Nutrition
October 2024
Objectives: Mexico exhibits one of the highest prevalence rates of overweight and obesity globally, accompanied by a surge in non-communicable diseases, which in turn leads to elevated mortality rates. Existing efforts to address rising obesity rates have shown limited effectiveness. Maternal weight, diet, and physical activity (PA) during pregnancy affect the mother's and offspring's health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Low back pain (LBP) is a common pathology, and its high prevalence has led to the emergence of alternative options that have gained popularity without objective epidemiological evaluations. This work seeks to clarify the utility of ozone in the treatment of LBP.
Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted following the principles by PRISMA.
Brugada syndrome (BrS) is an inherited autosomal dominant cardiac channelopathy. Pathogenic rare mutations in the gene, encoding the alpha-subunit of the voltage-dependent cardiac Na channel protein (Nav1.5), are identified in 20% of BrS patients, affecting the correct function of the channel.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Correct tip positioning is a critical aspect in central vascular access devices insertion. The verification of positioning at the cavo-atrial junction is usually performed by intracavitary electrocardiography. Recently, echocardiographic techniques were proposed, including the direct visualization of the catheter or the visualization of a saline/air bolus (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFemorally inserted Central Catheters are increasingly used also for medium and long-term catheterization as an alternative to Centrally and Peripherally inserted Central Catheters. If certified as "power injectable," they may be used for contrast media injection during radiological examinations. It is important to consider the risk that, as with other types of catheters, the injection of contrast media could cause migration or damage to the device.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The use of metallic implants for the treatment of patella fractures often involves complications related to the hardware. As a result, there has been a considerable focus on the use of non-metallic implants. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in clinical outcomes, including the rates of complications and re-operations following the surgical management of patellar fractures with metallic versus non-metallic implants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe brisk remodeling in healthcare delivery observed after the COVID-19 outbreak led us to evaluate how the pandemic affected non-melanoma skin cancer's (NMSC) care and tumor burden. To address this topic, we set up a retrospective real-life multi-center study based on the cities of Bergamo and Varese, whose provinces were the worst hit in Italy by the pandemic. We analyzed medical and pathological data from patients that underwent surgery in the two months preceding the outbreak in Italy and compared them to those who did in the corresponding bimester of the following year, reaching 214 patients and 274 lesions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe evolution of complex morphological structures can be characterized by the interplay between different anatomical regions evolving under functional integration in response to shared selective pressures. Using the highly derived humeral morphology of talpid moles as a model, here we test whether functional performance is linked to increased levels of evolutionary integration between humerus subunits and, if so, what the strength is of the relationship. Combining two-dimensional geometric morphometrics, phylogenetic comparative methods, and functional landscape modeling, we demonstrate that the high biomechanical performance of subterranean moles' humeri is coupled with elevated levels of integration, whereas taxa with low-performance values show intermediate or low integration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Intensive Care Unit acquired weakness (ICUAW) occurs commonly. Muscular ultrasonography allows visualization and classification of muscle characteristics. The aims of this study were to evaluate peripheral and respiratory muscles, their changes during long-term ICU stays, and the possible diagnostic predictive value of ICUAW as compared to the Medical Research Council strength score (MRC-SS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The statistical analysis of fossil remains is essential to understand the evolution of the genus Homo. Unfortunately, the human fossil record is straight away scarce and plagued with severe loss of information caused by taphonomic processes. The recently developed field of Virtual Anthropology helps to ameliorate this situation by using digital techniques to restore damaged and incomplete fossils.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT) is an effective therapeutic modality in patients with brain metastases. However, nearly 90% of patients undergoing WBRT suffer from a neurocognitive function (NCF) impairment at diagnosis, and up to two-thirds will experience a further decline within 2-6 months after WBRT. Focal-dose reduction on bilateral hippocampus is thought to improve NCF preservation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn recent decades, the role played by the immune response to bacteria in the pathogenesis of chronic periodontal disease (PD) has long been studied. Although from the clinical point of view, adequate oral hygiene is essential to ensure a satisfactory response of the host to infections, modulation of the reaction of immune system could be influenced by genetic factors. The aim of the present study was to investigate the distribution of alleles of polymorphisms relevant for chronic periodontitis in a sample of adult subjects affected by chronic PD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIndian J Clin Biochem
January 2018
Preanalytical steps are the major sources of error in clinical laboratory. The analytical errors can be corrected by quality control procedures but there is a need for stringent quality checks in preanalytical area as these processes are done outside the laboratory. Sigma value depicts the performance of laboratory and its quality measures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Few studies have addressed the psychological characteristics of adolescents with binge eating disorder (BED). No research has focused on the psychological functioning of these adolescents' parents or on the prevalence of traumatic experiences among them.
