Anandamide modulates the neuroendocrine responses induced by extracellular volume expansion

相似文献   

Probiotic effects in allergic disease

The increasing prevalence of allergic disease has been linked to reduced microbial exposure in early life. Probiotics have recently been advocated for the prevention and treatment of allergic disease. This article summarises recent publications on probiotics in allergic disease, focusing on clinical studies of prevention or treatment of allergic disease. Studies employing the combined administration of pre‐natal and post‐natal probiotics suggest a role for certain probiotics (alone or with prebiotics) in the prevention of eczema in early childhood, with the pre‐natal component of treatment appearing to be important for beneficial effects. On the other hand, current data are insufficient to support the use of probiotics for the treatment of established allergic disease, although recent studies have highlighted new hope in this area. Probiotic bacteria continue to represent the most promising intervention for primary prevention of allergic disease, and well‐designed definitive intervention studies should now be a research priority.     

Quality of life,work productivity impairment and healthcare resources in inflammatory bowel diseases in Brazil

BACKGROUND Inflammatory bowel diseases(IBD) have been associated with a low quality of life(QoL) and a negative impact on work productivity compared to the general population.Information about disease control,patient-reported outcomes(PROs),treatment patterns and use of healthcare resources is relevant to optimizing IBD management.AIM To describe QoL and work productivity and activity impairment(WPAI),treatment patterns and use of healthcare resources among IBD patients in Brazil.METHODS A multicenter cross-sectional study included adult outpatients who were previously diagnosed with moderate to severe Crohn's disease(CD) or ulcerative colitis(UC).At enrolment,active CD and UC were defined as having a Harvey Bradshaw Index≥8 or a CD Activity Index≥220 or calprotectin 200 μg/g or previous colonoscopy results suggestive of inadequate control(per investigator criteria) and a 9-point partial Mayo score≥5,respectively.The PRO assessment included the QoL questionnaires SF-36 and EQ-5 D-5 L,the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire(IBDQ),and the WPAI questionnaire.Information about healthcare resources and treatment during the previous 3 years was collected from medical records.Chi-square,Fisher's exact and Student's t-/Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare PROs,treatment patterns and the use of healthcare resources by disease activity(a=0.05).RESULTS Of the 407 patients in this study(CD/UC:64.9%/35.1%,mean age 42.9/45.9 years,54.2%/56.6% female,38.3%/37.1% employed),44.7%/25.2% presented moderate-to-severe CD/UC activity,respectively,at baseline.Expressed in median values for CD/UC,respectively,the SF-36 physical component was 46.6/44.7 and the mental component was 45.2/44.2,the EQ-visual analog scale score was 80.0/70.0,and the IBDQ overall score was 164.0/165.0.Moderate to severe activity,female gender,being unemployed,a lower educational level and lower income were associated with lower QoL(P 0.05).Median work productivity impairment was 20% and 5% for CD and UC patients,respectively,and activity impairment was 30 %,the latter being higher among patients with moderate to severe disease activity compared to patients with mild or no disease activity(75.0% vs 10.0%,P 0.001).For CD/UC patients,respectively,25.4%/2.8% had at least one surgery,38.3%/19.6% were hospitalized,and 70.7%/77.6% changed IBD treatment at least once during the last 3 years.The most common treatments at baseline were biologics(75.3%)and immunosuppressants(70.9%) for CD patients and 5-AS A compounds(77.5%) for UC patients.CONCLUSION Moderate to severe IBD activity,especially among CD patients,is associated with a substantial impact on QoL,work productivity impairment and an increased number of IBD surgeries and hospitalizations in Brazil.     

A computationally efficient method for automatic registration of orthogonal x-ray images with volumetric CT data

The paper presents a computationally efficient 3D-2D image registration algorithm for automatic pre-treatment validation in radiotherapy. The novel aspects of the algorithm include (a) a hybrid cost function based on partial digitally reconstructed radiographs (DRRs) generated along projected anatomical contours and a level set term for similarity measurement; and (b) a fast search method based on parabola fitting and sensitivity-based search order. Using CT and orthogonal x-ray images from a skull and a pelvis phantom, the proposed algorithm is compared with the conventional ray-casting full DRR based registration method. Not only is the algorithm shown to be computationally more efficient with registration time being reduced by a factor of 8, but also the algorithm is shown to offer 50% higher capture range allowing the initial patient displacement up to 15 mm (measured by mean target registration error). For the simulated data, high registration accuracy with average errors of 0.53 mm +/- 0.12 mm for translation and 0.61 +/- 0.29 degrees for rotation within the capture range has been achieved. For the tested phantom data, the algorithm has also shown to be robust without being affected by artificial markers in the image.     

Cushing syndrome: pituitary CT scanning

Proper treatment of patients with Cushing syndrome depends on knowledge of whether the condition derives from a pituitary or adrenal adenoma or an ectopic tumor that secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). Fifty-seven patients with Cushing syndrome were prospectively evaluated to determine whether computed tomography (CT) of the pituitary gland is useful in diagnosing or excluding an ACTH-producing adenoma and in predicting the site of the adenoma within the pituitary gland. Findings on CT scans were normal in 35 of 50 patients with surgically confirmed Cushing disease and in seven patients with ectopic ACTH-producing tumors. Of the 15 patients with Cushing disease for whom CT results were abnormal, eight had macroadenomas and seven had microadenomas. This study demonstrates a low sensitivity (30%) and low diagnostic accuracy (39%) of CT in the detection of ACTH-producing pituitary tumors and indicates the need for alternative methods of confirming the pituitary origin of excessive ACTH secretion in most patients.     

O,O′-二烷基-O″-(5-取代-3-苯并噻吩乙腈肟)磷酸酯及硫代磷酸酯的合成

合成了18个O,O′-二烷基-O″-(5-取代-3-苯并噻吩乙腈肟)磷酸酯及硫代磷酸酯类化合物(Ⅰ_(1～18))。初步杀螺试验结果表明,其中5个化合物,即Ⅰ_(2,3,7,11,12)有明显的杀螺增效作用。