Prevalence and risk factors for diabetes-related foot complications in Translating Research Into Action for Diabetes (TRIAD).

Aims: The objective was to describe the prevalence of diabetes-related foot complications in a managed care population and to identify the demographic and biological risk factors.

Methods: We assessed the period prevalence of foot complications on 6992 patients using ICD-9 diagnosis codes from health plan administrative data. Demographic and biological variables were ascertained from surveys and medical record reviews.

A novel plantar stimulation technology for improving protective sensation and postural control in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a double-blinded, randomized study.

Background: Many diabetes-related peripheral neuropathy (DPN) patients also experience postural instability.

Objective: This study examined the effect of electrical stimulation therapy on DPN patients' postural control as well as recovery of plantar sensation.

Methods: 54 patients with mild to moderate DPN were enrolled into this study evaluating treatment of DPN with electrical stimulation provided via aqueous solution.

The impact of footwear and walking distance on gait stability in diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy.

Background: We explored gait differences in patients with diabetes and peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and aged-matched controls over short and long walking distances. The potential benefit of footwear for improving gait in patients with DPN was also explored.

Methods: Twelve patients with DPN and eight controls walked at their habitual speed over short (7 m) and long (20 m) distances under two conditions: barefoot and regular shoes.

Supplementation with selenium-enriched yeast attenuates brain metastatic growth.

Metastases are the leading cause of cancer mortality and their development may be affected by diet. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of dietary supplementation with different selenium (Se) compounds on the dynamics of brain metastasis development in a novel mouse model. Mice were fed experimental diets enriched (1 mg/kg) with sodium selenite (Se-S), seleno-1-methionine (Se-Meth), a yeast-derived organic form of selenium (Se-Yeast), or a control diet (Se < 0.

An apparatus to quantify anteroposterior and mediolateral shear reduction in shoe insoles.

Background: Many of the physiological changes that lead to diabetic foot ulceration, such as muscle atrophy and skin hardening, are manifested at the foot-ground interface via pressure and shear points. Novel shear-reducing insoles have been developed, but their magnitude of shear stiffness has not yet been compared with regular insoles. The aim of this study was to develop an apparatus that would apply shear force and displacement to an insole's forefoot region, reliably measure deformation, and calculate insole shear stiffness.

Interferon-γ mediates anemia but is dispensable for fulminant toll-like receptor 9-induced macrophage activation syndrome and hemophagocytosis in mice.

Objective: Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) is a devastating cytokine storm syndrome complicating many inflammatory diseases and characterized by fever, pancytopenia, and systemic inflammation. It is clinically similar to hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), which is caused by viral infection of a host with impaired cellular cytotoxicity. Murine models of MAS and HLH illustrate that interferon-γ (IFNγ) is the driving stimulus for hemophagocytosis and immunopathology.

Application of fuzzy inference systems for classification of fetal heart rate tracings in relation to neonatal outcome.

Objectives: Fetal monitoring based on the analysis of the fetal heart rate (FHR) signal is the most common method of biophysical assessment of fetal condition during pregnancy and labor Visual analysis of FHR signals presents a challenge due to a complex shape of the waveforms. Therefore, computer-aided fetal monitoring systems provide a number of parameters that are the result of the quantitative analysis of the registered signals. These parameters are the basis for a qualitative assessment of the fetal condition.

Whole human genome proteogenomic mapping for ENCODE cell line data: identifying protein-coding regions.

Background: Proteogenomic mapping is an approach that uses mass spectrometry data from proteins to directly map protein-coding genes and could aid in locating translational regions in the human genome. In concert with the ENcyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, we applied proteogenomic mapping to produce proteogenomic tracks for the UCSC Genome Browser, to explore which putative translational regions may be missing from the human genome.

Results: We generated ~1 million high-resolution tandem mass (MS/MS) spectra for Tier 1 ENCODE cell lines K562 and GM12878 and mapped them against the UCSC hg19 human genome, and the GENCODE V7 annotated protein and transcript sets.

Podiatrist care and outcomes for patients with diabetes and foot ulcer.

We examined whether outcomes of care (amputation and hospitalisation) among patients with diabetes and foot ulcer differ between those who received pre-ulcer care from podiatrists and those who did not. Adult patients with diabetes and a diagnosis of a diabetic foot ulcer were found in the MarketScan Databases, 2005-2008. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models estimated the hazard of amputation and hospitalisation.

A new method of saccadic eye movement detection for optokinetic nystagmus analysis.

The analysis of eye movements is valuable in both clinical work and research. One of the characteristic type of eye movements is saccade. The accurate detection of saccadic eye movements is the base for further processing of saccade parameters such as velocity, amplitude and duration.

Retinal spectral domain optical coherence tomography in early atrophic age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and a new metric for objective evaluation of the efficacy of ocular nutrition.

Purpose: A challenge in ocular preventive medicine is identification of patients with early pathological retinal damage that might benefit from nutritional intervention. The purpose of this study is to evaluate retinal thinning (RT) in early atrophic age-related macular degeneration (AMD) against visual function data from the Zeaxanthin and Visual Function (ZVF) randomized double masked placebo controlled clinical trial (FDA IND #78973).

Methods: Retrospective, observational case series of medical center veterans with minimal visible AMD retinopathy (AREDS Report #18 simplified grading 1.

Stage-specific embryonic antigen-4 is not a marker for chondrogenic and osteogenic potential in cultured chondrocytes and mesenchymal progenitor cells.

