Life-threatening post-thrombectomy hypotension due to residual complications from a translumbar catheter

Translumbar catheters offer an alternative life-saving option in patients without conventional dialysis access, though their use and complication rates are poorly understood. We report the first case in the medical literature of a translumbar catheter inducing a central venous stenosis. This occult sequela converted what is usually a subclinical complication from an arteriovenous graft thrombectomy into a life-threatening one. This unusual clinical presentation highlights the need for clinicians to recognize the potential serious implications of translumbar catheter-induced occult central venous stenosis

LBP based on multi wavelet sub-bands feature extraction used for face recognition

The strategy of extracting discriminant features from a face image is immensely important to accurate face recognition. This paper proposes a feature extraction algorithm based on wavelets and local binary patterns (LBPs). The proposed method decomposes a face image into multiple sub-bands of frequencies using wavelet transform. Each sub-band in the wavelet domain is divided into non-overlapping sub-regions. Then LBP histograms based on the traditional 8-neighbour sampling points are extracted from the approximation sub-band, whilst 4-neighbour sampling points are used to extract LBPHs from detail sub-bands. Finally, all LBPHs are concatenated into a single feature histogram to effectively represent the face image. Euclidean distance is used to measure the similarity of different feature histograms and the final recognition is performed by the nearest-neighbour classifier. The above strategy was tested on two publicly available face databases (Yale and ORL) using different scenarios and different combination of sub-bands. Results show that the proposed method outperforms the traditional LBP based features

OPTIMIZATION AND EVALUATION OF CHLORPHENIRAMINE MALEATE ORAL STRIP FOR PEDIATRIC USE

Objective: The goal of performing this study is to prepare an oral strip, especially designed for pediatric use that provides fast onset of action with ease of swallowing particularly for young individuals who suffer from difficulty of swallowing, in addition provides maximum therapeutic effectiveness by reducing the first pass effect.Materials and Methods: The oral strip was prepared by solvent casting technique through using different sole polymers (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose [HPMC] 15cp, HPMC 50cp, polyvinyl alcohol, and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose). Maltodextrin (MD) was added as the secondary polymer in different ratios to optimize the release parameters, and disintegration time (DT), three different plasticizers were employed (propylene glycol, dibutyl phthalate, and glycerin) to boost the film forming polymer characteristics.Results: From this study, it is obvious that F10 which composed of HPMC as a main polymer and MD as a secondary polymer in ratio 2:1, respectively, provides adequate physicochemical characteristics, in vivo/in vitro DT (40/36 s), respectively, nevertheless a satisfactory release parameters as (59.9%) released at 2 min and 80% of drug released at 14.8 min.Conclusion: The optimized formula is pretty encouraging to originate an oral strip that provides ease of administration, fast onset of action with wide acceptance for the pediatric population

Prenatal Development of the Metanephros of the Dromedary Camel Foetus

 30 foetuses of dromedary camel were used in this study and the age ranged from 5 cm CVRL (79 days of age) to 132 cm CVRL (426 days of age). The left and right metanephros, during the first trimester, were elongated and had the same size, had no clear medullary tissue, reddish-brown in colour, but got paler with gestation. Then the shape changed to bean-shaped. The medulla was a gelatinous transparent material neither formed distinct renal crest nor renal pelvic. The left and right metanephroses were lobulated during the second trimester. During the third trimester, the left and right metanephros lost their lobulation.  The left and right metanephroses became different in shape and in other biometrical parameters

Pseudotumors in association with well-functioning metal-on-metal hip prostheses: a case-control study using three-dimensional computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.

Many papers have been published recently on the subject of pseudotumors surrounding metal-on-metal hip resurfacing and replacement prostheses. These pseudotumors are sterile, inflammatory lesions within the periprosthetic tissues and have been variously termed masses, cysts, bursae, collections, or aseptic lymphocyte-dominated vasculitis-associated lesions (ALVAL). The prevalence of pseudotumors in patients with a well-functioning metal-on-metal hip prosthesis is not well known. The purpose of this study was to quantify the prevalence of pseudotumors adjacent to well-functioning and painful metal-on-metal hip prostheses, to characterize these lesions with use of magnetic resonance imaging, and to assess the relationship between their presence and acetabular cup position with use of three-dimensional computed tomography

Neural superposition and oscillations in the eye of the blowfly

Neural superposition in the eye of the blowfly Calliphora erythrocephala was investigated by stimulating single photoreceptors using corneal neutralization through water immersion. Responses in Large Monopolar Cells (LMCs) in the lamina were measured, while stimulating one or more of the six photoreceptors connected to the LMC. Responses to flashes of low light intensity on individual photoreceptors add approximately linearly at the LMC. Higher intensity light flashes produce a maximum LMC response to illumination of single photoreceptors which is about half the maximum response to simultaneous illumination of the six connecting photoreceptors. This observation indicates that a saturation can occur at a stage of synaptic transmission which precedes the change in the post-synaptic membrane potential. Stimulation of single photoreceptors yields high frequency oscillations (about 200 Hz) in the LMC potential, much larger in amplitude than produced by simultaneous stimulation of the six photoreceptors connected to the LMC. It is discussed that these oscillations also arise from a mechanism that precedes the change in the postsynaptic membrane potential.

