Lucas

OBJECTIVE: Craniofacial disharmony in skeletal diseases is strongly associated with sleep-disordered breathing. Our aim was to study sleep respiratory patterns in young children with rare skeletal disorders. DESIGN: This retrospective study included children with achondroplasia, osteogenesis imperfecta and Ellis van Creveld Syndrome. Our subjects underwent an in-laboratory overnight respiratory polygraph between January 2012 and April 2016. All medical records were reviewed and brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging was conducted on patients with achondroplasia, nasopharynx, oropharynx and laryngopharynx spaces...

Antibiotics are widely used in human medicine and veterinary production. Residues of these compounds reach the water sources through waste or direct application (e.g. aquaculture). The constant input of the parent drugs and their transformation products into the environment leads these pharmaceuticals to be considered as emerging pollutants. For some molecules, the pathway of degradation and formation in products is less known. To assess the impact of these substances in the environment and in the human health, it is necessary to elucidate the transformation products and their kinetic of degradation to evaluate the possible risks...

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional education is an important factor in facilitating subsequent interprofessional collaboration. Therefore, implementing this teaching strategy is important to increase the chances that future professionals will work effectively together. Group membership, status and the power differential among professional groups are factors that can hinder both interprofessional education and collaboration. From a psychosocial point of view, interprofessional education may be described as an intergroup context in which members of different status groups interact...

OBJECTIVE: Investigate the long-term effect of dentin pretreatment with 0.05 or 0.1% caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) on (1) bond strength of resin composite to dentin by a three-step etch-and-rinse (Adper Scotchbond Multipurpose/ ASB) or a two-step self-etch adhesive system (Clearfil SE Bond/ CSE), (2) their fracture mode, (3) the micromorphological features of the hybrid layer formed; and (4) the level of MMP-2 in dentin (after application, using a correlative immunoexpression/quantification approach)...

Gastritis is a widely spread inflammatory disease, mostly caused by Helicobacter pylori infection. Release of IL-8 by the stomach epithelium is a hallmark of gastritis and contributes to the amplification of the inflammatory state. Pharmacological modulation of IL-8 release is a strategy to relieve gastric inflammation and prevent more severe clinical outcomes. In search of nutraceuticals with potential anti-gastritis properties we used a bio-guided approach based on IL-8 secretion by gastric cells to characterize extracts from the fruits of different chestnut varieties...

Background: Several studies have suggested that the early loss of parents is a potentially traumatic experience, exposing adolescents to a higher risk for the onset of psychopathological symptoms. Furthermore, research has shown an association between the loss of a parent in childhood and subsequent physical illnesses, but much less attention has been given to the predictive role of loss in the development of physical illness in adolescence. Methods: From a larger normative sample, we selected 418 early adolescents (and their surviving parents) each of whom had lost a parent in their first 3 years of life...

The physiological relevance of slow-wave vasomotion is still unclear, even it has been hypothesized it could be a compensatory mechanism enhancing tissue oxygenation in conditions of reduced oxygen supply. Aim of our study was to explore the effects of hypoxia and ischemia on slow-wave vasomotion in microcirculation. Peripheral oxygen saturation and forearm microcirculation flow (laser-Doppler flowmetry) were recorded at baseline and during post-occlusive reactive hyperemia in the Himalaya region from 8 European lowlanders (6 males; aged 29-39yrs) at 1350, 3400 and 5050m, and from 10 Nepalese male highlanders (aged 21-39yrs) at 3400 and 5050m of altitude...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationships between selected measures of motor impairments and activities involving the lower-limbs in ambulatory people with chronic stroke. DESIGN: Motor impairment measures included maximal isometric strength and motor coordination. Activity measures included walking speed, stair ascent/descent cadences, and the time to perform the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. RESULTS: Ninety individuals were included. The correlations between all motor impairment and activity measures were significant (0...

Patients treated for lung cancer may develop lung toxicity induced by chemotherapy (DILD), radiation or combined radiation recall pneumonitis. In the literature, some cases of immune-mediated pneumonitis have been reported associated with immunotherapy. The clinical and radiologic features of interstitial lung toxicity are unspecific, dyspnoea and dry cough are the most common symptoms while the most frequent radiological pattern is the cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP). Why only some individuals treated with these drugs develop interstitial lung toxicity is unclear...

BACKGROUND: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treatment is mainly based on clinical staging. We hypothesize that better understanding of the molecular heterogeneity of NPC can aid in better treatment decisions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to present our exploration of cancer gene copy-number alterations (CNAs) of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive and EBV-negative NPC. METHODS: Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification was applied to detect CNAs of 36 cancer genes (n = 103)...

