Pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Lao PDR

A 28-day in vivo treatment trial to evaluate the efficacy of pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine (Fansidar, PS) was conducted in 21 Lao patients with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Sixteen patients (76%) were completely cured with PS without any reappearance of asexual stage parasitemia during the follow-up examination. On the other hand, 5 patients (24%) failed to respond to this trial medication, resulting in recrudescence of asexual stage P. falciparum malaria. PS resistance resulted in higher prevalence of post-treatment gametocytemia, 25% gametocyte carriers among PS sensitive cases versus 75% of the resistant cases. These findings suggest that although the level of PS resistance is still valid for treatment of malaria in the study area of Lao PDR, post-treatment induction of gametocytemia among resistant cases may result an increase in transmission rate of PS resistant falciparum malaria.     

Effect of post-transplant double filtration plasmapheresis on recurrent focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis in renal transplant recipients

In the present study, we reviewed the effect of post-transplant double filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP) on recurrent focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in the transplanted kidney allograft. Sixteen patients with post-transplant recurrent FSGS were enrolled in this study. Out of 16 patients with recurrent FSGS after transplantation, five did not receive DFPP and lost their grafts, while 11 did receive DFPP and four of these patients lost their grafts. Seven patients were able to maintain normal renal function for an average observation period of 57.1 +/- 40.7 months (range 7-125 months). In five patients who had a significant reduction in urinary protein after DFPP, the urinary protein level decreased from 26.60 +/- 23.05 g/day (range 3.34-62.6 g/day) to 2.95 +/- 3.42 g/day (range 0.02-8.64 g/day) and renal function was maintained. The beneficial effects of DFPP on graft outcome were more likely to occur if the patients experienced a marked drop in urinary excretion. Thus, post-transplant DFPP appears to be effective for reducing urinary protein levels and improving long-term graft survival. With the small numbers in this trial, however, none of the findings were statistically significant. We recommend the use of post-transplant DFPP to prevent the progression of recurrent FSGS.     

A nano-magnetic electrochemical sensor for the determination of mood disorder related substances

The simultaneous electrochemical detection of mood disorder related substances, such as amitriptyline, melatonin and tryptophan, was successfully achieved by using a novel nano-magnetic electrochemical sensor design, encompassing Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles decorated with carbon quantum dots (MagNPs/Cdots). The magnetic composite was characterized using HR-TEM microscopy, XRD and Raman spectroscopy, and was applied onto a glassy carbon electrode using a miniature neodymium magnet. The determination of amitriptyline, melatonin and tryptophan was performed by monitoring oxidation promoted by MagNPs/Cdots in BR-buffer at pH 3.0, which proceeded according to well-defined differential pulse voltammetry peaks, with detection limits of 5.9, 4.4 and 4.2 nmol L⁻¹, respectively. No significant interference was seen from biological interferents such as uric acid, ascorbic acid, dopamine, estriol and 17β-estradiol. The magnetic hybrid material was highly stable in solution, opening exciting opportunities for the development of low cost and practical electrochemical sensors for the determination of mood disorder related substances in real clinical samples.

The simultaneous electrochemical detection of mood disorder related substances, amitriptyline, melatonin and tryptophan, was successfully achieved by using a novel nano-magnetic electrochemical sensor decorated with carbon quantum dots (MagNPs/Cdots).     

Mechanical circulatory support in patients with cardiogenic shock not secondary to cardiotomy: a network meta-analysis

Heart Failure Reviews - To compare the efficacy and safety of different mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices in CS. A total of 24 studies (7 randomized controlled...     

Clinical characteristics of left ventricular pressure decline during isovolumic relaxation in normal and diseased hearts

To compare two expressions of the time constant for ventricular relaxation, 39 patients with various heart diseases (six normal, six angina pectoris [AP], 13 myocardial infarction [MI], eight hypertrophic cardiomyopathy [HCM], and six congestive cardiomyopathy [CCM]) were studied. One time constant was obtained by the method of Weiss et al. (T1) and the other was the ratio of left ventricular pressure at peak (-) dP/dt (Pm) to peak (-) dP/dt (T2). The deviation of T2 from T1 was expressed as 100 X (T2 - T1)/T1 (delta %). In normal subjects, T1 was nearly equal to T2 (32 +/- 3 and 32 +/- 6 msec, respectively), resulting in a low value of delta (-1 +/- 9). However, delta values in AP (20 +/- 23, p less than 0.05), MI (24 +/- 26, p less than 0.05), HCM (37 +/- 21, p less than 0.001), and CCM (46 +/- 24, p less than 0.001) were significantly higher than in normal subjects. Thus T1, T2, or delta separated the patient groups from the control subjects, and there were significant differences between T1 and T2 among the types of heart disease.     

