Inhibition of free radical generation and improved survival by protection of the hepatic microvascular endothelium by targeted erythrocytes in orthotopic rat liver transplantation

The capacity of specifically targeted erythrocytes to inhibit free radical—mediated injury to the endothelial cell after cold preservation, and improve liver function was studied in two experimental models: An isolated perfused rat liver (IPRL) system and syngeneic orthotopic rat liver transplantation. In the IPRL model, livers were preserved in University of Wisconsin solution for 24 h at 4°C. At the end of the preservation period, livers were flushed with lactated Ringer’s (control), immu- noerythrocytes (IES), or blank intact erythrocytes prior to warm reperfusion for 2 h using an assanguinous Krebs-Henseleit buffer. Production of superoxide (O2-) anion during warm reperfusion in the IES-treated liver was reduced by 65% as compared with controls (P<0.001) and by 74% (P<0.001) when compared with blank erythrocyte—treated livers. Endothelial cell preservation, as assessed by levels of purine nucleoside phos- phorylase (PNP), was much better in the IES-treated group (P<0.001) when compared with untreated livers. Hepatocellular preservation was markedly improved in the IES-treated livers. In the syngeneic liver transplantation model, livers were preserved in UW solution for 24 h at 4°C. Prior to implantation, livers were flushed with 5 ml of cold lactated Ringer’s or immunoerythrocytes. Survival after three weeks was 60% in the IES-treated group and 30% in the untreated group. Survival in the IES-treated group was not significantly different from a control (no preservation) group. IES-treated livers in both models demonstrated better endothelial cell integrity and ultimate liver function. IES treatment therefore appears to protect the hepatic microvascular endothelial cell from reperfusion injury and could prove to be an easy reproducible method of donor organ preparation after cold preservation. © 1990 by Williams & Wilkins

Universality in Systems with Power-Law Memory and Fractional Dynamics

There are a few different ways to extend regular nonlinear dynamical systems by introducing power-law memory or considering fractional differential/difference equations instead of integer ones. This extension allows the introduction of families of nonlinear dynamical systems converging to regular systems in the case of an integer power-law memory or an integer order of derivatives/differences. The examples considered in this review include the logistic family of maps (converging in the case of the first order difference to the regular logistic map), the universal family of maps, and the standard family of maps (the latter two converging, in the case of the second difference, to the regular universal and standard maps). Correspondingly, the phenomenon of transition to chaos through a period doubling cascade of bifurcations in regular nonlinear systems, known as "universality", can be extended to fractional maps, which are maps with power-/asymptotically power-law memory. The new features of universality, including cascades of bifurcations on single trajectories, which appear in fractional (with memory) nonlinear dynamical systems are the main subject of this review.Comment: 23 pages 7 Figures, to appear Oct 28 201

Perceptions and behaviors related to hand hygiene for the prevention of H1N1 influenza transmission among Korean university students during the peak pandemic period

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study was performed to better assess the perceptions, motivating factors, and behaviors associated with the use of hand washing to prevent H1N1 influenza transmission during the peak pandemic period in Korea.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional survey questionnaire was completed by 942 students at a university campus in Suwon, Korea, between December 1 and 8, 2009. The survey included questions regarding individual perceptions, motivating factors, and behaviors associated with hand washing for the prevention of H1N1 influenza transmission.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to one year prior, 30.3% of participants reported increasing their hand washing frequency. Female students were more likely to practice more frequent hand washing. Women also perceived the effectiveness of hand washing to be lower, and illness severity and personal susceptibility to H1N1 infection to be higher. Study participants who were female (OR: 1.79-3.90) who perceived of hand washing to be effective (OR: 1.34-12.15) and illness severity to be greater (OR: 1.00-3.12) washed their hands more frequently.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Korean students increased their frequency of hand hygiene practices during the pandemic, with significant gender differences existing in the attitudes and behaviors related to the use of hand hygiene as a means of disease prevention. Here, the factors that affected hand washing behavior were similar to those identified at the beginning of the H1N1 or SARS pandemics, suggesting that public education campaigns regarding hand hygiene are effective in altering individual hand hygiene habits during the peak periods of influenza transmission.</p

Psychometric properties of a prostate cancer radiation late toxicity questionnaire

