Failure of mitral valve repair: Partial detachment of valvular ring by 3D transesophageal echocardiography reconstruction

(ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, Volume 26, January 2009)

High-power Magnetotherapy: A New Weapon in Urinary Incontinence?

Objective: Urinary incontinence (UI) is one of the most common urinary system diseases that mostly affects women but also men. We evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of functional magnetic stimulation (FMS) as potential UI treatment with improvements in the pelvic floor musculature, urodynamic tests and quality of life. Methods: A total of 20 UI patients (10 females and 10 men, mean age 64, 14 years), including 10 with stress UI, four with urgency UI and six with mixed UI, were treated with FMS (20 min/session) twice a week for 3 weeks. The patients\u2019 impressions, records in urinary diaries, and scores of three life stress questionnaires (overactive bladder symptom questionnaire [OAB-q], urogenital distress inventory questionnaire-short form [UDI-6], incontinence impact questionnaire-short form [IIQ-7]) were performed pre- and post-treatment. Results: Significant reductions (P < 0.01) of micturition number and nocturia after magnetic treatment were evi- denced. The urodynamic tests recorded a significant increase in cystometric capacity (147 \ub1 51.3%), in maximum urethral closure pressure (110 \ub1 34%), in urethral functional length (99.8 \ub1 51.8%), and in pressure transmission ratio (147 \ub1 51.3%) values compared with the baseline values. Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that FMS with Magneto STYM (twice weekly for 3 weeks) improves the UI and may be an effective treatment for this urogenital disease

Effects of Computerized Emotional Training on Children with High Functioning Autism

An evaluation study of a serious game and a system for the automatic emotion recognition designed for helping autistic children to learn to recognize and express emotions by means of their full-body movement is presented. Three-dimensional motion data of full-body movements are obtained from RGB-D sensors and used to recognize emotions by means of linear SVMs. Ten children diagnosed with High Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome were involved in the evaluation phase, consisting of repeated sessions to play a specifically designed serious game. Results from the evaluation study show an increase of tasks accuracy from the beginning to the end of training sessions in the trained group. In particular, while the increase of recognition accuracy was concentrated in the first sessions of the game, the increase for expression accuracy is more gradual throughout all sessions. Moreover, the training seems to produce a transfer effect on facial expression recognition

Genomic and microenvironmental heterogeneity shaping epithelial-to-mesenchymal trajectories in cancer

The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key cellular process underlying cancer progression, with multiple intermediate states whose molecular hallmarks remain poorly characterised. To fill this gap, we present a method to robustly evaluate EMT transformation in individual tumours based on transcriptomic signals. We apply this approach to explore EMT trajectories in 7180 tumours of epithelial origin and identify three macro-states with prognostic and therapeutic value, attributable to epithelial, hybrid E/M and mesenchymal phenotypes. We show that the hybrid state is relatively stable and linked with increased aneuploidy. We further employ spatial transcriptomics and single cell datasets to explore the spatial heterogeneity of EMT transformation and distinct interaction patterns with cytotoxic, NK cells and fibroblasts in the tumour microenvironment. Additionally, we provide a catalogue of genomic events underlying distinct evolutionary constraints on EMT transformation. This study sheds light on the aetiology of distinct stages along the EMT trajectory, and highlights broader genomic and environmental hallmarks shaping the mesenchymal transformation of primary tumours

Cognitive and emotional regulation in adolescents and young women with eating disorders

Background Eating disorders (EDs) are associated with a reduced ability to regulate emotion and impulses during the lifrks involving the pre-frontal cortex. Studies in EDs found impaired functioning in these domains, showing an association between EDs and the reduced ability to control emotions and impulses. Objective To investigate EF in adolescents and young women with eating disorders (ED) using a quasi-experimental design, focusing on cognitive efficiency, emotional regulation (ER) and behavioural outcomes also taking into account pharmaco- logical treatment and duration of illness. Methods A sample of 151 females belonging to two groups took part in this study. Twenty-six girls and young women (Mage 22;8 years) with ED and 125 typically developed girls and young women (Mage 17;4 years) completed a battery of cognitive tasks (Go\u2013no-go, Stop-signal task, Symmetry span, Reading Span)and the Youth Self-Report and the Difficulties in Emo- tional Regulation Scale Performance. A series of ANOVA with the Brown\u2013Forsythe test was used to compare the groups. Results Participants with ED and controls did not show significant differences in EF tasks, whereas differences between younger and older participants with ED emerged. Moreover, ER difficulties seem to be associated with mainly internalizing problems in EDs. Further analysis on the full ED sample did not reveal any significant differences associated with the disorder persistence. Considering pharmacological treatment effects over cognitive, emotional and behavioural measures emerged. Conclusions The present study documented no specific differences in EF between control and participants with EDs, whereas important differences emerged in ER and behavioural outcomes perception in the clinical sample, together with a partial influence of pharmacological treatment. Levelofevidence LevelIII,case-controlstudy

