Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Water Res 2019 Feb 4;154:45-53. Epub 2019 Feb 4.

Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química (INIQUI), CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Salta (UNSa), Av. Bolivia 5150, Salta, 4400, Argentina; Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, 637551, Singapore; Facultad de Ingeniería, UNSa, Salta, Argentina. Electronic address:

Recreational waters are a source of many diseases caused by human viral pathogens, including norovirus genogroup II (NoV GII) and enterovirus (EV). Water samples from the Arenales river in Salta, Argentina, were concentrated by ultrafiltration and analyzed for the concentrations of NoV GII and EV by quantitative PCR. Out of 65 samples, 61 and 59 were non-detects (below the Sample Limit of Detection limit, SLOD) for EV and NoV GII, respectively. Read More

J Surg Res 2019 Feb 13;238:127-136. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Cancer Surgery and Metabolism Research Group, University of Sydney, Kolling Institute of Medical Research, St Leonards, NSW, Australia; Upper GI Surgical Unit, Royal North Shore Hospital and North Shore Private Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia; Discipline of Surgery, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cause of cancer death worldwide. Resection offers the best chance of long-term survival, but a consistent adverse prognostic factor is the presence of microvascular invasion (MVI). In this study, surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS), a high throughput method of analyzing complex samples, was used to explore differentially expressed proteins between HCC and adjacent nontumour liver tissue (ANLT). Read More

Eur J Med Chem 2019 Feb 8;167:161-186. Epub 2019 Feb 8.

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Alexandria, 21521, Egypt. Electronic address:

Neuroinflammation and cholinergic deficit are key detrimental processes involved in Alzheimer's disease. Hence, in the search for novel and effective treatment strategies, the multi-target-directed ligand paradigm was applied to the rational design of two series of new hybrids endowed with anti-inflammatory and anticholinesterase activity via triple targeting properties, namely able to simultaneously hit cholinesterases, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and 15-lipoxygenase (15-LOX) enzymes. Among the synthesized compounds, triazoles 5b and 5d, and thiosemicarbazide hybrid 6e emerged as promising new hits, being able to effectively inhibit human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE), COX-2 and 15-LOX enzymes with a higher inhibitory potency than the reference inhibitors tacrine (for hBChE inhibition), celecoxib (for COX-2 inhibition) and both NDGA and Zileuton (for 15-LOX inhibition). Read More

Clin Microbiol Infect 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, Departments of Medicine and Clinical Research, University Hospital of Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Background: Adjunctive systemic antibiotic therapy for treatment of bacterial endophthalmitis is controversial but common practice due to the severity of the disease. In absence of guidance documents, several antibiotic regimens are being used without applying evidence-based prescribing, thus leading to inappropriate treatment of this serious eye condition.

Objectives: To summarize available data on intravitreal penetration of systemically administered antibiotics and to discuss their usefulness from a microbiological and pharmacological point of view. Read More

Ann Vasc Surg 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Division of Vascular Surgery, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, and University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Surgery, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; King Saud University-Li Ka Shing Collaborative Research Program, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Electronic address:

Background: Vascular surgeons have a central role in managing peripheral artery disease (PAD). This study assessed their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours regarding pharmacologic risk reduction in PAD and results were compared to a similar 2004 survey conducted by our group.

Methods: An online questionnaire was administered to 161 active members of the Canadian Society for Vascular Surgery. Read More

Anaerobe 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Vetuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address:

Clostridium chauvoei is the etiologic agent of blackleg in cattle, inducing fever, severe myonecrosis, oedemic lesions and ultimately death of infected animals. The pathogen often results in such rapid death that antibiotic therapy is futile and thus vaccination is the only efficient strategy in order to control the disease. The β-barrel pore forming leucocidin Clostridium chauvoei toxin A (CctA) is one of the best characterised toxins of C. Read More

Clin Exp Allergy 2019 Feb 16. Epub 2019 Feb 16.

Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Background: Over a fifth of children and adolescents suffer with asthma or atopic disease. It is unclear whether asthma impacts academic performance in children and adolescents, and little is known about the association of eczema, food allergy or hay fever and academic performance.

Objective: To examine whether asthma, eczema, food allergy or hay fever impacts on adolescent academic performance and to assess the role of unmeasured confounding. Read More

Clin Transl Oncol 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Madrid, Spain.

Purpose: Both nintedanib/docetaxel and anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapies have demonstrated efficacy as second-line treatment of patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. This is the first report on the efficacy of the nintedanib/docetaxel combination following first-line platinum-based chemotherapy and subsequent immunotherapy in a real-world setting.

Methods/patients: From May 2014 to December 2015, 390 patients in 108 Spanish centres enrolled in the nintedanib named patient use program. Read More

Curr Diab Rep 2019 Feb 15;19(3):11. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.

Purpose Of Review: Older adults often live with chronic disease including diabetes and its complications. In this review, we examine the complexity and heterogeneity of older adults with diabetes and chronic kidney disease, explore the nuances in their diabetes-related monitoring, and discuss their best diabetes management.

Recent Findings: Although there remains an overall lack of studies in older adults with diabetes and chronic kidney disease, recent reports have highlighted their vulnerabilities. Read More

Nat Commun 2019 Feb 15;10(1):790. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, 02115, MA, USA.

Understanding the role of rare variants is important in elucidating the genetic basis of human disease. Negative selection can cause rare variants to have larger per-allele effect sizes than common variants. Here, we develop a method to estimate the minor allele frequency (MAF) dependence of SNP effect sizes. Read More

J Rheumatol 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

E.M. Morgan MD, Associate Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, J.E. Munro MBBS, Associate Professor, Head of Rheumatology at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia and Group Leader Arthritis research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute Melbourne Australia, J. Horonjeff, PhD, Instructor, Office of Research, Division of Rheumatology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, B. Horgan, Consumer Advocate, Consumer and Community Health Research Network, Australia, B. Shea, PhD, Clinical Investigator, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Adjunct Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, B.M. Feldman, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Professor Pediatrics, Medicine, Institute of Health Policy Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto, Head, Division of Rheumatology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, H. Clairman, M.Sc., Clinical Research Project Coordinator, Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto ON, C.O. Bingham III, MD; Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; S. Thornhill, AA, Qualitative Research Consultant, Thornhill Associates, Hermosa Beach, CA, V. Strand MD, Adjunct Clinical Professor, Division of Immunology/Rheumatology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, A. Alongi, PhD Student, IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Clinica Pediatrica e Reumatologia, and Università degli studi di Genova, Genoa, Italy, S. Magni-Manzoni, M.D. Rheumatology Division, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, Roma, Italy, M. A.J. van Rossum, MD PhD, Pediatric Rheumatologist/Immunologist, Amsterdam Rheumatology and Immunology Center / Reade l Emma Children's Hospital Amsterdam Medical Center, Amsterdam, R. Vesely, MD, Head of the Rheumatology, Respiratory, Gastroenterology and Immunology Office Scientific and Regulatory Management Department European Medicines Agency, London, United Kingdom J. Vojinovic, MD PhD, Professor, University of Nis, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Rheumatology, Serbia H.I. Brunner, Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, J.G. Harris, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Children's Mercy - Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, D.B. Horton, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor, Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, New Brunswick, NJ, D.J. Lovell, MD, Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, M. Mannion, MD, Assistant Professor of Rheumatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, H. Rahimi, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Rheumatology, University of Rochester, Golisano Children's Hospital, Rochester, NY; A. Ravelli, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Università degli Studi di Genova and IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa, Italy, S. Ringold, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Seattle Children's, Seattle, WA, Nicolino Ruperto, MD, MPH, IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Clinica Pediatrica e Reumatologia, PRINTO, Genoa, M.S. Schrandt, J.D., Director, Patient Engagement, Arthritis Foundation, Atlanta, GA, S. Shenoi, MBBS, MS Associate Professor, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA Natalie J. Shiff, MD, University of Florida, Shands Children's Hospital, Gainesville, FL, K. Toupin-April, PhD, Associate Scientist, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics and School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, N. Tzaribachev, MD, Pediatric Rheumatology Research Institute, Bad Bramstedt, Germany, P. Weiss, MD, MSCE, Associate Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, A. Consolaro, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Clinica Pediatrica e Reumatologia, and Università degli studi di Genova, Genoa, Italy, Address correspondence to: E.M. Morgan MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Rheumatology Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center 3333 Burnet Ave, MLC 4010, Cincinnati, OH 45229; Email:

