Use of Information Communication Technologies by older people and telemedicine adoption during COVID-19 : a longitudinal study

Open Access via the OUP Agreement TILDA was funded by the Health Research Board grant TILDA-2017-1. TILDA was supported by Irish Life plc, the Irish Government, and the Atlantic Philanthropies. These funders had no involvement in analyses or in the preparation of this paper.Peer reviewe

Temporally and spatially resolved flow in a two-stage axial compressor. Part 2: Computational assessment

Fluid dynamics of turbomachines are complicated due to aerodynamic interactions between rotors and stators. It is necessary to understand the aerodynamics associated with these interactions in order to design turbomachines that are both light and compact as well as reliable and efficient. The current study uses an unsteady, thin-layer Navier-Stokes zonal approach to investigate the unsteady aerodynamics of a multi-stage compressor. Relative motion between rotors and stators is made possible by use of systems of patched and overlaid grids. Results have been computed for a 2 1/2-stage compressor configuration. The numerical data compares well with experimental data for surface pressures and wake data. In addition, the effect of grid refinement on the solution is studied

Irreversible EGFR Inhibitor EKB-569 Targets Low-LET γ-Radiation-Triggered Rel Orchestration and Potentiates Cell Death in Squamous Cell Carcinoma

EKB-569 (Pelitinib), an irreversible EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor has shown potential therapeutic efficiency in solid tumors. However, cell-killing potential in combination with radiotherapy and its underlying molecular orchestration remain to be explored. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of EKB-569 on ionizing radiation (IR)-associated NFκB-dependent cell death. SCC-4 and SCC-9 cells exposed to IR (2Gy) with and without EKB-569 treatment were analyzed for transactivation of 88 NFκB pathway molecules, NFκB DNA-binding activity, translation of the NFκB downstream mediators, Birc1, 2 and 5, cell viability, metabolic activity and apoptosis. Selective targeting of IR-induced NFκB by EKB-569 and its influence on cell-fate were assessed by overexpressing (p50/p65) and silencing (ΔIκBα) NFκB. QPCR profiling after IR exposure revealed a significant induction of 74 NFκB signal transduction molecules. Of those, 72 were suppressed with EKB-569. EMSA revealed a dose dependent inhibition of NFκB by EKB-569. More importantly, EKB-569 inhibited IR-induced NFκB in a dose-dependent manner, and this inhibition was sustained up to at least 72 h. Immunoblotting revealed a significant suppression of IR-induced Birc1, 2 and 5 by EKB-569. We observed a dose-dependent inhibition of cell viability, metabolic activity and apoptosis with EKB-569. EKB-569 significantly enhanced IR-induced cell death and apoptosis. Blocking NFκB improved IR-induced cell death. Conversely, NFκB overexpression negates EKB-569 -induced cell-killing. Together, these pre-clinical data suggest that EKB-569 is a radiosensitizer of squamous cell carcinoma and may mechanistically involve selective targeting of IR-induced NFκB-dependent survival signaling. Further pre-clinical in-vivo studies are warranted

Placement of the Internal Pulse Generator for Deep Brain Stimulation in the Upper Back to Prevent Fracture of the Extension Wire due to Generator Rotation: Case Report

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a common surgical procedure used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor. A potential complication of this procedure is hardware failure. The authors report a case of DBS hardware failure in which repeated fractures of the extension wire were caused by abnormal rotational movements of the IPG placed in the loose subclavicular tissue of an overweight female. Implantation of the IPG in the suprascapular area prevented further extension wire fractures. This strategy may be especially relevant in overweight females with loose subclavicular tissue

Does surgical procedure type impact postoperative pain and recovery in deep inferior epigastric artery perforator flap breast reconstruction?

Background: The deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) flap is the commonest flap used for breast reconstruction after mastectomy. It is performed as a unilateral (based on one [unipedicled] or two [bipedicled] vascular pedicles) or bilateral procedure following unilateral or bilateral mastectomies. No previous studies have comprehensively analyzed analgesia requirements and hospital stay of these three forms of surgical reconstruction. Methods: A 7-year retrospective cohort study (2008–2015) of a single-surgeon’s DIEP-patients was conducted. Patient-reported pain scores, patient-controlled morphine requirements and recovery times were compared using non-parametric statistics and multivariable regression. Results: The study included 135 participants: unilateral unipedicled (n=84), unilateral bipedicled (n=24) and bilateral unipedicled (n=27). Univariate comparison of the three DIEP types showed a significant difference in 12-hour postoperative morphine requirements (P=0.020); bipedicled unilateral patients used significantly less morphine than unipedicled (unilateral) patients at 12 (P=0.005), 24 (P=0.020), and 48 (P=0.046) hours. Multivariable regression comparing these two groups revealed that both reconstruction type and smoking status were significant predictors for 12-hour postoperative morphine usage (P=0.038 and P=0.049, respectively), but only smoking, remained significant at 24 (P=0.010) and 48 (P=0.010) hours. Bilateral reconstruction patients’ mean hospital stay was 2 days longer than either unilateral reconstruction (P<0.001). Conclusions: Although all three forms of DIEP flap breast reconstruction had similar postoperative pain measures, a novel finding of our study was that bipedicled DIEP flap harvest might be associated with lower early postoperative morphine requirements. Bilateral and bipedicled procedures in appropriate patients might therefore be undertaken without significantly increased pain/morbidity compared to unilateral unipedicled reconstructions

Evidence for diversifying selection of genetic regions of encoding putative collagen-like host-adhesive fibers in Pasteuria penetrans

© FEMS 2018. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Pasteuria spp. belong to a group of genetically diverse endospore-forming bacteria (phylum: Firmicutes) that are known to parasitize plant-parasitic nematodes and water fleas (Daphnia spp.). Collagen-like fibres form the nap on the surface of endospores and the genes encoding these sequences have been hypothesised to be involved in the adhesion of the endospores of Pasteuria spp. to their hosts. We report a group of 17 unique collagen-like genes putatively encoded by Pasteuria penetrans (strain: Res148) that formed five different phylogenetic clusters and suggest that collagen-like proteins are an important source of genetic diversity in animal pathogenic Firmicutes including Pasteuria. Additionally, and unexpectedly, we identified a putative collagen-like sequence which had a very different sequence structure to the other collagen-like proteins but was similar to the protein sequences in Megaviruses that are involved in host-parasite interactions. We, therefore, suggest that these diverse endospore surface proteins in Pasteuria are involved in biological functions, such as cellular adhesion; however, they are not of monophyletic origin and were possibly obtained de novo by mutation or possibly through selection acting upon several historic horizontal gene transfer events.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio