Effect of intradialytic oral nutritional supplementation on nutritional markers in malnourished chronic hemodialysis patients: prospective randomized trial.

Background And Objectives: Malnutrition is prevalent in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. It increases mortality and negatively affects quality of life. This study aimed to assess the effect of intradialytic oral nutritional supplement (ONS) on nutritional markers in chronic HD patients with protein energy wasting (PEW).

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Staging and Follow-up of Primary Vaginal Cancer.

Primary vaginal cancer is rare, comprising 1% to 2% of gynecologic malignancies and 20% of all malignancies involving the vagina. More frequently, the vagina is involved secondarily by direct invasion from malignancies originating in adjacent organs or by metastases from other pelvic or extrapelvic primary malignancies. Data on the use of imaging in vaginal cancer are sparse.

Comparison of Heat Shock Protein 70 Expression in Response to Different Non-Ablative Lasers: An Study.

The objective of our study was to compare the extent and timing of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) expression following non-ablative fractional laser (NAFL) Er:Glass as well as Nd:YAG and alexandrite laser systems. The role of HSP70 has been established in wound healing. Reports indicate that HSP70 expression increases after skin laser interventions.

Treating Field Cancerization by Ablative Fractional Laser and Indoor Daylight: Assessment of Efficacy and Tolerability.

Objective: To assess if ablative fractional laser combined with indoor daylight photodynamic therapy are effective and safe for the treatment of skin field cancerization associated with actinic keratosis (AK). Methods: A total of 46 patients with field cancerized skin and AK were treated by a single session of laser assisted drug delivery (LAAD) and indoor daylight photodynamic therapy (IDL-PDT). LAAD was applied using a CO2 ablative fractional laser (AFXL) and aminolevulonic acid.

Stimulation of collagen and elastin production in-vivo using 1,540 nm Er:Glass laser: assessment of safety and efficacy.

: Induction of collagen and elastin remodeling in the human skin can be achieved by non-ablative fractional laser (NAFXL) and ablative fractional laser (AFXL). Our objective was to compare the safety, efficacy, tolerability, and ability to induce collagen and elastin remodeling of NAFXL versus AFXL in a series of treatments over time.: In this prospective, proof of principle, single-case study, the safety, tolerability and efficacy of the laser systems were assessed via histopathology and clinical evaluations including photographs.

Effect of high flow arteriovenous fistula on cardiac function in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Vascular access for hemodialysis (HD) with an inappropriately high flow may underlie the onset of high output heart failure (HOHF).The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of high flow access (HFA) in chronic HD patients, and to determine its effects on cardiac functions.

Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on 100 chronic hemodialysis patients through arteriovenous fistula (AVF).

Characterizing Focused Attention and Working Memory Using EEG.

Detecting the cognitive profiles of learners is an important step towards personalized and adaptive learning. Electroencephalograms (EEG) have been used to detect the subject's emotional and cognitive states. In this paper, an approach for detecting two cognitive skills, focused attention and working memory, using EEG signals is proposed.

Hyperinsulinemic Normoglycemia during Cardiac Surgery Reduces a Composite of 30-day Mortality and Serious In-hospital Complications: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Hyperinsulinemic normoglycemia augments myocardial glucose uptake and utilization. We tested the hypothesis that hyperinsulinemic normoglycemia reduces 30-day mortality and morbidity after cardiac surgery.

Methods: This dual-center, parallel-group, superiority trial randomized cardiac surgical patients between August 2007 and March 2015 at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, and Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada, to intraoperative glycemic management with (1) hyperinsulinemic normoglycemia, a fixed high-dose insulin and concomitant variable glucose infusion titrated to glucose concentrations of 80 to 110 mg · dl; or (2) standard glycemic management, low-dose insulin infusion targeting glucose greater than 150 mg · dl.

Value of immunohistochemical expression of podocalyxin in active lupus nephritis.

Unlabelled: Podocalyxin is an electronegative sialoglycoprotein that prevents the podocyte foot process from collapsing. The aim of this study was to detect an association between the glomerular immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of podocalyxin and the degree of podocyte effacement detected by electron microscopy, and to evaluate the role of podocalyxin IHC expression as a novel marker for disease activity in lupus nephritis (LN).

Methods: Thirty-two renal biopsies of active lupus nephritis patients were studied.

Central obesity and risks of cardiovascular events and mortality in prevalent hemodialysis patients.

Background: To date, no attempt has been made to assess the best anthropometric method for defining abdominal adiposity in hemodialysis (HD) patients or to determine whether the quantity of intra-abdominal fat relates to morbidity and mortality in that population. We aimed to describe the prevalence of central obesity in HD patients and to investigate the relationship between central obesity assessed by anthropometric variables, and composite outcomes, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among HD patients and whether this parameter correlates with intra-abdominal fat assessed by computed tomography scan (CT scan).

Methods: The procedures followed were in accord with the ethical standards of the committee on human experimentation of our institution.

Relationship of serum haemojuvelin and hepcidin levels with iron level and erythropoietin requirement in prevalent hepatitis C virus positive haemodialysis patients.

Aim: Iron overload is frequently reported in haemodialysis (HD) patients particularly those with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Soluble haemojuvelin (sHJV) has recently emerged as one of the significant regulators of iron homeostasis and hepcidin expression. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential associations of sHJV and hepcidin with inflammation, iron parameters and erythropoietin requirement in prevalent HD patients with HCV.

Laparoscopic Management of Interstitial Ectopic Using Simple and Safe Technique: Case Series and Review of Literature.

