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7 mins ago


Three undescribed sesquineolignans, Ziziphusmps A-C (1-3) were isolated from the seeds of Ziziphus jujuba. their gross structure was identified by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses. The part relative configurations were determined by the NOESY correlation and coupling constant. All isolates were tested for their cytotoxicity against the hepatocellular carcinoma Hep3B and HepG2 cells. The results indicated that none of them exhibited obvious cytotoxicity against two hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.This brief report documents the results of a survey that measured the public's and doctors' perceived effectiveness of preventive behaviors against COVID-19, in Japan. Medical doctors (n = 117) and the general public (n = 1086) participated in our online survey. The results of the analysis of mean scores indicate that there were only slight differences in perceived effectiveness between the two groups, while the differences in distributions were remarkable. The results of Silverman's test suggest the unimodality of doctors' responses and multimodality of the public's responses. Implications of the findings to combat the risk of infection are discussed.This study assessed physical activity (PA) and wellbeing during lockdown. UK adults reported their PA in the previous week, perception of PA importance (more, less, same) and wellbeing, depression, anxiety and stress. One-way ANOVA compared PA and wellbeing by PA importance. The 'less' importance group did less PA than the 'more' and 'same' (p  less then  0.05) importance group; and scored worse on all wellbeing measures than the 'same' importance group (p  less then  0.01). They also had worse wellbeing, depression and anxiety than the 'more' importance group (p  less then  0.05). Strategies to overcome the impact of the pandemic should aim to increase PA.
To investigate whether visual acuity has the same importance as a factor of depression and anxiety comparing with other psychological variables, particularly perceived social support, in patients diagnosed with age-related eye diseases, with and without low vision.

Observational cross-sectional study.

Patients attending outpatient appointments at the department of ophthalmology of a general hospital in Portugal.

Patients with age-related macular degeneration and patients with diabetic retinopathy attending routine hospital appointments were recruited for this study.

Anxiety and depression were measured using the hospital anxiety and depression scale and perceived social support using the multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Visual acuity was measured with ETDRS charts.

Of the 71 patients, 53 (75%) were diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, 37 (52%) were female and age (mean ± SD) was 69 ± 12 years. Acuity in the better seeing eye was 0.41 ± 0.33 logMAR. The mean anxiety score was 4.38 ± 3.82 and depression 4.41 ± 3.39. Clinically significant levels of anxiety were found in 21% (
 = 15) of the participants and depression in 18%(
 = 13). The total social support score was 5.29 ± 0.61. Significant multivariate regression models were found for anxiety (

 = 0.21,
 = 0.016) and for depression (

 = 0.32,
 < 0.0001). Social support was independently associated with levels of anxiety and with levels of depression. Gender was independently associated with levels of anxiety.

This study suggests that patients' perceived social support might be more important than visual acuity as a factor of clinical depression and anxiety in a sample of age-related eye disease patients.
This study suggests that patients' perceived social support might be more important than visual acuity as a factor of clinical depression and anxiety in a sample of age-related eye disease patients.
This study examined whether professional air traffic controllers (ATCos) were subject to peak-end effects in reporting their mental workload after performing an air traffic control task, and in predicting their mental workload in future scenarios.

In affective experience studies, people's evaluation of a period of experience is strongly influenced by the most intense (peak) point and the endpoint. However, whether the effects exist in mental workload evaluations made by professional operators is still not known.

In Study 1, 20 ATCos performed air traffic control scenarios on high-fidelity radar simulators and reported their mental workload. We used a 2 (high peak, low peak) × 2 (high end, low end) within-subject design. In Study 2, another group of 43 ATCos completed a survey asking them to predict their mental workload given the same air traffic control scenarios.

In Study 1, ATCos reported higher mental workload after completing the high-peak and the high-end scenarios. In contrast, in Study 2, ATCos predicted the peak workload effect but not the end workload effect when asked to predict their experience in dealing with the same scenarios.

Peak and end effects exist in subjective mental workload evaluation, but experts only had meta-cognitive awareness of the peak effect, and not the end effect.

Researchers and practitioners that use subjective workload estimates for work design decisions need to be aware of the potential impact of peak and end task demand effects on subjective mental workload ratings provided by expert operators.
Researchers and practitioners that use subjective workload estimates for work design decisions need to be aware of the potential impact of peak and end task demand effects on subjective mental workload ratings provided by expert operators.
The purpose of this study is to understand the communication among care teams during telemedicine-enabled stroke consults in an ambulance.

Telemedicine can have a significant impact on acute stroke care by enabling timely intervention in an ambulance before a patient reaches the hospital. However, limited research has been conducted on understanding and supporting team communication during the care delivery process for telemedicine-enabled stroke care in an ambulance.

Video recordings of 13 simulated stroke telemedicine consults conducted in an ambulance were coded to document the tasks, communication events, and flow disruptions during the telemedicine-enabled stroke care delivery process.

The majority (82%) of all team interactions in telemedicine-enabled stroke care involved verbal interactions among team members. The neurologist, patient, and paramedic were almost equally involved in team interactions during stroke care, though the neurologist initiated 48% of all verbal interactions. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/AT7519.html Disruptions were observed in 8% of interactions, and communication-related issues contributed to 44%, with interruptions and environmental hazards being other reasons for disruptions in interactions during telemedicine-enabled stroke care.

