The plaque reducing efficacy of oil pulling with sesame oil: a randomized-controlled clinical study.

Objectives: To compare the plaque reducing efficacy of oil pulling with sesame oil compared to distilled water in a randomized, controlled, examiner-blinded parallel group study.

Materials And Methods: Forty probands without advanced periodontal disease of the University Hospital for Restorative Dentistry and Periodontology, Medical University of Innsbruck (Austria) were randomized allocated to test- (sesame oil) or control group (distilled water) and asked to pull daily in the morning for eight weeks with their allotted fluid for 15 min. Rustogi Modified Navy Plaque Index (RMNPI) and gingival bleeding index were assessed at baseline and after four and eight weeks.

Saliva: a challenging human fluid to diagnose brain disorders with a focus on Alzheimer's disease.

Biomarkers are molecules of biological processes that help in both the diagnosis of human diseases and in follow-up assessments of therapeutic responses. Biomarkers can be measured in many human fluids, such as blood, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, and saliva. The -omics methods (genomics, RNomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) are useful at measuring thousands of markers in a small volume.

Persisting high rates of omissions during anesthesia induction are decreased by utilization of a pre- & post-induction checklist.

Introduction: Although Checklists (CL) for routine anesthesia cases have demonstrated their values in various studies, they have found little traction so far. While several reports have shown the benefit of CL preventing omissions prior to anesthesia induction, no investigation yet has scrutinized omissions during the post-induction phase immediately after intubation. This study evaluated the rate of omissions prior to and following the induction of non-emergent general anesthesia, as well as the impact of checklists on omission prevention.

[Communicating Prognosis and Expectations in Advanced Disease - A Balancing Act in Practice].

Communicating Prognosis and Expectations in Advanced Disease - A Balancing Act in Practice To prepare the end of life, to plan important things, to spend the remaining time of life not only with medical treatments, but to live - these are frequently expressed wishes of people with progressive diseases. Prognostic statements are feared by professionals. At the same time, when talking about what lies ahead for those affected, professionals very often make over-optimistic promises.

Single Session Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Ameliorates Hand Gesture Deficits in Schizophrenia.

Social interaction is impaired in schizophrenia, including the use of hand gestures, which is linked to poor social perception and outcome. Brain imaging suggests reduced neural activity in a left-lateralized frontoparietal network during gesture preparation; therefore, gesturing might be improved through facilitation of left hemispheric brain areas or via disruption of interhemispheric inhibition from the right homolog. This study tested whether repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) protocols would improve gesture performance in schizophrenia.

Mental health in individuals with spinal cord injury: The role of socioeconomic conditions and social relationships.

Objectives: To evaluate socioeconomic inequalities in social relationships, and to assess whether socioeconomic conditions and social relationships are independently related to mental health problems in individuals with a physical disability due to spinal cord injury (SCI).

Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from 511 individuals with SCI aged over 16 years who participated in the community survey of the Swiss SCI Cohort Study (SwiSCI). Indicators for socioeconomic conditions included years of formal education, household income, and financial strain.

Human polyspecific immunoglobulin attenuates group A streptococcal virulence factor activity and reduces disease severity in a murine necrotizing fasciitis model.

Objectives: Streptococcus pyogenes causes life-threatening invasive infections including necrotizing fasciitis (NF). Current treatment guidelines recommend the use of a cell-wall-active antibiotic combined with a protein synthesis inhibitor and surgical debridement in NF patients. Adjunctive therapy with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has been proposed for superantigen-associated streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.

Development of a cyclosporin A derivative with excellent anti-hepatitis C virus potency.

Synthetic modification of cyclosporin A at P3-P4 positions led to the discovery of NIM258, a next generation cyclophilin inhibitor with excellent anti-hepatitis C virus potency, with decreased transporter inhibition, and pharmacokinetics suitable for coadministration with other drugs. Herein is disclosed the evolution of the synthetic strategy to from the original medicinal chemistry route, designed for late diversification, to a convergent and robust development synthesis. The chiral centers in the P4 fragment were constructed by an asymmetric chelated Claisen rearrangement in the presence of quinidine as the chiral ligand.

Clindamycin Affects Group A Streptococcus Virulence Factors and Improves Clinical Outcome.

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) has acquired an arsenal of virulence factors, promoting life-threatening invasive infections such as necrotizing fasciitis. Current therapeutic regimens for necrotizing fasciitis include surgical debridement and treatment with cell wall-active antibiotics. Addition of clindamycin (CLI) is recommended, although clinical evidence is lacking.

Pestiviral E(rns) blocks TLR-3-dependent IFN synthesis by LL37 complexed RNA.

The ribonuclease activity of the soluble glycoprotein E(rns) of pestiviruses represents a unique mechanism to circumvent the host's innate immune system by blocking interferon type-I synthesis in response to extracellularly added single- (ss) and double-stranded (ds) RNA. However, the reason why pestiviruses encode a ribonuclease in addition to the abundant serum RNases remained elusive. Here, we show that the 5' UTR and NS5B regions of various strains of the RNA genome of the pestivirus bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) are resistant to serum RNases and are potent TLR-3 agonists.

Prolonged activity of the pestiviral RNase Erns as an interferon antagonist after uptake by clathrin-mediated endocytosis.

