Va

Today, microbial contamination in food is one of the major problems of the food industry and public health in general around the world. Foodborne illnesses, such as diarrheal diseases, kill many people around the world each year. The general objective of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of sodium alginate nanoemulsion coating incorporated with oregano essential oil ( Origanum vulgare L.) and Trachyspermum ammi oil ( Carum cupticum ) on Escherichia coli , and Listeria monocytogenes ...

OBJECTIVES: Study objectives were to: (1) better understand sleep experiences and unhealthy alcohol use among Veterans with long COVID and (2) explore providers' perceptions of barriers and facilitators to delivering evidence-based care for sleep problems and unhealthy alcohol use in patients with long COVID. METHODS: VA electronic health records were used to conduct chart reviews (n = 57) of patients evaluated in a VA COVID-19 Recovery Clinic during 1 calendar year; semi-structured interviews were completed with Veterans (n = 5) and clinicians (n = 7) recruited from the clinic...

BACKGROUND: Terminally ill patients benefit from earlier engagement in palliative care. However, this does not always occur. This project assessed if an already available risk score, the Care Assessment Needs (CAN) score, would be able to identify patients at greatest risk for mortality within 30 days of hospital admission within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). METHODS: The cohort of this retrospective analysis included all VA acute are patients over 18 years of age with a recent CAN score...

BACKGROUND: Transverse sinus stenting (TSS) is an increasingly common treatment for patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). However, detailed neuro-ophthalmic evidence on visual and pharmacotherapy outcomes after TSS is scarce and heterogeneous. This study aimed to describe the visual outcomes of patients undergoing TSS for IIH and to ascertain the proportion of patients who could be weaned off intracranial pressure (ICP)-lowering medication postoperatively. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of all patients with IIH from 2 tertiary academic neuro-ophthalmology practices who underwent TSS between 2016 and 2022 was performed...

OBJECTIVE: Ocular metastases are the most common intraocular tumours in adults. Data regarding the occurrence of these tumours in the Brazilian population is scarce. We aimed to investigate the profile of ocular metastases of patients referred to tertiary hospital service in São Paulo, Brazil. DESIGN: Retrospective study. PARTICIPANTS: Patients referred to the Ocular Oncology service of the Federal University of São Paulo with initial diagnostic hypothesis of ocular metastasis...

Measures of epigenetic aging derived from DNA methylation (DNAm) have enabled the assessment of biological aging in new populations and cohorts. In the present study, we used an epigenetic measure of aging, DunedinPACE, to examine rates of aging across demographic groups in a sample of 2,309 United States military veterans from the VISN 6 MIRECC's Post-Deployment Mental Health Study. As assessed by DunedinPACE, female veterans were aging faster than male veterans (β = 0.39, 95 % CI [0.29, 0.48], p < ...

BACKGROUND: 1.8 million Veterans are estimated to need legal services, such as for housing eviction prevention, discharge upgrades, and state and federal Veterans benefits. While having one's legal needs met is known to improve one's health and its social determinants, many Veterans' legal needs remain unmet. Public Law 116-315 enacted in 2021 authorizes VA to fund legal services for Veterans (LSV) by awarding grants to legal service providers including nonprofit organizations and law schools' legal assistance programs...

INTRODUCTION: The National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ) is a common patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) in uveitis trials. Its psychometric properties using state-of-the-art scoring based on Rasch models, a latent trait model that improves accuracy of PROMs assessment, has not yet been investigated. METHODS: The study participants were recruited online from uveitis patient organizations, where individuals self-reported their uveitis diagnosis and visual acuity level...

The granular materials of soft particles (SPs) demonstrate unique viscoelasticity distinct from general colloidal and polymer systems. Exploiting dynamic light scattering measurements, together with molecular dynamics simulations, we study the diffusive dynamics of soft particle clusters (SPCs) with spherical and cylindrical brush topologies, respectively, in the melts of SPs. A topologically constrained relaxation theory is proposed by quantitatively correlating the relaxation time to the topologies of the SPCs, through the mean free space (Va) of tethered SPs in the cluster...

BACKGROUND: Clinical assessment and laboratory markers provide valuable information on tissue perfusion and enhance the optimalisation of management in the treatment of patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). The PCO2 gap is a reliable marker of cardiac output (CO) and perfusion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the PCO2 gap as a marker of tissue hypoperfusion and to compare it to lactate and SvO2. METHODS: A single-center retrospective study on 131 adult cardiac patients who underwent ECMO implantation in the period between 2010 and 2021...

