A Study on Menstrual Hygiene Practices among Girls Attending High Schools in Nellore City

In India, menstruation and menstrual practices are clouded by taboos and socio-cultural restrictions for women as well as among adolescent girls. There is a substantial lacuna in the knowledge about menstruation among adolescent girls. Most of the adolescent girls have incomplete and inaccurate information about the menstrual physiology and hygiene. Good hygienic practices such as the use of sanitary pads and adequate washing of the genital area are essential during menstruation. Anecdotal evidence suggest that lack of access to menstrual hygiene (which includes sanitary napkins, toilets in schools, availability of water, privacy and safe disposal) could constrain school attendance and possibly contribute to local infections during this period. With this background, an attempt is made to study menstrual hygiene practices among high school girls

Abdominoperineal resection does not decrease quality of life in patients with low rectal cancer

PURPOSE: Issues related to body image and a permanent stoma after abdominoperineal resection may decrease quality of life in rectal cancer patients. However, specific problems associated with a low anastomosis may similarly affect quality of life for patients undergoing low anterior resection. The aim of this study was to compare quality of life of low rectal cancer patients after undergoing abdominoperineal resection versus low anterior resection. METHODS: Demographics, tumor and treatment characteristics, and prospectively collected preoperative quality-of-life data for patients undergoing low anterior resection or abdominoperineal resection for low rectal cancer between 1995 and 2009 were compared. Quality of life collected at specific time intervals was compared for the two groups, adjusting for age, body mass index, use of chemoradiation, and 30 days postoperative complications. The short-form-36 questionnaire was used to determine quality of life. RESULTS: The query returned 153 patients (abdominoperineal resection = 68, low anterior resection = 85) with a median follow-up of 24 (3-64) mo. The after abdominoperineal resection group had a higher mean age (63 + 12 vs. 54 + 12, p < 0.001) and more American Society of Anesthesiologists classification 3/4 patients (65 percent vs. 43 percent, p = 0.03) than low anterior resection. Other demographics, tumor stage, use of chemoradiation, overall postoperative complication rates, and quality-of-life follow-up time were not statistically different in both groups. Patients undergoing abdominoperineal resection had a lower baseline short-form-36 mental component score than those undergoing low anterior resection. However, 6 mo after surgery this difference was no longer statistically significant and essentially disappeared at 36 mo after surgery. CONCLUSION: Patients undergoing abdominoperineal resection for low rectal cancer have a similar long-term quality of life as those undergoing low anterior resection. These findings can help clinicians to better counsel patients with low rectal cancer who are being considered for abdominoperineal resection

Minimally Invasive Augmented Fixation for Anatomical Reduction of Grade 2 and Grade 3 Listhesis in Patients with Osteoporosis

Study Design A retrospective study. Purpose To study the efficacy of augmented fixation for anatomical reduction of grade 2 and grade 3 listhesis in patients with osteoporosis. Overview of Literature Spondylolisthesis in osteoporotic patients requiring spinal fixation are associated with complications such as loss of surgical construct stability, screw pulling out, and screw loosening. Augmented fixation is a novel strategy to achieve necessary construct integrity. Methods Thirteen consecutive patients with grade 2 or grade 3 listhesis, with proven osteoporosis on dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan, and who underwent augmented fixation for reduction of listhesis were retrospectively analyzed. In all patients, surgical access was achieved with a fixed 22 mm tubular retractor. A modified technique of bilateral, sequential, transforaminal decompression and discectomy, followed by reduction of listhesis using unilaterally placed augmented screws was employed in all the cases. Patients were followed up with plain X-rays at regular intervals to assess for implant stability and fusion status. All patients were started on medical treatment for osteoporosis. Results The mean age of the patients was 52.46 years, with 12 females and one male. The median T-score on DEXA scan was −3.0. Of the 13 patients, listhesis was at L4–L5 in five and at L5–S1 in eight. Nine patients had grade 2 listhesis, while four patients had grade 3 listhesis. Complete reduction was achieved in 10 patients. The median duration of follow-up was 18 months. Postoperative outcomes were satisfactory in all cases. Conclusions Augmented fixation is a useful technique for achieving anatomical reduction of listhesis in patients with osteoporosis