Dynamics of nucleic acids and total proteins in thymus of Walker carcinosarcoma bearing rats.

Thymus responses in tumoral-bearing hosts can illustrate two moments of immunological crisis corresponding to the tumour intake and its metastazic spread. These data are in accord with Burnet's (3) hypothesis that cancer is due to the inability of immunological surveillance mechanisms to reject somatic cells bearing neoplastic mutation.     

Interstitial Capillary in Normal and in Transplanted Kidneys: An Ultrastructural Study

Knowledge about the normal structure and pathology of interstitial capillary is limited. Splitting and multilayering of the basal membrane (BM), as a marker of chronic rejection, has been published in association with transplant glomerulopathy. The authors investigated the ultrastructural features of the interstitial capillary basal membrane in normal (15 biopsies) and in transplanted kidneys (27 biopsies from 21 patients), expressing transplant glomerulopathy (8 biopsies from 6 patients), acute tubulo-interstitial rejection (9 biopsies from 6 patients), and recurrent or de novo glomerulonephritis (10 biopsies from 8 patients). All biopsies were fixed in 1%OsO 4, embedded in Epon, and examined by electron microscope. Measurements of the interstitial capillary BM were made. The BM of interstitial capillary of intact kidney was a homogenous continuous structure, 88 nm in width on average. Thickening with diffuse multilayering of BM was most intensive in patients with transplant glomerulopathy, and much less intensive in patients with acute tubulointerstitial rejection and in patients with recurrent or de novo glomerulonephritis. These findings may provide the first information about the morphology of the normal basal lamina of interstitial capillary and support the diagnostic value of interstitial capillary changes in chronic rejection.     

Intra-bone nuclear DNA variability in Second World War metatarsal and metacarpal bones

International Journal of Legal Medicine - DNA analysis of Second World War skeletal remains is challenging because of the limited yield of DNA that is usually recovered. Recent forensic research...     

A linkage and exome study of multiplex families with bipolar disorder implicates rare coding variants of ANK3 and additional rare alleles at 10q11-q21

BackgroundBipolar disorder is a highly heritable psychiatric condition for which specific genetic factors remain largely unknown. In the present study, we used combined whole-exome sequencing and linkage analysis to identify risk loci and dissect the contribution of common and rare variants in families with a high density of illness.MethodsOverall, 117 participants from 15 Australian extended families with bipolar disorder (72 with affective disorder, including 50 with bipolar disorder type I or II, 13 with schizoaffective disorder–manic type and 9 with recurrent unipolar disorder) underwent whole-exome sequencing. We performed genome-wide linkage analysis using MERLIN and conditional linkage analysis using LAMP. We assessed the contribution of potentially functional rare variants using a gene-based segregation test.ResultsWe identified a significant linkage peak on chromosome 10q11-q21 (maximal single nucleotide polymorphism = rs10761725; exponential logarithm of the odds [LOD_exp] = 3.03; empirical p = 0.046). The linkage interval spanned 36 protein-coding genes, including a gene associated with bipolar disorder, ankyrin 3 (ANK3). Conditional linkage analysis showed that common ANK3 risk variants previously identified in genome-wide association studies — or variants in linkage disequilibrium with those variants — did not explain the linkage signal (rs10994397 LOD = 0.63; rs9804190 LOD = 0.04). A family-based segregation test with 34 rare variants from 14 genes under the linkage interval suggested rare variant contributions of 3 brain-expressed genes: NRBF2 (p = 0.005), PCDH15 (p = 0.002) and ANK3 (p = 0.014).LimitationsWe did not examine non-coding variants, but they may explain the remaining linkage signal.ConclusionCombining family-based linkage analysis with next-generation sequencing data is effective for identifying putative disease genes and specific risk variants in complex disorders. We identified rare missense variants in ANK3, PCDH15 and NRBF2 that could confer disease risk, providing valuable targets for functional characterization.     

A Review on Joint Carotid Intima-Media Thickness and Plaque Area Measurement in Ultrasound for Cardiovascular/Stroke Risk Monitoring: Artificial Intelligence Framework

Journal of Digital Imaging - Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the top ten leading causes of death worldwide. Atherosclerosis disease in the arteries is the main cause of the CVD, leading to...