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic factors affecting surgical outcomes, including visual acuity (VA) improvement, after glaucoma surgery in patients with neovascular glaucoma (NVG). METHODS: The medical records of 116 patients (116 eyes) with NVG who had undergone trabeculectomy or Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation were reviewed retrospectively. The primary outcome measure was surgical success at 6 postoperative months, defined as sufficient intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction (IOP ≤21 mmHg, ≥20% reduction, regardless of topical medication use) without additional glaucoma surgery, hypotony, or progression to no light perception...

AIMS: Abnormalities in HER2 are well-established oncogenic drivers and are approved therapeutic targets in various malignancies. Prior studies evaluating HER2 expression in prostate cancer (PCa) have yielded variable results. Most of these studies used immunohistochemistry scoring systems based on breast cancer data. The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence and clinical significance of HER2 expression using a scoring system that better reflects the HER2 staining pattern observed in PCa...

PURPOSE: Assessment of central and peripheral contrast sensitivity (CS) in thyroid eye disease (TED) with and without dysthyroid optic neuropathy (DON). METHODS: This cross-sectional study enrolled 33 eyes of 18 treatment-naïve TED patients and 18 age- and sex-matched healthy controls for comparative analysis. A detailed ophthalmic examination included visual acuity (VA), intraocular pressure measurement, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, and CS testing (central and four peripheral regions) using Spaeth-Richman Contrast Sensitivity test was done...

Here, we introduce a novel and effective approach utilizing a cathepsin B cleavage albumin-binding SN38 prodrug specifically designed for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Termed Mal-va-mac-SN38, our prodrug exhibits a unique ability to rapidly and covalently bind with endogenous albumin, resulting in the formation of HSA-va-mac-SN38. This prodrug demonstrates exceptional stability in human plasma. Importantly, HSA-va-mac-SN38 showcases an impressive enhancement in cellular uptake by 4T1 breast cancer cells, primarily facilitated through caveolin-mediated endocytosis...

Inherited arrhythmia syndromes (IASs) can cause life-threatening arrhythmias and are responsible for a significant proportion of sudden cardiac deaths (SCDs). Despite progress in the development of devices to prevent SCDs, the precise molecular mechanisms that induce detrimental arrhythmias remain to be fully investigated, and more effective therapies are desirable. In the present study, we screened a large-scale randomly mutagenized mouse library by electrocardiography to establish a disease model of IASs and consequently found one pedigree that exhibited spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) followed by SCD within 1 y after birth...

BACKGROUND: Ethiopia, with about 10% of Africa's population, has little direct information on causes of death, particularly in rural areas where 80% of Ethiopians live. In 2019-2020, we conducted electronic verbal autopsies (e-VA) to examine causes of death and quantify cause-specific mortality rates in rural Ethiopia. METHODS: We examined deaths under 70 years in the three years prior to the survey dates (November 25, 2019-February 29, 2020) among 2% of East Gojjam Zone (Amhara Region) using registered deaths and adding random sampling in this cross-sectional study...

Aim: To present a complex case of Ahmed tube exposure 6 months after the implantation associated with corneal melting and iris prolapse, and the surgical reposition that required multiple allografts and limbal reconstruction. Methods: A 60-year-old patient arrived at the emergency room with tube exposure combined with corneal melting and iris prolapse from a previously placed Ahmed valve 6 months prior. Our approach was to use one corneoscleral graft to repair the melted cornea and avoid further iris prolapse and a second scleral graft to cover the repositioned tube...

Aim: To assess the incidence, risk factors, and treatment outcomes in intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide injection (IVTA) induced intraocular pressure rise and to compare IOP rise in 1-mg and 2-mg IVTA. Materials and methods: Prospective observational study conducted in all eyes receiving IVTA. Any pre-existing glaucoma and patients who received IVTA or dexamethasone implant in the last 6 months were excluded. Results: 9 between 61-70 years of age developed an IOP spike. The mean and standard deviation of age in years was 61...

Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is the most common maternally inherited disease linked to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The patients present with subacute asymmetric bilateral vision loss. Approximately 95% of the LHON cases are caused by m.3460G>A ( MTND1 ), m.11778G>A ( MTND4 ), and m.14484T>C ( MTND6 ) mutations. The hallmark of hereditary optic neuropathies determined by mitochondrial dysfunction is the vulnerability and degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGC). We present the case of a 28-year-old man who came to our clinic complaining of a subacute decrease in visual acuity of his left eye...

The diselenide bond has attracted considerable attention due to its ability to undergo the metathesis reaction in response to visible light. In our previous study, we demonstrated visible-light-induced diselenide metathesis of selenocysteine-containing linear peptides, allowing for the convenient generation of peptide libraries. Here, we investigated the transformation of linear and cyclic peptides containing the N -(2-selenoethyl)glycine moiety. The linear peptides were highly susceptible to the metathesis reaction, whereas the cyclic systems gave only limited conversion yields of the metathesis product...