Endoleak, a specific complication of the endovascular treatment of aortic aneurysms

peer reviewedEndoleaks represent the most common complication of endovascular aortic aneurysm repair. With the increasing use of endovascular techniques for aortic aneurysm repair, the prevalence of endoleaks has risen. While maintaining pressurization of the aneurysm sac, endoleaks expose to persistent risks of an evolution towards rupture. Long-term surveillance with imaging studies is necessary to reduce the incidence of these specific complications that may require intervention. The objective of this article is to draw the attention to the possible occurrence of these complications and to report the elements of diagnosis and treatment

Examination of the Epidermis by the Strip Method II. Biometric Data on Regeneration of the Human Epidermis1

Digitalitzat per Artypla

Interest of a Joint Use of Two Diagnostic Tools of Burnout: Comparison between the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory and the Early Detection Tool of Burnout Completed by Physicians

peer reviewedMost research on burnout is based on self-reported questionnaires. Nevertheless, as far as the clinical judgement is concerned, a lack of consensus about burnout diagnosis constitutes a risk of misdiagnosis. Hence, this study aims to assess the added value of a joint use of two tools and compare their diagnostic accuracy: (1) the early detection tool of burnout, a structured interview guide, and (2) the Oldenburg burnout inventory, a self-reported questionnaire. The interview guide was tested in 2019 by general practitioners and occupational physicians among 123 Belgian patients, who also completed the self-reported questionnaire. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis allowed the identification of a cut-off score for the self-reported questionnaire. Diagnostic accuracy was then contrasted by a McNemar chi-squared test. The interview guide has a significantly higher sensitivity (0.76) than the self-reported questionnaire (0.70), even by comparing the self-reported questionnaires with the interviews of general practitioners and occupational physicians separately. However, both tools have a similar specificity (respectively, 0.60–0.67), except for the occupational physicians’ interviews, where the specificity (0.68) was significantly lower than the self-reported questionnaire (0.70). In conclusion, the early detection tool of burnout is more sensitive than the Oldenburg burnout inventory, but seems less specific. However, by crossing diagnoses reported by patients and by physicians, they both seem useful to support burnout diagnosis

The Association between Fatal Coronary Heart Disease and Ambient Particulate Air Pollution: Are Females at Greater Risk?

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of long-term ambient particulate matter (PM) on risk of fatal coronary heart disease (CHD). A cohort of 3,239 nonsmoking, non-Hispanic white adults was followed for 22 years. Monthly concentrations of ambient air pollutants were obtained from monitoring stations [PM < 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM(10)), ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide] or airport visibility data [PM < 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM(2.5))] and interpolated to ZIP code centroids of work and residence locations. All participants had completed a detailed lifestyle questionnaire at baseline (1976), and follow-up information on environmental tobacco smoke and other personal sources of air pollution were available from four subsequent questionnaires from 1977 through 2000. Persons with prevalent CHD, stroke, or diabetes at baseline (1976) were excluded, and analyses were controlled for a number of potential confounders, including lifestyle. In females, the relative risk (RR) for fatal CHD with each 10-μg/m(3) increase in PM(2.5) was 1.42 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06–1.90] in the single-pollutant model and 2.00 (95% CI, 1.51–2.64) in the two-pollutant model with O(3). Corresponding RRs for a 10-μg/m(3) increase in PM(10-2.5) and PM(10) were 1.62 and 1.45, respectively, in all females and 1.85 and 1.52 in postmenopausal females. No associations were found in males. A positive association with fatal CHD was found with all three PM fractions in females but not in males. The risk estimates were strengthened when adjusting for gaseous pollutants, especially O(3), and were highest for PM(2.5). These findings could have great implications for policy regulations

Case-Crossover Analysis of Air Pollution Health Effects: A Systematic Review of Methodology and Application