15 mins ago


Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are pervasive environmental contaminants implicated as risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Immune dysregulation is another NDD risk factor, and developmental PCB exposures are associated with early life immune dysregulation. Studies of the immunomodulatory effects of PCBs have focused on the higher-chlorinated congeners found in legacy commercial mixtures. Comparatively little is known about the immune effects of contemporary, lower-chlorinated PCBs. This is a critical data gap given recent reports that lower-chlorinated congeners comprise >70% of the total PCB burden in serum of pregnant women enrolled in the MARBLES study who are at increased risk for having a child with an NDD. To examine the influence of PCBs, sex, and genotype on cytokine levels, mice were exposed throughout gestation and lactation to a PCB mixture in the maternal diet, which was based on the 12 most abundant PCBs in sera from MARBLES subjects. Using multiplex array, cytokines were quantectively, these findings indicate differential influences of PCB exposure and genotype on cytokine levels in serum and hippocampal tissue of weanling mice. These results suggest that developmental PCB exposure has chronic effects on baseline serum, but not hippocampal, cytokine levels in juvenile mice.Monochloropropanediol (MCPD) esters and glycidyl esters (GE) are the process contaminants found in frying and baking, except the refining process. The free form MCPD and glycidol are released from their parent esters via lipase hydrolysis while they are carcinogen and genotoxic carcinogen, respectively. MCPD esters and GE are formed endogenously during vegetable oil refining process. Then, their concentration were experimented during subsequent food processing methods, especially frying and baking. This review discussed the occurrence of 2-, 3-MCPD esters and GE during frying and baking processes. Process temperature, process duration, presence of precursors, and their combined effects are highly related to MCPD esters and GE formations. An elevated temperature and processing time can increase the formation of these contaminants until an optimum rate and then followed by the decomposition. Also, other factors such as the presence of chloride ions, moisture, and partial acylglycerol can further facilitate MCPD esters and/or GE formation.Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is characterized by an immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment that renders it largely refractory to immunotherapy. We implemented a multimodal analysis approach to elucidate the immune landscape in PDA. Using a combination of CyTOF, single-cell RNA sequencing, and multiplex immunohistochemistry on patient tumors, matched blood, and non-malignant samples, we uncovered a complex network of immune-suppressive cellular interactions. These experiments revealed heterogeneous expression of immune checkpoint receptors in individual patient's T cells and increased markers of CD8+ T cell dysfunction in advanced disease stage. Tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells had an increased proportion of cells expressing an exhausted expression profile that included upregulation of the immune checkpoint TIGIT, a finding that we validated at the protein level. Our findings point to a profound alteration of the immune landscape of tumors, and to patient-specific immune changes that should be taken into account as combination immunotherapy becomes available for pancreatic cancer.
Latin America has the highest regional average cesarean birth rates. One potential driver is cesarean birth by maternal request (CBMR).

We analyzed of a large prospective cohort study of HIV-infected women in six Latin American countries.

Comparisons were made between women who chose CBMR (n = 38) and women with a medical indication for cesarean (n = 683). The only variable associated with CBMR was onset of labor (AOR 0.3 [0.1,0.9], p = 0.04).

Spontaneous labor reduced the likelihood of a woman living with HIV to pursue CBMR in a large Latin American cohort.
Spontaneous labor reduced the likelihood of a woman living with HIV to pursue CBMR in a large Latin American cohort.Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired production of coordinated articulatory movements needed for fluent speech. It is currently unknown whether these abnormal production characteristics reflect disruptions to brain mechanisms underlying the acquisition and/or execution of speech motor sequences. To dissociate learning and control processes, we used a motor sequence learning paradigm to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of learning to produce novel phoneme sequences in adults who stutter (AWS) and neurotypical controls. Participants intensively practiced producing pseudowords containing non-native consonant clusters (e.g., "gvasf") over two days. The behavioral results indicated that although the two experimental groups showed comparable learning trajectories, AWS performed significantly worse on the task prior to and after speech motor practice. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the authors compared brain activity during articulation of the practiced words and a set of novel pseudowords (matched in phonetic complexity). FMRI analyses revealed no differences between AWS and controls in cortical or subcortical regions; both groups showed comparable increases in activation in left-lateralized brain areas implicated in phonological working memory and speech motor planning during production of the novel sequences compared to the practiced sequences. Moreover, activation in left-lateralized basal ganglia sites was negatively correlated with in-scanner mean disfluency in AWS. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that AWS exhibit no deficit in constructing new speech motor sequences but do show impaired execution of these sequences before and after they have been acquired and consolidated.A new species of Pristionchus was isolated from fruiting bodies of the wood-decaying fungus Trametes orientalis collected from Kyoto, Japan. Attempts to culture it using bacteria, yeast, and freeze-killed wax moth larvae as food or substrate failed. The eurystomatous form of the species was not found in the collected material, and the species is typologically characterized by its 'small' stoma with thin, membrane-like cheilostomatal plates, a small triangular right subventral tooth, thorn-like dorsal tooth, and small left subventral denticles; a short, blunt male tail spike; and a short, conical female tail. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/LY294002.html Although the posterior probability support was not high (66%), phylogenetic analysis of both small and large ribosomal RNA gene subunits suggests that the species is closely related to P. elegans and P. bucculentus. The new species can be distinguished from those two by its diagnostic characters comprising the stomatal morphology and male and female tail characters.

