Advantages in Management and Remote Monitoring of Intravenous Therapy: Exploratory Survey and Economic Evaluation of Gravity-Based Infusions in Finland.

Introduction: Intravenous infusion therapy is a common and challenging invasive treatment procedure in hospital wards. Administration mistakes can have serious, even life-threatening, consequences. The Monidor solution was developed to help nurses administer gravity-based infusions and monitor them remotely, to avoid complications and reduce workload.

Persistence of fluazinam in soil under boreal conditions.

Fluazinam, a widely used pesticide in conventional potato cultivation, is effective against epidemics of the fungal disease late blight. To assess fluazinam persistence in soil, laboratory experiments were conducted with fluazinam added to soil as a pure chemical or contained in the commercial product Shirlan. In a follow-up experiment, the persistence was monitored under constant temperature and water content conditions during a maximum period of 1 year.

Identification and structural analysis of cereal arabinoxylan-derived oligosaccharides by negative ionization HILIC-MS/MS.

Recent works provide evidence of the prebiotic potential of arabinoxylan-derived oligosaccharides (A)XOS. In this study, we developed a structural analysis for cereal-derived (A)XOS by negative ionization HILIC-MS/MS. Initially, we assessed twelve (A)XOS samples of known structures with different linkage positions and branching points by direct-infusion negative ESI-MS.

Size-exclusion chromatography of xylan derivatives-the critical evaluation of macromolecular data.

Hydroxypropyl xylans with varying degrees of substitution were characterized by size-exclusion chromatography. Molar masses of the samples were determined using two approaches: by conventional calibration with molar mass standards and by a multi-detection method that utilizes the combination of static light scattering, viscometry, and differential refractive index detection. The molar mass results obtained by the multi-detection method were accurate, but required the determination of separate refractive index increments for each structurally different sample.

Exopolysaccharides Production during the Fermentation of Soybean and Fava Bean Flours by Leuconostoc mesenteroides DSM 20343.

Consumption of legumes is highly recommended due to their beneficial properties. Thus, there is a great interest in developing new legume-based products with good texture. In situ produced microbial exopolysaccharides (EPS) are regarded as efficient texture modifiers in the food industry.

In situ synthesis of exopolysaccharides by Leuconostoc spp. and Weissella spp. and their rheological impacts in fava bean flour.

Fava bean flour is regarded as a potential plant-based protein source, but the addition of it at high concentration is restricted by its poor texture-improving ability and by anti-nutritional factors (ANF). Exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are regarded as good texture modifiers. In this study, fava bean flour was fermented with Leuconostoc spp.

Rare Presentation of Left Lower Lobe Pulmonary Artery Dissection.

. Pulmonary arterial dissection with chronic pulmonary arterial hypertension as its major cause is a very rare but life-threatening condition. In most cases the main pulmonary trunk is the affected site usually without involvement of its branches.

Early vascular healing after titanium-nitride-oxide-coated stent versus platinum-chromium everolimus-eluting stent implantation in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Data on early vascular healing response of novel stent designs are scarce. In this randomized prospective trial, we sought to compare early neointimal coverage of cobalt-chromium-based titanium-nitride-oxide-coated bioactive stents (CoCr-BAS) versus platinum-chromium everolimus-eluting stents (PtCr-EES) at 2-month follow-up in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Forty patients with ACS were randomized to receive either CoCr-BAS (n = 19) or PtCr-EES (n = 21).

Optimization of Isomaltooligosaccharide Size Distribution by Acceptor Reaction of Weissella confusa Dextransucrase and Characterization of Novel α-(1→2)-Branched Isomaltooligosaccharides.

Long-chain isomaltooligosaccharides (IMOs) are promising prebiotics. IMOs were produced by a Weissella confusa dextransucrase via maltose acceptor reaction. The inputs of substrates (i.

Inter-laboratory evaluation of SEC-post-column calcofluor for determination of the weight-average molar mass of cereal β-glucan.

