Conventional Ultrafiltration During Elective Cardiac Surgery and Postoperative Acute Kidney Injury

1. Download : Download high-res image (215KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

A survey of internists’ recommendations for aspirin in older adults and barriers to evidence-based use

Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis - Recent trials suggest that aspirin for primary prevention may do more harm than good for some, including adults over 70 years of age. We sought to...     

Are there gender-specific differences in pregnancy outcome and placental abnormalities of pregnancies complicated with small for gestational age?

Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics - Adaptations to pathological intrauterine environment might differ in relation to fetal gender. We aimed to study sex-specific differences in placental...     

A brief fall prevention intervention for manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injuries: A pilot study

Objective: To conduct a pilot study of an intervention to decrease fall incidence and concerns about falling among individuals living with Spinal Cord Injury who use manual wheelchairs full-time.

Design: Pre/post. After a baseline assessment, a structured intervention was implemented. The assessment protocol was repeated 12 weeks after the baseline assessment.

Setting: Research laboratory and community.

Participants: 18 individuals living with SCI who use a manual wheelchair full-time with an average age of 35.78?±?13.89 years, lived with SCI for 17.06?±?14.6 years; 61.1% were female.

Intervention: A 1:1, 45 minute, in-person intervention focused on factors associated with falls and concerns about falling: transfers skills and seated postural control.

Outcome measures: Participants reported fall incidence and completed the Spinal Cord Injury Fall Concerns Scale, Community Participation Indicators and the World Health Organization Quality of Life – short version (WHOQOL-BREF). Transfer quality was assessed with the Transfer Assessment Instrument (TAI) and seated postural control with the Function In Seating Test (FIST).

Results: Recruitment, assessment and delivery of the intervention were successfully completed. After exposure to the intervention, fall incidence significantly decreased, (P?=?0.047, d_{z ?}=?0.507) and FIST scores improved (P?=?0.035, d_z? =?0.54). Significant improvements were also found in the WHOQOL-BREF Physical (P?=?0.05, d_{z ?}=?1.566) and Psychological (P?=?0.040, d_{z ?}=?0.760) domains.

Conclusion: The feasibility of the structured intervention was established and the intervention has the potential to reduce fall incidence and improve quality of life among individuals living with SCI who use a wheelchair. Appropriately powered randomized controlled trials of the program are warranted.     

Feasibility of monitoring peripheral blood to detect emerging clones in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia†

Relapse‐enriched somatic variants drive drug resistance in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We used digital droplet‐based polymerase chain reaction to establish whether relapse‐enriched mutations in emerging subclones could be detected in peripheral blood samples before frank relapse. Although limitations in sensitivity for some probes hindered detection of certain variants, we successfully detected variants in NT5C2 and PRPS1 at a fractional abundance of 0.005% to 0.3%, 41 to 116 days before relapse. As mutations in both these genes confer resistance to thiopurines, early detection protocols using peripheral blood could be implemented to preemptively alter maintenance therapy to extinguish resistant clones before overt relapse.     

A proposed mechanism for central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia

Central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA) has an unknown mechanism. Analyzing other scarring diseases (lichen planopilaris, fibrotic kidney disease and scleroderma) may help to clarify the mechanism of scarring in CCCA. These diseases were chosen for comparison due to either their location of disease (skin or scalp specifically), or prominence in patients of African descent. Genetics, possible triggers, an autoimmune lymphocytic response, and epithelial to mesenchymal transition are potentially involved. Possible common pathways in scarring diseases and a better understanding of the CCCA mechanism will lead to further research into the pathogenesis and potential treatments of CCCA.