Methods: In this study, 202 adolescents aged 11-13 and their parents were recruited from mental health clinics to complete the youth self-report (YSR), the response evaluation measure for youth (REM-71), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Symptom Check-List (SCL-90-R), and the traumatic experience checklist (TEC).
Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are exogenous substances or xenoestrogens natural or synthetic, capable of interacting with different systems and altering their normal hormonal regulation, being the reproductive system one of the most affected. EDs produce their effects not only by acting on nuclear steroid receptors, but also on membrane receptors, steroidal and non-steroidal synthetic enzymatic pathways and/or metabolism. The incorporation to the body depend on each EDs, which are liposoluble and easily deposited in the tissue; thus ensuring a prolonged accumulation and release, even when the exposure is not continuous.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Microbiol
November 2012
Biofilms are core to a range of biological processes, including the bioremediation of environmental contaminants. Within a biofilm population, cells with diverse genotypes and phenotypes coexist, suggesting that distinct metabolic pathways may be expressed based on the local environmental conditions in a biofilm. However, metabolic responses to local environmental conditions in a metabolically active biofilm interacting with environmental contaminants have never been quantitatively elucidated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In 2009, an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by influenza A H1N1 virus occurred worldwide. Some patients required Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission. The use of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in these patients is controversial, as the aerosol dispersion may contaminate the environment and health-care co-workers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Immunoglobulin E and associated cellular responses are responsible for allergic airway diseases. A hypersensitivity reaction initiated by immunologic mechanisms, mediated by IgE antibodies occurs in allergic asthma
Aim: To estimate and compare serum IgE levels in mild, moderate, and severe asthmatics and in normal subjects and to obtain a mathematical model describing the relationship between serum IgE levels and severity of asthma.
Materials And Methods: A stratified sample of 60 patients within age group of 18-60 years and 31 male and 29 female asthmatic patients and 13 healthy controls within 18-60 years were included in this study and classified according to GINA classification.
Comb Chem High Throughput Screen
January 2009
Voltage dependent sodium channels are widely recognized as valuable targets for the development of therapeutic interventions for neuroexcitatory disorders such as epilepsy and pain as well as cardiac arrhythmias. An ongoing challenge for sodium channel drug discovery is the ability to readily evaluate state dependent interactions, which are known to underlie inhibition by many clinically used local anesthetic, antiepileptic and antiarrhythmic sodium channel blockers. While patch-clamp electrophysiology is still considered the most effective way of measuring ion channel function and pharmacology, it does not have the throughput to be useful in early stages of drug discovery in which there is often a need to evaluate many thousands to hundreds of thousands of compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe molecular properties of the sulfonylurea receptor 2 (SUR2) subunits of K(ATP) channels expressed in urinary bladder were assessed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This showed that SUR2B exon 17- mRNA (72%) was predominant over the SUR2B exon 17+ splice variant (28%). The pharmacological properties of both of these isoforms stably expressed in mouse Ltk(-)cells (L-cells) with K(IR) 6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiple studies have concluded that manual patient transfer and repositioning techniques are a significant cause of low back injuries. The objective of this study was to compare the low back stresses resulting from the use of two different mechanical patient transfer assist devices with the use of traditional manual transfer techniques. The mechanical transfer systems used were the Barton Patient Transfer System and a Sling-Suspension Lift similar to a "Hoyer Lift".
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSerum β(2)-microglubin (β(2)-m) levels were measured in oral carcinoma patients and compared with normal healthy controls. It was observed that there was a significant rise in serum β(2)-microglobulin in oral carcinoma patients. Progressively higher values were obtained as the cancer advanced clinically.
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