Clinical results after coronary stenting with the Genous™ Bio-engineered R stent™: 12-month outcomes of the e-HEALING (Healthy Endothelial Accelerated Lining Inhibits Neointimal Growth) worldwide registry.

Aims: e-HEALING is a worldwide, internet-based registry designed to capture post marketing clinical data on the use of the Genous™ EPC capturing R stent™. Rapid restoration of a healthy endothelial layer after stent placement by capturing circulating endothelial progenitor cells may reduce both stent thrombosis (ST) and in-stent-restenosis.

Methods And Results: We planned a 5,000 patient registry with ≥1 lesion suitable for stenting.

A randomized trial of clozapine vs. other antipsychotics for cannabis use disorder in patients with schizophrenia.

Objective: Cannabis use disorder is the most common co-occurring drug use disorder in people with schizophrenia and is associated with poor outcomes. We launched a randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of clozapine compared with treatment as usual on cannabis use in patients with schizophrenia and co-occurring cannabis use disorder.

Methods: Thirty-one patients with schizophrenia and co-occurring cannabis use disorder were randomly assigned to switch to clozapine or to stay on their current antipsychotic and were then followed weekly for 12 weeks.

Zn(II) complexes of glutathione disulfide: structural basis of elevated stabilities.

Glutathione disulfide (GSSG), a long disregarded redox partner of glutathione (GSH), is thought to participate in intracellular zinc homeostasis. We performed a concerted potentiometric and NMR spectroscopic study of protonation and Zn(II) binding properties of GSSG ((γECG)(2)) and a series of its nine analogs with C-terminal modifications, tripeptide disulfides: (γECS)(2), (γECE)(2), (γECG-NH(2))(2), (γECG-OEt)(2), and (γEcG)(2); dipeptide disulfides, (γEC)(2) and (γEC-OEt)(2); and mixed disulfides, γECG-γEC and γECG-γEC-OEt. The acid-base and Zn(II) complexation properties in this group of compounds are strictly correlated to average C-terminal electrostatic charges.

A community-based screening initiative to identify mothers at risk for postpartum depression.

Objectives: To conduct a community-based, postpartum depression (PPD) screening initiative, and recommend PPD screening practices.

Design: Descriptive correlational.

Settings: Two academic medical centers, a university research office, and participants' homes.

Detecting epistasis with restricted response patterns in pairs of biallelic loci.

Well-established examples of genetic epistasis between a pair of loci typically show characteristic patterns of phenotypic distributions in joint genotype tables. However, inferring epistasis given such data is difficult due to the lack of power in commonly used approaches, which decompose the epistatic patterns into main plus interaction effects followed by testing the interaction term. Testing additive-only or all terms may have more power, but they are sensitive to nonepistatic patterns.

MGAT5 and disease severity in progressive multiple sclerosis.

MGAT5 was demonstrated to be associated to multiple sclerosis (MS) severity. We evaluated its role in progressive MS. We studied 11 SNPs mapping to MGAT5 in an Italian cohort of primary progressive or progressive-relapsing patients.

Heavy metals and other elements in serum of cattle from organic and conventional farms.

Concentrations of cadmium, lead, iron, zinc, copper, chromium, nickel, aluminium and arsenium were analysed in blood serum of cattle from organic (n=20) and conventional (n=21) farms. The elements were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry using an Optima 2000 DV instrument (Perkin Elmer Inc.).

Acute coronary syndrome - a frequent clinical manifestation of bare metal in-stent restenosis.

Background: In-stent restenosis (ISR) complicates 20-30% of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) with bare metal stent (BMS) implantation. Although the widespread use of drug eluting stents (DES) across Europe caused a considerable reduction of BMS implantations, their number is still lower than the number of BMS implantations in several countries.

Aim: The clinical presentation of ISR has not been well characterissed.

Extremely large-mode-area photonic crystal fibre with low bending loss.

We report on the design of a novel flexible very large mode area photonic crystal fibre for short pulse high peak power fibre laser and beam delivery applications. This fibre has an extremely large mode area exceeding 2500 microm(2) when kept straight and over 1000 microm(2) when bent over a 10 cm radius at a wavelength of 1064 nm. In addition our fibre exhibits very small fundamental mode bending loss below 10(-2) dB/m.

Highly birefringent microstructured fibers with enhanced sensitivity to hydrostatic pressure.

We designed, manufactured and characterized two birefringent microstructured fibers that feature a 5-fold increase in polarimetric sensitivity to hydrostatic pressure compared to the earlier reported values for microstructured fibers. We demonstrate a good agreement between the finite element simulations and the experimental values for the polarimetric sensitivity to pressure and to temperature. The sensitivity to hydrostatic pressure has a negative sign and exceeds -43 rad/MPa x m at 1.

Point-by-point fiber Bragg grating inscription in free-standing step-index and photonic crystal fibers using near-IR femtosecond laser.

