AAA Stent–Grafts: Past Problems and Future Prospects

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) has quickly gained popularity for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm repair during the last two decades. The improvement of available EVAR devices is critical for the advancement of patient care in vascular surgery. Problems are still associated with the grafts, many of which can necessitate the conversion of the patient to open repair, or even result in rupture of the aneurysm. This review attempts to address these problems, by highlighting why they occur and what the failings of the currently available stent grafts are, respectively. In addition, the review gives critical appraisal as to the novel methods required for dealing with these problems and identifies the new generation of stent grafts that are being or need to be designed and constructed in order to overcome the issues that are associated with the existing first- and second-generation devices.     

The Effects of Job Insecurity,Emotional Exhaustion,and Met Expectations on Hotel Employees’ Pro-Environmental Behaviors: Test of a Serial Mediation Model

There are a plethora of empirical pieces about employees’ pro-environmental behaviors. However, the extant literature has either ignored or not fully examined various factors (e.g., negative or positive non-green workplace factors) that might affect employees’ pro-environmental behaviors. Realizing these voids, the present paper proposes and tests a serial mediation model that examines the interrelationships of job insecurity, emotional exhaustion, met expectations, and proactive pro-environmental behavior. We used data gathered from hotel customer-contact employees with a time lag of one week and their direct supervisors in China. After presenting support for the psychometric properties of the measures via confirmatory analysis in LISREL 8.30, the abovementioned linkages were gauged using the PROCESS plug-in for statistical package for social sciences. The findings delineated support for the hypothesized associations. Specifically, emotional exhaustion and met expectations partly mediated the effect of job insecurity on proactive pro-environmental behavior. More importantly, emotional exhaustion and met expectations serially mediated the influence of job insecurity on proactive pro-environmental behavior. These findings have important theoretical implications as well as significant implications for diminishing job insecurity, managing emotional exhaustion, increasing met expectations, and enhancing eco-friendly behaviors.     

Response to “a fatal case of Guillain-Barré syndrome after infection with COVID-19”

Journal of NeuroVirology -     

Co‐expression of TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 is associated with the degree of tumour differentiation in prostate cancer

In vitro experiments demonstrated that stimulation of Toll‐like receptor 9 (TLR‐9) by synthetic TLR‐9 ligands induces the invasion of TLR‐9‐expressing prostate cancer cells through matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP‐13). However, the clinical value of TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 co‐expression in the pathophysiology of the prostate is unknown. In the study, we evaluated the expression levels and clinical significance of the TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 in a series of prostate tissues. One hundred and eighty prostate tissues including prostate cancer (PCa) (n = 137), high‐grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HPIN) (n = 18) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (n = 25) were immunostained for the TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 markers. Subsequently, the correlation between the TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 staining scores and clinicopathological parameters was obtained. Higher expressions of TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 were found in PCa and high‐grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia compared to benign prostatic hyperplasia tissues. Among PCa samples, a positive relationship was revealed between the MMP‐13 expression and Gleason score (P < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between TLR‐9 expression and regional lymph node involvement (P = 0.04). The expression patterns of TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 markers demonstrated a reciprocal significant correlation between the two markers in the same series of prostate samples (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the Gleason score of TLR‐9^high/MMP‐13^high and TLR‐9^low/MMP‐13^low phenotypes showed a significant difference (P = 0.002). Higher expressions of TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 can confer aggressive behaviour to PCa. Therefore, these markers may be used as a valuable target for tailored therapy of PCa.     

Treatment Outcomes of 4 Vital Pulp Therapies in Mature Molars

Introduction

Vital pulp therapy (VPT) is a biological approach to minimally invasive endodontics. This randomized clinical trial aimed to evaluate and compare clinical and radiographic success of 4 VPTs (indirect pulp capping [IPC], direct pulp capping [DPC], miniature pulpotomy [MP], and full pulpotomy [FP]) using calcium-enriched mixture cement for deep caries management of mature permanent molars including teeth with clinical signs of irreversible pulpitis and the presence of apical periodontitis.

Understanding the Genomic Structure of Copy‐Number Variation of the Low‐Affinity Fcγ Receptor Region Allows Confirmation of the Association of FCGR3B Deletion with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Fcγ receptors are a family of cell–surface receptors that are expressed by a host of different innate and adaptive immune cells, and mediate inflammatory responses by binding the Fc portion of immunoglobulin G. In humans, five low‐affinity receptors are encoded by the genes FCGR2A , FCGR2B , FCGR2C , FCGR3A , and FCGR3B , which are located in an 82.5‐kb segmental tandem duplication on chromosome 1q23.3, which shows extensive copy‐number variation (CNV). Deletions of FCGR3B have been suggested to increase the risk of inflammatory diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, we identify the deletion breakpoints of FCGR3B deletion alleles in the UK population and endogamous native American population, and show that some but not all alleles are likely to be identical‐by‐descent. We also localize a duplication breakpoint, confirming that the mechanism of CNV generation is nonallelic homologous recombination, and identify several alleles with gene conversion events using fosmid sequencing data. We use information on the structure of the deletion alleles to distinguish FCGR3B deletions from FCGR3A deletions in whole‐genome array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) data. Reanalysis of published aCGH data using this approach supports association of FCGR3B deletion with increased risk of RA in a large cohort of 1,982 cases and 3,271 controls (odds ratio 1.61, P = 2.9×10^?3).     

Thiotepa versus Bacille Calmette-Guérin in Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

Objective

The efficacy of intravesical thiotepa was evaluated compared with administration of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Patients

In this multicenter, prospective, randomized study, eligible patients were those with proven non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. All patients were randomly allocated to Group A, receiving intravesical thiotepa (at a dose of 30 mg/30 ml) once weekly for 9 consecutive weeks and then monthly for 12 months or Group B, receiving intravesical Bacille Calmette-Guérin (Connaught strain, 80 mg/50 ml) over a 9-week induction course and each week for 3 weeks at 3, 6 and 12 months. Outcome measures were recurrence rate, time to first recurrence and progression rate. Treatment-related complications were also evaluated.

Results

Seventy-two participants were enrolled, 36 for each group, 17 in Group A developed disease recurrence versus 25 of those in Group B (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in mean time to the first recurrence (Group A, 4.2 months; Group B, 4.1 months; p > 0.05). Seven of 17 (41%) patients in Group A and 16 of 25 (64%) patients in Group B had disease progression and underwent radical cystectomy (p < 0.05). Both intravesical administrations were generally well tolerated.

Conclusion

Thiotepa is a promising intravesical agent for treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.Key Words: Bacille Calmette-Guérin, Intravesical administration, Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, Thiotepa     

Guillain-Barré syndrome associated with COVID-19: a case report study

Journal of NeuroVirology - Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is spreading around the world. Patients with coronavirus...