Patient perspective on the management of atrial fibrillation in five European countries

Bakhai A, Sandberg A, Mittendorf T, et al. Patient perspective on the management of atrial fibrillation in five European countries. In: BMC Cardiovascular Disorders. Vol 13. BMC; 2013

Living biointerfaces based on non-pathogenic bacteria to direct cell differentiation

Genetically modified Lactococcus lactis, non-pathogenic bacteria expressing the FNIII7-10 fibronectin fragment as a protein membrane have been used to create a living biointerface between synthetic materials and mammalian cells. This FNIII7-10 fragment comprises the RGD and PHSRN sequences of fibronectin to bind α5β1 integrins and triggers signalling for cell adhesion, spreading and differentiation. We used L. lactis strain to colonize material surfaces and produce stable biofilms presenting the FNIII7-10 fragment readily available to cells. Biofilm density is easily tunable and remains stable for several days. Murine C2C12 myoblasts seeded over mature biofilms undergo bipolar alignment and form differentiated myotubes, a process triggered by the FNIII7-10 fragment. This biointerface based on living bacteria can be further modified to express any desired biochemical signal, establishing a new paradigm in biomaterial surface functionalisation for biomedical applications

Stationary Black Holes: Uniqueness and Beyond

The spectrum of known black-hole solutions to the stationary Einstein equations has been steadily increasing, sometimes in unexpected ways. In particular, it has turned out that not all black-hole-equilibrium configurations are characterized by their mass, angular momentum and global charges. Moreover, the high degree of symmetry displayed by vacuum and electro-vacuum black-hole spacetimes ceases to exist in self-gravitating non-linear field theories. This text aims to review some developments in the subject and to discuss them in light of the uniqueness theorem for the Einstein-Maxwell system.Comment: Major update of the original version by Markus Heusler from 1998. Piotr T. Chru\'sciel and Jo\~ao Lopes Costa succeeded to this review's authorship. Significantly restructured and updated all sections; changes are too numerous to be usefully described here. The number of references increased from 186 to 32

Information exchange networks for chronic illness care in primary care practices: an observational study

Contains fulltext : 88018.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Information exchange networks for chronic illness care may influence the uptake of innovations in patient care. Valid and feasible methods are needed to document and analyse information exchange networks in healthcare settings. This observational study aimed to examine the usefulness of methods to study information exchange networks in primary care practices, related to chronic heart failure, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. METHODS: The study was linked to a quality improvement project in the Netherlands. All health professionals in the practices were asked to complete a short questionnaire that documented their information exchange relations. Feasibility was determined in terms of response rates and reliability in terms of reciprocity of reports of receiving and providing information. For each practice, a number of network characteristics were derived for each of the chronic conditions. RESULTS: Ten of the 21 practices in the quality improvement project agreed to participate in this network study. The response rates were high in all but one of the participating practices. For the analysis, we used data from 67 health professionals from eight practices. The agreement between receiving and providing information was, on average, 65.6%. The values for density, centralization, hierarchy, and overlap of the information exchange networks showed substantial variation between the practices as well as between the chronic conditions. The most central individual in the information exchange network could be a nurse or a physician. CONCLUSIONS: Further research is needed to refine the measure of information networks and to test the impact of network characteristics on the uptake of innovations

Bright ligand-activatable fluorescent protein for high-quality multicolor live-cell super-resolution microscopy

We introduce UnaG as a green-to-dark photoswitching fluorescent protein capable of high-quality super-resolution imaging with photon numbers equivalent to the brightest photoswitchable red protein. UnaG only fluoresces upon binding of a fluorogenic metabolite, bilirubin, enabling UV-free reversible photoswitching with easily controllable kinetics and low background under Epi illumination. The on- and off-switching rates are controlled by the concentration of the ligand and the excitation light intensity, respectively, where the dissolved oxygen also promotes the off-switching. The photo-oxidation reaction mechanism of bilirubin in UnaG suggests that the lack of ligand-protein covalent bond allows the oxidized ligand to detach from the protein, emptying the binding cavity for rebinding to a fresh ligand molecule. We demonstrate super-resolution single-molecule localization imaging of various subcellular structures genetically encoded with UnaG, which enables facile labeling and simultaneous multicolor imaging of live cells. UnaG has the promise of becoming a default protein for high-performance super-resolution imaging. Photoconvertible proteins occupy two color channels thereby limiting multicolour localisation microscopy applications. Here the authors present UnaG, a new green-to-dark photoswitching fluorescent protein for super-resolution imaging, whose activation is based on a noncovalent binding with bilirubin