Objective: The current Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) Core Set used in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and longitudinal observational studies (LOS) was developed without input of patients/parents. At OMERACT 2016, a special interest group voted to reconsider the core set incorporating broader stakeholder input. We describe subsequent work culminating in an OMERACT 2018 plenary and consensus voting. Read More

Ann Emerg Med 2019 Feb 12. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

Division of Palliative Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA; Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA; Department of Medicine, Division of Palliative Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA.

During the last 6 months of life, 75% of older adults with preexisting serious illness, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease, and cancer, visit the emergency department (ED). ED visits often mark an inflection point in these patients' illness trajectories, signaling a more rapid rate of decline. Although most patients are there seeking care for acute issues, many of them have priorities other than to simply live as long as possible; yet without discussion of preferences for treatment, they are at risk of receiving care not aligned with their goals. Read More

Cancers (Basel) 2019 Feb 14;11(2). Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Division of Hematology, Spedali Civili, 25123 Brescia, Italy.

Considerable progress has been made in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, current therapeutic results are still unsatisfactory in untreated high-risk patients and poorer in those with primary refractory or relapsed disease. In older patients, reluctance by clinicians to treat unfit patients, higher AML cell resistance related to more frequent adverse karyotype and/or precedent myelodysplastic syndrome, and preferential involvement of chemorefractory early hemopoietic precursors in the pathogenesis of the disease further account for poor prognosis, with median survival lower than six months. Read More

Plant Dis 2009 Jun;93(6):660-665

USDA-ARS-USHRL, 2001 S. Rock Rd., Ft. Pierce, FL 34945.

Citrus canker (caused by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri) is a destructive disease, reducing yield and rendering fruit unfit for fresh sale. Accurate assessment of citrus canker severity and other diseases is needed for several purposes, including monitoring epidemics and evaluation of germplasm. Read More

Plant Dis 2009 Mar;93(3):281-286

U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Forage Seed and Cereal Research Unit, and Oregon State University, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Corvallis, OR 97331.

Hop powdery mildew, caused by Podosphaera macularis, can result in complete crop loss and requires numerous fungicide applications for effective management. To assess the impact of temperature on the production of infective conidia, 10-day-old sporulating colonies were exposed to 18, 30, 33, 36, 39, and 42°C for 6 h, and then incubated at 18°C for 18 h. Conidia were harvested, inoculated onto hop plants, incubated at 18°C for 10 days, and then lesions/cm of leaf area was determined. Read More

Plant Dis 2009 Feb;93(2):201

California Department of Food and Agriculture, Sacramento 95832.

Elongate, interveinal, hypophyllous lesions were observed on bamboo plants (Bambusa domestica) during an inspection of a plant shipment in November of 2006 in Los Angeles County, CA. Disease incidence was 100%. Minute uredinia were spaced at regular intervals within each lesion. Read More

Plant Dis 2009 Feb;93(2):149-154

Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin - Madison; 1630 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706.

