MiRN

We identified neurons in dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) of the macaque brain that respond during execution and observation of reaching-to-grasp actions, thus fulfilling the mirror neuron (MirN) criterion. During observation, the percentage of grip-selective MirNs in PMd and area F5 were comparable, and the selectivity indices in the two areas were similar. During execution, F5-MirNs were more selective than PMd-MirNs for grip, which was reflected in the higher selectivity indices in F5 than in PMd. PMd displayed grip-related information earlier than F5 during both conditions...

The aim of this study was to establish a ketoconazole susceptibility test for Malassezia pachydermatis using modified Leeming⁻Notman agar (mLNA). The susceptibilities of 33 M. pachydermatis isolates obtained by modified CLSI M27-A3 method were compared with the results by disk diffusion method, which used different concentrations of ketoconazole on 6 mm diameter paper disks. Results showed that 93.9% (31/33) of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values obtained from both methods were similar (consistent with two methods within 2 dilutions)...

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive lymphoid tumor which is occasionally Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positive and is further subtyped as activated B-cell DLBCL (ABC-DLBCL) and germinal center B-cell DLBCL (GCB-DLBCL), which has implications for prognosis and treatment. We performed Ago2 RNA immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput RNA sequencing (Ago2-RIP-seq) to capture functionally active microRNAs (miRNAs) in EBV-negative ABC-DLBCL and GCB-DLBCL cell lines and their EBV-infected counterparts...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between obesity and postoperative outcomes following minimally invasive partial nephrectomy (MIPN) and minimally invasive radical nephrectomy (MIRN). METHODS: Using the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project database, we identified adult patients who underwent either MIPN or MIRN from 2012 to 2016. Patients were stratified by body mass index (BMI) according the World Health Organization classification of obesity (non-obese [BMI 18...

The 1000 Genomes Project (1000GP) represents the most comprehensive world-wide nucleotide variation data set so far in humans, providing the sequencing and analysis of 2504 genomes from 26 populations and reporting >84 million variants. The availability of this sequence data provides the human lineage with an invaluable resource for population genomics studies, allowing the testing of molecular population genetics hypotheses and eventually the understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of genetic variation in human populations...

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs able to regulate gene expression at multiple levels. They are detected in tissues, blood, and other body fluids with high stability and have a recognized role in maintaining of tissue homeostasis. Aberrant expression profile of miRNAs has been observed in several diseases, primarily cancer. As a consequence, the analysis of miRNA signature has recognized diagnostic and prognostic role in human diseases, and the development of miRNA-based therapies is currently under investigation...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to illustrate the contribution of stakeholder engagement to the impact of health technology assessment (HTA) using an Irish HTA of a national public access defibrillation (PAD) program. BACKGROUND: In response to draft legislation that proposed a PAD program, the Minister for Health requested that Health Information and Quality Authority undertake an HTA to inform the design and implementation of a national PAD program and the necessary underpinning legislation...

Vitamin D has been recognized as a potent immunomodulator and its deficiency is common in different population groups including patients with SLE. As miRNAs regulation plays a significant role in SLE, the present study aimed to evaluate the association between vitamin D status and miRNAs levels in patients with SLE. The serum concentrations of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) and the levels of six miRNAs in T cells from patients with SLE were measured in 42 SLE cases and 48 healthy controls. Vitamin D treatment was also performed in isolated and cultured T cells from SLE patients in different times and doses...

Spain's current heat wave prevention plans are activated according to administrative areas. This study analyses the determination of threshold temperatures for triggering prevention-plan activation by reference to isoclimatic areas, and describes the public health benefits. We subdivided the study area - the Madrid Autonomous Region (MAR) - into three, distinct, isoclimatic areas: 'North', 'Central' and 'South', and grouped daily natural-cause mortality (ICD-10: A00-R99) in towns of over 10,000 inhabitants (2000-2009 period) accordingly...

AIM: We analysed the effectiveness and safety of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) in patients admitted to home hospitalisation units (HHU). METHODS: Retrospective multicentre study of patients with AECOPD included in the Spanish OPAT Registry during 2 years period. RESULTS: Twenty-seven hospitals included 562 episodes in 361 patients diagnosed COPD GOLD III-IV...

Mirror neurons (MirNs) are sensorimotor neurons that fire both when an animal performs a goal-directed action and when the same animal observes another agent performing the same or a similar transitive action. It has been claimed that the observation of intransitive actions does not activate MirNs in a monkey's brain. Prompted by recent evidence indicating that the discharge of MirNs is modulated also by non-object-directed actions, we investigated thoroughly the efficacy of intransitive actions to trigger MirNs' discharge...

