Overview of Contraindicated Chinese Medicines for Pregnancy

Chinese medicines should be classified into drugs, which have both beneficial and harmful effects. For centuries, Chinese medicines have been widely used to relieve many symptoms and to treat complications during pregnancy. It is not clear how safe the Chinese medicines are being used during pregnancy and if there is any adverse effects to embryo-fetal development and prenatal and postnatal growth. Some Chinese medicines are indicated that they cannot be used in pregnancy. In this chapter, we will conduct a systematic review to summarize and characterize in details the Chinese medicines classified as contraindicated, not recommended and cautiously used for pregnancy in most updated version of Pharmacopeia of the People’s Republic of China. Clinical reports including clinical trials, case reports, case series and animal studies including short-term and long-term toxicity, specific organ toxicity and different species of the Chinese medicines will be studied. Unlike those pharmaceutical drugs not recommend for use during pregnancy because of known or suspected adverse or teratogenic effects evident by animal studies and/or clinical trials, most of the Chinese medicines were utilized for long history in culture which, however, has very limited scientific data regarding the adverse pregnant outcomes

Fractographic analysis of fractured dental implant components

AbstractBackground/purposeThis study investigated in seven patients the main causes of accidental fractures of various implant components.Materials and methodsWe used a scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope to observe the fracture interfaces of four fixtures, six abutment screws, and nine gold screws retrieved from patients with prosthetic problems.ResultsIn all fixtures and some abutment screws, parafunctional force and a cantilever design ultimately resulted in movement of low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) at most fracture surfaces. Fractographic observations showed that overloading deformed the grain sizes, and the no precipitates were present on the high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) or matrices of some abutment screws and most gold screws.ConclusionTo avoid implant fracture, certain underlying mechanical risk factors should be noted such as patients with a habit of bruxism, bridgework with a cantilever design, or two implants installed in a line in the posterior mandible

A population-based study on the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in association with temperature in Taiwan

Background: Previous studies showing seasonal clustering of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) were conducted in the temperate or frigid zones and mostly included pregnant Caucasian women. This study aims to investigate the association of ambient temperature with prevalence of GDM in Taiwan, a sub-tropic country. Methods: This population-based cohort study comprised women (n = 371,131) who gave births between 2013 and 2014; of which, 43,538 (11.7%) were diagnosed with GDM. The mean daily temperature and difference in temperature within a day was calculated over a 35-day period prior to GDM diagnosis or the first day of the 27th gestational week (for non-GDM subjects). Multiple logistic regression models with generalized estimation equation were performed to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% con fidence interval (CI) of GDM in association with temperature. Results: After controlling for potential confounders, summer and fall were associated with higher risk of GDM diagnosis, with aOR [95% CI] of 1.05 [1.04–1.07] and 1.04 [1.02 –1.06] in reference to winter. Additionally, an increase of 1 °C from 14 °C to 27 °C was associated with an aOR of 1.03 [1.02 –1.03]. The aOR greatly increased to 1.54 [1.48 –1.60] after 28 °C. An increase of 1 °C difference within a day was associated with a reduced aOR at 0.90 [0.87 –0.92]. Conclusion: A higher prevalence of GDM was associated with a higher daily temperature, but with a smaller difference in temperature within a day

Continuous harvest of stem cells via partial detachment from thermoresponsive nanobrush surfaces

Stem cell culture is typically based on batch-type culture, which is laborious and expensive. Here, we propose a continuous harvest method for stem cells cultured on thermoresponsive nanobrush surfaces. In this method, stem cells are partially detached from the nanobrush surface by reducing the temperature of the culture medium below the critical solution temperature needed for thermoresponse. The detached stem cells are harvested by exchange into fresh culture medium. Following this, the remaining cells are continuously cultured by expansion in fresh culture medium at 37 °C. Thermoresponsive nanobrush surfaces were prepared by coating block copolymers containing polystyrene (for hydrophobic anchoring onto culture dishes) with three types of polymers: (a) polyacrylic acid with cell-binding oligopeptides, (b) thermoresponsive poly-N-isopropylacrylamide, and (c) hydrophilic poly(ethyleneglycol)methacrylate. The optimal coating durations and compositions for these copolymers to facilitate adequate attachment and detachment of human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) and embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were determined. hADSCs and hESCs were continuously harvested for 5 and 3 cycles, respectively, via the partial detachment of cells from thermoresponsive nanobrush surfaces