Sclerotinia stem rot, caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is an economically important disease of soybean (Glycine max) in the north-central United States and other temperate regions throughout the world. The occurrence and severity of Sclerotinia stem rot in the field is highly dependent upon prevailing environmental conditions, which can prove problematic when evaluating soybean accessions for resistance. The identification of an environmentally stable plant trait associated with resistance to S. Read More

Expert Rev Endocrinol Metab 2014 Jul 12;9(4):327-344. Epub 2014 May 12.

c 3King's College London School of Medicine, London, England.

We are presently faced with the competing notions of modern life being a 'state of vitamin D depletion', implying a widespread need to supplement with vitamin D, or, the opposite view, which is that the present evidence can only support at best selective targeted vitamin D intervention. This is important as there is evidence that over the last 40-50 years there were downwards global trends in serum 25(OH)D concentrations, while individual consumption of vitamin D as supplements rose. For this reason and many others, a large population-based interventional study, the VITAL trial, was designed to try to establish the health value of vitamin D supplementation. Read More

Aorta (Stamford) 2018 Apr 15;6(2):65-67. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Division Cardiac Surgery, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Aortic sarcomas are a very rare condition typically characterized by a deceiving presentation. Making a correct diagnosis is based on the application of an algorithm which allows to identify the primary disease site and to obtain a tissue diagnosis. Surgical aortic resection with adjuvant therapy offers the best palliation, particularly in cases of well-differentiated tumors with no evidence of diffuse metastatic spread. Read More

Soc Sci Med 2019 Feb 5;224:77-84. Epub 2019 Feb 5.

University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

Much of the literature that studies long-run effects of early-life economic conditions on health outcomes is based on pre-1940 birth cohorts. Early in these individuals' lives, public social safety nets were at best rudimentary, and female labor force participation was relatively low. We complement the evidence by studying the effects of regional business cycle variations in the post-1950 Netherlands on cardiovascular disease risk in adulthood. Read More

Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2019 Feb 12. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

PET-CT Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University. Electronic address:

Background: CD19-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has shown great efficacy in patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), but has been associated with serious adverse effects such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS). It has been speculated that NHL baseline disease burden might affect clinical outcome and CRS, but such assumption has not been explored in detail. Metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG), as measured by FDG PET-CT, are quantitative indicators of baseline tumor burden. Read More

Ann Vasc Surg 2019 Feb 12. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

Leeds Vascular Institute, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, UK; Leeds Diabetes Limb Salvage Unit, St James' University Hospital, Leeds, UK; Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.

Objectives: To assess the ability of a novel, automated CE marked vascular early warning system (VEWS) device to detect peripheral arterial disease in patients with incompressible ankle arteries and non-measurable ankle brachial pressure index (ABPI) secondary to diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: Recruited patients had diabetes, recent MRA evidence of PAD and incompressible vessels on ABPI. VEWS indices of each leg were automatically calculated by employing optical infrared and red sensors applied to the foot with readings obtained with the subject's leg both flat and elevated. Read More

J Mol Cell Cardiol 2019 Feb 12. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

EA7517, MP3CV, CURS, University of Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France; Biochemistry Laboratory, Amiens University Hospital, Amiens, France. Electronic address:

Introduction And Aims: Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is the most common heart valve disease in western countries. It has been reported that activation of the calcium-sensing receptor(CaSR) expressed by vascular smooth muscle cells prevents vascular calcification. However, to date, the CaSR's expression and function in cardiac valves have not been studied. Read More

Cancer 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Division of Haematology/Oncology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Background: Posterior fossa ependymoma (PFE) comprises 2 groups, PF group A (PFA) and PF group B (PFB), with stark differences in outcome. However, to the authors' knowledge, the long-term outcomes of PFA ependymoma have not been described fully. The objective of the current study was to identify predictors of survival and neurocognitive outcome in a large consecutive cohort of subgrouped patients with PFE over 30 years. Read More

J Med Internet Res 2019 Feb 15;21(2):e11757. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Office of eHealth Research and Business, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Republic of Korea.

