Predictors of walking capacity in peripheral arterial disease patients

OBJECTIVE: To estimate walking capacity in intermittent claudication patients through a prediction model based on clinical characteristics and the walking impairment questionnaire. METHODS: The sample included 133 intermittent claudication patients of both genders aged between 30 and 80 years. Data regarding clinical characteristics, the walking impairment questionnaire and treadmill walking test performance were obtained. Multiple regression modeling was conducted to predict claudication onset distance and total walking distance using clinical characteristics (age, height, mass, body mass index, ankle brachial index lower, gender, history of smoking and co-morbid conditions) and walking impairment questionnaire responses. Comparisons of claudication onset distance and total walking distance measured during treadmill tests and estimated by a regression equation were performed using paired t-tests. RESULTS: Co-morbid conditions (diabetes and coronary artery disease) and questions related to difficulty in walking short distances (walking indoors - such as around your house and walking 5 blocks) and at low speed (walking 1 block at average speed - usual pace) resulted in the development of new prediction models high significant for claudication onset distance and total walking distance (p0.05) were observed. CONCLUSION: The current study demonstrated that walking capacity can be adequately estimated based on co-morbid conditions and responses to the walking impairment questionnaire

Identifying network ties from panel data: theory and an application to tax competition

Social interactions determine many economic behaviors, but information on social ties does not exist in most publicly available and widely used datasets. We present results on the identi…cation of social networks from observational panel data that contains no information on social ties between agents. In the context of a canonical social interactions model, we provide su¢cient conditions under which the social interactions matrix, endogenous and exogenous social e¤ect parameters are all globally identi…ed. While this result is relevant across di¤erent estimation strategies, we then describe how high-dimensional estimation techniques can be used to estimate the interactions model based on the Adaptive Elastic Net GMM method. We employ the method to study tax competition across US states. We …nd the identi…ed social interactions matrix implies tax competition di¤ers markedly from the common assumption of competition between geographically neighboring states, providing further insights for the long-standing debate on the relative roles of factor mobility and yardstick competition in driving tax setting behavior across states. Most broadly, our identi…cation and application show the analysis of social interactions can be extended to economic realms where no network data exists. JEL Codes: C31, D85, H71

ANTIMYCOBACTERIAL AND CYTOTOXICITY ACTIVITIES OF FREE AND LIPOSOME-ENCAPSULATED 3-(4 '-BROMO[1,1 '-BIPHENYL-4-YL)-3-(4-BROMO-PHENYL)-N,N-DIMETHYL-2-PROPEN-1-AMINE

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)The antimycobacterial activity of 3-(4'-bromo[1,1'-bipheny1-4-yl)-3-(4-bromo-phenyl-N,N-dimethyl-2-propen-1-amine (BBAP), free or incorporated in preformed liposomes, on extracellular M. tuberculosis H37Rv was 8 and 25 mu M (MIC), respectively. Extracellular antimycobacterial activity was not significantly improved by entrapment of BBAP in liposomes, but there was a 6.1-fold reduction of BBAP cytotoxicity on J774 macrophages. Liposomal BBAP or its free form showed IC(50) values of 165 and 27 mu M, resulting in a selectivity index (SI=IC(50)/MIC) of 3.4 and 6.6, respectively. Free BBAP in concentrations from 10 to 80 mu M were quite effective in eliminating intracellular M. tuberculosis while liposomal formulation was less effective at these concentrations.334871874Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Dermatological remedies in the traditional pharmacopoeia of Vulture-Alto Bradano, inland southern Italy

Dermatological remedies make up at least one-third of the traditional pharmacopoeia in southern Italy. The identification of folk remedies for the skin is important both for the preservation of traditional medical knowledge and in the search for novel antimicrobial agents in the treatment of skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI). Our goal is to document traditional remedies from botanical, animal, mineral and industrial sources for the topical treatment of skin ailments. In addition to SSTI remedies for humans, we also discuss certain ethnoveterinary applications. Field research was conducted in ten communities in the Vulture-Alto Bradano area of the Basilicata province, southern Italy. We randomly sampled 112 interviewees, stratified by age and gender. After obtaining prior informed consent, we collected data through semi-structured interviews, participant-observation, and small focus groups techniques. Voucher specimens of all cited botanic species were deposited at FTG and HLUC herbaria located in the US and Italy. We report the preparation and topical application of 116 remedies derived from 38 plant species. Remedies are used to treat laceration, burn wound, wart, inflammation, rash, dental abscess, furuncle, dermatitis, and other conditions. The pharmacopoeia also includes 49 animal remedies derived from sources such as pigs, slugs, and humans. Ethnoveterinary medicine, which incorporates both animal and plant derived remedies, is addressed. We also examine the recent decline in knowledge regarding the dermatological pharmacopoeia. The traditional dermatological pharmacopoeia of Vulture-Alto Bradano is based on a dynamic folk medical construct of natural and spiritual illness and healing. Remedies are used to treat more than 45 skin and soft tissue conditions of both humans and animals. Of the total 165 remedies reported, 110 have never before been published in the mainland southern Italian ethnomedical literature

