Outcome predictors in elderly head and neck free flap reconstruction: A retrospective study and systematic review of the current evidence.

Free flap tissue transfer has become the gold standard for reconstruction of composite head and neck defects. We sought to investigate the efficacy and morbidity of these procedures in the elderly. We retrospectively reviewed 245 head and neck free flap procedures (234 patients).

Medical therapy for clinical benign prostatic hyperplasia: α1 Antagonists, 5α reductase inhibitors and their combination.

Medical therapy for clinical benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) has advanced significantly in the last 2 decades. Many new α1 antagonists and 5α reductase inhibitors (5ARi) are now commercially available. The practicing urologist must decide on the most appropriate medication for his patients, taking into consideration various factors like efficacy, dosing regime, adverse effects, cost, patient's socioeconomic background, expectations, drug availability and his own clinical experience.

Improving Health Screening Uptake in Men: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Context: Globally, uptake of health screening in men remains low and the effectiveness of interventions to promote screening uptake in men is not well established. This review aimed to determine the effectiveness of interventions in improving men's uptake of and intention to undergo screening, including interventions using information and communication technology and a male-sensitive approach.

Evidence Acquisition: Studies were sourced from five electronic databases (October 2015), experts, and references of included studies.

19th-century and early 20th-century jaundice outbreaks, the USA.

Historical enquiry into diseases with morbidity or mortality predilections for particular demographic groups can permit clarification of their emergence, endemicity, and epidemicity. During community-wide outbreaks of hepatitis A in the pre-vaccine era, clinical attack rates were higher among juveniles rather than adults. In community-wide hepatitis E outbreaks, past and present, mortality rates have been most pronounced among pregnant women.

Multilobar Insular-Involving Gliomas: Results with Hyperaggressive Resection.

Objective Hyperaggressive resection refers to a philosophy that maximal resection should be pursued in gliomas, wherever possible. In this study, we provide a detailed report of the outcomes with hyperaggressive surgery for multilobar insular-involving gliomas (MIGs).  Methods We report outcomes in patients with MIGs undergoing surgery aiming at gross total resection in all cases.

In male rats, the ability of central insulin to suppress glucose production is impaired by olanzapine, whereas glucose uptake is left intact.

Background: Insulin receptors are widely expressed in the brain and may represent a crossroad between metabolic and cognitive disorders. Although antipsychotics, such as olanzapine, are the cornerstone treatment for schizophrenia, they are associated with high rates of type 2 diabetes and lack efficacy for illness-related cognitive deficits. Historically, this risk of diabetes was attributed to the weight gain propensity of antipsychotics, but recent work suggests antipsychotics can have weight-independent diabetogenic effects involving unknown brain-mediated mechanisms.

Dispersion of near-infrared laser energy through radicular dentine when using plain or conical tips.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of tip design on patterns of laser energy dispersion through the dentine of tooth roots when using near-infrared diode lasers. Diode laser emissions of 810 or 940 nm were used in combination with optical fiber tips with either conventional plain ends or conical ends, to irradiate tooth roots of oval or round cross-sectional shapes. The lasers were operated in continuous wave mode at 0.

Cone-beam CT acquisition during transradial TACE made easy; use of the swivel arm board.

Objective: Transradial access for peripheral intervention often requires certain modification from its coronary counterparts. One of the challenges during transradial transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the need for the access arm to be repositioned during cone-beam CT (CBCT) acquisition to allow for C-arm rotation. We recently introduced a swivel arm board to allow seamless repositioning of the access arm during and after CBCT acquisition.

Social Isolation Modulates CLOCK Protein and Beta-Catenin Expression Pattern in Gonadotropin-Inhibitory Hormone Neurons in Male Rats.

Postweaning social isolation reduces the amplitude of the daily variation of CLOCK protein in the brain and induces lower reproductive activity. Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) acts as an inhibitor in the reproductive system and has been linked to stress. Social isolation has been shown to lower neuronal activity of GnIH-expressing neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH).

Survival improvements with adjuvant therapy in patients with glioblastoma.

Background: Evaluate survival of patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) managed with adjuvant intensity modulated radiation therapy and temozolomide since the introduction of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer and National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group (EORTC-NCIC) protocol.

Methods: All patients with GBM managed between May 2007 and December 2014 with EORTC-NCIC protocol were entered into a prospective database. The primary endpoint was the median survival.

Detection of dengue viruses and Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus larvae from four urban localities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Dengue fever (DF) is currently one of the most important mosquito-borne diseases that affects humans. Dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are caused by four serotypes of dengue viruses (DENV-1 to DENV-4). The main vector transmitting dengue is Aedes aegypti while Aedes albopictus acts as a secondary vector.

The partnership between the Brazilian School Feeding Program and family farming: a way for reducing ultra-processed foods in school meals.

Objective: To evaluate the profile of food acquisition in the National School Feeding Program according to the extent and purpose of food processing in three municipalities of southern Brazil during the implementation period of Law 11.947/2009.

Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.

A novel constrained H optimization algorithm for mechatronics design in flexure-linked biaxial gantry.