Background: Prevention and management of chronic diseases are the main goals of national health maintenance programs. Previously widely used screening tools, such as Health Risk Appraisal, are restricted in their achievement this goal due to their limitations, such as static characteristics, accessibility, and generalizability. Hypertension is one of the most important chronic diseases requiring management via the nationwide health maintenance program, and health care providers should inform patients about their risks of a complication caused by hypertension. Read More

Mol Genet Genomic Med 2019 Feb 14:e597. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Background: The noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has been successfully used in the clinical screening of fetal trisomy 13, 18, and 21 in the last few years and researches on detecting sub-chromosomal copy number variations (CNVs) and monogenic diseases are also in progress. To date, multiple tests are needed in order to complete a full set of fetus disorder screening, which is costly and time consuming. Therefore, an integrated 3-in-1 NIPT approach will be in great demand by routine clinical practice in the near future. Read More

Am J Hematol 2019 Feb 14. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

The efficacy of ibrutinib has been demonstrated in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), including as first-line therapy. However, outcomes after ibrutinib discontinuation have previously been limited to higher-risk populations with relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate outcomes of ibrutinib-treated patients based on prior lines of therapy, including after ibrutinib discontinuation. Read More

Obes Surg 2019 Feb 14. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Division of General Surgery, National University Health System, 1E, Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119228, Singapore.

Purpose: Prevalence of obesity in Asia has been on the increasing trend, with corresponding increase in utilisation of bariatric surgery. The objective of this study was to examine differences in weight loss outcomes following bariatric surgery between Asian ethnicities.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective database review was conducted of patients undergoing primary laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy between 2009 and 2013 in 14 centres from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Switzerland, and the USA. Read More

J Crit Care Med (Targu Mures) 2019 Jan 4;5(1):34-39. Epub 2019 Feb 4.

University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Târgu Mureş, Romania.

Introduction: A hypercalcaemic crisis, also called para thyrotoxicosis, hyper parathyroid crisis or parathyroid storm, is a complication of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and an endocrinology emergency that can have dramatic or even fatal consequences if it is not recognised and treated in time.

Case Presentation: Two cases presented in the emergency department with critical hypercalcaemic symptoms and severe elevation of serum calcium and parathyroid hormone levels, consistent with a hypercalcaemic crisis. The first case, a 16-year-old female patient, had imaging data that highlighted a single right inferior parathyroid adenoma and a targeted surgical approach was used. Read More

Biomed Res Int 2019 15;2019:1602539. Epub 2019 Jan 15.

Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies "GF Ingrassia", University of Catania, Via S. Sofia, 87, 95123 Catania, Italy.

The burden of chronic kidney disease is dramatically rising, making it a major public health concern worldwide. Kidney transplantation is now the best treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease. Although kidney transplantation may improve survival and quality of life, its long-term results are hampered by immune- and/or non-immune-mediated complications. Read More

South Asian J Cancer 2019 Jan-Mar;8(1):44-46

Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Dr. B Borooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati, Assam, India.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to analyze the clinical behavior and the impact of nodal metastasis on the prognosis of upper alveolus squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

Materials And Methods: The medical records of 110 patients with SCC of the upper alveolus (International Classification of Diseases-10-C03.0) diagnosed during 2010-2015 were reviewed. Read More

Curr Hepatol Rep 2018 Sep 11;17(3):276-282. Epub 2018 Jul 11.

Department of Medicine, Medical University South Carolina, Charleston, SC.

Purpose Of Review: Drug induced liver injury (DILI) is a complex diagnosis dominantly based of exclusion.

Recent Findings: Currently available causality assessment instruments are considered to be suboptimal. Expert opinion appears to be best method to adjudicate causality, but is impractical to implement on a wide scale basis. Read More

J Ophthalmol 2019 15;2019:7419470. Epub 2019 Jan 15.

Department of Ophthalmology, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan.