Extensive efforts have been undertaken in search of biomarkers for predicting the chemoradiotherapy response in rectal cancer. However, most attention on treatment efficiency prediction in carcinoma is addicted to single or limited molecules. Network biomarkers are considered to outperform single molecules in predictive power. In this study, candidate microRNAs (miRNAs) were identified from the PubMed citations and miRNA expression profiles. Targets of miRNAs were obtained from four experimentally confirmed interactions and three computationally predicted databases...

The shear-sensitive dinoflagellate microalga Karlodinium veneficum was grown in a sparged bubble column photobioreactor. The influence of mass transfer and shear stress on cell growth and physiology (concentration of reactive oxygen species, membrane fluidity and photosynthetic efficiency) was studied, and a model describing cell growth in term of mass transfer and culture parameters (nozzle sparger diameter, air flow rate, and culture height) was developed. The results show that mass transfer limits cell growth at low air-flow rates, whereas the shear stress produced by the presence of bubbles is critically detrimental for air flow rates above 0...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether muscle quality based on echo intensity (EI) is associated with muscle strength (MS) and correlates with risk of frailty in elderly outpatients. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, experimental study. SETTING: Outpatient clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 20 to 90 (N = 112). Individuals aged 20 to 59 participated as controls. Those aged 60 and older participated in the experimental group and were subdivided into robust, prefrail, and frail according to the Fried frailty criteria...

Hospital at Home units allows ambulatory treatment and monitoring of complex and serious infections. Nosocomial infections produce an extension of the stay in hospital often specifying long intravenous treatments without any effective oral alternatives. Daily dosing of antimicrobial are easier to administer at home. The use of portable programmable pump infusion and elastomeric devices allow efficient and safe infu-sions for most antimicrobials at home. Some antibiotics against multidrug-resistant organisms of recent introduction have a suitable profile for outpatient intravenous treatment...

Many clinical trials of peptide vaccines have been conducted. However, these vaccines have provided clinical benefits in only a small fraction of patients. The purpose of the present study was to explore microRNAs (miRNAs) as novel predictive biomarkers for the efficacy of vaccine treatment against colorectal cancer. First, we carried out microarray analysis of pretreatment cancer tissues in a phase I study, in which peptide vaccines alone were given. Candidate miRNAs were selected by comparison of the better prognosis group with the poorer prognosis group...

BACKGROUND: Chagas disease, amebiasis, giardiasis and trichomoniasis represent a serious health problem in Latin America. The drugs employed to treat these illnesses produce important side effects and resistant strains have appeared. The present study was aimed to evaluate the antiprotozoal activity of leaves, stem bark and root bark of Elaeodendron trichotomum , a celastraceus, that is used in Mexico as an anti-infective in febrile-type diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dichloromethane and methanol extracts of leaves, bark and roots of Elaeodendron trichotomum were tested against Entamoeba histolytica , Giardia lamblia , Trichomonas vaginalis , and Trypanosoma cruzi ...

Since the infection strategy in the baculovirus-insect cell system mostly affects production of the vector itself or the target product, and given that individual infection parameters interact with each other, the optimal combination must be established for each such specific system. In this work an artificial neural network was used to model infection strategy, including the cell concentration at infection, the multiplicity of infection, the medium recycle, and agitation intensity, and to evaluate the relative importance of each factor in the baculovirus production obtained...

Self-management (SM) is defined as the provision of interventions to increase patients' skills and confidence, empowering the individual to take an active part in their disease management. There is uncertainty regarding the optimal format and the short- and long-term benefits of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) SM interventions in adults. Therefore, a high-quality overview of reviews was updated to examine their clinical effectiveness. Sixteen reviews were identified, interventions were broadly classified as education or action plans, complex interventions with an SM focus, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), telehealth and outreach nursing...

A review of the Health Information and Quality Authority's (HIQA) assessment of breast cancer surveillance cancer criticized how the results were presented and interpreted. The health technology assessment (HTA) investigated surveillance options for women aged less than 50 years who were at elevated risk of breast cancer. Surveillance strategies using digital mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, or a combination of the two modalities were modeled on the basis of diagnostic test accuracy. The HTA faced a number of issues, including the use of diagnostic test accuracy as a surrogate for long-term outcomes; modeling interventions that were not considered acceptable to clinicians; and extrapolating for screening intervals and age ranges not directly supported by available evidence...