Urinary concentrations of acrylamide (AA) and N-acetyl-S-(2-carbamoylethyl)-cysteine (AAMA) and associations with demographic factors in the South Korean population

Acrylamide (AA) and N-acetyl-S-(2-carbamoylethyl)-cysteine (AAMA) are important urinary biomarkers of acrylamide exposure in human biomonitoring, because AA is classified as a probable carcinogen in humans.     

A New Measure for Monitoring Intraoperative Somatosensory Evoked Potentials

ObjectiveTo propose a new measure for effective monitoring of intraoperative somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) and to validate the feasibility of this measure for evoked potentials (EP) and single trials with a retrospective data analysis study.MethodsThe proposed new measure (hereafter, a slope-measure) was defined as the relative slope of the amplitude and latency at each EP peak compared to the baseline value, which is sensitive to the change in the amplitude and latency simultaneously. We used the slope-measure for EP and single trials and compared the significant change detection time with that of the conventional peak-to-peak method. When applied to single trials, each single trial signal was processed with optimal filters before using the slope-measure. In this retrospective data analysis, 7 patients who underwent cerebral aneurysm clipping surgery for unruptured aneurysm middle cerebral artery (MCA) bifurcation were included.ResultsWe found that this simple slope-measure has a detection time that is as early or earlier than that of the conventional method; furthermore, using the slope-measure in optimally filtered single trials provides warning signs earlier than that of the conventional method during MCA clipping surgery.ConclusionOur results have confirmed the feasibility of the slope-measure for intraoperative SEP monitoring. This is a novel study that provides a useful measure for either EP or single trials in intraoperative SEP monitoring.     

Longitudinal changes in seizure outcomes after resection of cerebral cavernous malformations in patients presenting with seizures: a long-term follow-up of 46 patients

Background

Seizure is the most common presentation in patients with cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs). Although many articles have documented seizure outcomes after resection of CCM, few have conducted long-term follow-ups; thus, the fluctuating seizure outcomes have been neglected. The purpose of this study is to describe long-term postoperative seizure outcomes in patients with CCM and to compare seizure outcomes between patients with sporadic seizures and those with chronic seizures.

Methods

Forty-six patients with CCM presenting with seizures underwent surgery. The male-to-female ratio was 1:1, and the average age at initial seizure onset was 27.6 years. The mean preoperative seizure duration was 42.7 months. Patients were divided into two groups: a chronic group (N?=?20) and a sporadic group (N?=?26) according to seizure frequency and duration. The mean postoperative follow-up duration was 96.3 months, and the postoperative seizure outcomes were checked annually based upon Engel’s classification.

Results

After the first year of follow-up, 80.8 % of the sporadic group and 75.0 % of the chronic group were evaluated as Engel class I. These rates increased to 100.0 % and 90.0 %, respectively, at the eighth year of follow-up. Overall, 29 (63.0 %) of the 46 patients experienced changes in seizure outcomes over the follow-up period. Despite their delayed improvements, the chronic group showed less favorable outcomes throughout follow-up (p?=?0.025).

Conclusions

Long-term follow-up is indispensable for accurately assessing postoperative seizure outcomes because these outcomes change continuously. We recommend earlier surgery to achieve seizure-free status in patients with CCM. However, even in the chronic group, surgery is recommended, considering the overall delayed improvement.     

Efficacy of Metabolic Surgery on HbA1c Decrease in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients with BMI <35 kg/m2—a Review

High glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is strongly correlated with developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) complications; this study reviews the efficacy of various types of metabolic surgeries in reducing HbA1c levels in type 2 diabetics with BMI <35 kg/m². An electronic search of MEDLINE databases using terms ‘metabolic surgery’, type 2 diabetes mellitus, BMI <35 kg/m², and related keywords for studies published between 1987 and 2013. Data from 53 articles with 2,258 patients were selected for this review. The weighted mean change in HbA1c was ?2.8 % (95 % CI ?2.8 to ?2.7, p?<?0.01) and weighted mean BMI change was ?5.5 kg/m² (95 % CI ?5.6 to ?5.4, p?<?0.01). There was a strong correlation between weighted percentage mean change in HbA1c and BMI. Adjustable gastric banding and duodenal jejunal bypass were inferior to other surgeries in reducing BMI and HbA1c in BMI <35 kg/m². Metabolic surgery significantly decreases HbA1c in T2DM patients with BMI <35 kg/m² and that the magnitude of HbA1c change may be a useful surrogate of DM control.     

Singapore Paediatric Resuscitation Guidelines 2021

We present the 2021 Singapore Paediatric Resuscitation Guidelines. The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation’s Pediatric Taskforce Consensus Statements on Science and Treatment Recommendations, which was published in October 2020, and the updated resuscitation guidelines from the American Heart Association and European Resuscitation Council, were reviewed and discussed by the committee. These recommendations were derived after deliberation of peer-reviewed evidence updates on paediatric resuscitation and took into consideration the local setting and clinical practice.     

Effect of Threading Dislocations on the Electronic Structure of La-Doped BaSnO3 Thin Films

In spite of great application potential as transparent n-type oxides with high electrical mobility at room temperature, threading dislocations (TDs) often found in the (Ba,La)SnO₃ (BLSO) films can limit their intrinsic properties so that their role in the physical properties of BLSO films need to be properly understood. The electrical properties and electronic structure of BLSO films grown on SrTiO₃ (001) (STO) and BaSnO₃ (001) (BSO) substrates are comparatively studied to investigate the effect of the TDs. In the BLSO/STO films with TD density of ~1.32 × 10¹¹ cm⁻², n-type carrier density n_e and electron mobility are significantly reduced, as compared with the BLSO/BSO films with nearly no TDs. This indicates that TDs play the role of scattering-centers as well as acceptor-centers to reduce n-type carriers. Moreover, in the BLSO/STO films, both binding energies of an Sn 3d core level and a valence band maximum are reduced, being qualitatively consistent with the Fermi level shift with the reduced n-type carriers. However, the reduced binding energies of the Sn 3d core level and the valence band maximum are clearly different as 0.39 and 0.19 eV, respectively, suggesting that the band gap renormalization preexisting in proportion to n_e is further suppressed to restore the band gap in the BLSO/STO films with the TDs.