Purpose: To evaluate early macular circulation in open-angle glaucoma (OAG), normal-tension glaucoma (NTG), ocular hypertension (OHT), and healthy subjects via optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. Medical records were reviewed, and the patients who received OCTA examinations were divided into the OAG, NTG, OHT, and normal groups. Read More

Curr Ther Res Clin Exp 2019 12;90:9-15. Epub 2019 Jan 12.

Centre for Medical Parasitology at Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology University of Copenhagen and Department of Clinical Microbiology and Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet), Copenhagen, Denmark.

Background: There is limited information on the safety or efficacy of currently recommended antimalarial drugs in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), a population predisposed to worse outcomes if affected by acute malaria. Artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ) is the first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria (UM) in many malaria-endemic countries and is also used for treatment of UM in SCD patients. There is, however, no information to date, on the pharmacokinetics (PK) of amodiaquine or artesunate or the metabolites of these drugs in SCD patients. Read More

Afr Health Sci 2018 Dec;18(4):1292-1302

Division of Key Lab of Animal Disease Diagnosis and Immunology of China's Department of Agriculture, Nanjing Agriculture University, Nanjing 210095, China.

Background: In the recent past, many studies have been focused on extracts of BF and multiple biologically active factors and their effects on humoral immune system in chickens and birds. However, the mechanism of those immunomodulatory peptides on the B lineage cells proliferation and antibody production in chicken is fairly unknown. DT40 cell line, an avian leucosis virus-induced chicken pre-B cell line, expresses immunoglobulin M (IgM) isotype B cell reporter in the plasma membrane. Read More

J Clin Exp Hepatol 2019 Jan-Feb;9(1):22-28. Epub 2017 Dec 30.

Department of Hepatology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.

Background And Aims: There is sparse data on the prevalence of renal dysfunction in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the presence of renal dysfunction in patients with NAFLD and correlate it with the severity of liver disease.

Methods: One hundred nonalcoholic patients with ultrasound showing hepatic steatosis were enrolled into the study after exclusion of other causes. Read More

Am J Infect Control 2019 Feb 12. Epub 2019 Feb 12.

Division of Infectious Disease, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI; William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, WI.

Background: Despite efforts to prevent health care-associated infections (HAIs), these infections continue to challenge health care systems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes implementation of evidence-based practices. Within the complex health care environment, sustained implementation calls for work systems that harness expertise of interprofessional teams, which, in turn, calls for suitable executive, mid-level, and local leadership. Read More

Soins Gerontol 2019 Jan - Feb;24(135):32-34

Unité de coordination en oncogériatrie, Institut Paoli-Calmette, 232 boulevard de Sainte-Marguerite, 13009 Marseille, France.

The increase in life expectancy together with the increased survival of patients with cancer is resulting in the emergence of a new population: that of cancer survivors whose health status is inferior to that of people not affected by this disease. The interaction between the cancer, the sequelae of the different treatments and other ageing-related health problems requires joint reflection on the best way of caring for this emerging geriatric population. Read More

Acta Neuropathol Commun 2019 Feb 14;7(1):20. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Berlin, Germany.

Monocytes/macrophages have begun to emerge as key cellular modulators of brain homeostasis and central nervous system (CNS) disease. In the healthy brain, resident microglia are the predominant macrophage cell population; however, under conditions of blood-brain barrier leakage, peripheral monocytes/macrophages can infiltrate the brain and participate in CNS disease pathogenesis. Distinguishing these two populations is often challenging, owing to a paucity of universally accepted and reliable markers. Read More

BMC Public Health 2019 Feb 14;19(1):192. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan, 430030, China.

Background: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is related with cardiovascular disease. However, its relationship with diabetes mellitus (DM) has not been examined in Chinese population with a larger sample. We aimed to assess the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components, and DM, and to determine the best one from the available definitions of Mets when assessing the risk of DM. Read More

BMC Bioinformatics 2019 Feb 14;20(1):76. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Communication & Computer Network Lab of Guangdong, School of Computer Science & Engineering, South China University of Technology, Wushan Road, Guangzhou, 510641, China.

