Biomarkers in coronary artery disease: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Little information exists regarding the detection of early coronary heart disease protein biomarkers. The aim of this study was to investigate several potential candidates.

Methods: Systematic review was carried out followed by meta-analysis.

Optimizing nurse practitioner productivity within the Veterans Health Administration.

Background: Nurse practitioners (NPs) provide high-quality, comprehensive health care at Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical centers in various practice settings. Accurately determining the productivity of NPs is essential to understanding their overall contribution to veteran care. There is a lack of understanding of the contributors to the variability among VHA medical centers regarding their processes for capturing these data.

IPCC Emission Factor Overestimates NO Emissions from Agricultural Ditches.

Agricultural ditches emit disproportionate amounts of nitrous oxide (NO), but their contributions to regional or global NO emissions remain unclear due to limited data. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends using emission factors (EFs) to estimate indirect NO emission, but the EF for ditches (EF) is categorized as groundwater, which potentially introduces a significant bias. This study conducted a regional-scale campaign in the North China Plain, one of the world's most intensive agricultural regions, and calculated the EF values from agricultural ditches by the concentration method (NO-N/NO-N).

Chemical Imaging of Carbide Formation and Its Effect on Alcohol Selectivity in Fischer Tropsch Synthesis on Mn-Doped Co/TiO Pellets.

X-ray diffraction/scattering computed tomography (XRS-CT) was used to create two-dimensional images, with 20 μm resolution, of passivated Co/TiO/Mn Fischer-Tropsch catalyst extrudates postreaction after 300 h on stream under industrially relevant conditions. This combination of scattering techniques provided insights into both the spatial variation of the different cobalt phases and the influence that increasing Mn loading has on this. It also demonstrated the presence of a wax coating throughout the extrudate and its capacity to preserve the Co/Mn species in their state in the reactor.

Basilar artery occlusion management: An international survey of gender influence on management.

Background: The superiority of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) over medical management was not established in two early basilar artery occlusion (BAO) randomized controlled trials. Despite this, many clinicians recommended EVT for acute BAO under certain circumstances. This paper aims to compare physicians' diagnostic and management strategies of BAO according to gender.

Electrochemical based quantification of bacterial growth in media using square wave voltammetry and low cost screen printed electrodes.

A novel method for determining the yield of bacterial growth using square wave voltammetry and screen printed electrodes is described here. This procedure was shown to be a reliable and accurate way to quickly determine the level of bacterial growth within culturing media and these results suggest that the combination of such sensors and the application of square wave voltammetry is suitable for applications such as within a bioreactor where the rapid determination of bacterial growth may be necessary.

De-escalation of Monitoring in Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer: Results from the GAP3 Consortium.

Background And Objective: There is no consensus on de-escalation of monitoring during active surveillance (AS) for prostate cancer (PCa). Our objective was to determine clinical criteria that can be used in decisions to reduce the intensity of AS monitoring.

Methods: The global prospective AS cohort from the Global Action Plan prostate cancer AS consortium was retrospectively analyzed.

Tuning the Size of TiO-Supported Co Nanoparticle Fischer-Tropsch Catalysts Using Mn Additions.

Modifying traditional Co/TiO-based Fischer-Tropsch (FT) catalysts with Mn promoters induces a selectivity shift from long-chain paraffins toward commercially desirable alcohols and olefins. In this work, we use gas cell scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) elemental mapping, and near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) to demonstrate how the elemental dispersion and chemical structure of the as-calcined materials evolve during the H activation heat treatment required for industrial CoMn/TiO FT catalysts. We find that Mn additions reduce both the mean Co particle diameter and the size distribution but that the Mn remains dispersed on the support after the activation step.

Water residence time is an important predictor of dissolved organic matter composition and drinking water treatability.

Freshwater ecosystems are critical resources for drinking water. In recent decades, dissolved organic matter (DOM) inputs into aquatic systems have increased significantly, particularly in central and northern Europe, due to climatic and anthropogenic drivers. The associated increase in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration can change lake ecosystem services and adversely affect drinking water treatment processes.

Water table depth and plant species determine the direction and magnitude of methane fluxes in floodplain meadow soils.

Methane (CH) is a powerful greenhouse gas with ongoing efforts aiming to quantify and map emissions from natural and managed ecosystems. Wetlands play a significant role in the global CH budget, but uncertainties in their total emissions remain large, due to a combined lack of CH data and fuzzy boundaries between mapped ecosystem categories. European floodplain meadows are anthropogenic ecosystems that originated due to traditional management for hay cropping.

Kinematics of Loud, Soft, and Whispered Speech.

Introduction: We examined the effects of four types of voicing on vocal tract movements by comparing the articulatory kinematics of whispered speech to habitual, loud, and soft conditions.

Methods: Participants included 10 males and 10 females with no history of communication disorders. They read six stimulus sentences in habitual, loud, soft, and whispered conditions.

BeTTer Outcomes Workgroup Health Quality Initiative to optimize bone health for prostate cancer patients in the British Columbia Cancer System.

