Psychometric properties of light touch-pressure somatosensory measures in adults with neurological disorders: A systematic review.

Objectives: To critically appraise the psychometric properties of light touch-pressure somatosensory assessments to provide guidance for tool selection for research or clinical purposes.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PsycInfo were searched for research indexed from January 1990-November 2022. English language and human subject filters were applied.

c-Rel orchestrates energy-dependent epithelial and macrophage reprogramming in fibrosis.

Fibrosis is a common pathological feature of chronic disease. Deletion of the NF-κB subunit c-Rel limits fibrosis in multiple organs, although the mechanistic nature of this protection is unresolved. Using cell-specific gene-targeting manipulations in mice undergoing liver damage, we elucidate a critical role for c-Rel in controlling metabolic changes required for inflammatory and fibrogenic activities of hepatocytes and macrophages and identify Pfkfb3 as the key downstream metabolic mediator of this response.

Renal injury and hepatic effects from the methylimidazolium ionic liquid M8OI in mouse.

The ionic liquid 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium (M8OI) has been found in the environment and identified as a hazard for triggering the liver disease primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Given limited toxicity data for M8OI and other structurally-related ionic liquids, target organs for M8OI toxicity were examined. Adult male C57Bl6 mice were acutely exposed to 0-10 mg/kg body weight M8OI via 2 intraperitoneal injections (time zero and 18 h) and effects examined at 24 h.

Reinforcer magnitude affects delay discounting and influences effects of d-amphetamine in rats.

Impulsive choice in humans can be altered by changing reinforcer magnitude; however, this effect has not been found in rats. Current levels of impulsive choice can also influence effects of d-amphetamine. This study used a within-subject assessment to determine if impulsive choice is sensitive to changes in reinforcer magnitude, and whether effects of d-amphetamine are related to current levels of impulsive choice.

Myocardial Infarction and Stroke Risk in Young Healthy Men Treated with Injectable Testosterone.

This study was conducted to examine the association between testosterone therapy and new myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke events in a series of patients treated at Low T Centers across the United States, consisting of mainly young (mean age = 46), otherwise, healthy men. Electronic medical records were queried between the years 2009 and 2014 to identify patients diagnosed with hypogonadism, MI, and stroke, as indicated by ICD-9 codes. The incidence of MI and stroke events was compared to community-based registries.

Sharps and high-pressure injection injuries in veterinary and animal workers.

Needlestick and 'sharps' injuries among those working with animals are a significant, under-reported and often ill-understood problem. Many patients present initially to Emergency Departments, where their potential to cause local and systemic infections and injury, zoonoses, allergic or anaphylactic reactions and death may be unrecognized. Increased awareness of the possibility of adverse effects and the consequences of these specific injuries is essential.

High estrogen in men after injectable testosterone therapy: the low T experience.

Testosterone replacement improves quality of life and is aromatized in men in adipose tissues to estrogen. Hyperestrogenism is believed to be harmful to male sexuality. This is a description of our experience of screening 34,016 men in the Low T Centers, of which approximately 50% were converted to treatment.

Real-time prostate motion assessment: image-guidance and the temporal dependence of intra-fraction motion.

Background: The rapid adoption of image-guidance in prostate intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) results in longer treatment times, which may result in larger intrafraction motion, thereby negating the advantage of image-guidance. This study aims to qualify and quantify the contribution of image-guidance to the temporal dependence of intrafraction motion during prostate IMRT.

Methods: One-hundred and forty-three patients who underwent conventional IMRT (n=67) or intensity-modulated arc therapy (IMAT/RapidArc, n=76) for localized prostate cancer were evaluated.

Rimonabant reduces the essential value of food in the genetically obese Zucker rat: an exponential demand analysis.

Research on free-food intake suggests that cannabinoids are implicated in the regulation of feeding. Few studies, however, have characterized how environmental factors that affect food procurement interact with cannabinoid drugs that reduce food intake. Demand analysis provides a framework to understand how cannabinoid blockers, such as rimonabant, interact with effort in reducing demand for food.

Demand for sucrose in the genetically obese Zucker (fa/fa) rat.

Obese Zucker rats (fa/fa) eat more food than lean controls in free-feeding conditions, which strongly influences their phenotypic expression. Few studies, however, characterize their food consumption in environments that are more representative of foraging conditions, e.g.

Performance of CEA and CA19-9 in identifying pleural effusions caused by specific malignancies.

Objectives: Tumor markers analysis has been proposed as a less invasive alternative for categorizing malignant and non-malignant pleural effusions. This study establishes diagnostic cutoffs for CEA and CA19-9 in pleural fluid to differentiate etiologies of effusions.

Design And Methods: Pleural effusions obtained from 198 patients (100 malignant, 98 non-malignant) were analyzed for CEA and CA19-9.

Temporal and spatial patterns of bovine Escherichia coli O157 prevalence and comparison of temporal changes in the patterns of phage types associated with bovine shedding and human E. coli O157 cases in Scotland between 1998-2000 and 2002-2004.

Background: Escherichia coli O157 is an important cause of acute diarrhoea, haemorrhagic colitis and, especially in children, haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). Incidence rates for human E. coli O157 infection in Scotland are higher than most other United Kingdom, European and North American countries.

Sex differences in acoustic startle responses and seizure thresholds between ethanol-withdrawn male and female rats.

Aims: We have found consistent and significant sex differences in recovery from the increased seizure susceptibility observed during ethanol withdrawal (EW) in our rat model system. The main objective of the present study was to determine if sex differences in EW generalized to an additional behavioral measure startle reactivity.

Methods: Acoustic startle or seizure threshold responses were measured in separate groups of rats at 1 day or 3 days of EW.

Percent body fat is related to delay and probability discounting for food in humans.

This study describes delay and probability discounting patterns for hypothetical food and money in relation to percent body fat (PBF). Sixty university students completed four computerized discounting tasks in which they were asked to make a series of hypothetical decisions between (a) 10 dollars after one of several different delays (1, 2, 30, 180, and 365 days) or a smaller amount of money available immediately; (b) 10 bites of food after one of several delays (1, 2, 5, 10, and 20h) or a smaller number of bites available immediately; (c) $10 at one of several probabilities (0.9, 0.

Characterization of toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans strains isolated from humans and domestic cats in the United Kingdom.

In the United Kingdom there has been a marked increase in the number of human infections caused by toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans. During 2002 and 2003 the organism was also isolated from several domestic cats with bilateral nasal discharge. As C.

Childhood hemolytic uremic syndrome, United Kingdom and Ireland.

We conducted prospective surveillance of childhood hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) from 1997 to 2001 to describe disease incidence and clinical, epidemiologic and microbiologic characteristics. We compared our findings, where possible, with those of a previous study conducted from 1985 to 1988. The average annual incidence of HUS for the United Kingdom and Ireland (0.

Viscoelastic evaluation of topical creams containing microcrystalline cellulose/sodium carboxymethyl cellulose as stabilizer.

The purpose of this study was to examine the viscoelastic properties of topical creams containing various concentrations of microcrystalline cellulose and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (Avicel(R) CL-611) as a stabilizer. Avicel CL-611 was used at 4 different levels (1%, 2%, 4%, and 6% dispersion) to prepare topical creams, and hydrocortisone acetate was used as a model drug. The viscoelastic properties such as loss modulus (G"), storage modulus (G'), and loss tangent (tan delta) of these creams were measured using a TA Instruments AR 1000 Rheometer and compared to a commercially available formulation.