One important challenge for regenerative medicine is to produce a clinically relevant number of cells with consistent tissue-forming potential. Isolation and expansion of cells from skeletal tissues results in a heterogeneous population of cells with variable regenerative potential. A more consistent tissue formation could be achieved by identification and selection of potent progenitors based on cell surface molecules.

Predicting development of proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Objective: Identifying individuals most at risk for diabetic retinopathy progression and intervening early can limit vision loss and reduce the costs associated with managing more advanced disease. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with progression from nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) to proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).

Research Design And Methods: This was a retrospective cohort analysis using a claims database of all eye care recipients age ≥ 30 years enrolled in a large managed-care network from 2001 to 2009.

Novel progesterone receptor modulators: 4-aryl-phenylsulfonamides.

We have developed a new series of progesterone receptor modulators based upon the 4-aryl-phenylsulfonamide. Initial work in the series afforded potent compounds with good properties, however an advanced intermediate proved to be genotoxic in a non-GLP Ames assay following metabolic activation. We subsequently solved this problem and identified advanced leads which demonstrated oral efficacy in rhesus monkey pharmacodynamic and kinetics models.

Preoperative echocardiographic-defined moderate-severe pulmonary hypertension predicts prolonged duration of mechanical ventilation following lung transplantation for patients with COPD.

Purpose: Recent studies have suggested that pretransplant secondary pulmonary hypertension (PHT) may be associated with worse outcomes following lung transplantation. We sought to determine whether COPD patients with secondary PHT have inferior intensive care outcomes following lung transplantation.

Methods: This is a single-center, retrospective analysis of all lung transplant recipients between 2000 and 2009 for a primary diagnosis of COPD.

Landscape of transcription in human cells.

Eukaryotic cells make many types of primary and processed RNAs that are found either in specific subcellular compartments or throughout the cells. A complete catalogue of these RNAs is not yet available and their characteristic subcellular localizations are also poorly understood. Because RNA represents the direct output of the genetic information encoded by genomes and a significant proportion of a cell's regulatory capabilities are focused on its synthesis, processing, transport, modification and translation, the generation of such a catalogue is crucial for understanding genome function.

Plantar Temperature Response to Walking in Diabetes with and without Acute Charcot: The Charcot Activity Response Test.

Objective. Asymmetric plantar temperature differences secondary to inflammation is a hallmark for the diagnosis and treatment response of Charcot foot syndrome. However, little attention has been given to temperature response to activity.

Riluzole prodrugs for melanoma and ALS: design, synthesis, and in vitro metabolic profiling.

Riluzole (1) is an approved therapeutic for the treatment of ALS and has also demonstrated anti-melanoma activity in metabotropic glutamate GRM1 positive cell lines, a mouse xenograft assay and human clinical trials. Highly variable drug exposure following oral administration among patients, likely due to variable first pass effects from heterogeneous CYP1A2 expression, hinders its clinical use. In an effort to mitigate effects of this clearance pathway and uniformly administer riluzole at efficacious exposure levels, several classes of prodrugs of riluzole were designed, synthesized, and evaluated in multiple in vitro stability assays to predict in vivo drug levels.

Dynamic plantar loading index: understanding the benefit of custom foot orthoses for painful pes cavus.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a new method showing how custom foot orthoses (CFO) improve dynamics of plantar loading. The method is based on the probability distribution of peak pressure time series and is quantified using the Regression Factor (RF). RF is a least square regression slope between the experimentally observed plantar pressure magnitude probability distribution and a modeled Gaussian shape.

Mechanisms of pulmonary hypertension in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a pathophysiologic review.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide and is often complicated by the development of pulmonary hypertension (PHT). The presence of PHT in COPD subjects is associated with increased mortality, morbidity and use of health-care resources. Thus, there has been significant effort to treat PHT in COPD patients to achieve improved clinical outcomes, but with only minimal success.

Dynamic footprint measurement collection technique and intrarater reliability: ink mat, paper pedography, and electronic pedography.

Background: Identifying the variability of footprint measurement collection techniques and the reliability of footprint measurements would assist with appropriate clinical foot posture appraisal. We sought to identify relationships between these measures in a healthy population.

Methods: On 30 healthy participants, midgait dynamic footprint measurements were collected using an ink mat, paper pedography, and electronic pedography.

[Superior mesenteric artery syndrome--rare case report].

Superior mesenteric artery syndrome is a condition caused by the compression of the third part of the duodenum between the superior mesenteric artery and the aorta. We present the clinical case of a patient, a female, 18 years old, with history of two days' evolution characterized by postprandial epigastric colic, accompanied by nausea and intractable vomiting. Applied conservative management was insufficient.

Laboratory in a box: wearable sensors and its advantages for gait analysis.

Until recently, many gait studies explored potential gait alteration due to various disorders in the gait lab and using camera based systems and force platforms. However, these strategies may not replicate normal outdoor walking. Using this equipment, it is more difficult to measure the variability of walking which is important for maintaining balance and responding to different walking challenges.

Proinflammatory adhesion molecules facilitate polychlorinated biphenyl-mediated enhancement of brain metastasis formation.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are environmental toxicants that cause vascular inflammation and facilitate the development of brain metastases. The crucial event in metastasis formation is adhesion of blood-borne tumor cells to the vascular endothelium, followed by their transcapillary migration. The aim of the present study was to examine the mechanisms of PCB118-induced brain metastasis formation at the blood-brain barrier level with the focus on tumor cell adhesion to the brain endothelium.