Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) - an inflammatory disease of the airways, alveoli and lung microvasculature - is a leading cause of death worldwide. Smokers with milder airway obstruction constitute the majority of patients with this disease. Many studies have shown increased morbidity, activity-related dyspnea, exercise intolerance and mortality in such patients, compared with age-matched healthy populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability to noninvasively detect neurotransmitters through the skull would aid in understanding brain function and the development of neurological diseases. Surface enhanced spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SESORS) is a powerful technique that combines the sensitivity of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with the ability of spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) to probe subsurface layers. Here we present SERS measurements of neurotransmitters (melatonin, serotonin, and epinephrine) at various concentrations followed by the SESORS measurements of the neurotransmitters to a concentration as low as 100 μM in a brain tissue mimic through a cat skull.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) to meet the data needs of injury practitioners. In 2015, CDC completed a Portfolio Review of this system to inform its future development.
Methods: Evaluation questions addressed utilization, technology and innovation, data sources, and tools and training.
Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
August 2017
A series of four thiosemicarbazones from 6-nitropiperonal along with the corresponding copper complexes were synthesized. The biophysical characteristics of the complexes were investigated by the binding to DNA and human serum albumin. The binding to DNA is moderate; the binding constants run from (0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDasatinib is a second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) used to treat imatinib-resistant chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), as well as other Philadelphia chromosome-positive lymphoproliferative disorders. While the most commonly reported cutaneous side effects with this therapy include a morbilliform eruption, skin exfoliation, and skin irritation, pigmentary abnormalities have also been observed, albeit much more rarely. We present the case of a 72-year-old South Asian male with CML who presented with new-onset hypopigmentation of his face and scalp three years after a dose increase of dasatinib therapy, in the setting of newly discovered borderline hypovitaminosis D.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Sepsis can lead to poor outcomes when treatment is delayed or inadequate. The purpose of this study was to evaluate outcomes after initiation of a hospital-wide sepsis alert program.
Materials And Methods: Retrospective review of patients ≥18years treated for sepsis.
Low inspiratory capacity (IC), chronic dyspnea, and reduced exercise capacity are inextricably linked and are independent predictors of increased mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is no surprise, therefore, that a major goal of management is to improve IC by reducing lung hyperinflation to improve respiratory symptoms and health-related quality of life. The negative effects of lung hyperinflation on respiratory muscle and cardiocirculatory function during exercise are now well established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmokers with minor spirometric abnormalities can experience persistent activity-related dyspnea and exercise intolerance. Additional resting tests can expose heterogeneous physiological abnormalities, but their relevance and association with clinical outcomes remain uncertain. Subjects included sixty-two smokers (≥20 pack-years), with cough and/or dyspnea and minor airway obstruction [forced expiratory volume in one-second (FEV) ≥80% predicted and >5th percentile lower limit of normal (LLN) (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolyphenol oxidases (PPOs) have a recognized role during pathogen and arthropod attack. As an immediate consequence of such wounding, cellular compartmentation is destroyed allowing the chloroplastic PPO enzyme to interact with vacuolar substrates catalyzing the oxidation of monophenols and/or -diphenols to -diquinones. This ultimately results in a reduction in the nutritional value of wounded tissue through the formation of non-digestible secondary melanin pigments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVitiligo vulgaris, an acquired disease related to autoimmune activity directed against melanocytes, is a common disorder of pigmentation affecting up to one percent of the population. Several autoimmune disorders are reported to improve during pregnancy-a state of relative immunosuppression. To assess self-reported changes in vitiligo disease activity that occurred during pregnancy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpinal cord injury (SCI) results in permanent loss of motor and sensory function due to developmentally-related and injured-induced changes in the extrinsic microenvironment and intrinsic neuronal biochemistry that limit plasticity and axonal regeneration. Our long term goal is to develop cationic, amphiphilic copolymers (poly (lactide-co-glycolide)-g-polyethylenimine, PgP) for combinatorial delivery of therapeutic nucleic acids (TNAs) and drugs targeting these different barriers. In this study, we evaluated the ability of PgP to deliver siRNA targeting RhoA, a critical signaling pathway activated by multiple extracellular inhibitors of axonal regeneration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRoots provide essential uptake of water and nutrients from the soil, as well as anchorage and stability for the whole plant. Root orientation, or angle, is an important component of the overall architecture and depth of the root system; however, little is known about the genetic control of this trait. Recent reports in Oryza sativa (rice) identified a role for DEEPER ROOTING 1 (DRO1) in influencing the orientation of the root system, leading to positive changes in grain yields under water-limited conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report on the experimental observation of coherent cavity soliton frequency combs in silica microspheres. Specifically, we demonstrate that careful alignment of the microsphere relative to the coupling fiber taper allows for the suppression of higher-order spatial modes, reducing mode interactions and enabling soliton formation. Our measurements show that the temporal cavity solitons have sub-100-fs durations, exhibit considerable Raman self-frequency shift, and generally come in groups of three or four, occasionally with equidistant spacing in the time domain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrent interest in functional assemblies of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) stems from their collective properties and diverse applications ranging from nanomedicines to optically active metamaterials. Coating the surface of NPs with polymers allows for tailoring of the interactions between NPs to assemble them into hybrid nanocomposites with targeted architectures. This class of building blocks is termed "hairy" inorganic NPs (HINPs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLabel-free imaging of living cells below the optical diffraction limit poses great challenges for optical microscopy. Biologically relevant structural information remains below the Rayleigh limit and beyond the reach of conventional microscopes. Super-resolution techniques are typically based on the non-linear and stochastic response of fluorescent labels which can be toxic and interfere with cell function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Type 1 reaction (T1R) is an acute T-helper type 1 (Th1) inflammatory episode in patients with leprosy. While immunological responses associated with T1R have been investigated, the corresponding metabolic responses that could contribute to T1R pathology have received little attention.