Mailed Outreach Invitations Significantly Improve HCC Surveillance Rates in Patients With Cirrhosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147207/1/hep30129-sup-0001-Appendix.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147207/2/hep30129_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147207/3/hep30129.pd

English Language Proficiency and Geographical Proximity to a Safety Net Clinic as a Predictor of Health Care Access

Studies suggest that proximity to a safety net clinic (SNC) promotes access to care among the uninsured. Distance-based barriers to care may be greater for people with limited English proficiency (LEP), compared to those who are English proficient (EP), but this has not been explored. We assessed the relationship between distance to the nearest SNC and access in non-rural uninsured adults in California, and examined whether this relationship differs by language proficiency. Using the 2005 California Health Interview Survey and a list we compiled of California’s SNCs, we calculated distance between uninsured interviewee residence and the exact address of the nearest SNC. Using multivariate regression to adjust for other relevant characteristics, we examined associations between this distance and interviewee’s probability of having a usual source of health care (USOC) and having visited a physician in the prior 12 months. To examine differences by language proficiency, we included interactions between distance and language proficiency. Uninsured LEP adults living within 2 miles of a SNC were 9.3% less likely than their EP counterparts to have a USOC (P = 0.046). Further, distance to the nearest SNC was inversely associated with the probability of having a USOC among LEP, but not among EP; consequently, the difference between LEP and EP in the probability of having a USOC widened with increasing distance to the nearest SNC. There was no difference between LEP and EP adults living within 2 miles of a SNC in likelihood of having a physician visit; however, as with USOC, distance to the nearest SNC was inversely associated with the probability of having a physician visit among LEP but not EP. The effect sizes diminished, but remained significant, when we included county fixed effects in the models. Having LEP is a barrier to health care access, which compounds when combined with increased distance to the nearest SNC, among uninsured adults. Future studies should explore potential mechanisms so that appropriate interventions can be implemented

Genetic Diversity and Linkage Disequilibrium in Chinese Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Revealed by SSR Markers

Two hundred and fifty bread wheat lines, mainly Chinese mini core accessions, were assayed for polymorphism and linkage disequilibrium (LD) based on 512 whole-genome microsatellite loci representing a mean marker density of 5.1 cM. A total of 6,724 alleles ranging from 1 to 49 per locus were identified in all collections. The mean PIC value was 0.650, ranging from 0 to 0.965. Population structure and principal coordinate analysis revealed that landraces and modern varieties were two relatively independent genetic sub-groups. Landraces had a higher allelic diversity than modern varieties with respect to both genomes and chromosomes in terms of total number of alleles and allelic richness. 3,833 (57.0%) and 2,788 (41.5%) rare alleles with frequencies of <5% were found in the landrace and modern variety gene pools, respectively, indicating greater numbers of rare variants, or likely new alleles, in landraces. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that A genome had the largest genetic differentiation and D genome the lowest. In contrast to genetic diversity, modern varieties displayed a wider average LD decay across the whole genome for locus pairs with r2>0.05 (P<0.001) than the landraces. Mean LD decay distance for the landraces at the whole genome level was <5 cM, while a higher LD decay distance of 5–10 cM in modern varieties. LD decay distances were also somewhat different for each of the 21 chromosomes, being higher for most of the chromosomes in modern varieties (<5∼25 cM) compared to landraces (<5∼15 cM), presumably indicating the influences of domestication and breeding. This study facilitates predicting the marker density required to effectively associate genotypes with traits in Chinese wheat genetic resources