Since its first description in 1990, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) has continued to puzzle physicians and scientists alike as the mechanisms behind the characteristic unique left ventricular dysfunction that marks the condition and its relation to the intense emotional and physiological stressors that usually precede it have remained not fully understood. Since then, several different variants of the condition have been described that do not conform to the conventional narrative of a post-menopausal disease that only affects women of a certain age and is triggered by a preceding event. Of these variants, atypical Takotsubo, which does not assume the typical characteristic apical ballooning that marks the condition has been linked with a younger age group and a more neurological trigger.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Glaucoma is an ocular disease with significant health burden. Despite the availability of many antiglaucoma drugs, a significant proportion of patients may experience worsening of the disease. Hence, there is a need for newer antiglaucoma drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mental health is an overlooked aspect of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patient care with limited data from the developing world. The primary caregiver burden is expected to be high, but has not been evaluated.
Methods: We conducted a questionnaire-based survey of consecutive out-patients with no diagnosed mental health illness (n = 289) and their primary caregivers (n = 247) from 10 centers across eight countries (Bangladesh, India, Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand) of IBD-Emerging Nations' Consortium (ENC).
Despite numerous screening tools for colorectal cancer (CRC), 25 % of patients are diagnosed with advanced disease. Novel diagnostic technologies that are early, accurate, and rapid are imperative to assess the therapeutic efficacy of clinical drugs and identify new biomarkers of treatment response. Here Raman spectroscopy (RS) was used to track metabolic reprogramming in KRAS-mutant HCT116 and SW837 cells, and KRAS wild-type CC cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction And Importance: Buerger's disease is an uncommon segmental nonatherosclerotic vasculitis essentially affecting small to medium-sized arteries and veins of upper and lower extremities and can lead to limb amputation. Visceral vessel involvement is quite rare accounting for 2% of cases presenting with acute abdomen due to mesenteric ischemia. Moreover, isolated visceral involvement is even rare.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith its ligand estrogen, the estrogen receptor (ER) initiates a global transcriptional program, promoting cell growth. This process involves topoisomerase 2 (TOP2), a key protein in resolving topological issues during transcription by cleaving a DNA duplex, passing another duplex through the break, and repairing the break. Recent studies revealed the involvement of various DNA repair proteins in the repair of TOP2-induced breaks, suggesting potential alternative repair pathways in cases where TOP2 is halted after cleavage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe characterization of the triplet state of decatungstate (DT*) and its NIR phosphorescence with lifetimes ∼100 ns in acetonitrile allow the easy determination of rate constants that are key to understanding its role in catalysis. The absence of oxygen quenching can now be understood as the excitation energy of DT* is lower than the energy of singlet oxygen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough amplifications and mutations in receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) act as bona fide oncogenes, in most cancers, RTKs maintain moderate expression and remain wild-type. Consequently, cognate ligands control many facets of tumorigenesis, including resistance to anti-RTK therapies. Herein, we show that the ligands for the RTKs MET and RON, HGF and HGFL, respectively, are synthesized as inactive precursors that are activated by cellular proteases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRenal cell carcinoma (RCC) is an aggressive tumour, with 25% of the cases presenting with distant metastases at the time of diagnosis. Approximately 33% of the patients with RCC eventually develop metastatic spread. RCC can metastasize to various sites including the lung, liver, bone, brain, adrenal gland, and more.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhotochem Photobiol Sci
November 2023
The free radical chemistry of lipoic acid (LA) and dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) intersect at the point where DHLA loses hydrogen to a good hydrogen abstracting radical, while LA reacts with strongly reducing ketyl radicals capable of donating a hydrogen atom. While aliphatic thiyl radicals have an absorbance at ~ 330 nm, the resulting radical, formally also a thiyl radical has distinct spectroscopic properties with a maximum at 385 nm, suggesting that the two sulphur centres interact strongly with each other as part of the chromophore. The reactions that form these radicals were studied by laser flash photolysis that revealed DHLA as an excellent hydrogen donor, while LA is an excellent hydrogen acceptor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe chemistry originating from the scavenging of the highly electrophilic hole in TiO can be readily monitored using laser flash photolysis techniques. Dilute suspensions are sufficiently transparent in the UV region that long lived signals from reactions of solvent radicals with 1,1-diphenylethylene can be readily monitored. Transient signals originating from hole, electron and trapped radicals are extremely long lived showing stretched exponentials (nanoseconds to milliseconds), adequately described by fractal models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The incidence of chronic liver disease is increasing in the Nepalese population. Liver transplantation (LT) is the best option for patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD). Nepal's first liver transplant was performed in 2016 in an international collaborative effort at Shahid Dharmabhakta National Transplant Centre (SDNTC), Bhaktapur, Nepal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelective semi-oxidation of tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ) leads to a valuable dihydroisoquinoline (DHIQ) derivative via singlet oxygen photooxidation process. Typical photosensitisers (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is emerging in the newly industrialized countries of South Asia, South-East Asia, and the Middle East, yet epidemiological data are scarce.
Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of IBD demographics, disease phenotype, and treatment across 38 centers in 15 countries of South Asia, South-East Asia, and Middle East. Intergroup comparisons included gross national income (GNI) per capita.
Objectives: Three subcategories of high-risk flat and depressed lesions (FDLs), laterally spreading tumors non-granular type (LST-NG), depressed lesions, and large sessile serrated lesions (SSLs), are highly attributable to post-colonoscopy colorectal cancer (CRC). Efficient and organized educational programs on detecting high-risk FDLs are lacking. We aimed to explore whether a web-based educational intervention with training on FIND clues (fold deformation, intensive stool/mucus attachment, no vessel visibility, and demarcated reddish area) may improve the ability to detect high-risk FDLs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) comprise ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). These are diseases of the gastrointestinal tract without a clear etiology but have strong relationships with underlying factors like genetic susceptibility, environmental factors, and intestinal bacteria. In the east, inflammatory bowel diseases predominantly affect the younger population and have an almost equal gender distribution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhen a patient has an acute abdominal pain, it is important to identify if the underlying cause is life threatening. To that end, a thorough medical history and relevant investigation will be pivotal. Here we report a case of lead toxicity where the patient presented with an acute abdomen following intake of Ayurvedic medicines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pain Symptom Manage
June 2021
Background: We implemented a systematic multidisciplinary process to engage new outpatients with cancer in selecting and preparing a medical decision-maker.
Measures: Templated advance care planning notes and medical power of attorney documents were used in the electronic health record by the third office visit.
Intervention: Patients were coached to meet with social work from a "culture of yes," viewed a video about the importance of selecting a prepared medical a decision-maker in English or in Spanish, and referenced cards containing simple explanations of advance directives when responding to advance directive questions.
Cholera remains an important global health problem with up to 4 million cases and 140,000 deaths annually. Oral cholera vaccines (OCVs) are now a cornerstone of the WHOs "Ending Cholera - A Global Roadmap to 2030" global program for the eventual elimination of cholera. There are currently three WHO prequalified OCVs available, Dukoral®, Shanchol® and Euvichol-Plus®.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPiracetam, a nootropic drug that has been clinically used for decades but remains enigmatic due to no distinct understanding of its mechanism of action. The present study aimed to investigate the role of caspase independent pathway in piracetam mediated neuroprotection. LPS administration caused significant alterations in oxidative stress related parameters like glutathione, glutathione reductase and increased lipid peroxidation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPiracetam, a nootropic drug, has been clinically used for decades; however, its mechanism of action still remains enigmatic. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the role of mitochondrion-specific factors of caspase-independent pathway like apoptotic-inducing factor (AIF) and endonuclease-G (endo-G) in piracetam-induced neuroprotection. N2A cells treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exhibited significant cytotoxicity, impaired mitochondrial activity, and reactive oxygen species generation which was significantly attenuated with piracetam co-treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDimeric and multimeric aggregates of a model metalloporphyrin, zinc tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP), have been produced in a controlled manner by incrementally increasing the water content of dilute aqueous ethanol solutions. Steady state absorption, fluorescence emission, and fluorescence excitation spectra have been measured to identify the aggregates present as a function of solvent composition. The dynamics of the excited states of the aggregates produced initially by excitation in the Soret region have been measured by ultrafast fluorescence upconversion techniques.
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