Participative management in workers' health: an experience in the vector control activity

Este artigo apresenta a experiência de implantação de um sistema de gestão em Saúde do Trabalhador implantado na Superintendencia de Controle de Endemias (SUCEN), no período de 1998 a 2002, que operava na atividade de controle químico de vetores no Estado de São Paulo. OBJETIVO: Descrever o sistema de gestão participativa, as ações desenvolvidas e os principais resultados alcançados. MÉTODO: Relato da experiência vivenciada pela equipe usando abordagem qualitativa, análise de documentos e apresentação de dados quantitativos. RESULTADOS: Foram eleitas 11 Comissões de Saúde e Trabalho (COMSAT's) que em conjunto com a equipe técnica iniciaram a identificação dos riscos e de propostas para prevenção e controle dos riscos no trabalho. O mapeamento de riscos resultou em 650 recomendações, 45,7% das quais foram executadas. Foram identificadas como doenças relacionadas ao trabalho: reações alérgicas aos pesticidas, lesões por esforços repetitivos, distúrbios auditivos e patologias de coluna vertebral. Participaram dos cursos básicos de saúde do trabalhador 1.003 servidores (76,3% do total de servidores), sendo que 90,8% dos participantes os consideraram ótimos ou bons. CONCLUSÕES: O sistema de gerenciamento participativo coloca em prática os princípios de gestão democrática do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS); incorpora, por meio do mapeamento de riscos, o saber do trabalhador; inclui os trabalhadores como sujeitos do processo de negociação e mudanças; pratica o direito à informação. As COMSAT's revelaram-se espaços adequados para a negociação das melhorias nas condições de trabalho. A aprovação do sistema de gestão culminou na validação legal por meio de um acordo tripartite assinado em março de 2002.INTRODUCTION: The paper shows the implementation experience of a management system in occupational health that took place at SUCEN (Superintendence for Endemic Control), from 1998 to 2002, which worked on the activity of chemical control of vectors in the State of São Paulo. OBJECTIVE: To describe the participative management system, the actions that were taken and the main accomplished results. METHODS: Report on what was experienced by the team using qualitative approach, document analysis and report on quantitative data. RESULTS: Eleven COMSAT's (Workers Health Committees) were elected, which, together with the technical team, started to identify the occupational risks and proposals to prevent and control them. The investigation resulted in 650 suggestions, 45.7% of which were carried out. Work-related diseases were identified as allergic reactions to pesticides, muscular pain linked to repetitive movements, hearing disorders and back pain caused by excessive weight carrying. A total of 1003 workers participated in the basic courses on workers health, 90.8% of whom classified them as good or excellent. CONCLUSIONS: The participative management system puts into practice the democratic management principles of SUS (Brazil's National Health System); by means of risk mapping, it incorporates workers' experiences; it regards workers as agents in the change and negotiation process; it puts into practice the right to information. The COMSAT's proved to be adequate places for negotiating improvements in working conditions. The approval of the Management System ended up in legal validation through a three-party agreement signed in March 2002

DISTRIBUTION OF HEAT STABILIZERS IN PLASTICIZED PVC-BASED BIOMEDICAL DEVICES: TEMPERATURE AND TIME EFFECTS

Thermoplastic polymers can be viewed as a dynamic framework in which additives allocation is strongly dependent on the system' chemistry. Considering the complexity of the distribution phenomena that may occur in plastics obtained by blending polymeric resins with different additives, this work constitutes an attempt to the description of the behavior of PVC heat stabilizers (calcium and zinc carboxylates), as regard temperature and time. Thanks to the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, it is possible to observe a first decreasing trend of the additives related IR-bands as a function of the increasing temperature and the higher the temperature the faster the decrease of the heat stabilizers intensities bands is, with respect to time. Additives distribution in not sterilized, sterilized, aged not sterilized and aged sterilized materials have been investigated to determine their behavior with respect to temperature, from 30 to 120°C, and time. A simulated supplementary aging process equivalent to 9 months aging was carried out on aged not sterilized and aged sterilized materials to gain more data on the transport/reaction phenomena these additives in the plastic material. Experimental evidences allow hypothesizing that reaction and redistribution phenomena probably concur to determine the additives allocation in PVC as a function of temperature and time