Fatores de risco para prolongamento do tempo de permanência após cirurgia colorretal

OBJETIVO: Os cirurgiões proctologistas muitas vezes enfrentam dificuldades para explicar aos administradores/contribuintes as razões para o prolongamento do tempo de internação hospitalar (TIH). O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar os fatores associados ao aumento do TIH após cirurgia colorretal. MÉTODO: A população do estudo incluiu pacientes que constam do banco de dados do American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) no ano de 2007 e que foram submetidos à ressecção ileocólica, colectomia segmentar ou ressecção anterior. A população do estudo foi dividida em normal (abaixo do percentil 75) e TIH prolongado (acima do percentil 75). A análise multivariada foi realizada usando o TIH prolongado como variável dependente e as variáveis do ACS-NSQIP como preditivas. Um valor de p < 0,01 foi considerado significativo. RESULTADOS: No total, 12.269 pacientes com um TIH mediano de 6 dias (intervalo interquartil, 4-9) foram incluídos. Havia 2.617 pacientes (21,3%) com TIH prolongado (mediana, 15 dias; intervalo interquartil, 13-22). A idade média dos pacientes era de 69 anos (intervalo interquartil, 57-79) e 1.308 (50%) eram do sexo feminino. Os fatores de risco para TIH prolongado foram sexo masculino, insuficiência cardíaca congestiva, perda de peso, doença de Crohn, albumina < 3,5 g/dL e hematócrito < 47% no pré-operatório, sepse basal, classe ASA ≥ 3, cirurgia aberta, tempo cirúrgico ≥ 190 minutos, pneumonia no pós-operatório, falha no desmame da ventilação mecânica, trombose venosa profunda, infecção do trato urinário, sepse sistêmica, infecção do sítio cirúrgico e reoperação dentro de 30 dias da cirurgia primária. CONCLUSÃO: Vários fatores estão associados ao aumento do TIH após a cirurgia colorretal. Nossos resultados são úteis para que os cirurgiões possam explicar os TIH prolongados aos administradores/contribuintes que são críticos dessa métrica.OBJECTIVE: Colorectal surgeons often struggle to explain to administrators/payers reasons for prolonged length of stay (LOS). This study aim was to identify factors associated with increased LOS after colorectal surgery. DESIGN: The study population included patients from the 2007 American-College-of-Surgeons-National-Surgical-Quality-Improvement-Program (ACS-NSQIP) database undergoing ileocolic resection, segmental colectomy, or anterior resection. The study population was divided into normal (below 75th percentile) and prolonged LOS (above the 75th percentile). A multivariate analysis was performed using prolonged LOS as dependent variable and ACS-NSQIP variables as predictive variables. P-value < 0.01 was considered significant. RESULTS: 12,269 patients with a median LOS of 6 (inter-quartile range 4-9) days were included. There were 2,617 (21.3%) patients with prolonged LOS (median 15 days, inter-quartile range 13-22). 1,308 (50%) were female, and the median age was 69 (inter-quartile range 57-79) years. Risk factors for prolonged LOS were male gender, congestive heart failure, weight loss, Crohn's disease, preoperative albumin < 3.5 g/dL and hematocrit < 47%, baseline sepsis, ASA class ≥ 3, open surgery, surgical time ≥ 190 min, postoperative pneumonia, failure to wean from mechanical ventilation, deep venous thrombosis, urinary-tract infection, systemic sepsis, surgical site infection and reoperation within 30-days from the primary surgery. CONCLUSION: Multiple factors are associated with increased LOS after colorectal surgery. Our results are useful for surgeons to explain prolonged LOS to administrators/payers who are critical of this metric