23 mins ago


Except for Apgar scores taken five minutes after birth, there were no intergroup differences in the patient characteristics or perinatal psychiatric outcomes. We found that the liaison system was associated with an increased rate of referral to the local public health center (p = 0.003). The system also significantly delayed the time at which patients first visited a psychiatrist because a psychiatric nurse could determine the urgency through interviews with the patients. Overall, our results suggest that the liaison system is helpful for pregnant women with mental disorders.In response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, we conducted drive-through nasopharyngeal swab testing for COVID-19 in Sendai city, Japan, since April 2020. All tested individuals were judged in advance by public health centers for the necessity of undergoing the test with possible contact history and/or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Roscovitine.html In this study, to identify the predictors of SARS-CoV-2 test positivity for more efficient and evidenced selection of suspected individuals, we enrolled 3,540 consecutive individuals, tested in the first 7 months of the testing program, with data regarding to the history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, including those involved in cluster outbreaks. This cohort included 284 foreign students (257 males and 27 females) from a vocational school involved in the largest cluster outbreak in the area. Close contact history was present in 952 (26.9%) of the participants. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results showed that 164 participants (4.6%) were positive and 3,376 participants (95.4%) were negative for the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid gene (N2). In the univariate and multivariate analyses, history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, higher age, cough symptoms, and non-native ethnicity were predictors for SARS-CoV-2 test positivity. However, the significance of age and foreign nationality disappeared or declined upon excluding the foreign students from the aforementioned largest cluster outbreak. In conclusion, a history of close contact with COVID-19 patients and the presence of cough symptoms are significant predictors of SARS-CoV-2 test positivity.Reproducibility in animal research is crucial for its reliance and translational relevance. The 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is widely used but inconsistently and incompletely characterized throughout the literature. This hinders comparisons between studies and influences the low rate of translation of effective preclinical molecules. The purpose of this study was to categorize TNBS-induced colitis, based on macroscopic and microscopic scoring systems, and to identify basic routine parameters that could anticipate those categories. We retrospectively analysed male Wistar Rattus norvegicus (n=28 for the control group and n=87 for the TNBS group) and categorized TNBS-induced colitis in three phenotypes Mild, Moderate and Severe colitis, as for human IBD. Also, we showed that the time course of food intake and fecal excretion (but not body weight, fluid intake or welfare scores) could foresee those categories. So, routine evaluation of food intake and fecal excretion may guide researchers in planning their experiments, selecting the animals with the severity of colitis that better matches their aims, or applying early humane endpoints to animals that will not be used in the experiments. In conclusion, categorizing TNBS-induced colitis enhances the reproducibility of data gathered with this experimental model and strengths its translational relevance.
Inflammation is emerging as a potential mechanism of cervical carcinogenesis. However, few studies have investigated the association between host inflammatory status and the natural course of cervical precursor lesion. The aim of this study was to assess the probability of LSIL regression, associated with an inflammatory biomarker, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP).

In a longitudinal cohort study, female participants were examined annually or biannually using cervical cytology between 2006 and 2015. Incident LSIL cases were included in the analysis, with regression defined as at least one consecutive normal cytologic result. A total of 520 women aged 22-64 years were followed up for LSIL regression. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for LSIL regression were estimated using a parametric proportional hazards model.

During 827.5 person-years of follow-up, 486 out of 520 subjects (93.5%) showed LSIL regression. After adjusting several important potential confounders, a higher quartile of hs-CRP levels was significantly associated with a lower rate of regression (for quartile 4 vs quartile 1, inverse HR 1.33; 95% CI, 1.04-1.69; P for trend = 0.028).

The low rate of spontaneous regression recorded in women with higher hs-CRP lends support to the role of the perturbated host inflammatory status in cervical carcinogenesis, and suggests that hs-CRP level could help monitor LSIL.
The low rate of spontaneous regression recorded in women with higher hs-CRP lends support to the role of the perturbated host inflammatory status in cervical carcinogenesis, and suggests that hs-CRP level could help monitor LSIL.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is more prevalent in women with age. Comorbidities are prevalent in OA patients. In this study, we conducted a follow-up study to evaluate whether women with OA are at an increased risk of ischemic stroke using insurance claims data of Taiwan.

We identified 13,520 women with OA aged 20-99 newly diagnosed in 2000-2006 and 27,033 women without OA for comparison, frequency matched by age and diagnosis date. Women with baseline history of hypertension and other disorders associated with stroke were excluded for this study. Incident ischemic stroke was assessed by the end of 2013. A nested case-control analysis was used to identify factors associated with the stroke in the OA cohort.

The incidence rate of ischemic stroke in the OA cohort was 1.5-fold greater than that in comparisons (1.93 versus 1.26 per 1,000 person-years), with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.34 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-1.66). The nested case-control analysis showed that stroke cases were twice as likely to develop hypertension during the follow-up period than controls without stroke.

Videos

08/19/2024

In today’s episode of Direct Impact, Rick Sanchez addresses the dangerous consequences of a Ukrainian drone strike on a nuclear power plant. The show then shifts focus to US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and British officials boycotting a Nagasaki peace ceremony, revealing tensions over Israel’s actions in Gaza. The episode wraps up with an in-depth discussion between Rick and his guest, Sarah Bils of DD Geopolitics, on the broader implications of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its global repercussions.

07/18/2024

In this episode of Direct Impact with Rick Sanchez, Rick criticizes a staged NBC interview with President Joe Biden, suggesting it’s a diversion from his recent gaffes and implying internal Democratic Party turmoil as Nancy Pelosi reportedly seeks Biden’s removal. The episode also explores geopolitical shifts, noting China and Russia’s joint military exercises amid a new defense pact between the Philippines and Japan. Finally, Florida delegate Angie Wong joins the show to discuss the Republican mood heading into the 2024 election.

05/13/2024

On this episode of Direct Impact, Rick Sanchez discusses recent comments by US President Joe Biden that India, Japan, and other nations are quote “xenophobic.” Correspondent Manila Chan joins Rick to discuss what geopolitical and economic repercussions could result from the president’s most recent comments. Rick and Manila also discuss US senators threatening the International Criminal Court if any nation attempts to prosecute Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes. The two also discuss Russia’s upcoming Victory Day Parade and strange reactions in Germany, Christian persecution in Gaza, and the odd return of a former US Congressman. Then Rick is joined by Asia-Pacific expert Sourabh Gupta to discuss US-India relations.

