Salivary cortisol levels in Parkinson's disease and its correlation to risk behaviour.

Objective: To investigate salivary cortisol samples in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with and without impulsive compulsive behaviours (ICB) during a risk task.

Methods: Salivary cortisol levels were measured in 13 PD patients without ICB (PD-ICB) and in 15 PD patients with ICB (PD+ICB) before, after medication and throughout the day, and were compared with results with 14 healthy controls. All participants also performed a gambling task to assess risk taking behaviour.

Effect of municipal waste water effluent upon the expression of Glutathione S-transferase isoenzymes of brine shrimp Artemia.

Multiple isoenzymes of the detoxification enzyme family Glutathione S-transferase are expressed in the brine shrimp Artemia. The number of the major ones detected in crude extract by means of chromatofocusing varied between three and four, depending on the age. Two isoenzymes, one alkaline and one neutral (with corresponding isoelectric points of 8.

Predictors of preventable nursing home hospitalizations: the role of mental disorders and dementia.

Objectives: Nursing home (NH) hospitalizations place an enormous economic burden on an already overtaxed American healthcare system. Hospitalizations for "ambulatory care-sensitive" (ACS) conditions are considered preventable, as these are physical health conditions that can potentially be treated safely in a NH. The authors examined risk factors, including mental disorders and dementia, for hospitalization of Medicaid-enrolled NH residents with ACS conditions during fiscal year 2003-2006.

Aggressive systemic mastocytosis associated with mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis.

Background/aims/methods: Aggressive systemic mastocytosis (ASM) is a subtype of systemic mastocytosis, which comprises a heterogenous group of disorders characterized by infiltration of bone marrow, skin, liver, spleen, lymph nodes and gastrointestinal tract by neoplastic mast cells. There is lack of data on the association of ASM with renal involvement, as kidney is not among the known organs affected by ASM.

Results/conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of ASM associated with mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, without the presence of nephrotic syndrome.

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: Patients' outcomes, adequacy and quality of information given to decision-makers and procedure acceptance.

Aim: We aimed to evaluate patients' survival and complications after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement, the quality of information given to the decision-makers (relatives) before the procedure and their overall acceptance of the intervention.

Methods: We interviewed the relatives of 35 patients who underwent PEG tube placement in our facility from January 2008 to December 2009, using a structured questionnaire.

Results: Thirty-day survival rate was 83%.

Acute, simultaneous tear of patellar tendon and ACL: possible mechanism of injury and rationality of the two-stage surgical treatment.

The authors report a case of a 47-year-old professional driver with an acute, simultaneous tear of patellar tendon and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The patient was treated in two stages. Acute patellar tendon repair and delayed (6-month postinjury) ACL reconstruction was performed.

First 500 cases of robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy from a single UK centre: learning curves of two surgeons.

Objective: • To study the outcomes and learning curve of robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP) in a single centre by two surgeons.

Patients And Methods: • In total, 500 consecutive patients underwent RALP between 2005 and 2009 carried out by two surgeons. Using an ethically-approved database, prospective data collection of demographic, surgical, oncological and functional outcomes (patient reported) was performed, with up to 4 years of follow-up.

Comparing the sensitivity of EQ-5D, SF-6D and 15D utilities to the specific effect of diabetic complications.

Objectives: Diabetes patients suffer from comorbid conditions and disease-related complications. Combined with demographic, clinical and treatment satisfaction variables, they have a confounding effect on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study compared the sensitivity of EQ-5D, SF-6D and 15D utilities to the specific effect of diabetes complications.

Procalcitonin as an early indicator of outcome in sepsis: a prospective observational study.

This study explores the role of procalcitonin (PCT) in predicting the outcome of sepsis. In a prospective multicentre observational investigation, blood was sampled within 24 h of onset of sepsis in 1156 hospitalised patients; 234 were in the intensive care unit (ICU) at the point of presentation of sepsis while 922 were not. PCT was estimated in serum by the ultrasensitive Kryptor assay in a double-blinded fashion.

An intelligent system for classification of patients suffering from chronic diseases.

The CHRONIOUS system addresses a smart wearable platform, based on multi-parametric sensor data processing, for monitoring people suffering from chronic diseases in long-stay setting. Several signals are being recorded through wearable sensors and are stored together with additional information, entered by the patient. An Intelligent System, placed at a Smart Assistant Device, analyzes incoming data and facilitates data mining techniques resulting upon the severity of a health episode.

Increased pituitary-adrenal activation and shortened gestation in a sample of depressed pregnant women: a pilot study.

Background: Major depression (MD) is frequently accompanied by a relatively increased production of the stress hormone cortisol. During pregnancy corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) is secreted from the placenta and critically high levels of CRH are one of the key triggers for parturition. Maternal cortisol promotes the secretion of placental CRH.

Cortisol responses to serial MRI scans in healthy adults and in depression.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are a novel environment for most participants. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis modulates neurohormonal responses to novel and stressful experiences. We sought to examine the neurohormonal responses to MRI scans with the measurement of salivary cortisol.