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To construct a short prostate cancer radiation late toxicity (PCRT) questionnaire with health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) domains.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The PCRT was developed by item generation, questionnaire construction (n = 7 experts, n = 8 focus group patients), pilot testing (n = 37), item reduction (n = 100), reliability testing (n = 237), and validity testing (n = 274).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Reliability of the three item-reduced subscales demonstrated intraclass correlation coefficients (CC) of 0.811 (GU), 0.842 (GI), and 0.740 (sexual). Discriminant validity demonstrated Pearson CC of 0.449 (GU-GI), 0.200 (sexual-GU), and 0.09 (sexual-GI). Content validity correlations between PCRT-PCQoL were 0.35–0.78, PCRT-FACT-G^©were 0.19–0.39, and PCRT-SF-36^®were 0.03–0.34.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We successfully generated a PCRT HRQoL questionnaire including subscales with very good psychometric properties.</p

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) related to the Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 among Chinese General Population: a Telephone Survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>China is at greatest risk of the Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 due to its huge population and high residential density. The unclear comprehension and negative attitudes towards the emerging infectious disease among general population may lead to unnecessary worry and even panic. The objective of this study was to investigate the Chinese public response to H1N1 pandemic and provide baseline data to develop public education campaigns in response to future outbreaks.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A close-ended questionnaire developed by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention was applied to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 among 10,669 responders recruited from seven urban and two rural areas of China sampled by using the probability proportional to size (PPS) method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>30.0% respondents were not clear whether food spread H1N1 virusand. 65.7% reported that the pandemic had no impact on their life. The immunization rates of the seasonal flu and H1N1vaccine were 7.5% and 10.8%, respectively. Farmers and those with lower education level were less likely to know the main transmission route (cough or talk face to face). Female and those with college and above education had higher perception of risk and more compliance with preventive behaviors. Relationships between knowledge and risk perception (OR = 1.69; 95%CI 1.54-1.86), and knowledge and practices (OR = 1.57; 95%CI 1.42-1.73) were found among the study subjects. With regard to the behavior of taking up A/H1N1 vaccination, there are several related factors found in the current study population, including the perception of life disturbed (OR = 1.29; 95%CI 1.11-1.50), the safety of A/H1N1 vaccine (OR = 0.07; 95%CI 0.04-0.11), the knowledge of free vaccination policy (OR = 7.20; 95%CI 5.91-8.78), the state's priority vaccination strategy(OR = 1.33; 95%CI 1.08-1.64), and taking up seasonal influenza vaccine behavior (OR = 4.69; 95%CI 3.53-6.23).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This A/H1N1 epidemic has not caused public panic yet, but the knowledge of A/H1N1 in residents is not optimistic. Public education campaign may take the side effects of vaccine and the knowledge about the state's vaccination strategy into account.</p

Evaluation of preoperative intra-aortic balloon pump in coronary patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction undergoing OPCAB surgery: early and mid-term outcomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the safety and the cost-effectiveness of using preoperative IABP as support compared with postoperative IABP treatment in coronary patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction (SLVD) who is undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery (OPCAB), including early outcomes, hospital mortality and morbidity, and mid-term follow-up outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between March 2000 and December 2008, we prospectively and randomly studied the insertion of preoperative IABP in 115 (7.4%) and postoperative IABP in 106 (6.8%) of the 1560 consecutive patients. Group A is preoperative IABP therapy. Group B is postoperative IABP therapy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was no significant difference in the number of grafts used between the two groups. Completeness of revascularization did not differ between the two groups. The statistically significant difference was hospital mortality (2.6% in group A vs. 3.8% in group B) (<it>p </it>< 0.05). And there was significant reduction in postoperative low cardiac output, malignant arrhythmia, acute renal failure and length of stay in ICU in group A, compared with group B (<it>p </it>< 0.05). In the two groups, six-, 12-, 24- and 48-month survival rates were similar. In the study the degree of improvement in angina and quality of life did not differ significantly between the two groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The use of preoperative IABP in SLVD patients undergoing OPCAB is of safety and effectiveness. The combined use of preoperative IABP and OPCAB allows complete revascularization in SLVD patients with an important reduction in operative mortality and excellent mid-term results.</p

Pharmspresso: a text mining tool for extraction of pharmacogenomic concepts and relationships from full text