Circles

Sorry, no results were found.

Videos

08/19/2024

In today’s episode of Direct Impact, Rick Sanchez addresses the dangerous consequences of a Ukrainian drone strike on a nuclear power plant. The show then shifts focus to US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and British officials boycotting a Nagasaki peace ceremony, revealing tensions over Israel’s actions in Gaza. The episode wraps up with an in-depth discussion between Rick and his guest, Sarah Bils of DD Geopolitics, on the broader implications of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its global repercussions.

07/18/2024

In this episode of Direct Impact with Rick Sanchez, Rick criticizes a staged NBC interview with President Joe Biden, suggesting it’s a diversion from his recent gaffes and implying internal Democratic Party turmoil as Nancy Pelosi reportedly seeks Biden’s removal. The episode also explores geopolitical shifts, noting China and Russia’s joint military exercises amid a new defense pact between the Philippines and Japan. Finally, Florida delegate Angie Wong joins the show to discuss the Republican mood heading into the 2024 election.

05/13/2024

On this episode of Direct Impact, Rick Sanchez discusses recent comments by US President Joe Biden that India, Japan, and other nations are quote “xenophobic.” Correspondent Manila Chan joins Rick to discuss what geopolitical and economic repercussions could result from the president’s most recent comments. Rick and Manila also discuss US senators threatening the International Criminal Court if any nation attempts to prosecute Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes. The two also discuss Russia’s upcoming Victory Day Parade and strange reactions in Germany, Christian persecution in Gaza, and the odd return of a former US Congressman. Then Rick is joined by Asia-Pacific expert Sourabh Gupta to discuss US-India relations.

06/24/2023

On this episode of The M.O., host Manila Chan discusses the growing turmoil in the Pacific, including the de facto Cold War taking place in the South China Sea. Manila speaks to Dr. Ken Hammond about the prospect of a conflict between the U.S. and China in the Pacific and what can be done to simmer tensions.

06/22/2023

On this episode of The M.O., host Manila Chan dives into the hot topic of the re-militarization of Japan. Manila sits down with author James Bradley to discuss Japanese history after World War II and the subsequent move by Tokyo to boost their military budget in the face of a perceived Chinese and North Korean threat.

Posts

7 mins ago


Three undescribed sesquineolignans, Ziziphusmps A-C (1-3) were isolated from the seeds of Ziziphus jujuba. their gross structure was identified by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses. The part relative configurations were determined by the NOESY correlation and coupling constant. All isolates were tested for their cytotoxicity against the hepatocellular carcinoma Hep3B and HepG2 cells. The results indicated that none of them exhibited obvious cytotoxicity against two hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.This brief report documents the results of a survey that measured the public's and doctors' perceived effectiveness of preventive behaviors against COVID-19, in Japan. Medical doctors (n = 117) and the general public (n = 1086) participated in our online survey. The results of the analysis of mean scores indicate that there were only slight differences in perceived effectiveness between the two groups, while the differences in distributions were remarkable. The results of Silverman's test suggest the unimodality of doctors' responses and multimodality of the public's responses. Implications of the findings to combat the risk of infection are discussed.This study assessed physical activity (PA) and wellbeing during lockdown. UK adults reported their PA in the previous week, perception of PA importance (more, less, same) and wellbeing, depression, anxiety and stress. One-way ANOVA compared PA and wellbeing by PA importance. The 'less' importance group did less PA than the 'more' and 'same' (p  less then  0.05) importance group; and scored worse on all wellbeing measures than the 'same' importance group (p  less then  0.01). They also had worse wellbeing, depression and anxiety than the 'more' importance group (p  less then  0.05). Strategies to overcome the impact of the pandemic should aim to increase PA.
To investigate whether visual acuity has the same importance as a factor of depression and anxiety comparing with other psychological variables, particularly perceived social support, in patients diagnosed with age-related eye diseases, with and without low vision.

Observational cross-sectional study.

Patients attending outpatient appointments at the department of ophthalmology of a general hospital in Portugal.

Patients with age-related macular degeneration and patients with diabetic retinopathy attending routine hospital appointments were recruited for this study.

Anxiety and depression were measured using the hospital anxiety and depression scale and perceived social support using the multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Visual acuity was measured with ETDRS charts.

Of the 71 patients, 53 (75%) were diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, 37 (52%) were female and age (mean ± SD) was 69 ± 12 years. Acuity in the better seeing eye was 0.41 ± 0.33 logMAR. The mean anxiety score was 4.38 ± 3.82 and depression 4.41 ± 3.39. Clinically significant levels of anxiety were found in 21% (
 = 15) of the participants and depression in 18%(
 = 13). The total social support score was 5.29 ± 0.61. Significant multivariate regression models were found for anxiety (

 = 0.21,
 = 0.016) and for depression (

 = 0.32,
 < 0.0001). Social support was independently associated with levels of anxiety and with levels of depression. Gender was independently associated with levels of anxiety.

This study suggests that patients' perceived social support might be more important than visual acuity as a factor of clinical depression and anxiety in a sample of age-related eye disease patients.
This study suggests that patients' perceived social support might be more important than visual acuity as a factor of clinical depression and anxiety in a sample of age-related eye disease patients.
This study examined whether professional air traffic controllers (ATCos) were subject to peak-end effects in reporting their mental workload after performing an air traffic control task, and in predicting their mental workload in future scenarios.