Methods: Metabolomics-based analyses of sera from 7 patients with and 9 without T1R were conducted via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
This note points out a number of corrections that were omitted from the published version of the article [Opt. Lett.41, 5230 (2016)OPLEDP0146-959210.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree-dimensional (3D) printing allows for complex or physiologically realistic phantoms, useful, for example, in developing biomedical imaging methods and for calibrating measured data. However, available 3D printing materials provide a limited range of static optical properties. We overcome this limitation with a new method using stereolithography that allows tuning of the printed phantom's optical properties to match that of target tissues, accomplished by printing a mixture of polystyrene microspheres and clear photopolymer resin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis pilot project implemented a mental health program, STAIR, targeting basic skills in mood management training and social functioning for women veterans with military-related trauma who live in rural areas. We report on outreach and implementation procedures, the women veterans' reactions to the program, and lessons learned.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRapid, site-selective modification of cysteine residues with chloromethyl-triazole derivatives generates pseudo-acyl sLys motifs, mimicking important post-translational modifications. Near-native biotinylation of peptide and protein substrates is shown to be site-selective and modified histone H4 retains functional activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To explore how a medical textbook app ('iDoc') supports newly qualified doctors in providing high-quality patient care.
Design: The iDoc project, funded by the Wales Deanery, provides new doctors with an app which gives access to key medical textbooks. Participants' submitted case reports describing self-reported accounts of specific instances of app use.
Objectives: An increase in patients with long-term conditions and complex care needs presents new challenges to healthcare providers around the developed world. In response, more broad-based training programmes have developed to better prepare trainees for the changing landscape of healthcare delivery. This paper focuses on qualitative elements of a longitudinal, mixed-methods evaluation of the postgraduate, post-Foundation Broad-Based Training (BBT) programme in England.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActivity-related dyspnoea is often the most distressing symptom experienced by patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and can persist despite comprehensive medical management. It is now clear that dyspnoea during physical activity occurs across the spectrum of disease severity, even in those with mild airway obstruction. Our understanding of the nature and source of dyspnoea is incomplete, but current aetiological concepts emphasise the importance of increased central neural drive to breathe in the setting of a reduced ability of the respiratory system to appropriately respond.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDyspnoea and activity limitation can occur in smokers who do not meet spirometric criteria for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but the underlying mechanisms are unknown.Detailed pulmonary function tests and sensory-mechanical relationships during incremental exercise with respiratory pressure measurements and diaphragmatic electromyography (EMGdi) were compared in 20 smokers without spirometric COPD and 20 age-matched healthy controls.Smokers (mean±sd post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/forced vital capacity 75±4%, mean±sd FEV1 104±14% predicted) had greater activity-related dyspnoea, poorer health status and lower physical activity than controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiology (Reading)
September 2016
The second messenger, bis-(3',5')-cyclic dimeric guanosine monophosphate (cyclic di-GMP), is involved in the control of multiple bacterial phenotypes, including those that impact host-pathogen interactions. Bioinformatics analyses predicted that Mycobacterium leprae, an obligate intracellular bacterium and the causative agent of leprosy, encodes three active diguanylate cyclases. In contrast, the related pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis encodes only a single diguanylate cyclase.
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