High seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in a subset of Mexican patients with work accidents and low socioeconomic status

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Toxoplasma gondii </it>has been associated with reflex impairment and traffic accidents. It is unknown whether <it>Toxoplasma </it>infection might be associated with work accidents. Therefore, using a case-control seroprevalence study design, 133 patients with a recent work accident and 266 control subjects of the general population from the same region were examined with enzyme-linked immunoassays for the presence and levels of anti-<it>Toxoplasma </it>IgG antibodies and anti-<it>Toxoplasma </it>IgM antibodies. Socio-demographic, work, clinical and behavioral characteristics from each worker were obtained.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eleven (8.3%) of 133 patients, and 14 (5.3%) of 266 controls had anti-<it>T. gondii </it>IgG antibodies. Anti-<it>T. gondii </it>IgG levels were higher than 150 IU/ml in 8 (6%) patients and 10 (3.8%) controls. Anti-<it>T. gondii </it>IgM antibodies were found in one (0.8%) of the workers, and in 6 (2.3%) of the controls. No statistically significant differences in the IgG seroprevalences, frequencies of high IgG levels, and IgM seroprevalences among patients and controls were found. In contrast, a low socio-economic level in patients with work accidents was associated with <it>Toxoplasma </it>seropositivity (<it>P </it>= 0.01). Patients with work accidents and low socioeconomic status showed a significantly (OR = 3.38; 95% CI: 0.84-16.06; <it>P </it>= 0.04) higher seroprevalence of <it>T. gondii </it>infection than controls of the same socioeconomic status (15.1% vs. 5%, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed a positive association of <it>T. gondii </it>infection with boar meat consumption (OR = 3.04; 95% CI: 1.03-8.94; <it>P </it>= 0.04). In contrast, a negative association between <it>T. gondii </it>infection and national trips (OR = 0.40; 95% CI: 0.17-0.96; <it>P </it>= 0.04), sausage consumption (OR = 0.20; 95% CI: 0.05-0.68; <it>P </it>= 0.01), and ham consumption (OR = 0.16; 95% CI: 0.05-0.51; <it>P </it>= 0.002) was found.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In the study described here seropositivity to <it>T. gondii </it>was associated to work accidents in a subset of patients with low socioeconomic status. This is the first report of an association of <it>T. gondii </it>infection and work accidents. Further studies to confirm our results are needed. Results may help in designing optimal prevention strategies to avoid <it>T. gondii </it>infection.</p

Shear Force at Failure and Stiffness of All-Inside Meniscal Repair Devices

The purpose of this study was to determine the failure load and stiffness of various meniscal repair devices. A total of 61 fresh-frozen porcine menisci (medial and lateral) were used for the study. A 30-mm vertical, full-thickness tear was created and repaired using one of three all-inside fixation devices and one inside–out repair in the vertical mattress pattern. We used the MaxBraid (Biomet, Warsaw, IN) inside–out suture as a control. The other devices tested were the Meniscal Cinch (Arthrex, Naples, FL), Ultra FasT-Fix (Smith & Nephew, Andover, MA), and the MaxFire MarXmen (Biomet, Warsaw, IN). In addition, two devices, MaxFire MarXmen and Ultra FasT-Fix, were tested using a horizontal mattress configuration. Using the vertical mattress pattern, the Meniscal Cinch had the highest average load to failure. The Meniscal Cinch was significantly less stiff than the other three devices (p \u3c 0.04). For the MarXmen and Ultra FasT-Fix, no differences were noted for load to failure between horizontal and vertical mattress patterns. The mode of failure was significantly different when comparing the two different surgical techniques for the MaxFire MarXmen (p = 0.005). The MaxFire MarXmen device produced a significantly stiffer (p  \u3c 0.001) construct when following the manufacturer\u27s instructions (5.8 N/mm) than with the technique used for the other all-inside devices (2.5 N/mm) The Meniscal Cinch had the highest load-to-failure value but the lowest stiffness of the group in the vertical mattress configuration. There was little difference in biomechanical properties between vertical and horizontal repair. Importantly, there was a significant difference in stiffness and failure mode for the MaxFire MarXmen when the manufacturer guidelines were not specifically followed

Relativistic Klein-Gordon charge effects by information-theoretic measures

The charge spreading of ground and excited states of Klein-Gordon particles moving in a Coulomb potential is quantitatively analyzed by means of the ordinary moments and the Heisenberg measure as well as by use of the most relevant information-theoretic measures of global (Shannon entropic power) and local (Fisher's information) types. The dependence of these complementary quantities on the nuclear charge Z and the quantum numbers characterizing the physical states is carefully discussed. The comparison of the relativistic Klein-Gordon and non-relativistic Schrodinger values is made. The non-relativistic limits at large principal quantum number n and for small values of Z are also reached.Comment: Accepted in New Journal of Physic

