The aim of this systematic review was to identify and evaluate the evidence of the efficacy of stochastic resonance whole-body vibration (SR-WBV) on static, dynamic and functional balance in the elderly and in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. English and German studies were consulted in the CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ISI Web of Knowledge, PEDro and PubMed databases. Eight of 138 eligible studies were included, involving 381 participants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Physical activity is associated with decreased cancer (recurrence) risk and a reduction in treatment-specific side effects. Exercise modulates cytokine expression and shows beneficial effects on cancer patients' immune system. We investigated the following: (i) whether Non-Hodgkin-Lymphoma patients have increased serum macrophage migration inhibiting factor (MIF) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels after immunochemotherapy; (ii) whether physical activity influences cytokine serum levels; and (iii) whether serum cytokine levels are associated with histone modifications in tumor-competitive immune cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe perform high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy on in situ cleaved topological insulator Bi2Se3 single crystals and in situ transport measurements on Bi2Se3 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We demonstrate efficient electron depletion of Bi2Se3 via vacuum deposition of molecular MoO3, lowering the surface Fermi energy to within ∼100 meV of the Dirac point, well into the topological regime. A 100 nm MoO3 film provides an air-stable doping and passivation layer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe demonstrate a novel doping mechanism of silicon, namely n-type transfer doping by adsorbed organic cobaltocene (CoCp2*) molecules. The amount of transferred charge as a function of coverage is monitored by following the ensuing band bending via surface sensitive core-level photoelectron spectroscopy. The concomitant loss of electrons in the CoCp2* adlayer is quantified by the relative intensities of chemically shifted Co2p components in core-level photoelectron spectroscopy which correspond to charged and neutral molecules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo assess the effects of chemoimmunotherapy on post-chemotherapy cognitive impairments (PCCI) in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), we used objective and subjective measures of cognitive functions in combination with serum parameters and neuroelectric recordings. Self-perceived status of cognition, fatigue and emotional functioning were reduced in patients (n=30) compared to healthy controls (n=10). Cognitive performance was impaired in patients with NHL compared to controls and a norm sample (n=1179).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo determine the reasons for presentation and outcome of wildlife cases in East Tennessee, a retrospective analysis was performed using 14,303 records from cases presented to the wildlife clinic of the University of Tennessee Veterinary Teaching Hospital between 2000 and 2011. The cases were first categorized into amphibian/non-avian reptile, mammal, or avian and then classified into groups based on the primary admitting/presenting sign. There are a variety of reasons animals were presented to the clinic, and some were directly or indirectly anthropogenic in origin, including cat related, dog related, hit by automobile, and other human encounters leading to trauma; of the cases reviewed, 4,443 (31.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingle-crystals of vaterite, the least-stable anhydrous polymorph of CaCO3, are rare in biogenic and synthetic systems. We here describe the synthesis of high aspect ratio single crystal vaterite rods under additive-free conditions by precipitating CaCO3 within the cylindrical pores of track-etch membranes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe liver is the central organ for detoxification of xenobiotics in the body. In pharmacokinetic modeling, hepatic metabolization capacity is typically quantified as hepatic clearance computed as degradation in well-stirred compartments. This is an accurate mechanistic description once a quasi-equilibrium between blood and surrounding tissue is established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Hepatobiliary Pancreat Sci
August 2014
Recent advances in multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) offer several benefits for management of perihilar tumors. Resection planning for perihilar cholangiocarcinoma should consider two factors: safety and curability. Recognition of individual anatomic variations is particularly important for avoiding intraoperative injury.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiple types of oncolytic viruses are currently under investigation in clinical trials. To optimize therapeutic outcomes it is believed that the plethora of different tumor types will require a diversity of different virus types. Sendai virus (SeV), a murine parainfluenza virus, displays a broad host range, enters cells within minutes and already has been applied safely as a gene transfer vector in gene therapy patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther
February 2014
Awake fiberoptic intubation seems to continually lose importance in recent years. Alternative options of airway management are coming more and more into the focus of clinical anaesthesia and are moreover advertised specifically for the difficult airway. The concern seems justified that this intubation technique - once the indisputed standard in the management of the anticipated difficult airway - is practised less and less so that especially younger colleagues can hardly gain routine practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener
June 2014
