Spontaneous externalization of peritoneal catheter through the abdominal wall in a patient with hydrocephalus: a case report

Since 1905, the abdominal cavity has been used for absorption of cerebrospinal fluid in patients with hydrocephalus. We report a case of a 33-year-old female, in which a spontaneous extrusion of the peritoneal catheter of a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt through the intact abdominal wall occurred. We suggest that the rather hard peritoneal catheter eroded the abdominal wall, caused local inflammation, and then extruded through the skin. Additionally, the intestinal peristaltic movements, the omental activity and the intraabdominal pressure could play an adjuvant part, pressing direct the foreign body from the peritoneal cavity toward the skin

Silicone models as basic training and research aid in endovascular neurointervention—a single-center experience and review of the literature

The rapid development and wider use of neurointerventional procedures have increased the demand for a comprehensive training program for the trainees, in order to safely and efficiently perform these procedures. Artificial vascular models are one of the dynamic ways to train the new generation of neurointerventionists to acquire the basic skills of material handling, tool manipulation through the vasculature, and development of hand-eye coordination. Herein, the authors present their experience regarding a long-established training program and review the available literature on the advantages and disadvantages of vascular silicone model training. Additionally, they present the current research applications of silicone replicas in the neurointerventional arena

Risk factors of intimate partner violence in women attending a community-based sexual health center: Perceived discrimination as a key factor

Η έμφυλη βία (Gender based violence [GBV]), και πιο συγκεκριμένα η βία από σύντροφο (Intimate partner violence [IPV]), είναι ένα παγκόσμιο πρόβλημα που επηρεάζει κατά κύριο λόγο τις γυναίκες. Η παρούσα μελέτη στόχευε στη διερεύνηση του IPV μεταξύ των γυναικών που επισκέπτονται τα κοινοτικά κέντρα πρόληψης και εξέτασης σεξουαλικώς μεταδιδόμενων λοιμώξεων (ΣΜΝ) στην Ελλάδα, και πιο συγκεκριμένα στην Αθήνα και τη Θεσσαλονίκη. Το δείγμα αποτέλεσαν 187 cis και trans γυναίκες που συμπλήρωσαν ερωτηματολόγια για τις  αντιλαμβανόμενες διακρίσεις, το IPV και τη συμμετοχή σε σεξουαλικοποιημένη χρήση ναρκωτικών και αλκοόλ (SDU και SAU). Από τα αποτελέσματα διαφάνηκε ότι το 39,8% των γυναικών ανέφεραν εμπειρίες IPV και όσες βίωσαν IPV ανέφεραν υψηλότερα επίπεδα αντιλαμβανόμενων διακρίσεων με βάση το φύλο. Επιπλέον, οι γυναίκες που ανέφεραν εμπειρίες IPV ήταν πιο πιθανό να συμμετέχουν σε SDU και SAU. Η μελέτη υπογραμμίζει τη σημασία της αντιμετώπισης της ανισότητας των φύλων, των διακρίσεων και της χρήσης ουσιών κατά τον σχεδιασμό παρεμβάσεων και υπηρεσιών υποστήριξης για επιζώσες IPV. Η εφαρμογή υπηρεσιών προσυμπτωματικού ελέγχου και υποστήριξης IPV σε χώρους υγειονομικής περίθαλψης, ειδικά σε συμπεριληπτικά κοινοτικά κέντρα, θα μπορούσε να συμβάλει στην έγκαιρη ανίχνευση και τις προσπάθειες πρόληψης του φαινομένου.Gender-based violence (GBV), specifically intimate partner violence (IPV), is a global problem that predominantly impacts women. This study aimed to investigate IPV among women visiting community sexually transmitted infections’ prevention and testing centers in Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece. A sample of 187 cis and trans women filled out a questionnaire on perceived discrimination, IPV, and involvement in sexualized drug and alcohol use (SDU and SAU). Results revealed that 39.8% of women reported IPV experiences, and those who experienced IPV reported higher levels of perceived discrimination based on gender. Additionally, women reporting IPV experiences were more likely to engage in SDU and SAU. The study highlights the importance of addressing gender inequality, discrimination, and substance use when designing interventions and support services for IPV survivors. Implementing IPV screening and support services in healthcare settings, especially in inclusive community-based centers, could contribute to early detection and prevention efforts

Bacterial production and direct functional screening of expanded molecular libraries for discovering inhibitors of protein aggregation.

Protein misfolding and aggregation are associated with a many human disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Toward increasing the effectiveness of early-stage drug discovery for these conditions, we report a bacterial platform that enables the biosynthesis of molecular libraries with expanded diversities and their direct functional screening for discovering protein aggregation inhibitors. We illustrate this approach by performing, what is to our knowledge, the largest functional screen of small-size molecular entities described to date. We generated a combinatorial library of ~200 million drug-like, cyclic peptides and rapidly screened it for aggregation inhibitors against the amyloid-β peptide (Aβ42), linked to Alzheimer's disease. Through this procedure, we identified more than 400 macrocyclic compounds that efficiently reduce Aβ42 aggregation and toxicity in vitro and in vivo. Finally, we applied a combination of deep sequencing and mutagenesis analyses to demonstrate how this system can rapidly determine structure-activity relationships and define consensus motifs required for bioactivity

Overview of the interactive task in BioCreative V

Fully automated text mining (TM) systems promote efficient literature searching, retrieval, and review but are not sufficient to produce ready-to-consume curated documents. These systems are not meant to replace biocurators, but instead to assist them in one or more literature curation steps. To do so, the user interface is an important aspect that needs to be considered for tool adoption. The BioCreative Interactive task (IAT) is a track designed for exploring user-system interactions, promoting development of useful TM tools, and providing a communication channel between the biocuration and the TM communities. In BioCreative V, the IAT track followed a format similar to previous interactive tracks, where the utility and usability of TM tools, as well as the generation of use cases, have been the focal points. The proposed curation tasks are user-centric and formally evaluated by biocurators. In BioCreative V IAT, seven TM systems and 43 biocurators participated. Two levels of user participation were offered to broaden curator involvement and obtain more feedback on usability aspects. The full level participation involved training on the system, curation of a set of documents with and without TM assistance, tracking of time-on-task, and completion of a user survey. The partial level participation was designed to focus on usability aspects of the interface and not the performance per se. In this case, biocurators navigated the system by performing pre-designed tasks and then were asked whether they were able to achieve the task and the level of difficulty in completing the task. In this manuscript, we describe the development of the interactive task, from planning to execution and discuss major findings for the systems tested

Silicone models as basic training and research aid in endovascular neurointervention-a single-center experience and review of the literature

The rapid development and wider use of neurointerventional procedures have increased the demand for a comprehensive training program for the trainees, in order to safely and efficiently perform these procedures. Artificial vascular models are one of the dynamic ways to train the new generation of neurointerventionists to acquire the basic skills of material handling, tool manipulation through the vasculature, and development of hand-eye coordination. Herein, the authors present their experience regarding a long-established training program and review the available literature on the advantages and disadvantages of vascular silicone model training. Additionally, they present the current research applications of silicone replicas in the neurointerventional arena