Background: The advance of next generation sequencing enables higher throughput with lower price, and as the basic of high-throughput sequencing data analysis, variant calling is widely used in disease research, clinical treatment and medicine research. However, current mainstream variant caller tools have a serious problem of computation bottlenecks, resulting in some long tail tasks when performing on large datasets. This prevents high scalability on clusters of multi-node and multi-core, and leads to long runtime and inefficient usage of computing resources. Read More

Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2019 Feb 11. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Department of Oncology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Radiation therapy (RT) for the management of lymphomas has evolved over the past decades. Large extended or involved fields have been replaced by smaller involved site or nodal volumes. Currently, customized plans are created for each individual patient that encompass only the areas involved by disease. Read More

J Integr Bioinform 2019 Feb 14. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Instituto de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación (UNS-CONICET), Departamento de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación, Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), Bahía Blanca, Argentina.

Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative illnesses in older persons and the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is an auspicious target for its pharmacological treatment. In this work, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models for identification of putative inhibitors of LRRK2 protein are developed by using an in-house chemical library and several machine learning techniques. The methodology applied in this paper has two steps: first, alternative subsets of molecular descriptors useful for characterizing LRRK2 inhibitors are chosen by a multi-objective feature selection method; secondly, QSAR models are learned by using these subsets and three different strategies for supervised learning. Read More

JMIR Public Health Surveill 2019 Jan 18. Epub 2019 Jan 18.

Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, IL.

Background: Plague is a highly infectious zoonotic disease caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis. Three major forms of the disease are known: bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague. Though being strictly related to past history, plague still represents a global public health concern. Read More

IEEE J Biomed Health Inform 2019 Feb 8. Epub 2019 Feb 8.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative, progressive disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects motor control. The aim of this study was to develop data-driven methods and test their clinimetric properties to detect and quantify PD motor states using motion sensor data from leg agility tests. Nineteen PD patients were recruited in a levodopa single dose challenge study. Read More

J Feline Med Surg 2019 Jan;21(1):35-45

Auckland, New Zealand.

Practical Relevance:: Systemic hypertension is common in older cats and can result in damage to organs with a rich arteriolar supply such as the eyes, kidneys, myocardium and brain. Hypertensive disease in these organs is known as target organ damage (TOD). Disease in the eye resulting from hypertension is the most easily identifiable form of TOD and can often be the reason the cat is presented to the veterinarian. Read More

Hepatology 2019 Feb 14. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Department of Medicine, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, 10032, USA.

Nearly 25% of the world's population is suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is closely associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. NAFLD may progress to the development of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). With efficient medical therapies lacking, modifications of life style and diet are considered the best options for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD. Read More

Medicine (Baltimore) 2019 Feb;98(7):e14557

Department of Nephrology.

Rationale: Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) and anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) antibody disease are both rare autoimmune diseases. Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is one of the most common causes of plasma cell dyscrasias (PCD). The three entities can cause renal lesions via different mechanisms and, however, they have not been reported in a single patient with renal lesion. Read More

Medicine (Baltimore) 2019 Feb;98(7):e14478

The First Clinical Medical College.

Background: Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the world. The benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy has been demonstrated by published individual patient data meta-analysis and Cochrane systematic review. However, there is no consensus on which is the optimal adjuvant chemotherapy regimens. Read More

Curr Opin Pediatr 2019 Feb 11. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Division of Pediatric Nephrology, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.

Purpose Of Review: Kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment modality for children with end-stage renal disease. In this review, we discuss the factors affecting the selection of the appropriate donor to ensure the best possible short and long-term outcomes.

Recent Findings: Outcomes of pediatric renal transplantation from living donors are superior to those obtained from deceased donors. Read More