175 research outputs found
Characterization of Escherichia coli K12 mutants that can use glycine as sole source of carbon and energy
Circulation symbolique des désordres fonctionnels gastro-intestinaux : étude réalisée dans les familles québécoises francophones
La prĂ©sente Ă©tude en anthropologie mĂ©dicale propose dâexaminer la dimension
socioculturelle des désordres fonctionnels gastro-intestinaux (DFGI) en considérant
lâexpĂ©rience de six familles quĂ©bĂ©coises francophones oĂč un prĂ©-adolescent souffre de
symptÎmes associés à un DFGI. Le regard anthropologique qui nous a permis
dâapprĂ©hender ces expĂ©riences de douleur sâappuie principalement sur les travaux issus de
la psychiatrie transculturelle, de mĂȘme que sur les influences de lâanthropologie du corps et
de la phénoménologie. à travers ce regard, la somatisation est considérée comme une
forme de communication de la douleur, modulée de maniÚre importante par le contexte
socioculturel et reprĂ©sentative dâune certaine souffrance sociale. Ce langage ponctuĂ©
dâidiomes de dĂ©tresse et de mĂ©taphores permet aux individus dâexprimer leur souffrance et
de mobiliser un soutien social efficace pour la prendre en charge. DĂšs lors, le corps doit
ĂȘtre perçu comme un corps vĂ©cu; comme un lieu de marquage du social, mais Ă©galement
comme un instrument de positionnement social et une frontiĂšre oĂč des mouvements
dâappartenance et de divergence sont exprimĂ©s.
Par lâexploration, dans chacune de ces familles, des diffĂ©rentes maniĂšres de dĂ©crire
les symptĂŽmes, de les interprĂ©ter et dây rĂ©agir, nous avons procĂ©dĂ© Ă la reconstruction
dâhistoires particuliĂšres pour voir comment ces symptĂŽmes venaient sâinscrire dans la
biographie individuelle et familiale. Ă travers lâanalyse de la construction du sens de la
douleur et des pratiques adoptées pour la contrÎler, la douleur abdominale nous est apparue
comme intimement liĂ©e Ă lâexpĂ©rience sociale et la mĂ©dicalisation comme une base pour
une meilleure apprĂ©hension de cette douleur. Par ses maux de ventre, lâenfant exprime ses
limites corporelles et sociales. Ă lâintĂ©rieur de la famille, lâexpression de cette limite peut
ĂȘtre parfois dĂ©rangeante, confrontante, et mĂȘme entraĂźner des rapports conflictuels. Câest
ainsi quâest « nĂ©gociĂ©e » une approche appropriĂ©e Ă la douleur qui redĂ©finit les rĂŽles de
chacun par rapport à cette derniÚre. Le ventre devient le médiateur qui permet le
compromis nĂ©cessaire au « vivre ensemble » ou au « vivre dans le monde ». Ă lâissue de
ii
cette négociation qui implique la participation du médecin traitant, les rapports sont parfois
reconstruits et la relation au monde et aux autres peut devenir différente.This study in medical anthropology is an exploration of the sociocultural dimension
of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID) considering the experience of six frenchspeaking
families of Québec where a pre-teenager suffers from symptoms associated with
FGID. The anthropological perspective that allowed us to approach these experiences of
pain is based mainly on work from tanscultural psychiatry, as well as on the influences of
the anthropology of the body and phenomenology. Through this view, somatization is
considered to be a form of communication of distress, modulated in an important way by
sociocultural context and reflecting social suffering. This language punctuated with idioms
of distress and metaphors allows individuals to express their suffering and to mobilize an
efficient social support. From then on, the body must be seen as a lived body; as a place of
social marking, but also as an instrument of social positioning and a border where
movements of belonging and divergence are expressed.
By exploring, in each of these families, different ways of describing the symptoms,
interpret them and respond to them, we proceeded to the reconstruction of particular stories
to find how these symptoms were part of the individualâs and familyâs biography. Through
the analysis of how those families make sense of the pain and adopte practices to control it,
abdominal pain appeared to us as intimately linked to social experience and the
medicalization as a basis for a better apprehension of this suffering. While telling his or her
pain, the child is also expressing his or her bodily and social boundaries. Within the family,
the expression of this limit can sometimes be disturbing, confrontational, even lead to
conflict. Thus was ânegociatedâ an appropriate approach to pain that redefines the roles of
each in relation to it. The abdomen becomes the mediator who allows the compromises
needed to âlive togetherâ or to âlive in the worldâ. Following this ânegociationâ that
involves the participation of the attending physician, bonding within the family is
sometimes positively transformed and the relation to the world and to the others can
become different
Innervation of flexor hallucis longus muscle: an anatomical study for selective neurotomy
Background: The aim of the study was to describe the innervation of flexor hallucis longus (FHL) and obtain its surgical coordinates to facilitate selective neurotomy.