10 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables.-- PMID: 20356818 [PubMed].--PMCID: PMC2920078.-- Printed version published Aug 2010.BACKGROUND: Case-crossover is one of the most used designs for analyzing the health-related effects of air pollution. Nevertheless, no one has reviewed its application and methodology in this context.OBJECTIVE: We conducted a systematic review of case-crossover (CCO) designs used to study the relationship between air pollution and morbidity and mortality, from the standpoint of methodology and application.DATA SOURCES AND EXTRACTION: A search was made of the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases.Reports were classified as methodologic or applied. From the latter, the following information was extracted: author, study location, year, type of population (general or patients), dependent variable(s), independent variable(s), type of CCO design, and whether effect modification was analyzed for variables at the individual level.DATA SYNTHESIS: The review covered 105 reports that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these, 24 addressed methodological aspects, and the remainder involved the design's application. In the methodological reports, the designs that yielded the best results in simulation were symmetric bidirectional CCO and time-stratified CCO. Furthermore, we observed an increase across time in the use of certain CCO designs, mainly symmetric bidirectional and time-stratified CCO. The dependent variables most frequently analyzed were those relating to hospital morbidity; the pollutants most often studied were those linked to particulate matter. Among the CCO-application reports, 13.6% studied effect modification for variables at the individual level.CONCLUSIONS: The use of CCO designs has undergone considerable growth; the most widely used designs were those that yielded better results in simulation studies: symmetric bidirectional and time-stratified CCO. However, the advantages of CCO as a method of analysis of variables at the individual level are put to little use.This study was supported by grant CIBERESP-MET-007 from the Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health [CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP)], Spain. A.T. was funded by project PI080354 [Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS)] of the Subdirectorate-General for Research Evaluation and Development and by project 200930I008 [Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)].This study was supported by grant CIBERESP-MET-007 from the Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health [CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP)], Spain. A.T. was funded by project PI080354 [Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS)] of the Subdirectorate-General for Research Evaluation and Development and by project 200930I008 [Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)].Peer reviewe

Serological response to mRNA SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 vaccine in kidney transplant recipients depends on prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

peer reviewedGrupper et al. have reported on a positive humoral response post full vaccination with mRNA SARS-CoV2 BNT162b2 in only 51/136 (37.5%) kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) without prior exposure to the virus(1) . We have conducted an IRB-approved (B707201215598-2021/80) prospective small sample-size study comparing the humoral response to BNT162b2 in 40 consecutive individuals early exposed to the Belgian vaccination program, including 20 KTRs with (n=10, COVID-19(+)) versus without (n=10, COVID-19(-)) history of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and 20 controls including 10 COVID-19(+) versus 10 COVID-19(-)

HIV-1 Vpr-Induced Apoptosis Is Cell Cycle Dependent and Requires Bax but Not ANT

The HIV-1 accessory protein viral protein R (Vpr) causes G(2) arrest and apoptosis in infected cells. We previously identified the DNA damage–signaling protein ATR as the cellular factor that mediates Vpr-induced G(2) arrest and apoptosis. Here, we examine the mechanism of induction of apoptosis by Vpr and how it relates to induction of G(2) arrest. We find that entry into G(2) is a requirement for Vpr to induce apoptosis. We investigated the role of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore by knockdown of its essential component, the adenine nucleotide translocator. We found that Vpr-induced apoptosis was unaffected by knockdown of ANT. Instead, apoptosis is triggered through a different mitochondrial pore protein, Bax. In support of the idea that checkpoint activation and apoptosis induction are functionally linked, we show that Bax activation by Vpr was ablated when ATR or GADD45α was knocked down. Certain mutants of Vpr, such as R77Q and I74A, identified in long-term nonprogressors, have been proposed to inefficiently induce apoptosis while activating the G(2) checkpoint in a normal manner. We tested the in vitro phenotypes of these mutants and found that their abilities to induce apoptosis and G(2) arrest are indistinguishable from those of HIV-1(NL4–3) vpr, providing additional support to the idea that G(2) arrest and apoptosis induction are mechanistically linked

THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE GERM-CELL PROBLEM IN VERTEBRATES

(i) Morphological studies relating to the origin and differentiation of the definitive germ cells in vertebrates have, as indicated, resulted in conflicting views. In many instances two or more competent investigators who have studied the same form have reached different conclusions. (2) Some contend that the germ cells are set aside from the soma during the early stages of embryonic development, and that these alone serve as the progenitors of the functional sex cells. (3) Others recognize an early differentiation of sex cells but hold that these are supplemented by others produced from the somatic epithelium of the gonad in late embryonic or post-embryonic stages. (4) Another group recognizes the early differentiated cells as germ cells but contend that these all degenerate and that the definitive ones are formed from the germinal epithelium. These degenerating germ cells are believed by certain authors to be a phylogenetic recapitulation of the condition in lower forms. (5) Finally, yet another group contends that the so-called primordial germ cells are not germ cells at all but are enlarged cells in some stage of mitosis or in some specific metabolic phase. This group believes that all germ cells are derived from the somatic cells of the germinal epithelium. (6) Experimental work supports the view that the primordial germ cells, which are recognized early, are the progenitors of the definitive sex cells. When these primordial germ cells are prevented from reaching the site of the developing gonad the individual fails to develop sex cells, although a sterile gonad and its associated structures may develop. (7) I suggest that the observed proliferation of germ cells from the germinal epithelium, reported by numerous investigators, can be interpreted in another way by a thorough study of the enlarged germ cells in relation to the epithelium. It seems probable that the cells of the epithelium, which form functional sex elements, are not and never were a part of the mesothelial covering, but are cells which were segregated early, and are merely stored in the epithelium.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74677/1/j.1469-185X.1945.tb00313.x.pd