Prevalence of lower extremities peripheral arterial disease among Egyptian ischemic patients attending cardiac rehabilitation unit

Background

Atherosclerosis is progressive and diffuse pathological disorders which can simultaneously affect multiple vascular beds. Diagnosing Lower extremities peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in patients with Coronary artery disease (CAD) admitted to cardiac rehabilitation program can help to tailor exercise regimen to fit these patients, in addition, early treatment and/or intervention may help to control progression of the disease.

The importance of extended high viremics in models of HIV spread in South Africa

Recent studies found a substantial fraction of ‘extended high viremics’ among HIV-1 subtype C, the most common subtype in southern Africa. Extended high viremics are HIV infected individuals who maintain a high viral load for a longer time period than usual after the initial infection. They are more infectious during this period, and their infection progresses to full-blown AIDS and death much faster than usual. This study investigates the impact of extended high viremics on the spread of the HIV epidemic in South Africa. We develop a simple deterministic compartmental model for HIV infection that includes extended high viremics. As the available data on extended high viremics are limited, we parameterize this model using only the fraction of extended high viremics among new infections and the reduced life-span of extended high viremics. We find that without extended high viremics, the HIV prevalence in South Africa would have remained close to its 1990 level, instead of increasing to the current epidemic levels. We also find that the greater the fraction of extended high viremics among susceptibles, the greater the steady-state HIV prevalence and the more sensitive the steady-state prevalence is to the HIV transmission probability. These results suggest that extended high viremics have an impact on the HIV epidemic in South Africa; justify the need for comprehensive epidemiological studies since the current data is limited; and suggest that future models of HIV for southern Africa should explicitly model extended high viremics.     

Implementation and impact of a multidisciplinary coagulation factor stewardship program at an academic medical center

Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis -     

Barriers to recruiting ethnic minorities to mental health research: a systematic review

Disparities in the prevalence of mental illness are widely reported for people from ethnic minorities. Unlike the United States, there is no legislation for clinical research in the UK to mandate the inclusion of ethnic minorities and they are underrepresented in European trials compared with those conducted in the United States. This restricts generalization of research findings. This systematic review of the barriers to the recruitment of ethnic minority participants into psychiatric research is based on a comprehensive literature search. Nine included papers explore such barriers based on the authors’ and participants’ experiences of research. These barriers are mainly categorized as: participant related, practical issues, family/community related, health service related and research process issues. This review provides a compilation of important barriers to recruitment which can facilitate future research. The barriers that were identified are not all unique to participants from ethnic minorities, although the way in which they manifest themselves is often distinct in minority groups. It is important that these barriers are considered when designing research design so that solutions to overcome such obstacles can be incorporated in research protocols from the start and appropriate resources allocated. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High performance and remarkable cyclic stability of a nanostructured RGO–CNT-WO3 supercapacitor electrode

One of the most pressing concerns in today''s power networks is ensuring that consumers (both home and industrial) have access to efficient and long-lasting economic energy. Due to improved power accessibility and high specific capacitance without deterioration over long working times, supercapacitor-based energy storage systems can be a viable solution to this problem. So, here, tungsten trioxide (WO₃) nanocomposites containing reduced graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes i.e. (RGO-WO₃), (CNT-WO₃), and (RGO–CNT-WO₃), as well as pure WO₃ nanostructures as electrode materials, were synthesized using a simple hydrothermal process. The monoclinic phase of WO₃ with high diffraction peaks is visible in X-ray diffraction analysis, indicating good crystallinity of all electrode materials. Nanoflowers of WO₃ were well-decorated on the RGO/CNTs conductive network in SEM micrographs. In a three-electrode system, the specific capacitance of the RGO–CNT-WO₃ electrode is 691.38 F g⁻¹ at 5 mV s⁻¹ and 633.3 F g⁻¹ at 2 A g⁻¹, which is significantly higher than that of pure WO₃ and other binary electrodes. Furthermore, at 2 A g⁻¹, it achieves a coulombic efficiency of 98.4%. After 5000 cycles, RGO–CNT-WO₃ retains 89.09% of its capacitance at 1000 mV s⁻¹, indicating a promising rate capability and good cycling stability performance.

One of the most pressing concerns in today''s power networks is ensuring that consumers (both home and industrial) have access to efficient and long-lasting economic energy.     

Coexisting Diogenes and Capgras syndromes

The co-occurrence of Diogenes and Capgras syndromes, both unusual in themselves, would be expected to be rare. A MEDLINE search using the terms Diogenes, Capgras, self-neglect and domestic squalor revealed no previous reports of this combination of disorders. Both conditions are somewhat dubiously named as &#164 syndromes' when in fact they are probably no more than symptoms with different causes. Of particular interest in this case is the exacerbation of the self-neglect, characteristic of the Diogenes syndrome, by the delusional misidentification which marks the Capgras syndrome; as well as the reinforcement of the previously recognised association with frontal lobe pathology. The role of medication, though limited, is described. ( Int J Psych Clin Pract 2001; 5:75-76)     

Pelvic lipomatosis in a child

We report a 10-year-old boy with pelvic lipomatosis causing chronic urinary retention. CT scan features, therapy and review of the literature are discussed.