Unlabelled: The RNase activity of the envelope glycoprotein E(rns) of the pestivirus bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is required to block type I interferon (IFN) synthesis induced by single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in bovine cells. Due to the presence of an unusual membrane anchor at its C terminus, a significant portion of E(rns) is also secreted. In addition, a binding site for cell surface glycosaminoglycans is located within the C-terminal region of E(rns).

Coiled-coil irregularities of the M1 protein structure promote M1-fibrinogen interaction and influence group A Streptococcus host cell interactions and virulence.

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a human pathogen causing a wide range of mild to severe and life-threatening diseases. The GAS M1 protein is a major virulence factor promoting GAS invasiveness and resistance to host innate immune clearance. M1 displays an irregular coiled-coil structure, including the B-repeats that bind fibrinogen.

Characterization of the early steps of human parvovirus B19 infection.

The early steps of human parvovirus B19 (B19V) infection were investigated in UT7/Epo cells. B19V and its receptor globoside (Gb4Cer) associate with lipid rafts, predominantly of the noncaveolar type. Pharmacological disruption of the lipid rafts inhibited infection when the drug was added prior to virus attachment but not after virus uptake.

Natalizumab use in pediatric multiple sclerosis.

Background: Natalizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody raised against alpha4 integrins, is approved for treatment of active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) in adult patients.

Objective: To determine the safety, effectiveness, and tolerability of natalizumab use in pediatric patients with MS.

Design: Case report.

Histopathology of ventricles, coronary arteries and mast cell accumulation in transverse and longitudinal sections of the rat heart after irradiation.

The aim of the study was to compare cross sections with longitudinal sections in histopathological examination of the rat heart after irradiation, to find the most optimal method for the detection of cardiac radiation injuries. For this purpose, rats were irradiated locally on the heart with a single dose of 0 or 20 Gy. At different time points after irradiation, hearts were perfused and cut into longitudinal or cross sections.

Increased deposition of von Willebrand factor in the rat heart after local ionizing irradiation.

Background And Purpose: Von Willebrand factor (vWf), a glycoprotein involved in blood coagulation, is synthesized by endothelial cells. Increased amounts of vWf in blood plasma or tissue samples are indicative of damaged endothelium. In the present study, mRNA expression and localization of vWf were determined in irradiated rat heart tissue.

Tumorigenesis in high-dose total body irradiated rhesus monkeys--a life span study.

In the early sixties, studies have been performed at the TNO-Institutes for Health Research on acute effects of high dose total body irradiation (TBI) with X-rays and fission neutrons in Rhesus monkeys and the protective effect of autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT). The surviving animals of this study were kept to investigate late radiation effects, ie, tumorigenesis. TBI in combination with chemotherapy, followed by rescue with BMT is increasingly used for the treatment of hematological malignancies and refractory autoimmune disease.

Structural changes in the auricles of the rat heart after local ionizing irradiation.

Background And Purpose: Irradiation of the heart may lead to late cardiovascular complications and depending on the dose to cardiac-related death. There is increasing evidence that left atrial appendages play an important role in left ventricular filling especially in cardiac disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate the radiation response of the atria of the rat heart (auricles in particular) at morphological, histological and transcriptional level.

Therapeutic interventions in mice with chronic proliferative dermatitis (cpdm/cpdm).

Chronic proliferative dermatitis (cpd) is a spontaneous mutation in C57BL/Ka mice (cpdm/cpdm). The dermatitis is characterized by redness, hairloss, scaling, pruritus and histologically by epithelial hyperproliferation, infiltration of eosinophils, macrophages and mast cells. Lesions similar to those in the skin occur in the esophagus and forestomach.

Intra-CSF administered recombinant adenovirus causes an immune response-mediated toxicity.

High doses of adenotk were injected into the cerebrospinal fluid of rats and nonhuman primates (Macaca mulatta). Vector administration was followed by ganciclovir administration for 14 days. Despite the absence of clinical symptoms, analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and histopathological examination of the central nervous system (CNS) of the monkeys (3 weeks after vector injection) were consistent with a viral meningitis.

Long-term effects of total-body irradiation on the kidney of Rhesus monkeys.

Purpose: To investigate the long-term effects of total-body irradiation (TBI) on kidneys in non-human primates.

Methods And Materials: The kidneys of Rhesus monkeys were histologically examined at 6-8 years after TBI with low single doses of 4.5-8.

The carcinogenic risk of high dose total body irradiation in non-human primates.

Purpose: High dose total body irradiation (TBI) in combination with chemotherapy, followed by rescue with bone marrow transplantation (BMT), is increasingly used for the treatment of haematological malignancies. With the increasing success of this treatment and its current introduction for treating refractory autoimmune diseases the risk of radiation carcinogenesis is of growing concern. Studies on tumour induction in non-human primates are of relevance in this context since the response of this species to radiation does not differ much from that in man.

[Patient care personnel, patients and illnesses at the Geneva General Hospital at the beginning of the 17th century].

During the early decades of the seventeenth century, the city of Calvin, as well as most of Europe, experienced a severe economic depression, worsened by wars and recurring outbreaks of plague. This sad era is characterized by poverty coupled with illness, the formidable yokes of the poor and the feeble. Sustained by the city government, the Hôpital Général of Geneva was the hub of social and medical assistance during those "years of darkness".