Large aortic aneurysm mimicking a cardiac tumor

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Extrinsic left atrial compression caused by a displaced, crooked descending thoracic aorta is rare. This anomaly may mimic primary cardiac tumors or metastatic neoplasms from the first look.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We reported a 78-year-old woman presented to our emergency room with back pain, increased exercise intolerance and intermittent angina. She also had one syncopal event 1 month ago and gastric cancer post gastrectomy history. Subsequent chest plain film showed no mediastinum widening.</p> <p>Two-dimensional echocardiography was performed and revealed a heterogeneous mass as large as 2.3 × 2.4 cm occupying the left atrium (LA). Three-dimensional echocardiography vividly demonstrated that LA was constrained between the aortic valve (AV) and a luminal structure with pulsatile character suggestive of the aorta.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We successfully demonstrated the detailed structure and location of an anomalous descending aorta on the oblique imaging plane of RT-3DE, which may not be readily available by traditional 2D method.</p

Radiative Transfer for Exoplanet Atmospheres

Remote sensing of the atmospheres of distant worlds motivates a firm understanding of radiative transfer. In this review, we provide a pedagogical cookbook that describes the principal ingredients needed to perform a radiative transfer calculation and predict the spectrum of an exoplanet atmosphere, including solving the radiative transfer equation, calculating opacities (and chemistry), iterating for radiative equilibrium (or not), and adapting the output of the calculations to the astronomical observations. A review of the state of the art is performed, focusing on selected milestone papers. Outstanding issues, including the need to understand aerosols or clouds and elucidating the assumptions and caveats behind inversion methods, are discussed. A checklist is provided to assist referees/reviewers in their scrutiny of works involving radiative transfer. A table summarizing the methodology employed by past studies is provided.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, 1 table. Filled in missing information in references, main text unchange

A canine BCAN microdeletion associated with episodic falling syndrome

Episodic falling syndrome (EFS) is a canine paroxysmal hypertonicity disorder found in Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Episodes are triggered by exercise, stress or excitement and characterized by progressive hypertonicity throughout the thoracic and pelvic limbs, resulting in a characteristic 'deer-stalking' position and/or collapse. We used a genome-wide association strategy to map the EFS locus to a 3.48 Mb critical interval on canine chromosome 7. By prioritizing candidate genes on the basis of biological plausibility, we found that a 15.7 kb deletion in BCAN, encoding the brain-specific extracellular matrix proteoglycan brevican, is associated with EFS. This represents a compelling causal mutation for EFS, since brevican has an essential role in the formation of perineuronal nets governing synapse stability and nerve conduction velocity. Mapping of the deletion breakpoint enabled the development of Multiplex PCR and Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) genotyping tests that can accurately distinguish normal, carrier and affected animals. Wider testing of a larger population of CKCS dogs without a history of EFS from the USA revealed that carriers are extremely common (12.9%). The development of molecular genetic tests for the EFS microdeletion will allow the implementation of directed breeding programs aimed at minimizing the number of animals with EFS and enable confirmatory diagnosis and pharmacotherapy of affected dogs

Validated spectrophotometric methods for determination of Alendronate sodium in tablets through nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Alendronate (ALD) is a member of the bisphosphonate family which is used for the treatment of osteoporosis, bone metastasis, Paget's disease, hypocalcaemia associated with malignancy and other conditions that feature bone fragility. ALD is a non-chromophoric compound so its determination by conventional spectrophotometric methods is not possible. So two derivatization reactions were proposed for determination of ALD through the reaction with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl) and 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) as chromogenic derivatizing reagents.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three simple and sensitive spectrophotometric methods are described for the determination of ALD. Method I is based on the reaction of ALD with NBD-Cl. Method II involved heat-catalyzed derivatization of ALD with DNFB, while, Method III is based on micellar-catalyzed reaction of the studied drug with DNFB at room temperature. The reactions products were measured at 472, 378 and 374 nm, for methods I, II and III, respectively. Beer's law was obeyed over the concentration ranges of 1.0-20.0, 4.0-40.0 and 1.5-30.0 μg/mL with lower limits of detection of 0.09, 1.06 and 0.06 μg/mL for Methods I, II and III, respectively. The proposed methods were applied for quantitation of the studied drug in its pure form with mean percentage recoveries of 100.47 ± 1.12, 100.17 ± 1.21 and 99.23 ± 1.26 for Methods I, II and III, respectively. Moreover the proposed methods were successfully applied for determination of ALD in different tablets. Proposals of the reactions pathways have been postulated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The proposed spectrophotometric methods provided sensitive, specific and inexpensive analytical procedures for determination of the non-chromophoric drug alendronate either per se or in its tablet dosage forms without interference from common excipients.</p> <p>Graphical abstract</p> <p><display-formula><graphic file="1752-153X-6-25-i3.gif"/></display-formula></p

A polymorphism at codon 31 of gene p21 is not associated with primary open angle glaucoma in Caucasians