Prescribed-drug utilization and polypharmacy in a general population in Greece: association with sociodemographic, health needs, health-services utilization, and lifestyle factors.

Purpose: Our aim was to analyze, in a multivariate framework, how sociodemographic, health-service utilization, health needs, and lifestyle risk factors influence drug utilization and polypharmacy (PP) in a general population in Greece.

Methods: The cross-sectional study took place in 2006. In total 1,005 individuals (> 18 years old) of 1,388 who were approached (response rate 72.

Theoretical study of hydrogen bond interactions of fluvastatin with ι-carrageenan and λ-carrageenan.

The binding of the reductase inhibitor drug fluvastatin, hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A, with the hydrophilic ι- or λ-carrageenan polymers, serving as potential controllers of the drug's release rate, have been studied at the density functional level of theory with the B3LYP exchange correlation functional. Three low energy conformers of fluvastatin have been calculated. The vibrational spectroscopic properties calculated for the most stable conformer were in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data.

Preferential-order waveguide grating couplers: a comparative rigorous analysis using the finite-difference time-domain method.

We rigorously analyze and compare preferential-order waveguide grating output couplers using the finite-difference time-domain method in the total-field/scattered-field formulation for TE and TM polarizations. Four kinds of preferential-order grating couplers are studied: volume holographic grating couplers, slanted parallelogrammic surface-relief grating couplers, double-corrugated surface-relief grating couplers, and reflecting-stack surface-relief grating couplers. The outcoupling efficiencies and branching ratios of the couplers, revealing their preferentiality, are calculated and compared with the rigorous coupled-wave analysis leaky-mode method.

Injectable and photopolymerizable tissue-engineered auricular cartilage using poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate copolymer hydrogels.

In this study we investigated the histological, biochemical, and integrative features of the neocartilage using swine auricular chondrocytes photoencapsulated into two poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDM) copolymer hydrogels of a different degradation profile: degradable (PEG-4,5LA-DM) and nondegradable (PEGDM) macromers in molar ratios of 60:40 and 70:30. Integration of the engineered tissue with existing native cartilage was examined using an articular cartilaginous ring model. Experimental group samples (total n=96) were implanted subcutaneously into nude mice and harvested at 6, 12, and 18 weeks.

Laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH) versus total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH) in endometrial carcinoma: prospective cohort study.

Objective: To determine the feasibility and safety of laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy in the treatment of presumed stage I endometrial cancer.

Study Design: This was a prospective cohort study without randomization of 182 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for early endometrial cancer or atypical hyperplasia at the West Kent Gynaecological Oncology Centre, UK. Seventy-four had laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO), and 108 had a total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy.

Barriers on the propagation of renewable energy sources and sustainable solid waste management practices in Greece.

Renewable energy sources (RES), excluding large hydroelectric plants, currently produce 4.21% of total electricity production in Greece. Even when considering the additional production from large hydroelectric plants, which accounts for some 7.

GABAergic control of novelty stress-responsive epigenetic and gene expression mechanisms in the rat dentate gyrus.

The activity of dentate gyrus granule neurons is under a strong GABAergic tonic inhibitory control which contributes to the sparse activation pattern of these neurons after environmental stimuli. Previously, we reported that in sparse dentate gyrus neurons such stimuli evoke Ser-10 (S10) phosphorylation and Lys-14 (K14) acetylation in the nucleosomal protein histone H3 (H3S10p-K14ac) resulting in the induction of c-Fos. We hypothesized that GABA is an important modulator of novelty stress-evoked epigenomic mechanisms in rat dentate neurons.

Quality of small bowel preparation for video-capsule endoscopy. Prospective comparison of two different preparations.

Background/aim: The best preparation for successful small bowel video-capsule endoscopy (VCE) is still unknown. The primary aim of our study was to compare sodium phosphate (PS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) purge on the quality of small bowel preparation.

Methodology: In this prospective, non-randomized, two centers study, we evaluated 47 and 48 consecutive outpatients who received PS and PEG preparations, respectively.

The prednisolone suppression test in depression: dose-response and changes with antidepressant treatment.

Depressed patients have reduced glucocorticoid receptor (GR) function, as demonstrated by resistance to the suppressive effects of the synthetic glucocorticoid hormone, and GR agonist, dexamethasone. We have developed a suppressive test with prednisolone, a synthetic glucocorticoid that is similar to cortisol in its pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, and binds to both the GR and the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). We have found that depressed patients suppress normally to prednisolone, unless they are particularly non-responsive to treatment.

Microcirculatory vascular dysfunction in HIV-1 infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Objectives: We investigated whether HIV-1 infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and HIV-1 infected patients who had never received HAART had differences in their vascular microcirculatory function.

Methods: We assessed the forearm blood flow before and after four minutes of ischemic occlusion of the brachial artery using venous occlusion strain gauge plethysmography. The hyperaemic forearm blood flow was recorded for three minutes at 15 second intervals.