The GIP receptor displays higher basal activity than the GLP-1 receptor but does not recruit GRK2 or arrestin3 effectively.

Background and Objectives: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) are important regulators of insulin secretion, and their functional loss is an early characteristic of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Pharmacological levels of GLP-1, but not GIP, can overcome this loss. GLP-1 and GIP exert their insulinotropic effects through their respective receptors expressed on pancreatic β-cells. Both the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) and the GIP receptor (GIPR) are members of the secretin family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and couple positively to adenylate cyclase. We compared the signalling properties of these two receptors to gain further insight into why GLP-1, but not GIP, remains insulinotropic in T2DM patients. Methods: GLP-1R and GIPR were transiently expressed in HEK-293 cells, and basal and ligand-induced cAMP production were investigated using a cAMP-responsive luciferase reporter gene assay. Arrestin3 (Arr3) recruitment to the two receptors was investigated using enzyme fragment complementation, confocal microscopy and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Results: GIPR displayed significantly higher (P<0.05) ligand-independent activity than GLP-1R. Arr3 displayed a robust translocation to agonist-stimulated GLP-1R but not to GIPR. These observations were confirmed in FRET experiments, in which GLP-1 stimulated the recruitment of both GPCR kinase 2 (GRK2) and Arr3 to GLP-1R. These interactions were not reversed upon agonist washout. In contrast, GIP did not stimulate recruitment of either GRK2 or Arr3 to its receptor. Interestingly, arrestin remained at the plasma membrane even after prolonged (30 min) stimulation with GLP-1. Although the GLP-1R/arrestin interaction could not be reversed by agonist washout, GLP-1R and arrestin did not co-internalise, suggesting that GLP-1R is a class A receptor with regard to arrestin binding. Conclusions:: GIPR displays higher basal activity than GLP-1R but does not effectively recruit GRK2 or Arr3

Topological Image Texture Analysis for Quality Assessment

Image quality is a major factor influencing pattern recognition accuracy and help detect image tampering for forensics. We are concerned with investigating topological image texture analysis techniques to assess different type of degradation. We use Local Binary Pattern (LBP) as a texture feature descriptor. For any image construct simplicial complexes for selected groups of uniform LBP bins and calculate persistent homology invariants (e.g. number of connected components). We investigated image quality discriminating characteristics of these simplicial complexes by computing these models for a large dataset of face images that are affected by the presence of shadows as a result of variation in illumination conditions. Our tests demonstrate that for specific uniform LBP patterns, the number of connected component not only distinguish between different levels of shadow effects but also help detect the infected regions as well

Does a reduction in alcohol use by Dutch high school students relate to higher use of tobacco and cannabis?

Background: Substance use of adolescents was investigated in a region around Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in the period 2005-2009. The study was intended to find out to what extent behaviour related to different substances are interrelated and how trends develop in different subgroups. Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted among Dutch students in the second and fourth year of secondary school, aged 13-16 [n = 1,854 in 2005; n = 2,088 in 2009] by making use of an online questionnaire including questions about alcohol consumption, tobacco use (smoking behaviour) and cannabis use. Two educational levels were included. Results: Decreases in alcohol consumption, tobacco and cannabis use were found between 2005 and 2009. The strongest decline was seen in alcohol consumption. Last month drinking decreased from 61.8 % in 2005 to 36.5 % in 2009. Last month binge drinking decreased from 38.7 % in 2005 to 24.0 % in 2009. Reduced alcohol consumption was found among boys and girls, for all ages and in both educational levels. Changes were strongest among 13-year-olds. Weekly or daily smoking declined between 2005 and 2009 among 13-year-olds, girls and students in the lower schooling level. Last month cannabis use decreased among girls and students in the higher schooling level. In both 2005 and 2009 clustering with alcohol consumption was found for the use of other substances. Conclusions: Between 2005 and 2009 alcohol consumption strongly decreased among high school students. This may be due to the national prevention campaign which in the same period highlighted the importance of not drinking before the age of 16. The decrease in smoking and cannabis use between 2005 and 2009 may be due to clustering with alcohol consumption. A reduction in the use of alcohol in adolescence did not lead to replacement by tobacco or cannabis use