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pharmacogenomics studies the relationship between genetic variation and the variation in drug response phenotypes. The field is rapidly gaining importance: it promises drugs targeted to particular subpopulations based on genetic background. The pharmacogenomics literature has expanded rapidly, but is dispersed in many journals. It is challenging, therefore, to identify important associations between drugs and molecular entities – particularly genes and gene variants, and thus these critical connections are often lost. Text mining techniques can allow us to convert the free-style text to a computable, searchable format in which pharmacogenomic concepts (such as genes, drugs, polymorphisms, and diseases) are identified, and important links between these concepts are recorded. Availability of full text articles as input into text mining engines is key, as literature abstracts often do not contain sufficient information to identify these pharmacogenomic associations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thus, building on a tool called Textpresso, we have created the Pharmspresso tool to assist in identifying important pharmacogenomic facts in full text articles. Pharmspresso parses text to find references to human genes, polymorphisms, drugs and diseases and their relationships. It presents these as a series of marked-up text fragments, in which key concepts are visually highlighted. To evaluate Pharmspresso, we used a gold standard of 45 human-curated articles. Pharmspresso identified 78%, 61%, and 74% of target gene, polymorphism, and drug concepts, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Pharmspresso is a text analysis tool that extracts pharmacogenomic concepts from the literature automatically and thus captures our current understanding of gene-drug interactions in a computable form. We have made Pharmspresso available at <url>http://pharmspresso.stanford.edu</url>.</p

Knowledge, attitudes and practices towards pandemic influenza among cases, close contacts, and healthcare workers in tropical Singapore: a cross-sectional survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Effective influenza pandemic management requires understanding of the factors influencing behavioral changes. We aim to determine the differences in knowledge, attitudes and practices in various different cohorts and explore the pertinent factors that influenced behavior in tropical Singapore.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a cross-sectional knowledge, attitudes and practices survey in the Singapore military from mid-August to early-October 2009, among 3054 personnel in four exposure groups - laboratory-confirmed H1N1-2009 cases, close contacts of cases, healthcare workers, and general personnel.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>1063 (34.8%) participants responded. The mean age was 21.4 (SE 0.2) years old. Close contacts had the highest knowledge score (71.7%, p = 0.004) while cases had the highest practice scores (58.8%, p < 0.001). There was a strong correlation between knowledge and practice scores (r = 0.27, p < 0.01) and knowledge and attitudes scores (r = 0.21, p < 0.01). The significant predictors of higher practice scores were higher knowledge scores (p < 0.001), Malay ethnicity (p < 0.001), exposure group (p < 0.05) and lower education level (p < 0.05). The significant predictors for higher attitudes scores were Malay ethnicity (p = 0.014) and higher knowledge scores (p < 0.001). The significant predictor for higher knowledge score was being a contact (p = 0.007).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Knowledge is a significant influence on attitudes and practices in a pandemic, and personal experience influences practice behaviors. Efforts should be targeted at educating the general population to improve practices in the current pandemic, as well as for future epidemics.</p

Effect of lutein and antioxidant dietary supplementation on contrast sensitivity in age-related macular disease:A randomized controlled trial

Objective: The aim of the study is to determine the effect of lutein combined with vitamin and mineral supplementation on contrast sensitivity in people with age-related macular disease (ARMD). Design: A prospective, 9-month, double-masked randomized controlled trial. Setting: Aston University, Birmingham, UK and a UK optometric clinical practice. Subjects: Age-related maculopathy (ARM) and atrophic age-related macular degeneration (AMD) participants were randomized (using a random number generator) to either placebo (n = 10) or active (n=15) groups. Three of the placebo group and two of the active group dropped out. Interventions: The active group supplemented daily with 6 mg lutein combined with vitamins and minerals. The outcome measure was contrast sensitivity (CS) measured using the Pelli-Robson chart, for which the study had 80% power at the 5% significance level to detect a change of 0.3log units. Results: The CS score increased by 0.07 ± 0.07 and decreased by 0.02 ± 0.18 log units for the placebo and active groups, respectively. The difference between these values is not statistically significant (z = 0.903, P = 0.376). Conclusion: The results suggest that 6 mg of lutein supplementation in combination with other antioxidants is not beneficial for this group. Further work is required to establish optimum dosage levels