Human Nail Plate Modifications Induced by Onychomycosis : Implications for Topical Therapy

Open Access - This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are creditedConclusions: Onchomycotic nails presented a thicker but more porous barrier, and its eroded intracellular matrix rendered the tissue more permeable to topically applied chemicals when an aqueous vehicle was used.Purpose: Through the characterisation of the human onchomycotic nail plate this study aimed to inform the design of new topical ungual formulations.Methods: The mechanical properties of the human nail were characterised using a Lloyd tensile strength tester. The nail’s density was determined via pycnometry and the nail’s ultrastructure by electron microscopy. Raman spectroscopy analysed the keratin disulphide bonds within the nail and its permeability properties were assessed by quantifying water and rhodamine uptake.Results: Chronic in vivo nail plate infection increased human nailplate thickness (healthy 0.49 ± 0.15 mm; diseased 1.20 ± 0.67 mm), but reduced its tensile strength (healthy 63.7 ± 13.4 MPa; diseased 41.7 ± 5.0 MPa) and density (healthy 1.34 ± 0.01 g/cm3; diseased 1.29 ± 0.00 g/cm3). Onchomycosis caused cell-cell separation, without disrupting the nail disulfide bonds or desmosomes. The diseased and healthy nails showed equivalent water uptake profiles, but the rhodamine penetration was 4-fold higher in the diseased nails using a PBS vehicle and 3 -fold higher in an ethanol/PBS vehicle.Peer reviewe

Factors associated with intentions to adhere to colorectal cancer screening follow-up exams

BACKGROUND: To increase adherence rate to recommendations for follow-up after abnormal colorectal cancer (CRC) screening results, factors that inhibit and facilitate follow-up must be identified. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with intention to adhere to CRC screening follow-up exams. METHODS: During a 4-week period in October 2003, this survey was conducted with 426 subjects participating in a community-based CRC screening program in Nagano, Japan. Study measures included intention to adhere to recommendation for clinical follow-up in the event of an abnormal fecal occult blood test (FOBT) result, perceived susceptibility and severity of CRC, perceived benefits and barriers related to undergoing follow-up examination, social support, knowledge of CRC risk factors, health status, previous CRC screening, personality and social demographic characteristics. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses on intention to adhere to recommendations for follow-up were performed. RESULTS: Among the 288 individuals analyzed, approximately 74.7% indicated that they would definitely adhere to recommendations for follow-up. After controlling for age, gender, marital status, education, economic status, trait anxiety, bowel symptoms, family history of CRC, and previous screening FOBT, analyses revealed that lower levels of perceived barriers, higher levers of perceived benefits and knowledge of CRC risk factors were significantly associated with high intention respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that future interventions should focus on reducing modifiable barriers by clarifying misperceptions about follow-up, promoting the acceptance of complete diagnostic evaluations, addressing psychological distress, and making follow-up testing more convenient and accessible. Moreover, educating the public regarding the risk factors of CRC and increasing understanding of the benefits of follow-up is also important

Effect of compression Residual Stress on Fatigue Properties of Stainless Cast Steel

AbstractIn this study, in order to clarify the fatigue properties under compressive mean stresses statement and to establish the accurate evaluation method of fatigue properties of materials with compressive residual stress at surface applied by surface treatments, tension-compression fatigue tests were carried out under various kinds of compressive mean stresses by using ASTM CA6NM stainless cast steel with two kinds of modes, the load control mode and the strain control mode, respectively.In the case of tension-compression fatigue tests under the load control mode, the higher the compressive mean stress value, the higher the fatigue limit because the setting stress level was loaded simply if the compressive mean stress value beyond the compressive yield limit.In the case of tension-compression fatigue tests under the strain control mode, specimens yielded greatly at the first cycle of the fatigue tests, then the mean stress didn’t change to the tensile side with increasing the loading cycles and continued to load at the same stress level. As the results, the fatigue life decreased remarkably and specimens fractured early in comparison with a case of fatigue tests under the load control mode because shakedown behavior was occurred

One- and two-dimensional NMR studies on the conformation of DNA containing the oligo(dA)oligo(dT) tract.

The resonances of the imino protons and all of the non-exchangeable protons (except for H5'/H5'') of d(CGCAAAAAAGCG)d(CGCTTTTTTGCG) have been assigned by means of one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopies. Qualitative analyses showed that the overall structure is of the B-form, but local conformational deviations exist. The NOEs between the imino protons of thymines and H2 of adenines suggest that the A-T base pairs are propeller-twisted to almost the same degree as in crystals. A remarkable chemical shift of H1' was observed for the residue located just before the oligo(dA)oligo(dT) tract, suggesting the presence of conformational discontinuity at the junctions between the oligo(dA)oligo(dT) tract and the other portions. Analyses of cross peaks in NOESY spectra between H2 of adenines and H1' of the 3'-neighbouring residues on the complementary strand revealed that the minor groove of the oligo(dA)oligo(dT) tract is narrow and compressed gradually, from 5' to 3', along the tract