Distinct clonal identities of B-ALLs arising after lenolidomide therapy for multiple myeloma

Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who are treated with lenalidomide rarely develop a secondary B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). The clonal and biological relationship between these sequential malignancies is not yet clear. We identified 17 patients with MM treated with lenalidomide, who subsequently developed B-ALL. Patient samples were evaluated through sequencing, cytogenetics/fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, and immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) clonality assessment. Samples were assessed for shared mutations and recurrently mutated genes. Through whole exome sequencing and cytogenetics/FISH analysis of 7 paired samples (MM vs matched B-ALL), no mutational overlap between samples was observed. Unique dominant IgH clonotypes between the tumors were observed in 5 paired MM/B-ALL samples. Across all 17 B-ALL samples, 14 (83%) had a TP53 variant detected. Three MM samples with sufficient sequencing depth (\u3e500×) revealed rare cells (average of 0.6% variant allele frequency, or 1.2% of cells) with the same TP53 variant identified in the subsequent B-ALL sample. A lack of mutational overlap between MM and B-ALL samples shows that B-ALL developed as a second malignancy arising from a founding population of cells that likely represented unrelated clonal hematopoiesis caused by a TP53 mutation. The recurrent variants in TP53 in the B-ALL samples suggest a common path for malignant transformation that may be similar to that of TP53-mutant, treatment-related acute myeloid leukemia. The presence of rare cells containing TP53 variants in bone marrow at the initiation of lenalidomide treatment suggests that cellular populations containing TP53 variants expand in the presence of lenalidomide to increase the likelihood of B-ALL development

Dynamic circadian protein-protein interaction networks predict temporal organization of cellular functions.

Essentially all biological processes depend on protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Timing of such interactions is crucial for regulatory function. Although circadian (~24-hour) clocks constitute fundamental cellular timing mechanisms regulating important physiological processes, PPI dynamics on this timescale are largely unknown. Here, we identified 109 novel PPIs among circadian clock proteins via a yeast-two-hybrid approach. Among them, the interaction of protein phosphatase 1 and CLOCK/BMAL1 was found to result in BMAL1 destabilization. We constructed a dynamic circadian PPI network predicting the PPI timing using circadian expression data. Systematic circadian phenotyping (RNAi and overexpression) suggests a crucial role for components involved in dynamic interactions. Systems analysis of a global dynamic network in liver revealed that interacting proteins are expressed at similar times likely to restrict regulatory interactions to specific phases. Moreover, we predict that circadian PPIs dynamically connect many important cellular processes (signal transduction, cell cycle, etc.) contributing to temporal organization of cellular physiology in an unprecedented manner

In-Vivo Hyperspectral Human Brain Image Database for Brain Cancer Detection

The use of hyperspectral imaging for medical applications is becoming more common in recent years. One of the main obstacles that researchers find when developing hyperspectral algorithms for medical applications is the lack of specific, publicly available, and hyperspectral medical data. The work described in this paper was developed within the framework of the European project HELICoiD (HypErspectraL Imaging Cancer Detection), which had as a main goal the application of hyperspectral imaging to the delineation of brain tumors in real-time during neurosurgical operations. In this paper, the methodology followed to generate the first hyperspectral database of in-vivo human brain tissues is presented. Data was acquired employing a customized hyperspectral acquisition system capable of capturing information in the Visual and Near InfraRed (VNIR) range from 400 to 1000 nm. Repeatability was assessed for the cases where two images of the same scene were captured consecutively. The analysis reveals that the system works more efficiently in the spectral range between 450 and 900 nm. A total of 36 hyperspectral images from 22 different patients were obtained. From these data, more than 300 000 spectral signatures were labeled employing a semi-automatic methodology based on the spectral angle mapper algorithm. Four different classes were defined: normal tissue, tumor tissue, blood vessel, and background elements. All the hyperspectral data has been made available in a public repository

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London