Introduction: Bone-targeted therapies (BTTs) are integral to the management of bone metastases in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). BTTs vary considerably in referral and drug access pathways and optimal BTT use requires multi-specialty consultation and supervision. Health quality improvement (HQI) has become the predominant framework to improve patient care in multidisciplinary settings.

Wetland productivity determines trade-off between biodiversity support and greenhouse gas production.

Establishing wetlands for nutrient capture and biodiversity support may introduce trade-offs between environmentally beneficial functions and detrimental greenhouse gas emissions. Investigating the interaction of nutrient capture, primary production, greenhouse gas production and biodiversity support is imperative to understanding the overall function of wetlands and determining possible beneficial synergistic effects and trade-offs. Here, we present temporally replicated data from 17 wetlands in hemi-boreal Sweden.

'I just need to know what they are and if you can help me': Medicalization and the search for legitimacy in people diagnosed with non-epileptic attack disorder.

This paper focuses on the struggles for legitimacy expressed by people with non-epileptic attack disorder (NEAD), one of the most common manifestations of functional neurological disorder presenting to emergency and secondary care services. Nonepileptic attacks are episodes of altered experience, awareness, and reduced self-control that superficially resemble epileptic seizures or other paroxysmal disorders but are not associated with physiological abnormalities sufficient to explain the semiological features. "Organic" or medicalized explanations are frequently sought by patients as the only legitimate explanation for symptoms, and consequently, a diagnosis of NEAD is often contested.

Life on the edge-a changing genetic landscape within an iconic American pika metapopulation over the last half century.

Declines and extirpations of American pika ( populations at historically occupied sites started being documented in the literature during the early 2000s. Commensurate with global climate change, many of these losses at peripheral and lower elevation sites have been associated with changes in ambient air temperature and precipitation regimes. Here, we report on a decline in available genetic resources for an iconic American pika metapopulation, located at the southwestern edge of the species distribution in the Bodie Hills of eastern California, USA.

Moderate consumption of freeze-dried blueberry powder increased net bone calcium retention compared with no treatment in healthy postmenopausal women: a randomized crossover trial.

Background: Preclinical studies suggest that blueberry consumption is associated with improved bone health.

Objectives: We conducted a blueberry dose-response study in ovariectomized (OVX)-rats that informed a study in postmenopausal women using the urinary appearance of calcium (Ca) tracers from prelabeled bone to reflect changes in bone balance. We hypothesized that blueberry consumption would reduce bone loss in a dose-dependent manner compared with no treatment.

Plasma Cell Gingivitis: Clinical and Pathological Case Report.

Introduction: Plasma cell gingivitis (PCG) is a rare benign condition usually found on marginal and attached gingiva. This case details a generalized PCG, to include the management of the patient and clinicopathologic characteristics of the disorder.

Case Presentation: The patient, a 24-year-old African American female, was referred to the periodontics clinic for severe generalized gingival erythema and edema.

Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Recombinant Human Parathyroid Hormone (1-84) in Adults With Chronic Hypoparathyroidism.

Context: Chronic hypoparathyroidism is conventionally treated with oral calcium and active vitamin D to reach and maintain targeted serum calcium and phosphorus levels, but some patients remain inadequately controlled.

Objective: To assess long-term safety and efficacy of recombinant human parathyroid hormone (1-84) (rhPTH(1-84)) treatment.

Methods: This was an open-label extension study at 12 US centers.

Treatment Patterns and Outcomes of Preoperative Neoadjuvant Radiotherapy in Patients with Early-onset Rectal Cancer.

Unlabelled: Preoperative radiotherapy for early-stage rectal cancer has risks and benefits that may impact treatment choice in young patients. We reviewed radiotherapy use and outcomes for rectal cancer by age. Patients with early-stage rectal cancer in the Canadian province of British Columbia from 2002 to 2016 were identified ( = 6,232).

Insight into continuous glucose monitoring: from medical basics to commercialized devices.

According to the latest statistics, more than 537 million people around the world struggle with diabetes and its adverse consequences. As well as acute risks of hypo- or hyper- glycemia, long-term vascular complications may occur, including coronary heart disease or stroke, as well as diabetic nephropathy leading to end-stage disease, neuropathy or retinopathy. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve diabetes management to reduce the risk of complications but also to improve patient's quality life.

Women's alcohol consumption in the early parenting period and influences of socio-demographic and domestic circumstances: A scoping review and narrative synthesis.

Issues: Numerous studies have explored alcohol consumption in pregnancy, but less is known about women's drinking in the early parenting period (EPP, 0-5 years after childbirth). We synthesise research related to three questions: (i) How are women's drinking patterns and trajectories associated with socio-demographic and domestic circumstances?; (ii) What theoretical approaches are used to explain changes in consumption?; (iii) What meanings have been given to mothers' drinking?

Approach: Three databases (Ovid-MEDLINE, Ovid-PsycINFO and CINAHL) were systematically searched. Citation tracking was conducted in Web of Science Citation Index and Google Scholar.