Blunt

Work-related deaths represent an important social problem. We report all the occupational fatal injuries recorded by the Brescia Institute of Forensic Medicine from 1982 to 2015. A total of 426 post-mortem examinations due to accidental work injuries were retrospectively analysed according to temporal distribution (year, month and day of the workplace accident); workers' characteristics (sex, age, nationality); type of occupation; cause of death; anatomical region of fatal injuries and timing of death. The accidental occupational events occurred with a mean of 12...

Hyperglycaemia is a major contributor to diabetic cardiovascular disease with hyperglycaemia-induced endothelial dysfunction recognized as the initiating cause. Coagulation pathway-regulated proteinase-activated receptors (PARs) that can regulate vascular tone in vivo cause eNOS-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilation; but, the impact of hyperglycaemia on this vasodilatory action of PAR stimulation and the signalling pathways involved are unknown. We hypothesized that vascular sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 activity and hyperglycaemia-induced oxidative stress involving Src-kinase, EGF receptor-kinase, Rho-kinase and protein-kinase-C biochemical signalling pathways would compromise PAR2-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilation...

BACKGROUND: NADPH Oxidase 5 (Nox5) is a calcium-sensitive superoxide-generating Nox. It is present in lower forms and higher mammals, but not in rodents. Nox5 is expressed in vascular cells, but the functional significance remains elusive. Given that contraction is controlled by calcium and reactive oxygen species, both associated with Nox5, we questioned the role of Nox5 in pro-contractile signaling and vascular function. METHODS AND RESULTS: Transgenic mice expressing human Nox5 in a vascular smooth muscle cell-specific manner (Nox5 mice) and Rhodnius prolixus , an arthropod model that expresses Nox5 endogenoulsy, were studied...

We present a perturbative correction within initiator full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo (i-FCIQMC). In the existing i-FCIQMC algorithm, a significant number of spawned walkers are discarded due to the initiator criteria. Here we show that these discarded walkers have a form that allows the calculation of a second-order Epstein-Nesbet correction, which may be accumulated in a trivial and inexpensive manner, yet substantially improves i-FCIQMC results. The correction is applied to the Hubbard model and the uniform electron gas and molecular systems...

Pore-scale two-phase flow modeling is an important technology to study a rock's relative permeability behavior. To investigate if these models are predictive, the calculated pore-scale fluid distributions which determine the relative permeability need to be validated. In this work, we introduce a methodology to quantitatively compare models to experimental fluid distributions in flow experiments visualized with microcomputed tomography. First, we analyzed five repeated drainage-imbibition experiments on a single sample...

OBJECTIVE: Results from experimental studies suggest that psychosis and psychosis liability are associated with increased cortisol levels and blunted cortisol reactivity, and that use of antipsychotics may reduce these aberrations. Here, we report on overall cortisol, diurnal slope, and cortisol stress reactivity in everyday life in psychosis and psychosis liability using the experience sampling method (ESM). METHODS: Our sample consisted of individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorder currently on (MPD; n = 53) or off antipsychotic medication (NMPD; n = 20), first-degree relatives of psychotic patients (REL; n = 47), and healthy volunteers (HV; n = 67)...

Danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) play a proinflammatory role in the pathogenesis of airway obstructive diseases such as severe asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The NLRP3 inflammasome is a cytosolic multiprotein platform that activates the caspase-1 pathway in response to inflammatory stimuli such as DAMPs. ATP and S100 proteins are newly identified DAMPs that accumulate in inflamed airways. We previously demonstrated that S100A8, S100A9, and S100A12 induce production and secretion of MUC5AC, a major mucin in the conducting airway mucosa...

Hypertension, obesity, and endothelial function predict cardiovascular disease in women and these factors are interrelated. We hypothesized that hypertension and obesity are associated with endothelial dysfunction in young women, and that short-term ethinyl estradiol exposure mitigates this dysfunction. We examined flow-mediated dilation responses before and during 7 days of oral ethinyl estradiol (30 µg/day) in 19 women (25 {plus minus} 5, 18-35 yrs). We divided our sample into two groups based on two criteria: blood pressure and obesity...

INTRODUCTION: Lower lip reconstruction should restore oral competence, speech, and cosmesis. These goals are a challenge when reparing large lower lip defects. Karapandzic flap is a reliable technique with consistent functional and esthetic outcome. In large defects, it might result in disproportion between the upper and lower lips and blunting of the commissures. The Abbe flap is useful as a lip balancing procedure and avoids the rounding of the commissures. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Five cases of lower lip skin cancer treated with Mohs surgery with defects up to 80% were reconstructed with a combination of Karapandzic and Abbe flaps...