Diagnosing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can be difficult, particularly in the early stage of disease; therefore, we evaluated the use of transcranial stem sonography (TCS) to improve early detection of the disease. In this cross-sectional study, 94 patients with sporadic ALS and 46 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were evaluated by TCS according to a standardized protocol used to diagnose Parkinson's disease. Approximately half (48%) of the patients with ALS showed a clear (> 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJuvenile sex offenders (JSO) are a specific subset of delinquent adolescents that are receiving more attention because of the crimes they commit and the issues surrounding how to successfully treat their deviant behaviors. Given JSO are such predominant treatment concerns in society, it is essential to identify and target key risk factors. One sexual behavior, bestiality, may be of particular importance to address in treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResearch has yet to examine the social influences of parents, peers, and partners on bullying. This study explored the impact of social relationships on bullies, victims, bully/victims, and uninvolved participants. A sample of 370 college-age participants was asked about bullying, family environment, friends' illegal behavior, and conflict resolution tactics in romantic relationships.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiominerals are invariably composite materials, where occlusion of organic macromolecules within single crystals can significantly modify their properties. In this article, we take inspiration from this biogenic strategy to generate composite crystals in which magnetite (Fe3O4) and zincite (ZnO) nanoparticles are embedded within a calcite single crystal host, thereby endowing it with new magnetic or optical properties. While growth of crystals in the presence of small molecules, macromolecules and particles can lead to their occlusion within the crystal host, this approach requires particles with specific surface chemistries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComputer-assisted automatic quantification (CAQ) was developed as an alternative method for the diagnosis of hepatic steatosis in order to compensate for observer-dependent bias. Here, we aim to demonstrate that CAQ can provide an accurate and precise result in analysis of fatty content, but that it is inappropriate to validate CAQ by comparison with conventional pathologist estimation (PE). Male rats were fed with a methionine-choline-deficient plus high-fat diet for three days, one week, or two weeks to induce mild, moderate, or severe steatosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Clin Imaging Sci
October 2013
Concepts dealing with the subdivision of the human liver into independent vascular and biliary territories are applied routinely in radiological, surgical, and gastroenterological practice. Despite Couinaud's widely used eight-segments scheme, opinions on the issue differ considerably between authors. The aim of this article is to illustrate the scientific basis for understanding and harmonizing inconsistencies between seemingly contradictory observations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe rates of mRNA synthesis and degradation determine cellular mRNA levels and can be monitored by comparative dynamic transcriptome analysis (cDTA) that uses nonperturbing metabolic RNA labeling. Here we present cDTA data for 46 yeast strains lacking genes involved in mRNA degradation and metabolism. In these strains, changes in mRNA degradation rates are generally compensated by changes in mRNA synthesis rates, resulting in a buffering of mRNA levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Med Imaging Graph
June 2013
Since the histological quantification of necrosis is a common task in medical research and practice, we evaluate different image analysis methods for quantifying necrosis in whole-slide images. In a practical usage scenario, we assess the impact of different classification algorithms and feature sets on both accuracy and computation time. We show how a well-chosen combination of multiresolution features and an efficient postprocessing step enables the accurate quantification necrosis in gigapixel images in less than a minute.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResearch projects in structural biology increasingly rely on combinations of heterogeneous sources of information, e.g. evolutionary information from multiple sequence alignments, experimental evidence in the form of density maps and proximity constraints from proteomics experiments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol
June 2013
Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a devastating disease characterized by persistent and uncontrolled abdominal pain. Our lack of understanding is partially due to the lack of experimental models that mimic the human disease and also to the lack of validated behavioral measures of visceral pain. The ligand-gated cation channel transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) mediates inflammation and pain in early experimental pancreatitis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLife-space is a promising method for estimating older adults' functional status. However, traditional life-space measures are costly and time consuming because they often rely on active subject participation. This study assesses the feasibility of using the global positioning system (GPS) function of smart phones to generate life-space indicators.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectron crystallography of two-dimensional crystals allows the structural study of membrane proteins in their native environment, the lipid bilayer. Determining the structure of a membrane protein at near-atomic resolution by electron crystallography remains, however, a very labor-intense and time-consuming task. To simplify and accelerate the data processing aspect of electron crystallography, we implemented a pipeline for the processing of electron diffraction data using the Image Processing Library and Toolbox (IPLT), which provides a modular, flexible, integrated, and extendable cross-platform, open-source framework for image processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite its importance in many industrial, geological and biological processes, the mechanism of crystallization from supersaturated solutions remains a matter of debate. Recent discoveries show that in many solution systems nanometre-sized structural units are already present before nucleation. Still little is known about the structure and role of these so-called pre-nucleation clusters.
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