In affective experience studies, people's evaluation of a period of experience is strongly influenced by the most intense (peak) point and the endpoint. However, whether the effects exist in mental workload evaluations made by professional operators is still not known.

In Study 1, 20 ATCos performed air traffic control scenarios on high-fidelity radar simulators and reported their mental workload. We used a 2 (high peak, low peak) × 2 (high end, low end) within-subject design. In Study 2, another group of 43 ATCos completed a survey asking them to predict their mental workload given the same air traffic control scenarios.

In Study 1, ATCos reported higher mental workload after completing the high-peak and the high-end scenarios. In contrast, in Study 2, ATCos predicted the peak workload effect but not the end workload effect when asked to predict their experience in dealing with the same scenarios.

Peak and end effects exist in subjective mental workload evaluation, but experts only had meta-cognitive awareness of the peak effect, and not the end effect.

Researchers and practitioners that use subjective workload estimates for work design decisions need to be aware of the potential impact of peak and end task demand effects on subjective mental workload ratings provided by expert operators.
Researchers and practitioners that use subjective workload estimates for work design decisions need to be aware of the potential impact of peak and end task demand effects on subjective mental workload ratings provided by expert operators.
The purpose of this study is to understand the communication among care teams during telemedicine-enabled stroke consults in an ambulance.

Telemedicine can have a significant impact on acute stroke care by enabling timely intervention in an ambulance before a patient reaches the hospital. However, limited research has been conducted on understanding and supporting team communication during the care delivery process for telemedicine-enabled stroke care in an ambulance.

Video recordings of 13 simulated stroke telemedicine consults conducted in an ambulance were coded to document the tasks, communication events, and flow disruptions during the telemedicine-enabled stroke care delivery process.

The majority (82%) of all team interactions in telemedicine-enabled stroke care involved verbal interactions among team members. The neurologist, patient, and paramedic were almost equally involved in team interactions during stroke care, though the neurologist initiated 48% of all verbal interactions. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/AT7519.html Disruptions were observed in 8% of interactions, and communication-related issues contributed to 44%, with interruptions and environmental hazards being other reasons for disruptions in interactions during telemedicine-enabled stroke care.

15 mins ago


Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are pervasive environmental contaminants implicated as risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Immune dysregulation is another NDD risk factor, and developmental PCB exposures are associated with early life immune dysregulation. Studies of the immunomodulatory effects of PCBs have focused on the higher-chlorinated congeners found in legacy commercial mixtures. Comparatively little is known about the immune effects of contemporary, lower-chlorinated PCBs. This is a critical data gap given recent reports that lower-chlorinated congeners comprise >70% of the total PCB burden in serum of pregnant women enrolled in the MARBLES study who are at increased risk for having a child with an NDD. To examine the influence of PCBs, sex, and genotype on cytokine levels, mice were exposed throughout gestation and lactation to a PCB mixture in the maternal diet, which was based on the 12 most abundant PCBs in sera from MARBLES subjects. Using multiplex array, cytokines were quantectively, these findings indicate differential influences of PCB exposure and genotype on cytokine levels in serum and hippocampal tissue of weanling mice. These results suggest that developmental PCB exposure has chronic effects on baseline serum, but not hippocampal, cytokine levels in juvenile mice.Monochloropropanediol (MCPD) esters and glycidyl esters (GE) are the process contaminants found in frying and baking, except the refining process. The free form MCPD and glycidol are released from their parent esters via lipase hydrolysis while they are carcinogen and genotoxic carcinogen, respectively. MCPD esters and GE are formed endogenously during vegetable oil refining process. Then, their concentration were experimented during subsequent food processing methods, especially frying and baking. This review discussed the occurrence of 2-, 3-MCPD esters and GE during frying and baking processes. Process temperature, process duration, presence of precursors, and their combined effects are highly related to MCPD esters and GE formations. An elevated temperature and processing time can increase the formation of these contaminants until an optimum rate and then followed by the decomposition. Also, other factors such as the presence of chloride ions, moisture, and partial acylglycerol can further facilitate MCPD esters and/or GE formation.Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is characterized by an immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment that renders it largely refractory to immunotherapy. We implemented a multimodal analysis approach to elucidate the immune landscape in PDA. Using a combination of CyTOF, single-cell RNA sequencing, and multiplex immunohistochemistry on patient tumors, matched blood, and non-malignant samples, we uncovered a complex network of immune-suppressive cellular interactions. These experiments revealed heterogeneous expression of immune checkpoint receptors in individual patient's T cells and increased markers of CD8+ T cell dysfunction in advanced disease stage. Tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells had an increased proportion of cells expressing an exhausted expression profile that included upregulation of the immune checkpoint TIGIT, a finding that we validated at the protein level. Our findings point to a profound alteration of the immune landscape of tumors, and to patient-specific immune changes that should be taken into account as combination immunotherapy becomes available for pancreatic cancer.
Latin America has the highest regional average cesarean birth rates. One potential driver is cesarean birth by maternal request (CBMR).

We analyzed of a large prospective cohort study of HIV-infected women in six Latin American countries.

Comparisons were made between women who chose CBMR (n = 38) and women with a medical indication for cesarean (n = 683). The only variable associated with CBMR was onset of labor (AOR 0.3 [0.1,0.9], p = 0.04).