Even though size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with post column addition of calcofluor (SEC-calcofluor) has been used for the determination of cereal β-glucan molar mass in foods for many years, there is a lack of systematic evaluation of the method. To address this issue a set of suitable β-glucan standards were generated by preparative SEC and their molar mass characteristics were determined by analytical multi-detection SEC (refractive index (RI), light scattering). Each standard was then analysed by SEC-calcofluor at three different labs.

Pooled analysis of two randomized trials comparing titanium-nitride-oxide-coated stent versus drug-eluting stent in STEMI.

Introduction And Objectives: We performed a pooled analysis based on patient-level data from the TITAX-AMI and BASE-ACS trials to evaluate the outcome of titanium-nitride-oxide-coated bioactive stents vs drug-eluting stents in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction at 2-year follow-up.

Methods: The TITAX-AMI trial compared bioactive stents with paclitaxel-eluting stents in 425 patients with acute myocardial infarction. The BASE-ACS trial compared bioactive stents with everolimus-eluting stents in 827 patients with acute coronary syndrome.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as a tool for monitoring the fate of fluazinam in soil.

Fluazinam is a widely used pesticide employed against the fungal disease late blight in potato cultivation. A specific, repeatable, and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method utilizing a diode array detector (DAD) was developed to determine the presence of fluazinam in soil. The method consists of acetonitrile (ACN) extraction, clean-up with solid-phase extraction (SPE), and separation using a mobile phase consisting of 70% ACN and 30% water (v/v), including 0.

O-acetylation of glucuronoxylan in Arabidopsis thaliana wild type and its change in xylan biosynthesis mutants.

O-Acetylglucuronoxylans (AcGX) in Arabidopsis thaliana carry acetyl residues on the 2-O and/or 3-O positions of the xylopyranosyl (Xylp) units, but the distribution of different O-acetylated Xylp units is partly unclear. We studied a possible correlation of xylan acetylation and the activities of different glycosyltransferases involved in xylan biosynthesis by analyzing the distribution of O-acetyl substituents on AcGX from Arabidopsis wild-type and mutants irx7, irx9-1, irx10, irx14 and gux1gux2. The relative contents of the Xylp structural units were determined with quantitative two-dimensional heteronuclear single quantum coherence nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Analysis of plant ribosomes with asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation.

Ribosome profiling is a technique used to separate ribosomal subunits, 80S ribosomes (monosomes), and polyribosomes (polysomes) from other RNA-protein complexes. It is traditionally performed in sucrose gradients. In this study, we used asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation (AsFlFFF) to characterize ribosome profiles of Nicotiana benthamiana plants.

Challenges in analysis of high-molar mass dextrans: comparison of HPSEC, AsFlFFF and DOSY NMR spectroscopy.

Dilute solutions of various dextran standards, a high-molar mass (HMM) commercial dextran from Leuconostoc spp., and HMM dextrans isolated from Weissella confusa and Leuconostoc citreum were analyzed with high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation (AsFlFFF), and diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy (DOSY). HPSEC analyses were performed in aqueous and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solutions, while only aqueous solutions were utilized in AsFlFFF and DOSY.

Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and chronic atrial fibrillation.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC). We explored the clinical characteristics of IDC patients with chronic AF compared with those with sinus rhythm (SR).

Methods: A group of patients with IDC underwent extensive non-invasive and invasive evaluation during a hospitalization period.

Thrombocytopenia in patients with atrial fibrillation on oral anticoagulation undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Thrombocytopenia is often regarded as a risk factor for bleeding complications in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The risk of mild to moderate baseline and acquired thrombocytopenia on bleeding and thrombotic or thromboembolic complications in patients with atrial fibrillation on oral anticoagulation therapy undergoing PCI, however, remains largely unknown. Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation undergoing Coronary Artery Stenting is a multicenter European prospective registry enrolling patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing PCI.

Intermittent levosimendan treatment in patients with severe congestive heart failure.

Objective: Levosimendan (LS) is a novel inodilator for the treatment of severe congestive heart failure (CHF). In this study, we investigated the potential long-term effects of intermittent LS treatment on the pathophysiology of heart failure.

