Enhanced ANN-based ensemble method for bridge damage characterization using limited dataset.

Bridges are vital assets of transport infrastructure, systems, and communities. Damage characterization is critical in ensuring safety and planning adaptation measures. Nondestructive methods offer an efficient means towards assessing the condition of bridges, without causing harm or disruption to transport services, and these can deploy measurable evidence of bridge deterioration, e.

[Herpesviruses in patients after renal transplantation].

Aim: To estimate graft function after kidney transplantation during active herpesviruses or superinfection Materials and methods. The study included 32 patients (men 21, women 11) with end-stage chronic kidney disease. The median age was 43 years.

Patient specific approach to analysis of shear-induced platelet activation in haemodialysis arteriovenous fistula.

Shear-induced platelet activation (SIPAct) is an important mechanism of thrombosis initiation under high blood flow. This mechanism relies on the interaction of platelets with the von Willebrand factor (VWF) capable of unfolding under high shear stress. High shear stress occurs in the arteriovenous fistula (AVF) commonly used for haemodialysis.

Functional Evaluation of Larynx Nerve Stimulator With EMG Acquisition Capability and Wireless Connectivity.

Recently, an electrical stimulation of the paralyzed muscle, as a potential therapy for restoring function of a denervated muscle system, has been debated as an innovative treatment in the management of patients with laryngeal paralysis. Numerous studies in acute and chronic animal models have demonstrated that electrical stimulation of the paralyzed posterior cricoarytenoideus muscle (PCA) offers an approach to induce vocal fold abduction and restore ventilation through the glottis. The study aims to test applicability of the controlled opening of the rima glottides via direct electrical stimulation of the posterior cricoarytenoideus muscle.

[Simultaneous laparoscopic bilateral nephrectomy as a preparation for kidney transplantation in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease].

Aim: to study the possibility and safety of performing simultaneous bilateral laparoscopic nephrectomy in symptomatic patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) as a preparation for kidney transplantation.

Materials And Methods: From May 2018 to September 2019, six symptomatic patients with end-stage renal disease caused by ADPKD, who had hemodialysis, underwent simultaneous bilateral laparoscopic nephrectomy. The mean vertical kidney size according to CT data was 211.

CRISPR-enhanced engineering of therapy-sensitive cancer cells for self-targeting of primary and metastatic tumors.

Tumor cells engineered to express therapeutic agents have shown promise to treat cancer. However, their potential to target cell surface receptors specific to the tumor site and their posttreatment fate have not been explored. We created therapeutic tumor cells expressing ligands specific to primary and recurrent tumor sites (receptor self-targeted tumor cells) and extensively characterized two different approaches using (i) therapy-resistant cancer cells, engineered with secretable death receptor-targeting ligands for "off-the-shelf" therapy in primary tumor settings, and (ii) therapy-sensitive cancer cells, which were CRISPR-engineered to knock out therapy-specific cell surface receptors before engineering with receptor self-targeted ligands and reapplied in autologous models of recurrent or metastatic disease.

The Progress in the Novel Pediatric Rotary Blood Pump Sputnik Development.

In this work, the study results of an implantable pediatric rotary blood pump (PRBP) are presented. They show the results of the numerical simulation of fluid flow rates in the pump. The determination method of the backflows and stagnation regions is represented.

[EBV-positive central nervous system lymphoproliferative disease associated with immunosuppression after organ transplantation: Long-term remission without chemotherapy].

Primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphomas account for 13-20% of the posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) and rank among the most aggressive conditions. Reduction of immunosuppressive therapy should be mandatory to treat PTLD, but this is rarely used as the only therapy option. Chemotherapy regimens for PTLD involving the CNS most commonly include high-dose rituximab and high-dose methotrexate and/or cytarabine.

Rho-associated kinase 1 inhibition is synthetically lethal with von Hippel-Lindau deficiency in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CC-RCC) is the most lethal of all genitourinary cancers. The functional loss of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) gene occurs in 90% of CC-RCC, driving cancer progression. The objective of this study was to identify chemical compounds that are synthetically lethal with VHL deficiency in CC-RCC.

Antiangiogenic variant of TSP-1 targets tumor cells in glioblastomas.

Three type-1 repeat (3TSR) domain of thrombospondin-1 is known to have anti-angiogenic effects by targeting tumor-associated endothelial cells, but its effect on tumor cells is unknown. This study explored the potential of 3TSR to target glioblastoma (GBM) cells in vitro and in vivo. We show that 3TSR upregulates death receptor (DR) 4/5 expression in a CD36-dependent manner and primes resistant GBMs to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced caspase-8/3/7 mediated apoptosis.

Evaluating the effect of therapeutic stem cells on TRAIL resistant and sensitive medulloblastomas.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are emerging as novel cell-based delivery agents; however, a thorough investigation addressing their therapeutic potential in medulloblastomas (MB) has not been explored to date. In this study, we engineered human MSC to express a potent and secretable variant of a tumor specific agent, tumor necrosis factor-apoptosis-inducing ligand (S-TRAIL) and assessed the ability of MSC-S-TRAIL mediated MB killing alone or in combination with a small molecule inhibitor of histone-deacetylase, MS-275, in TRAIL-sensitive and -resistant MB in vitro and in vivo. We show that TRAIL sensitivity/resistance correlates with the expression of its cognate death receptor (DR)5 and MSC-S-TRAIL induces caspase-3 mediated apoptosis in TRAIL-sensitive MB lines.

A first-generation multi-functional cytokine for simultaneous optical tracking and tumor therapy.

Creating new molecules that simultaneously enhance tumor cell killing and permit diagnostic tracking is vital to overcoming the limitations rendering current therapeutic regimens for terminal cancers ineffective. Accordingly, we investigated the efficacy of an innovative new multi-functional targeted anti-cancer molecule, SM7L, using models of the lethal brain tumor Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Designed using predictive computer modeling, SM7L incorporates the therapeutic activity of the promising anti-tumor cytokine MDA-7/IL-24, an enhanced secretory domain, and diagnostic domain for non-invasive tracking.

[Choice of treatment mode in planned inguinal canal plasty].

The mainstay of inguinal hernias surgical treatment is posterior wall of inguinal canal plasty. On the basis of extensive clinical material individual approach to the choice of inguinal canal plasty mode was worked out taking into account the age of the patient and degree of posterior wall destruction. Results of 1506 planned herniotomies (867 single-layer plasties, 398 Shouldice multi-layer plasties, 162 Lichtenstein plasties) were evaluated.

[Some aspects of clinical kidney transplantation from marginal cadaver donors].

The results of kidney transplantation from marginal donors were compared in two groups of patients who had received high-dose dopamine (10-35 mcg/kg/min). Group 1 consisted of 652 patients with grafts from stable donors given dopamine in doses from 0 to 10 mcg/kg/min, group 2--of 112 patients with grafts from donors given high-dose dopamine (10-35 mcg/kg/min). Mean follow-up was 52 +/- 19 months.

Folding induced assembly of polypeptide decorated gold nanoparticles.

Reversible assembly of gold nanoparticles controlled by the homodimerization and folding of an immobilized de novo designed synthetic polypeptide is described. In solution at neutral pH, the polypeptide folds into a helix-loop-helix four-helix bundle in the presence of zinc ions. When immobilized on gold nanoparticles, the addition of zinc ions induces dimerization and folding between peptide monomers located on separate particles, resulting in rapid particle aggregation.

Monoclonal antibody-based fluorescence polarization immunoassay for sulfamethoxypyridazine and sulfachloropyridazine.

In this paper, a new monoclonal antibody (Mab) against sulfamethoxypyridazine (SMP) was produced, and a fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) based on the produced Mab was developed and optimized for the qualitative screening analysis of SMP. The Mab was raised from mice immunized with SMP linked to bovine serum albumin (BSA) by carbodiimide activated ester formation, using a succinic anhydride spacer molecule between SMP and BSA. Fluorescein labeled sulfachloropyridazine (SCP) and SMP (tracer) were synthesized and purified by thin layer chromatography (TLC).