Management of dental anxiety via distraction technique

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of a stress ball as a distraction technique on stress levels of patients undergoing a dental procedure. A randomized, split-mouth design was conducted using 20 adult subjects requiring scaling and root

In Vivo Anti-Diabetic Activity of the Ethanolic Crude Extract of Sorbus decora C.K.Schneid. (Rosacea): A Medicinal Plant Used by Canadian James Bay Cree Nations to Treat Symptoms Related to Diabetes

A number of potential anti-diabetic plants were identified through an ethnobotanical survey of the traditional pharmacopeia of the Cree of Eeyou Istchee (CEI—Northeastern Canada) used against symptoms of diabetes and their biological activity assessed by in vitro bioassays. Among these, Sorbus decora C.K.Schneid. (Rosacea) ranked highly and increased the transport of glucose in skeletal muscle cells in culture. The present study thus aimed at confirming the antidiabetic potential of S. decora in in vivo models of insulin resistance and diabetes, notably the streptozotocin Type 1 diabetic rat (STZ), the genetic KK-Ay Type 2 diabetic mouse and the rat rendered insulin resistant with 10% glucose water consumption for 6 weeks. Sorbus decora ethanolic crude extract (SDEE) was administered orally (200 mg kg−1) and compared to metformin (150 or 500 mg kg−1). The intragastric (i.g.) gavage of SDEE transiently decreased glycemia in STZ rats in a bi-phasic manner but the effect was cumulative over several days. In KK-Ay mice, SDEE incorporated in food (0.12%) decreased glycemia by 15% within 1 week as compared to vehicle controls. In pre-diabetic insulin-resistant rats, SDEE fed daily by i.g. gavage for 2 weeks significantly decreased the slight hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, without affecting sugar water intake. Using the HOMA insulin resistance parameter, the effect of SDEE was equivalent to that of metformin. In conclusion, the ethanolic crude extract of S. decora demonstrates both anti-hyperglycemic and insulin-sensitizing activity in vivo, thereby confirming anti-diabetic potential and validating CEI traditional medicine

Comparative chromosome painting discloses homologous Segments in distantly related mammals

Comparative chromosome painting, termed ZOO-FISH, using DNA libraries from flow sorted human chromosomes 1,16,17 and X, and mouse chromosome 11 discloses the presence of syntenic groups in distantly related mammalian Orders ranging from primates (Homo sapiens), rodents (Mus musculus), even-toed ungulates (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis and Muntiacus reevesi) and whales (Balaenoptera physalus). These mammalian Orders have evolved separately for 55-80 million years (Myr). We conclude that ZOO-FISH can be used to generate comparative chromosome maps of a large number of mammalian species

Coalescent-based genome analyses resolve the early branches of the euarchontoglires

Despite numerous large-scale phylogenomic studies, certain parts of the mammalian tree are extraordinarily difficult to resolve. We used the coding regions from 19 completely sequenced genomes to study the relationships within the super-clade Euarchontoglires (Primates, Rodentia, Lagomorpha, Dermoptera and Scandentia) because the placement of Scandentia within this clade is controversial. The difficulty in resolving this issue is due to the short time spans between the early divergences of Euarchontoglires, which may cause incongruent gene trees. The conflict in the data can be depicted by network analyses and the contentious relationships are best reconstructed by coalescent-based analyses. This method is expected to be superior to analyses of concatenated data in reconstructing a species tree from numerous gene trees. The total concatenated dataset used to study the relationships in this group comprises 5,875 protein-coding genes (9,799,170 nucleotides) from all orders except Dermoptera (flying lemurs). Reconstruction of the species tree from 1,006 gene trees using coalescent models placed Scandentia as sister group to the primates, which is in agreement with maximum likelihood analyses of concatenated nucleotide sequence data. Additionally, both analytical approaches favoured the Tarsier to be sister taxon to Anthropoidea, thus belonging to the Haplorrhine clade. When divergence times are short such as in radiations over periods of a few million years, even genome scale analyses struggle to resolve phylogenetic relationships. On these short branches processes such as incomplete lineage sorting and possibly hybridization occur and make it preferable to base phylogenomic analyses on coalescent methods

The first low-mass black hole x-ray binary identified in quiescence outside of a globular cluster