Molecular mapping in tropical maize (Zea mays L.) using microsatellite markers. 1. Map construction and localization of loci showing distorted segregation

Microsatellites have become the most important class of markers for mapping procedures. Primarily based on restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers, several molecular genetic maps of maize have been developed, mainly using temperate inbred maize lines. To characterize the level of polymorphism of microsatellite loci and construct a genetic map in tropical maize, two elite inbred lines, L-08-05F and L-14-4B, were crossed to produce 400 F-2 individuals that were used as a mapping population. A survey of 859 primer pair sequences of microsatellites was used. The polymorphism screens of each microsatellite and genotype assignment were performed using high-resolution agarose gels. About 54 % of the primer sets gave clearly scorable amplification products, 13 % did not amplify and 33% could not be scored on agarose gels. A total of 213 polymorphic markers were identified and used to genotype the mapping population. Among the polymorphic markers, 40 showed loci deviating from expected Mendelian ratios and clusters of deviating markers were located in three chromosome regions. Non-Mendelian scoring was present in 19 markers. The final genetic map with 117 markers spanned 1634 cM in length with an average interval of 14 cM between adjacent markers.13929610

Discovery and Validation of a New Class of Small Molecule Toll-Like Receptor 4 (TLR4) Inhibitors

Many inflammatory diseases may be linked to pathologically elevated signaling via the receptor for lipopolysaccharide (LPS), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). There has thus been great interest in the discovery of TLR4 inhibitors as potential anti-inflammatory agents. Recently, the structure of TLR4 bound to the inhibitor E5564 was solved, raising the possibility that novel TLR4 inhibitors that target the E5564-binding domain could be designed. We utilized a similarity search algorithm in conjunction with a limited screening approach of small molecule libraries to identify compounds that bind to the E5564 site and inhibit TLR4. Our lead compound, C34, is a 2-acetamidopyranoside (MW 389) with the formula C17H27NO9, which inhibited TLR4 in enterocytes and macrophages in vitro, and reduced systemic inflammation in mouse models of endotoxemia and necrotizing enterocolitis. Molecular docking of C34 to the hydrophobic internal pocket of the TLR4 co-receptor MD-2 demonstrated a tight fit, embedding the pyran ring deep inside the pocket. Strikingly, C34 inhibited LPS signaling ex-vivo in human ileum that was resected from infants with necrotizing enterocolitis. These findings identify C34 and the β-anomeric cyclohexyl analog C35 as novel leads for small molecule TLR4 inhibitors that have potential therapeutic benefit for TLR4-mediated inflammatory diseases. © 2013 Neal et al

Emergence of non-centrosymmetric topological insulating phase in BiTeI under pressure

The spin-orbit interaction affects the electronic structure of solids in various ways. Topological insulators are one example where the spin-orbit interaction leads the bulk bands to have a non-trivial topology, observable as gapless surface or edge states. Another example is the Rashba effect, which lifts the electron-spin degeneracy as a consequence of spin-orbit interaction under broken inversion symmetry. It is of particular importance to know how these two effects, i.e. the non-trivial topology of electronic states and Rashba spin splitting, interplay with each other. Here we show, through sophisticated first-principles calculations, that BiTeI, a giant bulk Rashba semiconductor, turns into a topological insulator under a reasonable pressure. This material is shown to exhibit several unique features such as, a highly pressure-tunable giant Rashba spin splitting, an unusual pressure-induced quantum phase transition, and more importantly the formation of strikingly different Dirac surface states at opposite sides of the material.Comment: 5 figures are include

Emergent quantum confinement at topological insulator surfaces

Bismuth-chalchogenides are model examples of three-dimensional topological insulators. Their ideal bulk-truncated surface hosts a single spin-helical surface state, which is the simplest possible surface electronic structure allowed by their non-trivial $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topology. They are therefore widely regarded ideal templates to realize the predicted exotic phenomena and applications of this topological surface state. However, real surfaces of such compounds, even if kept in ultra-high vacuum, rapidly develop a much more complex electronic structure whose origin and properties have proved controversial. Here, we demonstrate that a conceptually simple model, implementing a semiconductor-like band bending in a parameter-free tight-binding supercell calculation, can quantitatively explain the entire measured hierarchy of electronic states. In combination with circular dichroism in angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) experiments, we further uncover a rich three-dimensional spin texture of this surface electronic system, resulting from the non-trivial topology of the bulk band structure. Moreover, our study reveals how the full surface-bulk connectivity in topological insulators is modified by quantum confinement.Comment: 9 pages, including supplementary information, 4+4 figures. A high resolution version is available at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~pdk6/pub_files/TI_quant_conf_high_res.pd