Does offering small financial incentives to smokers at the time of being wait-listed for surgery increase smoking cessation by the day of surgery? A randomised feasibility trial.

Objective: This study aims to assess whether offering small financial incentives to smokers on elective surgery wait-lists is feasible and increases quitting before surgery.

Design: Randomised controlled trial, prospective, double-blinded.

Setting: Single-centre, Australian metropolitan public hospital.

Carnosic acid inhibits secretion of allergic inflammatory mediators in IgE-activated mast cells via direct regulation of Syk activation.

Mast cells are essential regulators of inflammation most recognized for their central role in allergic inflammatory disorders. Signaling via the high-affinity immunoglobulin E (IgE) receptor, FcεRI, leads to rapid degranulation of preformed granules and the sustained release of newly synthesized proinflammatory mediators. Our group recently established rosemary extract as a potent regulator of mast cell functions, attenuating MAPK and NF-κB signaling.

Robotic LINX Placement: Is it Worth It?

Laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication is considered the current gold standard of surgical treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Magnetic sphincter augmentation with the LINX device was developed as a less technically challenging alternative that has proven to be a safe and effective surgical antireflux procedure. Despite rapid adoption of the robotic platform in many areas of general surgery, no studies have compared laparoscopic and robotic approaches to placement of the LINX device.

Colorimetric Polymerase Chain Reaction Enabled by a Fast Light-Activated Substrate Chromogenic Detection Platform.

Miniaturization of nucleic acid tests (NATs) into portable, inexpensive detection platforms may aid disease diagnosis in point-of-care (POC) settings. Colorimetric signals are ideal readouts for portable NATs, and it remains of high demand to develop color readouts that are simple, quantitative, and versatile. Thus motivated, we report a fast light-activated substrate chromogenic polymerase chain reaction (FLASH PCR) that uses DNA intercalating dyes (DIDs) to enable colorimetric nucleic acid detection and quantification.

Attenuation of allergen-mediated mast cell activation by rosemary extract (Rosmarinus officinalis L.).

Mast cells are immune sentinels and a driving force in both normal and pathological contexts of inflammation, with a prominent role in allergic hypersensitivities. Crosslinking of FcεRI by allergen-bound IgE Abs leads to mast cell degranulation, resulting in an early-phase response and release of newly synthesized pro-inflammatory mediators in the late-phase. The MAPK and NF-κB pathways are established as critical intracellular mechanisms directing mast cell-induced inflammation.

TAK1 signaling activity links the mast cell cytokine response and degranulation in allergic inflammation.

Mast cells drive the inappropriate immune response characteristic of allergic inflammatory disorders via release of pro-inflammatory mediators in response to environmental cues detected by the IgE-FcεRI complex. The role of TGF-β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1), a participant in related signaling in other contexts, remains unknown in allergy. We detect novel activation of TAK1 at Ser412 in response to IgE-mediated activation under SCF-c-kit potentiation in a mast cell-driven response characteristic of allergic inflammation, which is potently blocked by TAK1 inhibitor 5Z-7-oxozeaenol (OZ).

Cutaneous basal cell carcinoma mimicking small cell carcinoma.

Neuroendocrine differentiation seen in basal cell carcinomas (BCC) is not generally appreciated by oncologists and can introduce a component of confusion when diagnosing a tumor and developing a management plan. Understanding that BCC commonly have this feature can assist the treating oncologist.

Effects of Resveratrol against Lung Cancer: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies.

Uncontrolled cell growth and resistance to apoptosis characterize cancer cells. These two main features are initiated in cancer cells through mutations in key signaling molecules, which regulate pathways that are directly involved in controlling cell proliferation and apoptosis. Resveratrol (RSV), a naturally occurring plant polyphenol, has been shown to have biological effects counteracting different diseases.

Metformin in Lung Cancer: Review of in Vitro and in Vivo Animal Studies.

Cancer cells display enhanced growth rates and a resistance to apoptosis. The ability of cancer cells to evade homeostasis and proliferate uncontrollably while avoiding programmed cell death/apoptosis is acquired through mutations to key signaling molecules, which regulate pathways involved in cell proliferation and survival and these mutations allow them to develop resistance to many chemotherapeutic agents, highlighting the need for development of new potent anti-cancer agents. Metformin has long been used as a treatment for type 2 diabetes and has recently attracted attention as a potential agent to be used in the treatment of cancer.

Anticancer Effects of Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) Extract and Rosemary Extract Polyphenols.

Cancer cells display enhanced growth rates and a resistance to apoptosis. The ability of cancer cells to evade homeostasis and proliferate uncontrollably while avoiding programmed cell death/apoptosis is acquired through mutations to key signaling molecules, which regulate pathways involved in cell proliferation and survival. Compounds of plant origin, including food components, have attracted scientific attention for use as agents for cancer prevention and treatment.

Gastroesophageal reflux in mechanically ventilated pediatric patients and its relation to ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Introduction: The objective was to determine the frequency of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in mechanically ventilated pediatric patients and its role as a risk factor for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), which may be enhanced among those patients.

Methods: The study is a prospective cohort study of mechanically ventilated pediatric patients in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of Ain Shams University Children's Hospital. It was conducted in 24 mechanically ventilated patients (16 of them developed VAP and 8 did not, with mean age of 16.