Oxidative stress, plasma/salivary antioxidant status detection and health risk factors

Background: Oxidative stress is involved in the pathophysiology of several diseases such as cardiovascular disorders, cancer, neurodegeneration.Aims and Objectives: Our study evaluated the oxidant/antioxidant status on a cohort of healthy patients matched with some independent variables as a basic individual redox balance monitor on a disease-prevention perspective.Materials and Methods: The anecdotic, retrospective and observational study included 200 apparently healthy volunteers after formal informed consent release whose personal history and physical examination had been recorded specifically on the following items: age, previous diseases, sport activities, smoking habit, balanced/unbalanced nutrition, current absence/presence of inflammatory processes, oral health hygiene, administration of oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women. No drug treatment was admitted in the recruited patients, up to 6 months before the evaluation. The laboratory instruments used were Point of care FRAS 4 Evolvo (H&D, Parma, Italy) measuring the oxidative stress in plasma samples and antioxidant capacity in plasma and saliva samples.Results: Two-hundred patients were recruited. Statistically relevant differences were observed in oxidative stress-related variables, namely a significant relationship between plasma oxidative stress level and female gender (p<0.01), between saliva antioxidant level and age (p=0.01), between plasma antioxidant level and unbalanced diet (p<0.01), between plasma oxidative stress level and inflammation in the oral cavity (p=0.04), and between saliva antioxidant level and inflammation in the oral cavity (p<0.01).Conclusions: A relationship between oxidative/antioxidant status and health risk factors has been outlined in our study; the achieved data are quite helpful, in the clinical practice, providing additional information on individual general health conditions, putatively related to prevention diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment effectiveness in some specific diseases.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.8(1) 2017 32-4

Amygdala subnuclear volumes in temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis and in non-lesional patients

Together with hippocampus, the amygdala is important in the epileptogenic network of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Recently, an increase in amygdala volumes (i.e. amygdala enlargement) has been proposed as morphological biomarker of a subtype of temporal lobe epilepsy patients without MRI abnormalities, although other data suggest that this finding might be unspecific and not exclusive to temporal lobe epilepsy. In these studies, the amygdala is treated as a single entity, while instead it is composed of different nuclei, each with peculiar function and connection. By adopting a recently developed methodology of amygdala's subnuclei parcellation based of high-resolution T-1-weighted image, this study aims to map specific amygdalar subnuclei participation in temporal lobe epilepsy due to hippocampal sclerosis (n = 24) and non-lesional temporal lobe epilepsy (n = 24) with respect to patients with focal extratemporal lobe epilepsies (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 30). The volumes of amygdala subnuclei were compared between groups adopting multivariate analyses of covariance and correlated with clinical variables. Additionally, a logistic regression analysis on the nuclei resulting statistically different across groups was performed. Compared with other populations, temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis showed a significant atrophy of the whole amygdala (p(Bonferroni) = 0.040), particularly the basolateral complex (p(Bonferroni) = 0.033), while the non-lesional temporal lobe epilepsy group demonstrated an isolated hypertrophy of the medial nucleus (p(Bonferroni) = 0.012). In both scenarios, the involved amygdala was ipsilateral to the epileptic focus. The medial nucleus demonstrated a volume increase even in extratemporal lobe epilepsies although contralateral to the seizure onset hemisphere (p(Bonferroni) = 0.037). Non-lesional patients with psychiatric comorbidities showed a larger ipsilateral lateral nucleus compared with those without psychiatric disorders. This exploratory study corroborates the involvement of the amygdala in temporal lobe epilepsy, particularly in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and suggests a different amygdala subnuclei engagement depending on the aetiology and lateralization of epilepsy. Furthermore, the logistic regression analysis indicated that the basolateral complex and the medial nucleus of amygdala can be helpful to differentiate temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis and with MRI negative, respectively, versus controls with a consequent potential clinical yield. Finally, the present results contribute to the literature about the amygdala enlargement in temporal lobe epilepsy, suggesting that the increased volume of amygdala can be regarded as epilepsy-related structural changes common across different syndromes whose meaning should be clarified