Spontaneous labor reduced the likelihood of a woman living with HIV to pursue CBMR in a large Latin American cohort.
Spontaneous labor reduced the likelihood of a woman living with HIV to pursue CBMR in a large Latin American cohort.Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired production of coordinated articulatory movements needed for fluent speech. It is currently unknown whether these abnormal production characteristics reflect disruptions to brain mechanisms underlying the acquisition and/or execution of speech motor sequences. To dissociate learning and control processes, we used a motor sequence learning paradigm to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of learning to produce novel phoneme sequences in adults who stutter (AWS) and neurotypical controls. Participants intensively practiced producing pseudowords containing non-native consonant clusters (e.g., "gvasf") over two days. The behavioral results indicated that although the two experimental groups showed comparable learning trajectories, AWS performed significantly worse on the task prior to and after speech motor practice. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the authors compared brain activity during articulation of the practiced words and a set of novel pseudowords (matched in phonetic complexity). FMRI analyses revealed no differences between AWS and controls in cortical or subcortical regions; both groups showed comparable increases in activation in left-lateralized brain areas implicated in phonological working memory and speech motor planning during production of the novel sequences compared to the practiced sequences. Moreover, activation in left-lateralized basal ganglia sites was negatively correlated with in-scanner mean disfluency in AWS. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that AWS exhibit no deficit in constructing new speech motor sequences but do show impaired execution of these sequences before and after they have been acquired and consolidated.A new species of Pristionchus was isolated from fruiting bodies of the wood-decaying fungus Trametes orientalis collected from Kyoto, Japan. Attempts to culture it using bacteria, yeast, and freeze-killed wax moth larvae as food or substrate failed. The eurystomatous form of the species was not found in the collected material, and the species is typologically characterized by its 'small' stoma with thin, membrane-like cheilostomatal plates, a small triangular right subventral tooth, thorn-like dorsal tooth, and small left subventral denticles; a short, blunt male tail spike; and a short, conical female tail. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/LY294002.html Although the posterior probability support was not high (66%), phylogenetic analysis of both small and large ribosomal RNA gene subunits suggests that the species is closely related to P. elegans and P. bucculentus. The new species can be distinguished from those two by its diagnostic characters comprising the stomatal morphology and male and female tail characters.

23 mins ago


Except for Apgar scores taken five minutes after birth, there were no intergroup differences in the patient characteristics or perinatal psychiatric outcomes. We found that the liaison system was associated with an increased rate of referral to the local public health center (p = 0.003). The system also significantly delayed the time at which patients first visited a psychiatrist because a psychiatric nurse could determine the urgency through interviews with the patients. Overall, our results suggest that the liaison system is helpful for pregnant women with mental disorders.In response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, we conducted drive-through nasopharyngeal swab testing for COVID-19 in Sendai city, Japan, since April 2020. All tested individuals were judged in advance by public health centers for the necessity of undergoing the test with possible contact history and/or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Roscovitine.html In this study, to identify the predictors of SARS-CoV-2 test positivity for more efficient and evidenced selection of suspected individuals, we enrolled 3,540 consecutive individuals, tested in the first 7 months of the testing program, with data regarding to the history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, including those involved in cluster outbreaks. This cohort included 284 foreign students (257 males and 27 females) from a vocational school involved in the largest cluster outbreak in the area. Close contact history was present in 952 (26.9%) of the participants. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results showed that 164 participants (4.6%) were positive and 3,376 participants (95.4%) were negative for the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid gene (N2). In the univariate and multivariate analyses, history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, higher age, cough symptoms, and non-native ethnicity were predictors for SARS-CoV-2 test positivity. However, the significance of age and foreign nationality disappeared or declined upon excluding the foreign students from the aforementioned largest cluster outbreak. In conclusion, a history of close contact with COVID-19 patients and the presence of cough symptoms are significant predictors of SARS-CoV-2 test positivity.Reproducibility in animal research is crucial for its reliance and translational relevance. The 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is widely used but inconsistently and incompletely characterized throughout the literature. This hinders comparisons between studies and influences the low rate of translation of effective preclinical molecules. The purpose of this study was to categorize TNBS-induced colitis, based on macroscopic and microscopic scoring systems, and to identify basic routine parameters that could anticipate those categories. We retrospectively analysed male Wistar Rattus norvegicus (n=28 for the control group and n=87 for the TNBS group) and categorized TNBS-induced colitis in three phenotypes Mild, Moderate and Severe colitis, as for human IBD. Also, we showed that the time course of food intake and fecal excretion (but not body weight, fluid intake or welfare scores) could foresee those categories. So, routine evaluation of food intake and fecal excretion may guide researchers in planning their experiments, selecting the animals with the severity of colitis that better matches their aims, or applying early humane endpoints to animals that will not be used in the experiments. In conclusion, categorizing TNBS-induced colitis enhances the reproducibility of data gathered with this experimental model and strengths its translational relevance.
Inflammation is emerging as a potential mechanism of cervical carcinogenesis. However, few studies have investigated the association between host inflammatory status and the natural course of cervical precursor lesion. The aim of this study was to assess the probability of LSIL regression, associated with an inflammatory biomarker, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP).

In a longitudinal cohort study, female participants were examined annually or biannually using cervical cytology between 2006 and 2015. Incident LSIL cases were included in the analysis, with regression defined as at least one consecutive normal cytologic result. A total of 520 women aged 22-64 years were followed up for LSIL regression. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for LSIL regression were estimated using a parametric proportional hazards model.

During 827.5 person-years of follow-up, 486 out of 520 subjects (93.5%) showed LSIL regression. After adjusting several important potential confounders, a higher quartile of hs-CRP levels was significantly associated with a lower rate of regression (for quartile 4 vs quartile 1, inverse HR 1.33; 95% CI, 1.04-1.69; P for trend = 0.028).

