.

Current incidence of duplicate publication in otolaryngology.

Objectives/hypothesis: Duplicate publication--deemed highly unethical--is the reproduction of substantial content in another article by the same authors. In 1999, Rosenthal et al. identified an 8.

Slit2 prevents neutrophil recruitment and renal ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Neutrophils recruited to the postischemic kidney contribute to the pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), which is the most common cause of renal failure among hospitalized patients. The Slit family of secreted proteins inhibits chemotaxis of leukocytes by preventing activation of Rho-family GTPases, suggesting that members of this family might modulate the recruitment of neutrophils and the resulting IRI. Here, in static and microfluidic shear assays, Slit2 inhibited multiple steps required for the infiltration of neutrophils into tissue.

Rac2-deficiency leads to exacerbated and protracted colitis in response to Citrobacter rodentium infection.

Recent genetic-based studies have implicated a number of immune-related genes in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Our recent genetic studies showed that RAC2 is associated with human IBD; however, its role in disease pathogenesis is unclear. Given Rac2's importance in various fundamental immune cell processes, we investigated whether a defect in Rac2 may impair host immune responses in the intestine and promote disease in the context of an infection-based (Citrobacter rodentium) model of colitis.

Host and bacterial factors that regulate LC3 recruitment to Listeria monocytogenes during the early stages of macrophage infection.

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial pathogen that can escape the phagosome and replicate in the cytosol of host cells during infection. We previously observed that a population (up to 35%) of L. monocytogenes strain 10403S colocalize with the macroautophagy marker LC3 at 1 h postinfection.

Digoxin antibody fragment, antigen binding (Fab), treatment of preeclampsia in women with endogenous digitalis-like factor: a secondary analysis of the DEEP Trial.

Objective: Endogenous digitalis-like factors (EDLFs) are elevated in women with preeclampsia, and the use of an anti-digoxin antibody Fab (DIF) in women with preeclampsia who were remote from term reduced maternal blood pressure and preserved renal function. The objective was to determine whether DIF treatment in women with severe preeclampsia in association with positive EDLFs in maternal serum improves maternal-perinatal outcomes.

Study Design: This was a planned secondary analysis from a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study of DIF in women with severe preeclampsia with positive EDLF status that was managed expectantly between 23 weeks 5 days and 34 weeks' gestation (19 women received placebo, and 17 women received DIF).

Hospitalization rates of children who are blind.

Background: To evaluate the impact of blindness on hospitalization rates of children.

Design: Matched cohort study.

Participants: Children confirmed as legally blind (2003-2009), age- and gender-matched to control cohort of normally sighted children from the state register of births.

Aeroacoustics of T-junction merging flow.

This paper reports a numerical study of the aeroacoustics of merging flow at T-junction. The primary focus is to elucidate the acoustic generation by the flow unsteadiness. The study is conducted by performing direct aeroacoustic simulation approach, which solves the unsteady compressible Navier-Stokes equations and the perfect gas equation of state simultaneously using the conservation element and solution element method.

Role of sentence-final particles and prosody in irony comprehension in Cantonese-speaking children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders.

English-speaking children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are less capable of using prosodic cues such as intonation for irony comprehension. Prosodic cues, in particular intonation, in Cantonese are relatively restricted while sentence-final particles (SFPs) may be used for this pragmatic function. This study investigated the use of prosodic cues and SFPs in irony comprehension in Cantonese-speaking children with and without ASD.