"Fingerprinting" Benign and Cancerous Skin Lesions Using Vibrational Optical Coherence Tomography: Differentiation among Cancerous Lesion Types Based on the Presence of New Cells, Blood Vessels, and Fibrosis.

In this study, we use vibrational optical coherence tomography (VOCT) to examine the morphology and stiffness of benign and cancerous lesions. Lesion images and 3D plots of weighted displacement versus frequency and depth were used to compare the cellular, dermal collagen, new blood vessels, and fibrotic composition of normal skin, actinic keratoses (AK), nodular and superficial basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), and melanomas. The results of this study suggest that benign and cancerous lesions differ based on the addition of new cells with increased resonant frequency and stiffness (80 Hz, 1.

The relationship between religion and livelihood activities of women: Empirical evidence from the Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo Districts of Eastern Ghana.

The study examines the effect of religious affiliation on livelihood activity choice amongst a sample of 1209 women in the Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo Districts of Ghana. We attempt to disentangle the effect religion would have through its effect on risk preferences, from the effect it would have due to creation of social capital or the effect of clustering due to social identity. We find evidence that there is a strong positive social capital or social identity effect of being Catholic, Pentecostal or Protestant when it comes to farming.

Precision Health Resource of Control iPSC Lines for Versatile Multilineage Differentiation.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) derived from healthy individuals are important controls for disease-modeling studies. Here we apply precision health to create a high-quality resource of control iPSCs. Footprint-free lines were reprogrammed from four volunteers of the Personal Genome Project Canada (PGPC).

SHANK2 mutations associated with autism spectrum disorder cause hyperconnectivity of human neurons.

Heterozygous loss-of-function mutations in SHANK2 are associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We generated cortical neurons from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from neurotypic and ASD-affected donors. We developed sparse coculture for connectivity assays where SHANK2 and control neurons were differentially labeled and sparsely seeded together on a lawn of unlabeled control neurons.

The Alternative Omen Effect: Illusory negative correlation between the outcomes of choice options.

In situations of choice between uncertain options, one might get feedback on both the outcome of the chosen option and the outcome of the unchosen option ("the alternative"). Extensive research has shown that when both outcomes are eventually revealed, the alternative's outcome influences the way people evaluate their own outcome. In a series of experiments, we examined whether the outcome of the alternative plays an additional role in the decision-making process by creating expectations regarding the outcome of the chosen option.

Assigning Israeli medical graduates to internships.

Background: Physicians in Israel are required to do an internship in an accredited hospital upon completion of the medical studies, and prior to receiving the medical license. For most students, the assignment is determined by a lottery, which takes into consideration the preferences of these students.

Objectives: We propose a novel way to perform this lottery, in which (on average) a larger number of students gets one of their top choices.

An evidence-based systematic review of elderberry and elderflower (Sambucus nigra) by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration.

An evidence-based systematic review of elderberry and elderflower (Sambucus nigra) by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration consolidates the safety and efficacy data available in the scientific literature using a validated, reproducible grading rationale. This article includes written and statistical analysis of clinical trials, plus a compilation of expert opinion, folkloric precedent, history, pharmacology, kinetics/dynamics, interactions, adverse effects, toxicology, and dosing.

Credentialing of practitioners of botanical medicine.

This article discusses how practitioners, regardless of other professional licenses they may hold, could be credentialed in botanical medicine. The article reviews the field of clinical botanical medicine and the history and modern status of botanical medicine, as well as organizations currently involved in botanical medicine credentialing. Many different types of professionals prescribe botanical medicines, and the potential for collaboration among them is great.

[Lipid peroxidation in the blood of patients with suppurative meningitis].

It is shown that the dynamics of lipid peroxidation (LPO) in patients with purulent meningitis is unspecified in character and is encountered both in meningococcal and pneumococcal infection. The level of secondary LPO products and the degree of hyperfermentemia, which are determined according to the dynamics of changes in the activity of aspartate transaminase, are objective characteristics of the severity of the patient's condition and reach maximum on the 5th day of the disease. The correlation between the dynamics of the primary LPO products and the ceruloplasmin/transferin coefficient allows the severity of the disease to be prognosticated.

[Role of ceruloplasmin, transferrin and lipid peroxidation in bacterial infections of the CNS].

Ceruloplasmin and transferrin blood serum levels were measured during bacterial infection of the CNS. A decrease in ceruloplasmin level and a gradual increase in transferrin level were observed on the 5th day of the disease. The minimum ceruloplasmin level was observed simultaneously with the maximum MDA and GOT levels.

[Lipid peroxidation and hyperfermentemia in bacterial lesions of the CNS].

It was found that the increase in the serum level of lipid peroxidation products in patients with meningococcal meningitis correlated with the severity of the disease. The dependence between the level of lipid peroxidation products and the activity of cell enzymes in the serum has been investigated. During the first day of the disease GOT activity was strongly increased, while the level of lipid peroxidation products was 1560 +/- 237 mumol/l, which may be of a diagnostic value.

[Action of laser radiation on the peroxide chemiluminescence of wound exudate].

To assess the efficacy of laser therapy in the management of unresponding wounds and ulcers the method based on the estimation of chemiluminescence of tissue fluid in the presence of H2O2 was developed. It is suggested that laser radiation-induced decrease in chemiluminescence can be attributed to the activation of catalase in tissue fluid, which has an obvious positive therapeutic effect on reparative regeneration of wounds and ulcers.

[Evaluation of the efficacy of wound treatment by the intensity of chemiluminescence in the presence of hydrogen peroxide].

The authors have used the method of induced chemoluminescence of the wound release for an objective assessment of the course of the wound process and the efficiency of the chosen treatment. The investigations were performed in 20 children with postoperative and posttraumatic wounds of soft tissues.

[Evaluation of ion activity in determining time of death].

Activity of potassium ions was examined in 3 liquid media of 54 rabbit cadavers by potentiometry with the use of a potassium-selective valinomycin electrode. The reported and obtained data were used for the development of the diagnostic regression equations and the curves to define the time of death from the activity of a complex of 3 ions (potassium, sodium and hydrogen) in the blood serum, CSF and vitreous body fluid. The method is offered for appropriate trials in human cadavers.

[Dynamics of sodium and hydrogen ionic activity as a criterion for determining time of death].

The paper is concerned with a procedure for determination of the death onset. The time course of changes in the activity of sodium and hydrogen ions in the blood, CSF and vitreous body was examined in 42 rabbit cadavers. The animals were killed by air embolism.