The low rate of spontaneous regression recorded in women with higher hs-CRP lends support to the role of the perturbated host inflammatory status in cervical carcinogenesis, and suggests that hs-CRP level could help monitor LSIL.
The low rate of spontaneous regression recorded in women with higher hs-CRP lends support to the role of the perturbated host inflammatory status in cervical carcinogenesis, and suggests that hs-CRP level could help monitor LSIL.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is more prevalent in women with age. Comorbidities are prevalent in OA patients. In this study, we conducted a follow-up study to evaluate whether women with OA are at an increased risk of ischemic stroke using insurance claims data of Taiwan.

We identified 13,520 women with OA aged 20-99 newly diagnosed in 2000-2006 and 27,033 women without OA for comparison, frequency matched by age and diagnosis date. Women with baseline history of hypertension and other disorders associated with stroke were excluded for this study. Incident ischemic stroke was assessed by the end of 2013. A nested case-control analysis was used to identify factors associated with the stroke in the OA cohort.

The incidence rate of ischemic stroke in the OA cohort was 1.5-fold greater than that in comparisons (1.93 versus 1.26 per 1,000 person-years), with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.34 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-1.66). The nested case-control analysis showed that stroke cases were twice as likely to develop hypertension during the follow-up period than controls without stroke.

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To effectively incorporate in vitro-in silico-based methods into the regulation of consumer product safety, a quantitative connection between product phthalate concentrations and in vitro bioactivity data must be established for the general population. We developed, evaluated, and demonstrated a modeling framework that integrates exposure and pharmacokinetic models to convert product phthalate concentrations into population-scale risks for phthalates and their substitutes. A probabilistic exposure model was developed to generate the distribution of multi-route exposures based on product phthalate concentrations, chemical properties, and human activities. Pharmacokinetic models were developed to simulate population toxicokinetics using Bayesian analysis via the Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Both exposure and pharmacokinetic models demonstrated good predictive capability when compared with worldwide studies. The distributions of exposures and pharmacokinetics were integrated to predict the population distribe these in vitro-in silico-based risk assessments for a broad range of products containing an equally broad range of chemicals.The major human cytochrome P450 CYP2D6 isoform enzyme plays important roles in the liver and in the brain with regards to xenobiotic metabolism. Xenobiotics as CYP2D6 substrates include a whole range of pharmaceuticals, pesticides and plant alkaloids to cite but a few. In addition, a number of endogenous compounds have been shown to be substrates of CYP2D6 including trace amines in the brain such as tyramine and 5-methoxytryptamine as well as anandamide and progesterone. Because of the polymorphic nature of CYP2D6, considerable inter-phenotypic and inter-ethnic differences in the pharmaco/toxicokinetics (PK/TK) and metabolism of CYP2D6 substrates exist with potential consequences on the pharmacology and toxicity of chemicals. Here, large extensive literature searches have been performed to collect PK data from published human studies for a wide range of pharmaceutical probe substrates and investigate human variability in CYP2D6 metabolism. The computed kinetic parameters resulted in the largest open source daof quantitative in vitro in vivo extrapolation models.
Prenatal cadmium exposure has been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, previous findings are contradictory, and little is known about the potential modifiers of the cadmium-related neurodevelopmental risk. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/h-cys-trt-oh.html We investigated the associations between prenatal cadmium exposure and neurodevelopment in 2-year-old children and examined the influence of mother/child characteristics.

We recruited 3545 mother-child pairs from the Japan Environment and Children's Study. We collected maternal blood during mid/late pregnancy and cord blood at delivery, and measured cadmium concentrations using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Neurodevelopment was assessed using the Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development (KSPD), which includes cognitive-adaptive (C-A), language-social (L-S), postural-motor (P-M) and developmental quotient (DQ) domains. Associations between cadmium and KSPD scores were tested using multivariable models after controlling for confounders.

Median levels (interquart, in children whose mothers smoked, and in children born to mothers with gestational diabetes. Further studies in other populations are needed to confirm our findings.
Conventionally grown fruits and vegetables (FVs) are the main source of general population exposure to pesticide residues.

To evaluate the relation of intake of high- and low-pesticide-residue FVs with cancer risk.

We followed 150,830 women (Nurses' Health Study, 1998-2016, and Nurses' Health Study II, 1999-2017) and 29,486 men (Health Professionals Follow-up Study, 1998-2016) without a history of cancer. We ascertained FV intake via validated food frequency questionnaires and categorized FVs as having high or low pesticide residue levels based on USDA surveillance data. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of total and site-specific cancer related to quintiles of high- and low-pesticide-residue FV intake.

We documented 23,678 incident cancer cases during 2,862,118 person-years of follow-up. In the pooled multivariable analysis, neither high- nor low-pesticide-residue FV intake was associated with cancer. The HRs (95% CI) per 1 serving/day increase in intake were 0.99 (0.97-1.01) for high- and 1.01 (0.99-1.02) for low-pesticide-residue FVs. Additionally, we found no association between high-pesticide-residue FV intake and risk of specific sites, including malignancies previously linked to occupational pesticide exposure ([HR, 95% CI comparing extreme quintiles of intake] lung [1.17 (0.95-1.43)], non-Hodgkin lymphoma [0.89 (0.72-1.09)], prostate [1.31 (0.88-1.93)]) or inversely related to intake of organic foods (breasts [1.03 (0.94-1.31)]).