Evaluación de Quassia amara como tratamiento contra la varroosis en tres apiarios del municipio de León, Nicaragua

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/universitas.v5i1.1482 UNIVERSITAS (León): Revista Científica de la UNAN León Vol.5(1) 2014, pp 100-106Se realizó un estudio experimental en tres apiarios con las mismas condiciones físicas y ambientales con el fin de evaluar la eficacia del extracto acuoso Quassia amara como tratamiento contra Varroa destructor utilizando para esto cinco grupos de tratamiento: Colmena ST: Sin tratamiento, es el control y cuatro colmenas a las que se les aplicó el extracto de Quassia amara en diferentes concentraciones: Colmena A: solución madre (M) 100% (1 kg materia bruta/10 l de agua); Colmena B: dilución I = Una parte de solución M más 4 partes de agua (20%); Colmena C: dilución II = Una parte de la dilución I más una parte de agua (10%); Colmena D: dilución III = Una parte de dilución II más una parte de agua (5%). Se realizaron seis aplicaciones mediante aspersión con intervalo de cuatro días. Los índices de infestación fueron valorados mediante conteos de la carga parasitaria en abejas adultas de cada colmena y las muestras se recolectaron en los siguientes momentos: Al realizar la primera, tercera y última aplicaciones, y 21 días después de la última. La extensión de invasión en crías se determinó en la primera y última aplicaciones y 21 días después. En total se trabajaron 60 muestras de abejas adultas de 150 a 200 especímenes y 45 fragmentos de panales de cría operculada de 10x10 cm. Se encontró que la dilución I fue la más efectiva sobre el ácaro en abejas adultas, con el mejor resultado a la cuarta semana del inicio de la aplicación (eficacia = 62%) mientras que en crías la más efectiva fue la dilución IV (eficacia = 23,10%). La planta Quassia amara brinda una alternativa prometedora de posible futura integración a las medidas con que los productores enfrentan el problema de la varroosis. La información recopilada contribuirá a la elaboración de un programa de control de esta enfermedad. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/universitas.v5i1.1482 UNIVERSITAS (León): Revista Científica de la UNAN León Vol.5(1) 2014, pp 100-10

Intrahepatic bile duct strictures after human orthotopic liver transplantation - Recurrence of primary sclerosing cholangitis or unusual presentation of allograft rejection?

One of 55 patients transplanted for sclerosing cholangitis during the cyclosporin-steroid era (March 1980-June 1986) developed intrahepatic biliary strictures in the absence of allograft rejection within the 1st year posttransplantation. Although many causes underlie biliary pathology in the postoperative period (i.e., arterial injury, ischemia, chronic rejection, cholangitis), recurrent disease remains a possibility. © 1988 Springer-Verlag

Rectangular core-collapse supernova remnants: application to Puppis A

Core-collapse supernova remnants are the gaseous nebulae of galactic interstellar media (ISM) formed after the explosive death of massive stars. Their morphology and emission properties depend both on the surrounding circumstellar structure shaped by the stellar wind-ISM interaction of the progenitor star and on the local conditions of the ambient medium. In the warm phase of the Galactic plane (n = 1/cm3, T = 8000 K), an organised magnetic field of strength 7 microG has profound consequences on the morphology of the wind bubble of massive stars at rest. In this paper we show through 2.5D magneto-hydrodynamical simulations, in the context of a Wolf-Rayet-evolving 35 Mo star, that it affects the development of its supernova remnant. When the supernova remnant reaches its middle age (15 to 20 kyr), it adopts a tubular shape that results from the interaction between the isotropic supernova ejecta and the anisotropic, magnetised, shocked stellar progenitor bubble into which the supernova blast wave expands. Our calculations for non-thermal emission, i.e. radio synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation, reveal that such supernova remnants can, due to projection effects, appear as rectangular objects in certain cases. This mechanism for shaping a supernova remnant is similar to the bipolar and elliptical planetary nebula production by wind-wind interaction in the low-mass regime of stellar evolution. If such a rectangular core-collapse supernova remnant is created, the progenitor star must not have been a runaway star. We propose that such a mechanism is at work in the shaping of the asymmetric core-collapse supernova remnant Puppis A.Comment: Accepted at MNRA

Intrahepatic bile duct strictures after human orthotopic liver transplantation

Abstract. One of 55 patients transplanted for sclerosing cholangitis during the cyclosporin-steroid era (March 1980-June 1986 developed intrahepatic biliary strictures in the absence of allograft rejection within the 1st year posttransplantation. Although many causes underlie biliary pathology in the postoperative period (i. e., arterial injury, ischemia, chronic rejection, cholangitis), recurrent disease remains a possibility

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