BACKGROUND: Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is considered to be a neurodegenerative optic neuropathy, in which cell death occurs by apoptosis. p21, is an important protective component of the apoptotic pathway, regulating cellular arrest in the presence of DNA damage. An unstable or altered p21 protein could modify the cellular response to genomic injury and abolish the effect of p21. A previous study on a Chinese cohort suggested that the p21 codon 31 polymorphism may alter the state of apoptosis in glaucomatous optic neuropathy, failing to protect the ganglion cells. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that a p21 codon 31 polymorphism is associated with POAG on a Caucasian cohort. METHODS: 140 POAG patients and a control group of 73 healthy individuals were included in the study. All the subjects were of Caucasian origin. Genomic DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction, followed by enzymatic restriction fragment length polymorphism technique (PCR-RFLP). Patients and controls were genotyped for a single nucleotide polymorphism (C/A transversion) in the third base of codon 31 of p21, which leads to a serine (Ser)/arginine (Arg) substitution. RESULTS: The distribution of the genotypes in the POAG patients showed 128 (91.4%) Ser homozygotes, 10 (7.1%) Ser/Arg heterozygotes and 2 (1.5%) Arg homozygotes. In the control cohort, there were 61 (83.6%) Ser homozygotes and 12 (16.4%) Ser/Arg heterozygotes. No Arg homozygotes were present amongst the control group. Both the allelic and genotypic frequencies of the Ser or Arg residues at codon 31 were not significantly different between POAG patients and controls (Fisher's exact test, P = 0.20 for alleles and P = 0.0561 for genotypes). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the p21 codon 31 polymorphism does not contribute to the risk of POAG in the Caucasian population

Land Use Regression Models for Ultrafine Particles in Six European Areas

Long-term ultrafine particle (UFP) exposure estimates at a fine spatial scale are needed for epidemiological studies. Land use regression (LUR) models were developed and evaluated for six European areas based on repeated 30 min monitoring following standardized protocols. In each area; Basel (Switzerland), Heraklion (Greece), Amsterdam, Maastricht, and Utrecht ("The Netherlands"), Norwich (United Kingdom), Sabadell (Spain), and Turin (Italy), 160-240 sites were monitored to develop LUR models by supervised stepwise selection of GIS predictors. For each area and all areas combined, 10 models were developed in stratified random selections of 90% of sites. UFP prediction robustness was evaluated with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) at 31-50 external sites per area. Models from Basel and The Netherlands were validated against repeated 24 h outdoor measurements. Structure and model R2 of local models were similar within, but varied between areas (e.g., 38-43% Turin; 25-31% Sabadell). Robustness of predictions within areas was high (ICC 0.73-0.98). External validation R2 was 53% in Basel and 50% in The Netherlands. Combined area models were robust (ICC 0.93-1.00) and explained UFP variation almost equally well as local models. In conclusion, robust UFP LUR models could be developed on short-term monitoring, explaining around 50% of spatial variance in longer-term measurements

Models in the delivery of depression care: A systematic review of randomised and controlled intervention trials

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is still debate as to which features, types or components of primary care interventions are associated with improved depression outcomes. Previous reviews have focused on components of collaborative care models in general practice settings. This paper aims to determine the effective components of depression care in primary care through a systematic examination of both general practice and community based intervention trials.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty five randomised and controlled research trials which focused on adults and contained depression outcome measures were identified through PubMed, PsycInfo and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases. Trials were classified according to the components involved in the delivery of treatment, the type of treatment, the primary focus or setting of the study, detailed features of delivery, and the discipline of the professional providing the treatment. The primary outcome measure was significant improvement on the key depression measure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Components which were found to significantly predict improvement were the revision of professional roles, the provision of a case manager who provided direct feedback and delivered a psychological therapy, and an intervention that incorporated patient preferences into care. Nurse, psychologist and psychiatrist delivered care were effective, but pharmacist delivery was not. Training directed to general practitioners was significantly less successful than interventions that did not have training as the most important intervention. Community interventions were effective.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Case management is important in the provision of care in general practice. Certain community models of care (education programs) have potential while others are not successful in their current form (pharmacist monitoring).</p

Evaluation of multi-exponential curve fitting analysis of oxygen-quenched phosphorescence decay traces for recovering microvascular oxygen tension histograms

Although it is generally accepted that oxygen-quenched phosphorescence decay traces can be analyzed using the exponential series method (ESM), its application until now has been limited to a few (patho)physiological studies, probably because the reliability of the recovered oxygen tension (pO2) histograms has never been extensively evaluated and lacks documentation. The aim of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the use of the ESM to adequately determine pO2 histograms from phosphorescence decay traces. For this purpose we simulated decay traces corresponding to uni- and bimodal pO2 distributions and recovered the pO2 histograms at different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Ultimately, we recovered microvascular pO2 histograms measured in the rat kidney in a model of endotoxemic shock and fluid resuscitation and showed that the mean microvascular oxygen tension, 〈pO2〉, decreased after induction of endotoxemia and that after 2 h of fluid resuscitation, 〈pO2〉 remained low, but the hypoxic peak that had arisen during endotoxemia was reduced. This finding illustrates the importance of recovering pO2 histograms under (patho)physiological conditions. In conclusion, this study has characterized how noise affects the recovery of pO2 histograms using the ESM and documented the reliability of the ESM for recovering both low- and high-pO2 distributions for SNRs typically found in experiments. This study might therefore serve as a frame of reference for investigations focused on oxygen (re)distribution during health and disease and encourage researchers to (re-)analyze data obtained in (earlier) studies possibly revealing new insights into complex disease states and treatment strategies

The Mitochondrial Ca(2+) Uniporter: Structure, Function, and Pharmacology.

Mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake is crucial for an array of cellular functions while an imbalance can elicit cell death. In this chapter, we briefly reviewed the various modes of mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake and our current understanding of mitochondrial Ca(2+) homeostasis in regards to cell physiology and pathophysiology. Further, this chapter focuses on the molecular identities, intracellular regulators as well as the pharmacology of mitochondrial Ca(2+) uniporter complex