These findings suggest that overall exposure to pesticides through FV intake is not related to cancer risk, although they do not rule out associations with specific chemicals or sub-types of specific cancers.
These findings suggest that overall exposure to pesticides through FV intake is not related to cancer risk, although they do not rule out associations with specific chemicals or sub-types of specific cancers.Peatlands play a critical role in terrestrial carbon (C) storage, containing an estimated 30% of global soil C, despite occupying only 3% of global land area. Historic management of peatlands has led to widespread degradation and loss of important ecosystem services, including C sequestration. Legacy drainage features in the peatlands of northern Minnesota, USA were studied to assess the volume of peat and the amount of C lost in the ~100 years since drainage. Using high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, we measured elevation changes adjacent to legacy ditches to model pre-ditch surface elevations, which were used to calculate peat volume loss. We established relationships between volume loss and site characteristics from existing geographic information systems datasets and used those relationships to scale volume loss to all mapped peatland ditches in northern Minnesota (USA). We estimated that 0.165 ± 0.009 km3 of peat have been lost along almost 4000 km of peatland ditches. Peat loss upslope of ditches was significantly less than downslope (P less then 0.

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001). The expression of HO-1, NOX-2, NOX-4, and NRF-2 proteins in the KC group were significantly higher than those in the control group (all
< 0.001). RT-PCR results showed the levels of HO-1, NOX-2, NOX-4, and NRF-2 mRNA in KC groups were all significantly increased compared with control groups (all
< 0.05).

Oxidative stress and compensatory activation of antioxidant proteins suggest oxidative stress injury in corneal stromal cells plays an important role in the development of KC in a rabbit model.
Oxidative stress and compensatory activation of antioxidant proteins suggest oxidative stress injury in corneal stromal cells plays an important role in the development of KC in a rabbit model.
Migration presents numerous significant changes in a person's life, physically, emotionally and socially. How health develops in the host country depends on a range of factors, including language proficiency. We aimed to investigate associations between language proficiency and health.

Statistics Norway carried out the Living Conditions Survey for Immigrants (2016), conducting telephone (82%) or face-to-face (18%) interviews with immigrants (two or more years of residence) from 12 countries. The survey collected data on self-reported proficiency in the Norwegian language, health and socio-economic variables, and included 4077 people aged 16-66 years.

In logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex and duration of residence, poor or medium self-reported Norwegian proficiency, as compared to good, was associated with poorer health outcomes, including lower odds of self-rated health (odds ratio (OR)=0.46; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39-0.54) and higher odds of hypertension (OR=1.74; 95% CI 1.34-2.26n providing access to health services and supporting newcomers in being more active participants in managing their health.Adults are biologically responsive to context, and their responses to particular situations may differ across cultures. However, are preschoolers' biological systems also responsive to situational contexts and cultures? Here, we show that children's neurobiological stress responses, as indexed by salivary cortisol, are activated and responsive to psychosocial stressors relevant to their sociocultural emphases. By examining cortisol changes across different contexts among 138 preschoolers living in the United States, China, and Japan, we found that an achievement-related stressor elicited an increased cortisol response among Chinese preschoolers, whereas interpersonal-related stressors elicited an increased cortisol response among Japanese preschoolers. By contrast, U.S. preschoolers showed decreased cortisol responses after these stressors but consistently higher levels of anticipatory responses to separation at the beginning of each session. Our findings suggest that children's neurobiological stress systems may be a critical biological mechanism allowing societal-level cultural phenomena to be embodied in individual-level responses, even among preschoolers.There is considerable debate about whether bilingual children have an advantage in executive functioning relative to monolingual children. In the current meta-analysis, we addressed this debate by comprehensively reviewing the available evidence. We synthesized data from published studies and unpublished data sets, which equated to 1,194 effect sizes from 10,937 bilingual and 12,477 monolingual participants between the ages of 3 and 17 years. Bilingual language status had a small overall effect on children's executive functioning (g = .08, 95% confidence interval = [.01, .14]). However, the effect of language status on children's executive functioning was indistinguishable from zero (g = -.04) after we adjusted for publication bias. Further, no significant effects were apparent within the executive-attention domain, in which the effects of language status have been hypothesized to be most pronounced (g = .06, 95% confidence interval = [-.02, .14]). Taken together, available evidence suggests that the bilingual advantage in children's executive functioning is small, variable, and potentially not attributable to the effect of language status.We draw on genetics research to argue that complex psychological phenomena are most likely determined by a multitude of causes and that any individual cause is likely to have only a small effect. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/sndx-5613.html Building on this, we highlight the dangers of a publication culture that continues to demand large effects. First, it rewards inflated effects that are unlikely to be real and encourages practices likely to yield such effects. Second, it overlooks the small effects that are most likely to be real, hindering attempts to identify and understand the actual determinants of complex psychological phenomena. We then explain the theoretical and practical relevance of small effects, which can have substantial consequences, especially when considered at scale and over time. Finally, we suggest ways in which scholars can harness these insights to advance research and practices in psychology (i.e., leveraging the power of big data, machine learning, and crowdsourcing science; promoting rigorous preregistration, including prespecifying the smallest effect size of interest; contextualizing effects; changing cultural norms to reward accurate and meaningful effects rather than exaggerated and unreliable effects). Only once small effects are accepted as the norm, rather than the exception, can a reliable and reproducible cumulative psychological science be built.Purpose To report the clinical course and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in breast milk among three nursing women diagnosed with idiopathic choroidal neovascularization (CNV) before and after intravitreal injection of conbercept. Methods This was an observational case series. The main outcomes and measures included best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), anatomical features using optical coherence tomography, and breast milk concentrations of VEGF before and after the intravitreal injection of conbercept. Results BCVA was increased, and no ocular or systemic safety problems were observed in any of the three patients during the follow-up period. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure VEGF concentrations in the breast milk samples. Samples were collected 1 day before and 1, 7, and 30 days after the first intravitreal injection of conbercept. After conbercept injection, VEGF levels in breast milk were slightly decreased and did not change significantly in the following week; levels recovered fully by 30 days post-treatment.