The feasibility of a psychological first aid intervention as a supportive tactic for feelings of psychological distress and mental health recovery outcomes among earthquake survivors in Northern Syria.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of implementing a psychological first aid intervention for psychological distress, resilience capacity, quality and meaning of life among survivors affected by earthquake adversity in Northern Syria.

Methods: A quasi-experimental, pre-posttest, two-group research design was utilized. A convenience sample of 95 survivors (46 in the study group and 49 in the control group) was recruited for the psychological First Aid intervention at a 1:1 ratio.

Hand weakness in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and its relation to physical disability.

The purpose of this study was to determine the age of hand involvement in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), since various types of hand dynamometry have been applied to evaluate patients in clinical trials. We studied 40 patients with DMD from our university hospital clinic and 80 healthy, age-matched controls. Hand strength was evaluated by handgrip and pinch dynamometries, and by manual testing.

The consanguinity effect on QF-PCR diagnosis of autosomal anomalies.

Objectives: Quantitative Fluorescent PCR (QF-PCR) is a simpler and faster method of detecting common chromosomal abnormalities when compared to cytogenetic analysis. The aim of our study is to investigate the applicability of this methodology in a population where consanguineous marriages are common and to estimate the heterozygous frequency of the PCR markers used.

Methods: Four hundred and twenty-three DNA samples were extracted from uncultured amniocytes and amplified with 18 short tandem repeats (STR) markers specific to chromosomes 13, 18 and 21.

Postpartum stroke: a twenty-year experience.

Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize the clinical presentation, etiology, and acute and subsequent outcomes of postpartum stroke.

Study Design: This 20-year, single-center, retrospective review included 20 women without previous neurologic deficit with clinical and neuroimaging diagnoses of postpartum stroke.

Results: Eight of 20 women (40%) were delivered abdominally.

Predictors of neonatal outcome in women with severe preeclampsia or eclampsia between 24 and 33 weeks' gestation.

Objective: We sought to characterize predictors of neonatal outcome in women with severe preeclampsia or eclampsia who were delivered of their infants preterm.

Study Design: We performed a retrospective analysis of 195 pregnancies delivered between 24 and 33 weeks' gestation because of severe preeclampsia or eclampsia. Multiple logistic regression and univariate chi(2) analysis were performed for the dependent outcome variables of survival and respiratory distress syndrome by use of independent fetal and maternal variables.

Eclampsia. VIII. Risk factors for maternal morbidity.

Objective: This study was undertaken to identify risk factors associated with adverse maternal outcome in pregnancies complicated by eclampsia.

Study Design: This was a descriptive study of 399 consecutive women with eclampsia whose cases were managed at one perinatal center between August 1977 and July 1998. Data were collected.

Presentation of venous thromboembolism during pregnancy.

Objective: We sought to characterize the presentation, recurrence, and outcome of venous thromboembolism during pregnancy.

Study Design: We performed a 12-year, single-center, retrospective review of 38 patients with venous thromboembolism during pregnancy. The independent variables were subjected to univariate analysis (unpaired t test for normally distributed continuous variables and Fisher exact test for discrete variables).

[Epilepsy and cerebral tumor].

Objective: To determine clinical and pathological features with seizures associated brain tumors.

Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective study through of an Epilepsy Program Protocol where we studied fifty patients admitted at Hospital Universitário Cajuru of Curitiba, Brazil, in 1996-1997.

Results: We studied 36 males and 14 females, aged 6 and 81 years old (mean 40.

Risk factors for abruptio placentae and eclampsia: analysis of 445 consecutively managed women with severe preeclampsia and eclampsia.

Objective: Our purpose was to characterize the clinical presentation or laboratory variables predictive of either abruptio placentae or eclampsia in women with severe preeclampsia.

Study Design: Prospective collection of perinatal data from 445 consecutively managed women with severe preeclampsia and eclampsia. Univariate analysis was used to determine which of the independent variables were significantly different between the groups (abruptio placentae vs no abruptio placentae; eclampsia vs no eclampsia).

Prevention of preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a multisystem disorder of unknown cause. Efforts to prevent the disease or reduce its incidence have utilized pharmacological intervention as well as dietary supplementation. Recent, large, randomized trials have not shown a benefit from the use of aspirin.

Effects of aging and antioxidants on glucose transport in rat adipocytes.

The free radical theory of aging postulates that free radicals are the underlying cause of aging. One of the well-established age-associated disorders is the decrease in the insulin-stimulated glucose transport through the cell membrane which was reported to be a major mechanism underlying insulin resistance in old rats. The present study investigates the protective capacity of two known antioxidants, vitamin C and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), against age-associated free radical damage, which could be the reason behind the decreased insulin-stimulated glucose transport in old animals.

Radioprotective effect of vitamins C and E.

Albino rats were treated with aqueous vitamin C solution and vitamin E solution dissolved in olive oil at two concentrations, 100 and 300 mg/kg/day, for 6 months. Some of the animals were then subjected to whole-body irradiation. Chromosomal aberrations and mitotic activity in non-irradiated and irradiated groups were recorded.

Observation of continuous-wave on-resonance "self-focusing".

We report what to our knowledge are the first observations of an increase in the on-axis intensity of an intense cw on-resonance beam resulting from nonlinear absorption and diffraction during its propagation through a highly absorbing medium (sodium vapor). This "self-focusing" is not a self-lensing; instead it is modeled well by placing an aperture part way through the cell: The stripping by the aperture approximates the effect of the nonlinear absorption, and then Fresnel diffraction results in on-axis minima and maxima.

Morphological changes and the requirements for macromolecule synthesis during excystment of acanthamoeba castellanii.

Light and phase-contrast microscopic observations of excystment in Acanthamoeba castellanii have been used to classify cells in excysting populations as free trophozoites, or mature, activated, or preemergent cysts. These categories have been used to describe the kinetics of excystment. A pH of 7 and a temperature of 30 degrees C have been found to be optimal for the activation of mature cysts.