Materials and methods: Fifteen embalmed lower limbs of adults were studied. Anatomical dissections to isolate the innervating branches of FHL were performed. Distance between the supplying nerve of FHL, including both its origin
and termination, and the medial malleolus were obtained, providing anatomical coordinates beneficial for surgery.
Results: In all cases, FHL was innervated by only one branch, which originated from the tibial nerve. Mean distance between the medial malleolus and the nervous branch origin was 21.39 ± 3.05 cm. Mean distance between the medial malleolus and the nervous branch termination was 12.7 ± 1.59 cm. Length of the nervous branch innervating FHL was proportional to the length of the leg, measuring 8.69 ± 2.45 cm. All nerves were located 15â17.4 cm above the medial malleolus.
Conclusions: This anatomical study traced valuable surgical coordinates useful for performing selective peripheral neurotomy on the nerve branch innervating the FHL
Pullout characteristics of percutaneous pedicle screws with different cement augmentation methods in elderly spines: An in vitro biomechanical study
AbstractBackgroundVertebroplasty prefilling or fenestrated pedicle screw augmentation can be used to enhance pullout resistance in elderly patients. It is not clear which method offers the most reliable fixation strength if axial pullout and a bending moment is applied. The purpose of this study is to validate a new in vitro model aimed to reproduce a cut out mechanism of lumbar pedicle screws, to compare fixation strength in elderly spines with different cement augmentation techniques and to analyze factors that might influence the failure pattern.Materials and methodsSix human specimens (82â100 years) were instrumented percutaneously at L2, L3 and L4 by non-augmented screws, vertebroplasty augmentation and fenestrated screws. Cement distribution (2ml PMMA) was analyzed on CT. Vertebral endplates and the rod were oriented at 45° to the horizontal plane. The vertebral body was held by resin in a cylinder, linked to an unconstrained pivot, on which traction (10N/s) was applied until rupture. Load-displacement curves were compared to simultaneous video recordings.ResultsMedian pullout forces were 488.5N (195â500) for non-augmented screws, 643.5N (270â1050) for vertebroplasty augmentation and 943.5N (750â1084) for fenestrated screws. Cement augmentation through fenestrated screws led to significantly higher rupture forces compared to non-augmented screws (P=0.0039). The pullout force after vertebroplasty was variable and linked to cement distribution. A cement bolus around the distal screw tip led to pullout forces similar to non-augmented screws. A proximal cement bolus, as it was observed in fenestrated screws, led to higher pullout resistance. This cement distribution led to vertebral body fractures prior to screw pullout.ConclusionThe experimental setup tended to reproduce a pullout mechanism observed on radiographs, combining axial pullout and a bending moment. Cement augmentation with fenestrated screws increased pullout resistance significantly, whereas the fixation strength with the vertebroplasty prefilling method was linked to the cement distribution
Laparoscopic versus percutaneous cryotherapy for renal tumours: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: Cryoablation has emerged as an alternative to the more invasive partial nephrectomy for small renal masses. The approach can be carried out by two techniques, either laparoscopic cryoablation (LCA) or percutaneous cryoablation, (PCA) with CT guidance. We aimed to compare between the two procedures.
Materials and Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted, including studies comparing the two techniques. Outcomes included incomplete ablation, late local recurrence, cancer-specific survival, procedure time, transfusion rates, hospital stay, and complications.
Results: A total of 1475 patients were included, 788 patients in the laparoscopic group and 687 patients in the percutaneous group. There was statistical difference favoring the laparoscopic group with regard to having less incomplete ablation (pâ=â0.0008) and higher cancer-specific survival patients (pâ=â0.04). However, there was longer hospital stays in the LCA group (pâ<â0.00001) and was found to be more costly than the PCA group. There was significantly more Clavien-I complications in the PCA group (pâ=â0.001) and more Clavien-III complications in the LCA group (pâ=â0.001). Otherwise, there were no differences in any other outcome parameter.
Conclusion: LCA was found to have less incomplete tumor ablation rates and higher cancer-specific survival rates, however, higher hospitalization time, more major complications (Clavien III), and was costlier compared with PCA
International changes in end-of-life practices over time: a systematic review.