Background And Objective: To determine the safety and sustainability of operative laparoscopy in surgical management of cornual and interstitial ectopic pregnancy using a simple and practical method.

Design: Case series of five consecutive cases.

Setting: Endoscopy unit in Alexandria University Hospital and Alexandria New Medical Center.

Role of Laparoscopic Exploration Under Local Anesthesia in the Management of Hemodynamically Stable Patients with Penetrating Abdominal Injury.

Background: In many trauma centers there is an ongoing controversy over the way of managing patients with penetrating abdominal injuries. This study was constructed to evaluate the role of diagnostic laparoscopy performed with local anesthesia for the management of penetrating abdominal injury.

Patients And Methods: Thirty hemodynamically stable patients with a penetrating stab wound in the anterior abdominal wall were included in this study after consent was obtained.

Zeroing in on the cause of your patient's facial pain.

The overlapping characteristics of facial pain can make it difficult to pinpoint the cause. This article, with a handy at-a-glance table, can help.

Ionic bases for electrical remodeling of the canine cardiac ventricle.

Emerging evidence suggests that ventricular electrical remodeling (VER) is triggered by regional myocardial strain via mechanoelectrical feedback mechanisms; however, the ionic mechanisms underlying strain-induced VER are poorly understood. To determine its ionic basis, VER induced by altered electrical activation in dogs undergoing left ventricular pacing (n = 6) were compared with unpaced controls (n = 4). Action potential (AP) durations (APDs), ionic currents, and Ca(2+) transients were measured from canine epicardial myocytes isolated from early-activated (low strain) and late-activated (high strain) left ventricular regions.

Transmural dispersion of repolarization as a preclinical marker of drug-induced proarrhythmia.

Torsade de Pointes (TdP) proarrhythmia is a major complication of therapeutic drugs that block the delayed rectifier current. QT interval prolongation, the principal marker used to screen drugs for proarrhythmia, is both insensitive and nonspecific. Consequently, better screening methods are needed.

Effects of advanced selection methods on sperm quality and ART outcome: a systematic review.

Background: Current routine semen preparation techniques do not inclusively target all intrinsic sperm characteristics that may impact the fertilization potential. In order to address these characteristics, several methods have been recently developed and applied to sperm selection. The objective of this study was to systematically review the literature describing these advanced sperm selection methods focusing on their anticipated benefits on sperm quality and assisted reproductive technique (ART) outcome.

Enhanced dispersion of repolarization explains increased arrhythmogenesis in severe versus therapeutic hypothermia.

Background: Hypothermia is proarrhythmic, and, as the use of therapeutic hypothermia (TH) increases, it is critically important to understand the electrophysiological effects of hypothermia on cardiac myocytes and arrhythmia substrates. We tested the hypothesis that hypothermia-enhanced transmural dispersion of repolarization (DOR) is a mechanism of arrhythmogenesis in hypothermia. In addition, we investigated whether the degree of hypothermia, the rate of temperature change, and cooling versus rewarming would alter hypothermia-induced arrhythmia substrates.

Implication of apoptosis in sperm cryoinjury.

Apoptosis is an ongoing physiological phenomenon that has been documented to play a role in male infertility, if deregulated. Caspase activation, externalization of phosphatidylserine, alteration of mitochondrial membrane potential and DNA fragmentation are markers of apoptosis found in ejaculated human spermatozoa. These markers appear in excess in subfertile men and functionally incompetent spermatozoa.

Assessment of male serum anti-Mullerian hormone as a marker of spermatogenesis and ICSI outcome.

Objective: To assess serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) as a marker of spermatogenesis among fertile and infertile males, as well as its relation to ICSI outcome.

Methods: A total of 77 male partners of infertile couples seeking infertility treatment were recruited for this study. They were classified according to the WHO criteria of semen analysis into three groups; azospermia, oligospermia, and normal.

Heart failure enhances susceptibility to arrhythmogenic cardiac alternans.

Background: Although heart failure (HF) is closely associated with susceptibility to sudden cardiac death (SCD), the mechanisms linking contractile dysfunction to cardiac electrical instability are poorly understood. Cardiac alternans has also been closely associated with SCD, and has been linked to a mechanism for amplifying electrical heterogeneities in the heart. However, previous studies have focused on alternans in normal rather than failing myocardium.

Increased sperm chromatin decondensation in selected nonapoptotic spermatozoa of patients with male infertility.

Objective: To evaluate the sperm chromatin decondensation (SCD) rates of the annexin-negative (nonapoptotic) sperm fraction of patients with infertility using hamster intracytoplasmic sperm injection (H-ICSI). In healthy donors, the depletion of apoptotic sperm using annexin V-based magnetic-activated cell separation (MACS) enhances hamster oocyte sperm penetration but does not increase SCD rates following H-ICSI.

Design: A prospective-controlled study.

Anonymous semen donor recruitment without reimbursement in Canada.

A previous review of 22 studies from eight countries, conducted between 1980 and 2003, concluded that semen donors who are older, married or are fathers are less likely to be financially motivated. Despite the Assisted Human Reproduction Act coming into force in 2004, no data originating from Canada have been published on this topic. The objective of this study was to validate these findings in the Canadian population within the context of an anonymous semen donor programme in Canada.

Association of sperm apoptosis and DNA ploidy with sperm chromatin quality in human spermatozoa.

Objective: To examine the relationship among sperm apoptosis, sperm chromatin status, and DNA ploidy in different sperm fractions.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Reproductive research center in a tertiary care hospital.