Long-term oral ciprofloxacin in the treatment of prosthetic valve endocarditis due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Prosthetic valve endocarditis caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa is refractory to medical treatment alone and early valve replacement is necessary. We describe a 40-year-old patient in whom endocarditis developed in the early postoperative period, and reoperation was not considered feasible. Ciprofloxacin was administered orally in order to suppress bacteremia for 36 months. Long-term oral ciprofloxacin may provide an opportunity in the treatment of prosthetic valve endocarditis caused by Ps. aeruginosa in patients who are unfavorable candidates for reoperation.     

Diagnostic utilities of tracheal ultrasound and USB-endoscope for the confirmation of endotracheal tube placement: A cadaver study

Objectives

Confirmation of the endotracheal tube placement (CoETP) has the utmost importance in the management of an airway. Visualization of tracheal rings or carina with a fiber-optical bronchoscope (FOB) has considered to be a reliable method for the CoETP. However, FOB is expensive, time-consuming, and not always practical. Inexpensive endoscopic USB-cameras were shown to aid intubation successfully and reliably. On the other hand, there have been no studies investigating their use for the CoETP. Tracheal ultrasonography (TUS) is also a new, inexpensive and widely available alternative. A cadaver study has planned to evaluate the diagnostic utility of TUS and a USB-camera.

Working memory and emotional interpretation bias in a sample of Syrian refugee adolescents

The number of adolescent refugees around the world has been continuously increasing over the past few years trying to escape war and terror, among other things. Such experience not only increases the risk for mental health problems including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but also may have implications for socio-cognitive development. This study tested cognitive-affective processing in refugee adolescents who had escaped armed conflict in Syria and now resided in Istanbul, Turkey. Adolescents were split into a high trauma (n = 31, 12 girls, mean age = 11.70 years, SD = 1.15 years) and low trauma (n = 27, 14 girls, mean age = 11.07 years, SD = 1.39 years) symptom group using median split, and performed a working memory task with emotional distraction to assess cognitive control and a surprise faces task to assess emotional interpretation bias. The results indicated that high (vs. low) trauma symptom youth were ~ 20% worse correctly remembering the spatial location of a cue, although both groups performed at very low levels. However, this finding was not modulated by emotion. In addition, although all youths also had a ~ 20% bias toward interpreting ambiguous (surprise) faces as more negative, the high (vs. low) symptom youth were faster when allocating such a face to the positive (vs. negative) emotion category. The findings suggest the impact of war-related trauma on cognitive-affective processes essential to healthy development.

     

A new hypothesis about hematopoietic Pbx-interaction protein (HPIP): Can it be a key factor in neurodegeneration in the post-menopausal period?

Neuronal degeneration in the post-menopausal term leads to cognitive symptoms such as anxiety, difficulty in concentrating, overreacting to minor upsets, quickly becoming irritated and forgetfulness in approximately 70–80% of all women around the world. These symptoms, which result from microtubule damage in the axon extensions of hippocampal neurons in during menopause, greatly reduce individuals’ life quality. Thus, an investigation of the estrogen receptor-signaling pathway–microtubule dynamic triangle and the possible links between them is important when it comes to explaining the possible mechanism of neurodegeneration. Hematopoietic Pbx-interaction protein (HPIP), a microtubule-binding protein, is a novel scaffolding protein. The detection of this protein on neurons represents the most important step in our hypothesis. The importance of the hypothesis is that it might provide important clues about the possible role of HPIP and its mechanism through in vivo and in vitro studies of estrogen receptors–microtubules and the HPIP triangle in terms of neuronal degeneration in the post-menopausal period.     

Prognostic significance of 68Ga-Pentixafor PET/CT in multiple myeloma recurrence: a comparison to 18F-FDG PET/CT and laboratory results

Annals of Nuclear Medicine - This study investigates the prognostic value of 68Ga-Pentixafor PET/CT using PET-derived quantitative in multiple myeloma (MM) patients with suspected recurrence in...     

Evaluation of radiopacities of CAD/CAM restorative materials and resin cements by digital radiography

Clinical Oral Investigations - This study aims to compare the radiopacities of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacture (CAD/CAM) blocks and the adhesive cements used for their bonding. 1...     

Evaluation of Oxidative Metabolism in Child and Adolescent Patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Objective

Oxidative metabolism is impaired in several medical conditions including psychiatric disorders, and this imbalance may be involved in the etiology of these diseases. The present study evaluated oxidative balance in pediatric and adolescent patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Methods

The study included 48 children and adolescents (34 male, 14 female) with ADHD who had no neurological, systemic, or comorbid psychiatric disorders, with the exception of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and 24 sex- and age-matched healthy controls (17 male and seven female).

Results

TAS was significantly lower, and TOS and OSI were significantly higher in patients with ADHD than in healthy controls. Total antioxidant levels were lower in patients with comorbid ODD than in those with no comorbidity. No difference was found in TOS or OSI among the ADHD subtypes; however, TAS was higher in the attention-deficient subtype.

Conclusion

Our findings demonstrated that oxidative balance is impaired and oxidative stress is increased in children and adolescents with ADHD. This results are consistent with those of previous studies.     

The impact of donor age and sex on the nucleated cell count and CD34 count in healthy bone marrow donors

BM remains an important source of stem cells. The BM characteristics change with age but the estimation of CD34 calculation of one CD34+ cell per 100 nucleated cells is used for all donors including pediatric donors in the operating room before getting the actual CD34 count. In order to see whether this formula is applicable for pediatric donors, we designed a retrospective study to see the affect of the age and sex on the BM NCC, CD34 count, and CD34/NCC ratios. Ninety‐eight BM collections from 91 related donors were evaluated retrospectively (median age: nine yr [1.5–54 yr]; M/F: 41/50). A significant negative correlation was found between the donor age and NCC (r = −0.229, p < 0.05), CD34 count (r = −0.563, p < 0.01), and CD34/NCC (r = −0.664, p < 0.01). The negative correlation for CD34 count and CD34/NCC persisted in female and male donor groups. When donors younger than 16 yr of age were compared with the older donor group, the median NCC, median CD34 count, and CD34/NCC were significantly lower in the older group (p < 0.01). Age and sex have to be taken into consideration to avoid unnecessary high‐volume collections and increased operating room time in the younger donors.     

Fc gamma receptor II (CD32) on malignant B cells influences modulation induced by anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody

Antigenic modulation is one of many factors determining the effectiveness of monoclonal antibody (MoAb)-mediated therapy. To select the isotype of a CD19 MoAb most suitable for radioimmunotherapy of patients with B-cell malignancies, we studied the influence of MoAb isotype on modulation, after binding of the MoAb to different cell-line cells. The CD19-IgG1 MoAb was found to induce modulation of CD19 antigens on Daudi cell line cells more rapidly than did its IgG2a switch variant. We provide evidence that this difference in modulation rate is caused by the expression of Fc gamma receptor II (Fc gamma RII) on these cells. Experiments aimed at elucidating the mechanism of Fc gamma RII involvement in modulation induction by CD19-IgG1 showed that Fc gamma RII did not comodulate with CD19 MoAbs. However, cocrosslinking of CD19 and Fc gamma RII with CD19-IgG1 MoAb resulted in enhanced calcium mobilization in Daudi cells. This increased signal induction accompanies the enhanced capping and subsequent modulation of CD19 antigens. Because Fc gamma RII is expressed in varying densities on malignant B cells in all differentiation stages, our results have implications for the MoAb isotype most suitable for use in MoAb-based therapy of patients with B-cell malignancies.