Some adult vertebrate species, such as newts, axolotls and zebrafish, have the ability to regenerate their central nervous system (CNS). However, the factors that establish a permissive CNS environment for correct morphological and functional regeneration in these species are not well understood. Recent evidence supports a role for retinoid signaling in the intrinsic ability of neurons, in these regeneration-competent species, to regrow after CNS injury. Previously, we demonstrated that a specific retinoic acid receptor (RAR) subtype, RARβ, mediates the effects of endogenous retinoic acid (RA) on neuronal growth and guidance in the adult newt CNS after injury...

The engineering of the optical and plasmonic properties of metallic nanostructure is one of the key ingredients for the complete control of materials at the nanoscale. Here we show how it is possible to control the plasmonic resonance of complex architectures of gold nanoparticles using the peculiar properties of DNA Watson and Crick pairing rules. In this chapter, we will first introduce all the steps required to generate, purify, and characterize DNA nanostructures, then we will guide the reader to the main steps required to decorate them with a precise amount of gold nanoparticles and, finally, we will describe the main approach used to characterize their plasmonic response...

A supramolecular hydrogel based on a metal-containing deep eutectic solvent (DES) is presented here for the first time. The phase diagram of the DES-based hydrogel was drawn and its rheological properties were determined.

CLINICIAN'S CAPSULE What is known about the topic? The first two articles of this quality improvement (QI) Primer Series for emergency medicine (EM) clinicians reviewed foundational steps to prepare for and execute a QI project. What did this study ask? This article focused on the measurement, evaluation, and sustainability of QI projects. What did this study find? Run charts are used to represent the temporal relationship visually between interventions and the measures of interest. Sustainability of projects can be achieved through the use of specific frameworks, tools, and cultural change...

BACKGROUND: Roots play a central role in plant response to water stress (WS). They are involved in its perception and signalling to the leaf as well as in allowing the plant to adapt to maintaining an adequate water balance. Only a few studies have investigated the molecular/biochemical responses to WS in roots of perennial plants, such as grapevine. This study compares two grapevine rootstock genotypes (i.e. 101.14 and M4) with different tolerance to WS, evaluating the responses at proteomic and metabolite levels...

Living systems are inherently stochastic and operate in a noisy environment, yet despite all these uncertainties, they perform their functions in a surprisingly reliable way. The biochemical mechanisms used by natural systems to tolerate and control noise are still not fully understood, and this issue also limits our capacity to engineer reliable, quantitative synthetic biological circuits. We study how representative models of biochemical systems propagate and attenuate noise, accounting for intrinsic as well as extrinsic noise...

The aim of the study was to establish 24 month changes in upper limb function using a revised version of the performance of upper limb test (PUL 2.0) in a large cohort of ambulant and non-ambulant boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and to identify possible trajectories of progression. Of the 187 patients studied, 87 were ambulant (age range: 7-15.8 years), and 90 non-ambulant (age range: 9.08-24.78). The total scores changed significantly over time (p<0.001). Non-ambulant patients had lower total scores at baseline (mean 19...

Many genes have been suggested as candidate genes for keratoconus based on their function, their proximity to associated polymorphisms or due to the identification of putative causative variants within the gene. However, very few of these genes have been assessed for rare variation in keratoconus more broadly. In contrast, VSX1 and SOD1 have been widely assessed, however, the vast majority of studies have been small and the findings conflicting. In a cohort of Australians of European descent, consisting of 385 keratoconus cases and 396 controls, we screened 21 keratoconus candidate genes: BANP, CAST, COL4A3, COL4A4, COL5A1, FOXO1, FNDC3B, HGF, IL1A, IL1B, ILRN, IMMP2L, MPDZ, NFIB, RAB3GAP1, RAD51, RXRA, SLC4A11, SOD1, TF and VSX1...

Over the last few decades, public life has taken center stage in urban studies, but that is about to change. At times, indoor activities have been shown to matter more than what is publicly visible (they have been found to be more predictive of future crimes, for example). Until recently, however, data has not been available to study indoor activities at city scale. To that end, we propose a new methodology that relies on tagging information of geo-referenced pictures and unfolds in three main steps. First, we collected and classified a comprehensive set of activity-related words, creating the first dictionary of urban activities...

BACKGROUND: Since its introduction, the placement of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) has been increasing in the Western countries. Nevertheless, it is not always possible to perform this operation. Laparoscopic-assisted endoscopic gastrostomy (LAPEG) is an effective alternative solution. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Indication to PEG placement was established only for people who required a nutritional support of >4 weeks and without metastatic carcinoma. Sixteen patients underwent LAPEG after the failure of the original PEG operation...