BACKGROUND: End-of-life policies are hotly debated in many countries, with international evidence frequently used to support or oppose legal reforms. Existing reviews are limited by their focus on specific practices or selected jurisdictions. The objective is to review international time trends in end-of-life practices. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of empirical studies on medical end-of-life practices, including treatment withdrawal, the use of drugs for symptom management, and the intentional use of lethal drugs. A search strategy was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, PAIS International, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences and CINAHL. We included studies that described physicians' actual practices and estimated annual frequency at the jurisdictional level. End-of-life practice frequencies were analyzed for variations over time, using logit regression. RESULTS: Among 8183 references, 39 jurisdiction-wide surveys conducted between 1990 and 2010 were identified. Of those, 22 surveys used sufficiently similar research methods to allow further statistical analysis. Significant differences were found across surveys in the frequency of treatment withdrawal, use of opiates or sedatives and the intentional use of lethal drugs (X 2 â>â1000, pâ<â0.001 for all). Regression analyses showed increased use of opiates and sedatives over time (pâ<â0.001), which could reflect more intense symptom management at the end of life, or increase in these drugs to intentionally cause patients' death. CONCLUSION: The use of opiates and sedatives appears to have significantly increased over time between 1990 and 2010. Better distinction between practices with different legal status is required to properly interpret the policy significance of these changes. Research on the effects of public policies should take a comprehensive look at trends in end-of-life practice patterns and their associations with policy changes
Photodegradation of Phenol over a Hybrid Organo-Inorganic Material: Iron(II) Hydroxyphosphonoacetate
Water treatment is a hot topic, and it will become much more important in the decades ahead. Advanced oxidation processes are being increasingly used for organic contaminant removal, for example using photo-Fenton reactions. Here we report the use of an organo-inorganic hybrid, Fe[HO3PCH(OH)COO]·2H2O, as Fenton photocatalyst for phenol oxidation with H2O2 under UVA radiation. Preactivation, catalyst content, and particle size parameters have been studied/optimized for increasing phenol mineralization. Upon reaction, iron species are leached from the catalyst making a homogeneous catalysis contribution to the overall phenol photo-oxidation. Under optimized conditions, the mineralization degree was slightly larger than 90% after 80 min of irradiation. Analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed important chemical modifications occurring on the surface of the catalyst after activation and phenol photodegradation. The sustained slow delivery of iron species upon phenol photoreaction is advantageous as the mixed heterogeneousâhomogeneous catalytic processes result in very high phenol mineralization.Proyecto nacional MAT2010-1517
Fragile X Related Protein 1 Clusters with Ribosomes and Messenger RNAs at a Subset of Dendritic Spines in the Mouse Hippocampus
The formation and storage of memories in neuronal networks relies on new protein synthesis, which can occur locally at synapses using translational machinery present in dendrites and at spines. These new proteins support long-lasting changes in synapse strength and size in response to high levels of synaptic activity. To ensure that proteins are made at the appropriate time and location to enable these synaptic changes, messenger RNA (mRNA) translation is tightly controlled by dendritic RNA-binding proteins. Fragile X Related Protein 1 (FXR1P) is an RNA-binding protein with high homology to Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP) and is known to repress and activate mRNA translation in non-neuronal cells. However, unlike FMRP, very little is known about the role of FXR1P in the central nervous system. To understand if FXR1P is positioned to regulate local mRNA translation in dendrites and at synapses, we investigated the expression and targeting of FXR1P in developing hippocampal neurons in vivo and in vitro. We found that FXR1P was highly expressed during hippocampal development and co-localized with ribosomes and mRNAs in the dendrite and at a subset of spines in mouse hippocampal neurons. Our data indicate that FXR1P is properly positioned to control local protein synthesis in the dendrite and at synapses in the central nervous system
Cytochrome P-450-dependent catabolism of triethanolamine in Rhodotorula mucilaginosa
The yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa was able to grow in media containing triethanolamine or diethanolamine as the sole nitrogen source. During growth in the presence of triethanolamine, extracts of yeast cells contained increased levels of cytochrome P-450 dependent monooxygenase which catalyzed the oxidative N-dealkylation of aminoalcohols. Formation of diethanolamine, ethanolamine and glyoxylate from triethanolamine was demonstrated, and the identity of the products was verified by thin layer chromatography. These observations suggested the following scheme of triethanolamine catabolism: triethanolamine â diethanolamine + glycolaldehyde, diethanolamine â ethanolamine + glycolaldehyde, ethanolamine â NH3 + glycolaldehyde â glycolate â glyoxylate â glycerate pathway. © 1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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