Clinical impact of real-time evaluation of the biological activity and degradation of hepatocyte growth factor

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is essential for injury repair. Despite high HGF levels in chronic ulcers, up-regulation of HGF receptor in ulcer tissue and decreased biological activity of HGF in ulcer secretions have been observed. With a surface plasmon resonance-based method, we assessed the binding of HGF to antibodies, receptors, and the basement membrane and identified binding interactions that are indispensable for the biological activity of HGF. Recombinant HGF (rHGF) lots were tested for activity, structural integrity, and degradation, and the results were verified in an in vitro model of cell injury. Biologically active rHGF, as well as plasma from healthy volunteers, bound to heparan sulphate proteoglycan (HSPG) and to anti-HGF antibodies. Decreased binding to HSPG was the first event in rHGF degradation. This study established the feasibility of identifying patients with chronic inflammation who need exogenous HGF and of using ligand-binding assessment to evaluate rHGF lots for biological activity

Nutritional care of elderly patients in acute care settings: A qualitative study

© 2016 Japan Geriatrics Society. Aim: Poor nutritional status is common in older adult patients. The present study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators to nutritional care of elderly patients in acute care settings. Methods: Data were collected through individual face-to-face interviews with 12 registered nurses, and analyzed using interpretive description methodology. Results: Two core themes emerged from the analysis of data: (i) neglected care, with three subthemes of "support but also independence," "unsupportive environment" and "responsibility of the family;" and (ii) a humanitarian ethic, with two subthemes of "respect and dignity" and "humanitarian care." Conclusions: As an integral part of holistic care, elderly patient nutrition should be emphasised in health professional education, and promoted through managerial support, multidisciplinary collaborations, and implementation of appropriate monitoring and evaluation systems

Observational Constraints on Theories with a Blue Spectrum of Tensor Modes

Motivated by the string gas cosmological model, which predicts a blue tilt of the primordial gravitational wave spectrum, we examine the constraints imposed by current and planned observations on a blue tilted tensor spectrum. Starting from an expression for the primordial gravitational wave spectrum normalized using cosmic microwave background observations, pulsar timing, direct detection and nucleosynthesis bounds are examined. If we assume a tensor to scalar ratio on scales of the CMB which equals the current observational upper bound, we obtain from these current observations constraints on the tensor spectral index of $n_{T} \lesssim 0.79$, $n_{T} \lesssim 0.53$, and $n_{T} \lesssim 0.15$ respectively.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, 2 references added, relationship of this work with Ref. 20 adde

Could Fermion Masses Play a Role in the Stabilization of the Dilaton in Cosmology?

We study the possibility that the Dilaton is stabilized by the contribution of fermion masses to its effective potential. We consider the Dilaton gravity action in four dimensions to which we add a mass term for a Dirac fermion. Such an action describes the interaction of the Dilaton with the fermions in the Yang-Mills sector of the coupled supergravity/super-Yang-Mills action which emerges as the low energy effective action of superstring theory after the extra spatial dimensions have been fixed. The Dilaton couples to the Fermion mass term via the usual exponential factor of this field which multiplies the non-kinetic terms of the matter Lagrangian, if we work in the Einstein frame. In the kinetic part of the Fermion action in the Einstein frame the Dilaton does not enter. Such masses can be generated in several ways: they can arise as a consequence of flux about internal spatial dimensions, they may arise as thermal fermion masses in a quasi-static phase in the early universe, and they will arise after the breaking of supersymmetry at late times. The vacuum contribution to the potential for the Dilaton is evaluated up to two loops. The result shows a minimum which could stabilize the Dilaton for reasonable ranges of parameter values.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure; shortened versio

Determining test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the persian version of personality inventory for diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders-5th edition (PID-5) among medical students and patients with psychiatric disorders