The observed relation between the X-ray and radio properties of low-luminosity accreting black holes (BHs) has enabled the identification of multiple candidate black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs) in globular clusters (GCs). Here, we report an identification of the radio source VLA J213002.08+120904 (aka M15 S2), recently reported in Kirsten et al., as a BHXB candidate. They showed that the parallax of this flat-spectrum variable radio source indicates a - + 2.2 0.30.5 kpc distance, which identifies it as lying in the foreground of the GC M15. We determine the radio characteristics of this source and place a deep limit on the X-ray luminosity of ~4 × 1029 erg s.1. Furthermore, we astrometrically identify a faint red stellar counterpart in archival Hubble images with colors consistent with a foreground star; at 2.2 kpc, its inferred mass is 0.1-0.2Me. We rule out that this object is a pulsar, neutron star X-ray binary, cataclysmic variable, or planetary nebula, concluding that VLA J213002.08+120904 is the first accreting BHXB candidate discovered in quiescence outside of a GC. Given the relatively small area over which parallax studies of radio sources have been performed, this discovery suggests a much larger population of quiescent BHXBs in our Galaxy, 2.6 ± 104-1.7 × 108 BHXBs at 3× confidence, than has been previously estimated (~102-104) through population synthesis

Static stretching of the hamstring muscle for injury prevention in football codes: a systematic review

Purpose: Hamstring injuries are common among football players. There is still disagreement regarding prevention. The aim of this review is to determine whether static stretching reduces hamstring injuries in football codes. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted on the online databases PubMed, PEDro, Cochrane, Web of Science, Bisp and Clinical Trial register. Study results were presented descriptively and the quality of the studies assessed were based on Cochrane’s ‘risk of bias’ tool. Results: The review identified 35 studies, including four analysis studies. These studies show deficiencies in the quality of study designs. Conclusion: The study protocols are varied in terms of the length of intervention and follow-up. No RCT studies are available, however, RCT studies should be conducted in the near future

Pharmacy study of natural health product adverse reactions (SONAR): a cross-sectional study using active surveillance in community pharmacies to detect adverse events associated with natural health products and assess causality

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the rates and causality of adverse event(s) (AE) associated with natural health product (NHP) use, prescription drug use and concurrent NHP-drug use through active surveillance in community pharmacies. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of screened patients. SETTING: 10 community pharmacies across Alberta and British Columbia, Canada from 14 January to 30 July 2011. PARTICIPANTS: The participating pharmacy staff screened consecutive patients, or agents of patients, who were dropping or picking up prescription medications.PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were screened to determine the proportions of them using prescription drugs and/or NHPs, as well as their respective AE rates. All AEs reported by the screened patients who took a NHP, consented to, and were available for, a detailed telephone interview (14%) were adjudicated fully to assess for causality.RESULTS: Over a total of 105 pharmacy weeks and 1118 patients screened, 410 patients reported taking prescription drugs only (36.7%; 95% CI 33.9% to 39.5%), 37 reported taking NHPs only (3.3%; 95% CI 2.4% to 4.5%) and 657 reported taking prescription drugs and NHPs concurrently (58.8%; 95% CI 55.9% to 61.6%). In total, 54 patients reported an AE, representing 1.2% (95% CI 0.51% to 2.9%), 2.7% (95% CI 0.4% to 16.9%) and 7.3% (95% CI 5.6% to 9.6%) of each population, respectively. Compared with patients who reported using prescription drugs, the patients who reported using prescription drugs and NHPs concurrently were 6.4 times more likely to experience an AE (OR; 95% CI 2.52 to 16.17; p<0.001). Combined with data from Ontario, Canada, a national proportion was calculated, which found that 45.4% (95% CI 43.8% to 47.0%) of Canadians who visit community pharmacies take NHPs and prescription drugs concurrently, and of those, 7.4% (95% CI 6.3% to 8.8%) report an AE.CONCLUSIONS: A substantial proportion of community pharmacy patients use prescription drugs and NHPs concurrently; these patients are at a greater risk of experiencing an AE. Active surveillance provides a means of detecting such AEs and collecting high-quality data on which causality assessment can be based

A Systematic Review of Music Therapy Practice and Outcomes with Acute Adult Psychiatric In-Patients

PMCID: PMC3732280This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited