Arsenic, Organic Foods, and Brown Rice Syrup

Background: Rice can be a major source of inorganic arsenic (Asi) for many sub-populations. Rice products are also used as ingredients in prepared foods, some of which may not be obviously rice based. Organic brown rice syrup (OBRS) is used as a sweetener in organic food products as an alternative to high-fructose corn syrup. We hypothesized that OBRS introduces As into these products

Infective endocarditis with Lactococcus garvieae in Japan: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p><it>Lactococcus garvieae </it>is a well-recognized fish pathogen, and it is considered a rare pathogen with low virulence in human infection. We describe the 11th case of <it>L. garvieae </it>infective endocarditis reported in the literature, and the first reported case in Japan.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a 55-year-old Japanese woman who had native valve endocarditis with <it>L. garvieae</it>. The case was complicated by renal infarction, cerebral infarction, and mycotic aneurysms. After anti-microbial treatment, she was discharged from the hospital and is now well while being monitored in the out-patient clinic.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We encountered a case of <it>L. garvieae </it>endocarditis that occurred in a native valve of a healthy woman. The 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing was useful for the identification of this pathogen. Although infective endocarditis with <it>L. garvieae </it>is uncommon, it is possible to treat high virulence clinically.</p

Is measurement of stone surface area necessary for SWL treatment of nonstaghorn calculi?

Background and purpose: The size of urinary tract stones is usually assessed by the longest diameter (LD) alone. Logically, however, two-dimensional measurement of the stone surface area (SSA) susceptible to shockwaves would give more useful information for the planning of treatment by extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL). This has been shown for staghorn calculi. The aim of this study was to determine for nonstaghorn kidney and ureter stones whether the LD alone identifies as reliably a subgroup of patients with a stone of a certain size as does the SSA. Furthermore, we sought to determine whether the LD alone indicates as reliably the number of patients who would be rendered stone free after one SWL session within a certain subgroup as would the SSA. Patients and Methods: Retrospectively, SWL treatment and radiographic data of 330 patients who had undergone SWL for a single stone were analyzed. Results: Ureteral stones were significantly smaller on average, and ureteral stone patients needed fewer SWL treatment sessions and fewer shockwaves to become stone free. Stratification of both kidney and ureteral stones by either LD or SSA resulted in comparable groups of patients. There were no significant differences in patient, stone, or treatment data. More importantly, the stone-free rates after one treatment did not differ significantly. Conclusion: The LD does accurately reflect the size of a nonstaghorn kidney or ureteral stones. Therefore, the measurement of LD, as generally practiced, appears clinically sufficient and appropriate for the assessment of stone size prior to SWL in both kidney and ureteral stones

PLAGER-VG: platform for managing educational multiplayer video games

Information and communication technologies, in general, and multimedia systems, in particular, are currently incorporated into the learning processes with certain normality. Furthermore, the scientific community agrees that video games, as a specific expression of these technologies, present additional benefits that improve many student skills. In an educational context which uses video games as learning tools, the need for a well-defined framework to develop effective educational games seems evident. However, most educational games are not supported by specific architectures; perhaps because the existing ones do not include fundamental aspects such as collaboration, adaptation or gameplay, or its conceptual language is hardly understandable to the educational team. With the aim of fill this gap, we here describe the architecture PLAGER-VG to design, execute, monitor and adapt collaborative learning processes supported by video games, focusing the paper in the design and personalization aspects. PLAGER-VG is a modular platform composed of five sub-systems which allows incrementally designing video games and using them, as well as integrating a video game with other related to it. In particular, we propose the Design Sub-system for managing the educational game design process and the Personalization Sub-system for adapting the gameplay, and therefore the educational process, to the needs of students. The architecture has been considered during the development of several video games and a set of thirty teachers have expressed their acceptance regarding the main elements of PLAGER-VG