The Effect of Direction on Cursor Moving Kinematics

There have been only few studies to substantiate the kinematic characteristics of cursor movement. In this study, a quantitative experimental research method was used to explore the effect of moving direction on the kinematics of cursor movement in 24 typical young persons using our previously developed computerized measuring program. The results of multiple one way repeated measures ANOVAs and post hoc LSD tests demonstrated that the moving direction had effects on average velocity, movement time, movement unit and peak velocity. Moving leftward showed better efficiency than moving rightward, upward and downward from the kinematic evidences such as velocity, movement unit and time. Moreover, the unique pattern of the power spectral density (PSD) of velocity (strategy for power application) explained why the smoothness was still maintained while moving leftward even under an unstable situation with larger momentum. Moreover, the information from this cursor moving study can guide us to relocate the toolbars and icons in the window interface, especially for individuals with physical disabilities whose performances are easily interrupted while controlling the cursor in specific directions

Assessment of hypermucoviscosity as a virulence factor for experimental Klebsiella pneumoniae infections: comparative virulence analysis with hypermucoviscosity-negative strain

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Klebsiella pneumoniae </it>displaying the hypermucoviscosity (HV) phenotype are considered more virulent than HV-negative strains. Nevertheless, the emergence of tissue-abscesses-associated HV-negative isolates motivated us to re-evaluate the role of HV-phenotype.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Instead of genetically manipulating the HV-phenotype of <it>K. pneumoniae</it>, we selected two clinically isolated K1 strains, 1112 (HV-positive) and 1084 (HV-negative), to avoid possible interference from defects in the capsule. These well-encapsulated strains with similar genetic backgrounds were used for comparative analysis of bacterial virulence in a pneumoniae or a liver abscess model generated in either naïve or diabetic mice. In the pneumonia model, the HV-positive strain 1112 proliferated to higher loads in the lungs and blood of naïve mice, but was less prone to disseminate into the blood of diabetic mice compared to the HV-negative strain 1084. In the liver abscess model, 1084 was as potent as 1112 in inducing liver abscesses in both the naïve and diabetic mice. The 1084-infected diabetic mice were more inclined to develop bacteremia and had a higher mortality rate than those infected by 1112. A mini-Tn<it>5 </it>mutant of 1112, isolated due to its loss of HV-phenotype, was avirulent to mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results indicate that the HV-phenotype is required for the virulence of the clinically isolated HV-positive strain 1112. The superior ability of the HV-negative stain 1084 over 1112 to cause bacteremia in diabetic mice suggests that factors other than the HV phenotype were required for the systemic dissemination of <it>K. pneumoniae </it>in an immunocompromised setting.</p

Collagen has a unique SEC24 preference for efficient export from the endoplasmic reticulum

Procollagen requires COPII coat proteins for export from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). SEC24 is the major component of the COPII proteins that selects cargo during COPII vesicle assembly. There are four paralogs (A to D) of SEC24 in mammals, which are classified into two subgroups. Pathological mutations in SEC24D cause osteogenesis imperfecta with craniofacial dysplasia in humans and sec24d mutant fish also recapitulate this phenotypes. Consistent with the skeletal phenotypes, the secretion of collagen was severely defective in mutant fish, emphasizing the importance of SEC24D in collagen secretion. However, SEC24D patient derived fibroblasts show only a mild secretion phenotype, suggesting tissue-specificity in the secretion process. To explore this possibility, we generated Sec24d knockout (KO) mice. Homozygous KO mice died prior to bone development. When we analyzed embryonic and extraembryonic tissues of mutant animals, we observed tissue-dependent defects of procollagen processing and ER export. The spacial patterns of these defects mirrored with SEC24B deficiency. By systematically knocking down the expression of Sec24 paralogs, we determined that, in addition to SEC24C and SEC24D, SEC24A and SEC24B also contribute to collagen secretion. In contrast, fibronectin 1 preferred either SEC24C or SEC24D. On the basis of our results, we propose that procollagen interacts with multiple SEC24 paralogs for efficient export from the ER, and that this is the basis for tissue-specific phenotypes resulting from SEC24 paralog deficiency