Methods: Thirteen patients with modest to severe CHF received three 24-h intravenous infusions of LS at 3-week intervals.

Coenzyme Q(10) and selenium in statin-associated myopathy treatment.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the possible benefits of coenzyme Q10 and selenium supplementation administered to patients with statin-associated myopathy (SAM). Sixty eligible patients entered the pilot study. Laboratory examination (CoQ10, selenium, creatin kinase) and intensity of SAM (visual scale) were performed at baseline, after 1 month, and at the end of study at month 3.

Five-year clinical outcome of titanium-nitride-oxide-coated bioactive stents versus paclitaxel-eluting stents in patients with acute myocardial infarction: long-term follow-up from the TITAX AMI trial.

Background: The TITAX-AMI randomized controlled trial demonstrated a better clinical outcome with titanium-nitride-oxide-coated bioactive stents (BAS) as compared with paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) at 2-year follow-up, in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) undergoing early percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We sought to present the 5-year clinical outcome of the TITAX-AMI trial.

Methods: A total of 425 patients with acute MI were randomly assigned to receive either BAS (214), or PES (211).

Quantitation of 4-O-methylglucuronic acid from plant cell walls.

The accuracy of commercial α-D-glucopyranosyl uronic acid (GlcA) as a calibration standard for the determination of the 4-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranosyl uronic acid (meGlcA) content in plant materials was studied. A batch of meGlcA standard was purified from commercial birch xylan and quantified using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Both commercial GlcA and the purified meGlcA were used as standards for the quantitation of meGlcA in Arabidopsis thaliana stems, as well as wood and wheat straw samples using acid methanolysis and gas chromatography (GC).

Substituent-specific antibody against glucuronoxylan reveals close association of glucuronic acid and acetyl substituents and distinct labeling patterns in tree species.

Immunolabeling can be used to locate plant cell wall carbohydrates or other components to specific cell types or to specific regions of the wall. Some antibodies against xylans exist; however, many partly react with the xylan backbone and thus provide limited information on the type of substituents present in various xylans. We have produced a monoclonal antibody which specifically recognizes glucopyranosyl uronic acid (GlcA), or its 4-O-methyl ether (meGlcA), substituents in xylan and has no cross-reactivity with linear or arabinofuranosyl-substituted xylans.

[Impaired vision-dependent performance due to posterior cortical atrophy].

By causing problems in vision-dependent perception, posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) results in a significant impairment of functional ability. Most cases of PCA are atypical manifestations of Alzheimer's disease. PCA is a rare disease, and accurate data about its frequency are lacking.

Gender-based analysis of the 3-year outcome of bioactive stents versus paclitaxel-eluting stents in patients with acute myocardial infarction: an insight from the TITAX-AMI trial.

Background: The TITAX-AMI trial demonstrated a better clinical outcome of titanium-nitride-oxide-coated bioactive stents (BAS) as compared with paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) undergoing early percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We explored the gender-based 3-year outcome of BAS as compared with PES in a subgroup analysis of the TITAX-AMI trial.

Methods: A total of 214 patients (52 women) with acute MI were randomly assigned to BAS, and 211 patients (54 women) to PES.

Feasibility of using atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization with ion trap mass spectrometry in the analysis of acetylated xylooligosaccharides derived from hardwoods and Arabidopsis thaliana.

The atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization with ion trap mass spectrometry (AP-MALDI-ITMS) was investigated for its ability to analyse plant-derived oligosaccharides. The AP-MALDI-ITMS was able to detect xylooligosaccharides (XOS) with chain length of up to ten xylopyranosyl residues. Though the conventional MALDI-time-of-flight/mass spectrometry (TOF/MS) showed better sensitivity at higher mass range (>m/z 2,000), the AP-MALDI-ITMS seems to be more suitable for detection of acetylated XOS, and the measurement also corresponded better than the MALDI-TOF/MS analysis to the actual compositions of the pentose- and hexose-derived oligosaccharides in a complex sample.