Prophylaxis for venous thromboembolic disease in pregnancy and the early postnatal period

Some women are at risk of forming blood clots in a deep vein during pregnancy, after a caesarean birth, or during the first few weeks after childbirth. If part of the clot breaks off and lodges in a blood vessel in the lungs, it can be life-threatening. Preventive treatments include blood-thinning drugs to prevent clots, support stockings, and exercise soon after the birth to keep circulation moving. However, some drugs might cause problems such as increased blood loss after the birth. Drugs used include heparin, low molecular weight heparin and aspirin. We included 16 randomised controlled studies in the review but only 13 trials with 1774 women contributed data for the outcomes of interest. We did not find enough evidence from the trials to be sure about the effects of these different preventive treatments.This means there is not enough evidence to show which are the best ways to prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT) during or following pregnancy, or after a caesarean birth

Lead-free piezoceramics - Where to move on?

Lead-free piezoceramics aiming at replacing the market-dominant lead-based ones have been extensively searched for more than a decade worldwide. Some noteworthy outcomes such as the advent of commercial products for certain applications have been reported, but the goal, i.e., the invention of a lead-free piezocermic, the performance of which is equivalent or even superior to that of PZT-based piezoceramics, does not seem to be fulfilled yet. Nevertheless, the academic effort already seems to be culminated, waiting for a guideline to a future research direction. We believe that a driving force for a restoration of this research field needs to be found elsewhere, for example, intimate collaborations with related industries. For this to be effectively realized, it would be helpful for academic side to understand the interests and demands of the industry side as well as to provide the industry with new scientific insights that would eventually lead to new applications. Therefore, this review covers some of the issues that are to be studied further and deeper, so-to-speak, lessons from the history of piezoceramics, and some technical issues that could be useful in better understanding the industry demands. As well, the efforts made in the industry side will be briefly introduced for the academic people to catch up with the recent trends and to be guided for setting up their future research direction effectively.ope

Non-Human Primate Model of Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Infection

Since Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV or human herpesvirus 8) was first identified in Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) lesions of HIV-infected individuals with AIDS, the basic biological understanding of KSHV has progressed remarkably. However, the absence of a proper animal model for KSHV continues to impede direct in vivo studies of viral replication, persistence, and pathogenesis. In response to this need for an animal model of KSHV infection, we have explored whether common marmosets can be experimentally infected with human KSHV. Here, we report the successful zoonotic transmission of KSHV into common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus, Cj), a New World primate. Marmosets infected with recombinant KSHV rapidly seroconverted and maintained a vigorous anti-KSHV antibody response. KSHV DNA and latent nuclear antigen (LANA) were readily detected in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and various tissues of infected marmosets. Remarkably, one orally infected marmoset developed a KS-like skin lesion with the characteristic infiltration of leukocytes by spindle cells positive for KSHV DNA and proteins. These results demonstrate that human KSHV infects common marmosets, establishes an efficient persistent infection, and occasionally leads to a KS-like skin lesion. This is the first animal model to significantly elaborate the important aspects of KSHV infection in humans and will aid in the future design of vaccines against KSHV and anti-viral therapies targeting KSHV coinfected tumor cells

Macromolecular Scaffolding: The Relationship Between Nanoscale Architecture and Function in Multichromophoric Arrays for Organic Electronics

Contains fulltext : 83567.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)8 p

Deregulation of IGF-binding proteins -2 and -5 contributes to the development of endocrine resistant breast cancer in vitro

Tamoxifen (TAM) remains the adjuvant therapy of choice for pre-menopausal women with ERα-positive breast cancer. Resistance and recurrence remain, however, a major challenge with many women relapsing and subsequently dying. The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis is involved in breast cancer pathogenesis and progression to endocrine resistant disease, but there is very little data on the expression and potential role of IGF-binding proteins (IGFBP) during acquisition of the resistant phenotype. The aim of this study was to determine the expression and functional role of IGFBP-2 and -5 in the development of TAM resistance (TamR) in vitro and to test retrospectively whether they were predictive of resistance in a tissue microarray of 77 women with primary breast cancers who relapsed on/after endocrine therapy and 193 who did not with long term follow up. Reciprocal expression of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-5 was observed at both mRNA and protein level in TamR cells. IGFBP-2 expression was increased by 10-fold while IGFBP-5 was decreased by 100-fold, compared to TAM sensitive control cells. shRNA-mediated silencing of IGFBP-2 in TamR cells restored TAM sensitivity suggesting a causal role for this gene in TamR. While silencing of IGFBP-5 in control cells had no effect on TAM sensitivity, it significantly increased the migratory capacity of these cells. Quantitative image analysis of immunohistochemical data failed, however, to demonstrate an effect of IGFBP2 expression in endocrine relapsed patients. Likewise, IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-5 expression failed to show any significant associations with survival either in patients relapsing or those not relapsing on/after endocrine therapy. By contrast, in silico mining of a separate published dataset showed that in patients who received endocrine treatment, loss of expression of IGBP-5 was significantly associated with worse survival. Overall these data suggest that co-ordinated and reciprocal alteration in IGFBP-2 and –5 expression may play a role in the acquisition of endocrine resistance

Structure and electrical properties in the K1/2Bi1/2TiO3-K1/2Bi1/2ZrO3 solid solution (KBT-KBZ)

International audienceThe present work is devoted to the study of the Zr 4þ /Ti 4 substitution in the K1/2Bi1/2Ti(1-x)ZrxO3 solid solution (x ¼ 0.0 to x ¼ 1.0), based upon the K1/2Bi1/2TiO3 (KBT) ferroelectric compound. The tetragonal distortion of KBT is suppressed by this substitution and leads to the cubic compound K1/2Bi1/2ZrO3 (KBZ). These results agree with the values of the ionic radii of the Zr 4þ and Ti 4 ions (rTi 4þ ¼ 0.605 A˚ and rZr 4þ ¼ 0.72 A˚ ). Close to KBT (x 0.05), the symmetry remains tetragonal. For higher values of x, the ''a'' lattice parameter (cubic indexing) follows Vegard's law, thus confirming the formation of a solid solution. The transformation from tetragonal to cubic proceeds via an intermediate pseudocubic symmetry (0.1 x < 0.5), for which the X-ray diffraction peaks present small broadening and asymmetry. For x 0.5 and up to the KBZ compound (a 4.158 A˚ ), the samples are cubic but some extra peaks are also observed, indicating the occurrence of a secondary phase. The microstructure shows fine-grained ceramic samples for the first range, while for the KBZ-rich range the grains are micrometer-sized and associated to very small grains of the secondary phase. Piezoelectricity is observed for the tetragonal and pseudocubic range, the substitution quickly reducing the piezoelectric properties. The measurement of the dielectric properties revealed close to KBT a dielectric anomaly probably associated to the tetragonal-cubic phase transition. For thepseudocubic and cubic range, a broad dielectric anomaly is observed around 300 8C, corresponding to a relaxor behavior