We report what we believe to be the first highly symmetric first-order IR femtosecond laser fiber Bragg gratings within the telecommunications C band in free-standing optical fiber, fabricated with a relatively low NA lens and without use of oil immersion techniques. This grating features the smallest dimensions for a point-by-point fiber grating reported so far (to our knowledge). This achievement paves the way to rapid mass manufacturing of highly efficient and stable Bragg gratings using ultrafast lasers in any type of fiber.

A potent and highly specific FN3 monobody inhibitor of the Abl SH2 domain.

Interactions between Src homology 2 (SH2) domains and phosphotyrosine sites regulate tyrosine kinase signaling networks. Selective perturbation of these interactions is challenging due to the high homology among the 120 human SH2 domains. Using an improved phage-display selection system, we generated a small antibody mimic (or 'monobody'), termed HA4, that bound to the Abelson (Abl) kinase SH2 domain with low nanomolar affinity.

Vancomycin lung concentration in acute and hyperacute rejection models of lung transplantation in rats.

Objectives: This study assesses vancomycin concentrations in allogenic transplanted rat lung tissue in acute and hyperacute rejection models of the lung.

Methods: Left lung allotransplantation was performed from a male Brown Norway donor to a male Fisher F344 recipient in the case of an acute rejection model (the animals were sacrificed 5 days after transplantation) as well as a male Brown Norway donor to a male Wistar recipient in the case of hyperacute rejection (the animals were sacrificed 2 days after transplantation). Control rats were sham-operated and sacrificed on day 2 or 5, respectively, of the experimental model.

MGAT5 alters the severity of multiple sclerosis.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a genetically complex immune mediated, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. To date no genetic variants have been unambiguously linked to disease severity. We have conducted a genome wide screen, using Affymetrix Genechip 500K technology, for severity in 1040 MS patients.

Social cognitive mediators of change in a group randomized nutrition and physical activity intervention: social support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations and self-regulation in the guide-to-health trial.

In an evaluation of the theoretical foundations of behavior change, the current study examined whether social cognitive (SCT) variables mediated treatment effects on physical activity and nutrition in the recently reported Guide-to-Health trial (GTH). Adults (N = 661) were assessed at baseline, seven months and 16 months to examine whether treatment-related changes in SCT variables at seven months mediated change in nutrition and physical activity at 16 months. GTH treatment effects were mediated by self-efficacy, self-regulation and social support; self-regulation mediated self-efficacy.

Prescribing physical activity: applying the ACSM protocols for exercise type, intensity, and duration across 3 training frequencies.

When physicians advise patients to attain more physical activity, they usually recommend a walking program. However, in a similar way to no exercise, those embarking on a walking program will typically lose 4 to 6 lb of lean weight and reduce their resting metabolic rate 2% to 3% every decade. These effects may be mitigated by the inclusion of resistance exercise.

[Program of early detection of pulmonary neoplasms by the computed tomography - preliminary Szczecin experience].

Introduction: Lung cancer (LC) remains one of the most serious epidemiological and clinical challenges both in the world and Poland. Results of LC therapy are far from satisfaction. One of the reasons of high LC mortality is its late detection.

Depauperate genetic variability detected in the American and European bison using genomic techniques.

A total of 929 polymorphic SNPs in EB (out of 54, 000 SNPs screened using a BovineSNP50 Illumina Genotyping BeadChip), and 1, 524 and 1, 403 polymorphic SNPs in WB and PB, respectively, were analysed. EB, WB and PB have all undergone recent drastic reductions in population size. Accordingly, they exhibited extremely depauperate genomes, deviations from genetic equilibrium and a genome organization consisting of a mosaic of haplotype blocks: regions with low haplotype diversity and high levels of linkage disequilibrium.

Best practices: community-based postpartum depression screening: results from the CARE study.

This column describes findings and best-practice recommendations from CARE (Communicating and Relating Effectively), a prospective randomized study in which 5,169 mothers were screened for postpartum depression. The prevalence rate was 13%. Results support use of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Screening Scale and a diagnostic assessment for those who screen positive.

Accelerating phage-display library selection by reversible and site-specific biotinylation.

Immobilization of a target molecule to a solid support is an indispensable step in phage display library sorting. Here we describe an immobilization method that addresses shortcomings of existing strategies. Our method is based on the use of a polyhistidine-tagged (His-tagged) target molecule and (BT)tris-NTA, a high-affinity capture reagent for His-tags that also contains a biotin moiety.

Effectiveness of microsatellite and SNP markers for parentage and identity analysis in species with low genetic diversity: the case of European bison.

The European bison (Bison bonasus) has recovered successfully after a severe bottleneck about 90 years ago but has been left with low genetic variability that may substantially hinder parentage and identity analysis. According to pedigree analysis, over 80% of the genes in the contemporary population descend from just two founder animals and inbreeding coefficients averaged almost 0.5, whereas microsatellite heterozygosity does not exceed 0.