The biaxial gantry is widely used in many industrial processes that require high precision Cartesian motion. The conventional rigid-link version suffers from breaking down of joints if any de-synchronization between the two carriages occurs. To prevent above potential risk, a flexure-linked biaxial gantry is designed to allow a small rotation angle of the cross-arm.

Risk Factors Associated with Blood Exposure for Sporadic Hepatitis E in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Fecal contamination of drinking water is associated with large hepatitis E virus (HEV) outbreaks of genotypes 1 and 2 in endemic areas. Sporadic transmission of HEV genotypes 3 and 4 in high-income countries has been associated with exposure to blood and animal contact. The objective of the study was to identify the risk factors for hepatitis E and the genotype(s) causing sporadic hepatitis E in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Collagen matrix as an inlay in endoscopic skull base reconstruction.

Background: Multi-layer reconstruction has become standard in endoscopic skull base surgery. The inlay component used can vary among autografts, allografts, xenografts and synthetics, primarily based on surgeon preference. The short- and long-term outcomes of collagen matrix in skull base reconstruction are described.

Minimal motor for powering particle motion from spin imbalance.

We introduce a minimalistic quantum motor for coupled energy and particle transport. The system is composed of two spins, each coupled to a different bath and to a particle which can move on a ring consisting of three sites. We show that the energy flowing from the baths to the system can be partially converted to perform work against an external driving, even in the presence of moderate dissipation.

Science and society: Development of the Asian Men's Health Report: challenges and opportunities.

Men have shorter life expectancy and higher mortality than women; however, only a few countries have dedicated men's health policies. Men's health reports can support the development of men's health policies. The 2013 Asian Men's Health Report (AMHR) systematically documents and compares the status of men's health across countries in Asia.

Toward Mentoring in Palliative Social Work: A Narrative Review of Mentoring Programs in Social Work.

Background: Mentoring by an experienced practitioner enhances professional well-being, promotes resilience, and provides a means of addressing poor job satisfaction and high burnout rates among medical social workers. This is a crucial source of support for social workers working in fields with high risk of compassion fatigue and burnout like palliative care. Implementing such a program, however, is hindered by differences in understanding and application of mentoring practice.

Novel furan-containing peptide-based inhibitors of protein arginine deiminase type IV (PAD4).

Protein arginine deiminase type IV (PAD4) is responsible for the posttranslational conversion of peptidylarginine to peptidylcitrulline. Citrullinated protein is the autoantigen in rheumatoid arthritis, and therefore, PAD4 is currently a promising therapeutic target for the disease. Recently, we reported the importance of the furan ring in the structure of PAD4 inhibitors.

Impact of value added services on patient waiting time at the ambulatory pharmacy Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Background: Value added services (VAS) are an innovative dispensing system created to provide an alternative means of collecting partial drug supply from our hospital. This in turn was projected to reduce the necessity for patient to visit pharmacy counter and thus reduce the burden of prescription handling.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of increased VAS uptake following promotional campaign towards patient waiting time and to explore factors that may affect patient waiting time at the Ambulatory Pharmacy, Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Symptomatic Outcome after Bone-only Suboccipital Decompression in Adult Patients with Chiari Type I Malformations in the Absence of Hydromyelia or Hydrocephalus.

 Type I Chiari malformation presents without an associated hydromyelia in 30 to 70% of cases, yet there is no agreement regarding the optimal surgical treatment for these patients. We review our experience for treating symptomatic adult type I Chiari malformation without hydromyelia using a suboccipital bone decompression of the hindbrain and no duraplasty in 12 adult patients. Outcome was measured according to the Chicago Chiari Outcome Scale (CCOS).

Converting heat into directed transport on a tilted lattice.

We present a self-contained engine, which is made of one or more two-level systems, each of which is coupled to a single bath, as well as to a common load composed of a particle on a tilted lattice. We show that an increase in time of energy and entropy in the system composed of the spins and the particle, due to the interaction with the bath, can set the particle into upward motion at an average constant speed, even when driven by a single spin connected to a single bath. When considering an ensemble of different spins, the velocity of the particle is larger when the tilt is on resonance with any of the spins' energy splitting.

Distant metastasis as the sole initial manifestation of well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Thyroid carcinoma usually presents as a neck lump. Distant metastasis as the sole initial manifestation of well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma (WDTC) is rare and little is known about these patients. The aim of this study is to characterize patients who present with distant metastasis as the sole initial manifestation of WDTC.

Identification and characterization of a missense mutation in the -linked β--acetylglucosamine (-GlcNAc) transferase gene that segregates with X-linked intellectual disability.

-GlcNAc is a regulatory post-translational modification of nucleocytoplasmic proteins that has been implicated in multiple biological processes, including transcription. In humans, single genes encode enzymes for its attachment (-GlcNAc transferase (OGT)) and removal (-GlcNAcase (OGA)). An X-chromosome exome screen identified a missense mutation, which encodes an amino acid in the tetratricopeptide repeat, in (759G>T (p.