Normally folded prion protein (PrPC ) and its functions in healthy brains remain underappreciated compared to the intense study of its misfolded forms ("prions", PrPSc ) during the pathobiology of prion diseases. This impedes development of therapeutic strategies in Alzheimer and Prion diseases. Disrupting the zebrafish homologs of PrPC has provided novel insights, however mutagenesis of the zebrafish paralog prp2 did not recapitulate previous dramatic developmental phenotypes, suggesting redundancy with the prp1 paralog...

INTRODUCTION: Central nervous system (CNS) related injuries and exsanguination have been the most common causes of death in trauma for decades. Despite improvements in haemorrhage control in recent years exsanguination is still a major cause of death. We conducted a prospective database study to investigate the current incidence of haemorrhage related mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective database study of all trauma patients admitted to an urban major trauma centre between January 2007 and December 2016 was conducted...

The residue depletion of niclosamide (NIC) in freshwater fish including blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala), yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) and channel catfish (Ietalurus Punetaus) were investigated under laboratory conditions. NIC concentrations in fish were determined by LC-MS/MS with heated electrospray ionization. The mean recoveries were in the range of 75.5-98.5%, with relative standard deviations ranging from 1.0 to 9.4%. The depletion results showed that the long half-life of NIC was 8...

Background: Older adults show a blunted muscle protein synthesis (MPS) response to postprandial hyperaminoacidemia relative to younger adults. Evidence suggests that this anabolic resistance can be overcome by consuming greater quantities of leucine. Objective: The purpose of this trial was to determine whether the addition of leucine to a smaller dose (10 g) of milk proteins would, when compared with a larger dose (25 g) of whey protein isolate (WPI), result in similar increases in acute (hourly) and integrated (daily) myofibrillar protein synthesis (myoPS)...

BACKROUND: The objective was to assess the predictive performance of different intravascular contrast extravasation (ICE) characteristics for need for pelvic transarterial embolization (TAE) to determine the risk factors of false-positives. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed in our trauma center between 2010 and 2015. All severe trauma patients with pelvic fracture were included. Pelvic ICE characteristics on computed tomography (CT) scan were studied: arterial (aSICE), portal surface (pSICE), and extension (exSICE) anatomic relationships...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the agreement between focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) exams and computed tomography (CT) for the detection of pleural and peritoneal fluid and pneumothorax in animals that have sustained recent trauma. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: University Teaching Hospital. ANIMALS: Thirteen dogs and 2 cats were enrolled into the study, with 10 having sustained blunt force trauma and 5 penetrating trauma...

BACKGROUND: Neuropathic pain is observed in patients as chemotherapeutic oxaliplatin (OXL) is used to treat metastatic digestive tumors; however, the mechanisms responsible for hyperalgesia are not well understood. Chronic neuroinflammation is one of the hallmarks of pathophysiology of neuropathic pain. Since the midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) is an important component of the descending inhibitory pathway controlling on central pain transmission, we examined the role for pro-inflammatory cytokines (PICs) system of the PAG in regulating mechanical hyperalgesia and cold hypersensitivity evoked by OXL...

Recent studies have highlighted the role of mitochondria in dendritic protrusion growth and plasticity. However, the detailed mechanisms that mitochondria regulate dendritic filopodia morphogenesis remain elusive. Cyclophilin D (CypD, gene name: Ppif) controls the opening of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP). Although the pathological relevance of CypD has been intensively investigated, little is known about its physiological function in neurons. Here, we have found that genetic depletion of or pharmaceutical inhibiton of CypD blunts the outgrowth of dendritic filopodia in response to KCl-stimulated neuronal depolarization...

Growing evidence identifies maternal adiposity as a potentially modifiable risk factor for adverse neurodevelopment. This retrospective cohort analysis examined whether maternal prepregnancy adiposity and gestational weight gain were associated with behavioral outcomes in 173 rhesus macaque infants at the California National Primate Research Center. Dams conceived indoors, had uncomplicated pregnancies, delivered vaginally, and reared infants indoors. Infants underwent standardized biobehavioral analysis at 90-120 days of age from 3/2001-5/2015...

Streptococcus suis is an important swine pathogen and emerging zoonotic agent. Encapsulated strains of S. suis modulate dendritic cell (DC) functions, leading to poorly activated CD4+ T cells. However, the antigen presentation ability of S. suis -stimulated DCs has not been investigated yet. In this work, we aimed to characterize the antigen presentation profiles of S. suis- stimulated DCs, both in vitro and in vivo . Upon direct activation in vitro, S. suis- stimulated murine bone marrow-derived DCs (bmDCs) preserved their antigen capture/processing capacities...

Background: Minimally invasive dentistry (MID) encompasses early caries diagnosis through caries risk assessment (CRA), early detection of incipient carious lesion including primary and secondary prevention based on scientific evidence that remineralization of demineralized enamel and dentin is possible if detected early. Although the dental curriculum focuses on the advantages of MID in tooth preservation, this science is not usually translated into practice. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and skills of dental practitioners of Puducherry regarding the concepts of MID...