Background: Given the need for access to reliable diagnostic instruments of mental disorders in Persian language, the present study was designed to translate and determine the reliability and internal consistency of the Personality Inventory for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th Edition (PID-5) instrument. Methods: Research sample was selected based on non-random (convenience) method for medical students (healthy population) and patients with personality disorder. After translating PID-5 via forward and backward translation method, test-retest reliability (10-20 days period) and internal consistency of the instrument were determined. This study was conducted in Hazrat-Rasoul Hospital, Iran Psychiatry Hospital and Tehran Psychiatric Institute, Tehran, Iran, during the year 2015. Questionnaires were self-reported and interviews were done by well-trained psychiatry residents. Findings: Totally, 217 individuals were assessed (114 healthy volunteers and 103 patients with personality disorders). Of 25 surveyed facets, eccentricity had the highest Cronbach�s alpha coefficient. The lowest alpha was seen for suspiciousness. Overall, in 22 facets from all 25 facets, alpha coefficients were higher than 0.700. To assess test-retest reliability, 28 persons of the medical students group completed the questionnaire for the second time. The correlation coefficient between the two measures in three facets (irresponsibility, perceptual dysregulation and rigid perfectionism) was between 0.800 and 0.900. In other aspects, the correlation coefficient between the two measures was higher than 0.900. Conclusion: The Persian version of PID-5 instrument had good test-retest reliability (r = 0.829 to 0.944) in a short time (about two weeks) and its internal consistency was desirable (Cronbach�s alpha = 0.697 to 0.944). � 2016, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved

Hagedorn Strings and Correspondence Principle in AdS(3)

Motivated by the possibility of formulating a strings/black hole correspondence in AdS space, we extract the Hagedorn behavior of thermal AdS_3 bosonic string from 1-loop partition function of SL(2,R) WZW model. We find that the Hagedorn temperature is monotonically increasing as the AdS radius shrinks, reaches a maximum of order of string scale set by the unitarity bound of the CFT for internal space. The resulting density of states near the Hagedorn temperature resembles the form as for strings in flat space and is dominated by the space-like long string configurations. We then argue a conjectured strings/black hole correspondence in AdS space by applying the Hagedorn thermodynamics. We find the size of the corresponding black hole is a function of the AdS radius. For large AdS radius a black hole far bigger than the string scale will form. On the contrary, when the AdS and string scales are comparable a string size black hole will form. We also examine strings on BTZ background obtained through SL(2,Z) transformation. We find a tachyonic divergence for a BTZ black hole of string scale size.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures;v2 references added & appear on JHE

Cosmological Perturbations in Non-Commutative Inflation

We compute the spectrum of cosmological perturbations in a scenario in which inflation is driven by radiation in a non-commutative space-time. In this scenario, the non-commutativity of space and time leads to a modified dispersion relation for radiation with two branches, which allows for inflation. The initial conditions for the cosmological fluctuations are thermal. This is to be contrasted with the situation in models of inflation in which the accelerated expansion of space is driven by the potential energy of a scalar field, and in which the fluctuations are of quantum vacuum type. We find that, in the limit that the expansion of space is almost exponential, the spectrum of fluctuations is scale-invariant with a slight red tilt. The magnitude of the tilt is different from what is obtained in a usual inflationary model with the same expansion rate during the period of inflation. The amplitude also differs, and can easily be adjusted to agree with observations.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Near Scale Invariance with Modified Dispersion Relations

We describe a novel mechanism to seed a nearly scale invariant spectrum of adiabatic perturbations during a non-inflationary stage. It relies on a modified dispersion relation that contains higher powers of the spatial momentum of matter perturbations. We implement this idea in the context of a massless scalar field in an otherwise perfectly homogeneous universe. The couplings of the field to background scalars and tensors give rise to the required modification of its dispersion relation, and the couplings of the scalar to matter result in an adiabatic primordial spectrum. This work is meant to explicitly illustrate that it is possible to seed nearly scale invariant primordial spectra without inflation, within a conventional expansion history.Comment: 7 pages and no figures. Uses RevTeX