Calculation of the conduction velocity of short nerve fibres

The conduction velocity v of a nerve fibre is calculated from the time delay Δ of a propagating action potential between two recording sites along the fibre. However, the conventional method of determining Δ cannot be applied to short nerve fibres. Therefore several linear signal analysis methods for the estimation of Δ have been compared with regard to the reproducibility of their results obtained from pairs of simultaneously recorded action potentials at several small inter-electrode distances. It was found that, estimating Δ from the cross-correlogram and as a second one a variant of this method (maximum likelihood time delay estimation) give the most reliable values of v in short nerve fibres

IPEX as a Result of Mutations in FOXP3

Immunodysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked (IPEX) syndrome is a rare disorder caused by mutations in the FOXP3 gene that result in the defective development of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells which constitute an important T cell subset involved in immune homeostasis and protection against autoimmunity. Their deficiency is the hallmark of IPEX and leads to severe autoimmune phenomena including autoimmune enteropathy, dermatitis, thyroiditis, and type 1 diabetes, frequently resulting in death within the first 2 years of life. Apart from its clinical implications, IPEX illustrates the importance of immunoregulatory cells such as CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells

Christian epitaphs from Egypt and Nubia at the Museo Egizio, Turin: A Dossier

Middle Eastern Studie

Polyphony in Architecture

Based on interviews with a number of architects and managers from a wide range of organizations, we characterize how architecture is perceived in practice. We identify three groups of organizations that differ with respect to their level of architectural thinking and the alignment of business and IT on architectural issues. Analysis of the interviews further indicates that these three groups differ in the architecture aspects and critical success factors they emphasize. Our results provide a starting point for assessing architecture maturity and alignment within organizations, and can be used to help harmonize different architectural tunes played within organizations

Malavika-Manjulika

n/

Irinotecan-Induced Dysarthria

Colorectal carcinomas are among the most common tumor types and are generally treated with palliative chemotherapy in case of metastatic disease. Here, we describe the case of a 46-year-old patient with metastatic rectal carcinoma who received second-line therapy with irinotecan and developed isolated transient dysarthria (with normal MR imaging of the brain) following each administration of irinotecan. Neurological and logopedical evaluation revealed that the dysarthria predominantly resulted from a reduced capacity in fine-tuning of motor functions of the tip of the tongue and a minimal reduction in the power of speech at labiodental contact. As hypoglossal nerve activity has been reported to be especially susceptible to cholinergic stimulation and irinotecan can cause cholinergic side effects by binding to and inactivating acetylcholinesterase, we suspect this mechanism to be responsible for irinotecan-induced dysarthria

Harmful communication behaviors in cancer care:A systematic review of patients and family caregivers perspectives

ObjectiveIssues regarding clinician communication remain an important source of complaints within healthcare. This systematic review aims to determine cancer patients' and their family caregivers' views on which clinicians' communication behaviors can harm (i.e. eliciting negative feelings/consequences for patients/family caregivers).MethodsWe searched for all types of peer-reviewed studies that determined adult (≥18 years) cancer patients' and/or family caregivers' perspectives on which clinicians' communication behaviors can harm in several databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Emcare, PsycINFO and Academic Search Premier), supplemented by expert-consultation. Studies were screened using the Artificial intelligence screening tool of ASReview and data was analyzed using Thematic Analysis. To assess the quality of the studies the Qualsyst critical appraisal tool was used.ResultsA total of 47 studies were included. Four main themes of harmful communication behaviors were identified: (1) Lack of tailored information provision (e.g. giving too little or too much/specific information) (2) Lack of tailored decision making (ranging from; patient exclusion, to the patients' responsibility, and/or haste) (3) Lack of feeling seen and heard (seen as a disease, not as a human being; not listened to concerns and emotions) (4) Lack of feeling held and remembered (forgotten agreements; lack of care continuity).ConclusionsOur results reveal an overview of patients' and family caregivers' perspectives on which clinicians' communication behaviors can harm. Harm could be prevented when information and decision involvement are tailored and patients' and family caregivers' needs to feel seen, heard, held and remembered are met

Oxidative stress and antioxidants at biosurfaces: plants, skin, and respiratory tract surfaces.

Atmospheric pollutants represent an important source of oxidative and nitrosative stress to both terrestrial plants and to animals. The exposed biosurfaces of plants and animals are directly exposed to these pollutant stresses. Not surprisingly, living organisms have developed complex integrated extracellular and intracellular defense systems against stresses related to reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS, RNS), including O3 and NO2. Plant and animal epithelial surfaces and respiratory tract surfaces contain antioxidants that would be expected to provide defense against environmental stress caused by ambient ROS and RNS, thus ameliorating their injurious effects on more delicate underlying cellular constituents. Parallelisms among these surfaces with regard to their antioxidant constituents and environmental oxidants are presented. The reactive substances at these biosurfaces not only represent an important protective system against oxidizing environments, but products of their reactions with ROS/RNS may also serve as biomarkers of environmental oxidative stress. Moreover, the reaction products may also induce injury to underlying cells or cause cell activation, resulting in production of proinflammatory substances including cytokines. In this review we discuss antioxidant defense systems against environmental toxins in plant cell wall/apoplastic fluids, dead keratinized cells/interstitial fluids of stratum corneum (the outermost skin layer), and mucus/respiratory tract lining fluids