A Case of Late-Onset Gemcitabine Lung Toxicity

Gemcitabine is a chemotherapeutic agent used for the treatment of a number of malignancies. Although its major dose-limiting side effect is myelosuppression, many pulmonary toxicities have been described with its use. Severe pulmonary toxicity is rare, but symptoms tend to be rapid in onset and potentially deadly. The average time from initiation of chemotherapy to onset of symptoms is less than two months. The most effective therapy is steroid administration, the efficacy of which has been variable. In this report, we describe a unique case of gemcitabine pulmonary toxicity in a patient who did not experience symptoms of pulmonary dysfunction until after 1 year of treatment. Her symptoms did not improve rapidly with steroids, nor did she rapidly decompensate as has been frequently described. To our knowledge, this is one of the first reported descriptions of late-onset gemcitabine lung toxicity

Acoustic emission method for defect detection and identification in carbon steel welded joints.

Detecting welding defects in industrial equipment (welded joints and built-up structures) is a key aspect in evaluating the probability of failure in different situations. Acoustic emission (AE) is an effective non-destructive detecting technique, and can be a promising application for welding defect detection. This work presents a systematic experimental investigation on using AE technique for detecting and classifying different weld defects in carbon steel joint material. Four certified carbon steel samples were used in this study. A defect free control sample was used as the reference and three samples with induced defects, namely slag, porosity and crack. A pencil lead break (PLB) test was used to generate simulated AE sources on one side of the joint whereas the AE sensor was mounted on the other side to capture AE signals. A total of four experimental arrangements were used to investigate the effect of propagating distance (sensor to source distance) on the ability of AE to detect and identify defects in welds. For each of these arrangements, AE features such as peak amplitude, rise time, decay time, duration, and count numbers along with statistical features such as AE energy, root mean square (RMS) were extracted and analysed. Also, frequency analysis using FFT and wavelet transform were investigated for each weld test specimen for all arrangements. The results show that AE energy, peak amplitude and RMS value can be used to automatically detect and identify the presence of a defect in carbon steel welds. It is concluded that AE has a considerable potential in use in welding inspection to assess the overall structural health and identify defects that can significantly reduce the strength and reliability of welded material and consequently reduce the risk of component's failure

Substantial consequences and factors leading towards construction project success and failure

The phenomenon on the incompletion of construction projects in Malaysia is something very common at the moment. But to a more positive note, there are also successful projects which has been established in a large scale over the years. When there is an existence of such success, yet the project failures are yet to be apprehended as well. Whether the most appropriate measures have been taken in curbing this problem is yet to be sure off, looking at the existence of project failures. Therefore, this paper gives an outlook on the current situation of abandoned projects in Malaysia, and also takes a look on the factors on both success and failures of projects, where the essential information on this was obtained from statistics provided by Ministry of Housing and Local Government, and also based on the comparison matrix that was established from the causes identified by researches from other countries, including Malaysia itself. Some of the information that was able to gather from this was the types of causes with its ranking from the most to the least, and other underlying factors and driving keys on the successful completion of projects. The outlook on the failures and success of a project could be an absolute strategy that could be implemented in the effort towards restoration of abandoned projects in Malaysia, and in other countries as well which are also experiencing the same adverse situation

Synapsin condensation controls synaptic vesicle sequestering and dynamics

Neuronal transmission relies on the regulated secretion of neurotransmitters, which are packed in synaptic vesicles (SVs). Hundreds of SVs accumulate at synaptic boutons. Despite being held together, SVs are highly mobile, so that they can be recruited to the plasma membrane for their rapid release during neuronal activity. However, how such confinement of SVs corroborates with their motility remains unclear. To bridge this gap, we employ ultrafast single-molecule tracking (SMT) in the reconstituted system of native SVs and in living neurons. SVs and synapsin 1, the most highly abundant synaptic protein, form condensates with liquid-like properties. In these condensates, synapsin 1 movement is slowed in both at short (i.e., 60-nm) and long (i.e., several hundred-nm) ranges, suggesting that the SV-synapsin 1 interaction raises the overall packing of the condensate. Furthermore, two-color SMT and super-resolution imaging in living axons demonstrate that synapsin 1 drives the accumulation of SVs in boutons. Even the short intrinsically-disordered fragment of synapsin 1 was sufficient to restore the native SV motility pattern in synapsin triple knock-out animals. Thus, synapsin 1 condensation is sufficient to guarantee reliable confinement and motility of SVs, allowing for the formation of mesoscale domains of SVs at synapses in vivo

TETANUS IMMUNIZATION AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN: COVERAGE RATE AND RATE OF PROTECTION AT TIME OF DELIVERY

Objective: Even though attempts have been effectively applied to eradicate the neonatal tetanus through widespread childhood vaccination and improved conditions at delivery, it remains major cause of infant mortality and continues a problem of public health in developing countries including Yemen.  The aims of this study were to determine the tetanus immunization status, the association between the risk factors and failure of protection in pregnant women at time of delivery. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 476 women seeking care for delivery at Al Thawra Modern General Hospital and Al Sabain Hospital, women age ranged from 16-49 years old. Immunization information and factors affecting it were obtained through a standard questionnaire. Serum samples were collected and level of IgG antibody against Clostridium tetani was measured by ELISA technique. Protected women were defined as those with serum antibody levels >or=0.6 IU/ml. Results: The total vaccine covering rate of tetanus was 87%, and maternal vaccine rate was 33.6%, the protective rate at time of delivery was 68.5%. There were significant association between unvaccinated (OR=18.6), older ages (OR=1.7), rural residency (OR=34) and malaria infection during pregnancy (OR=2.9); with protection failure in pregnant women at time of delivery. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the total vaccine coverage rate and antenatal tetanus vaccine rate were insufficient. In addition, the protective rate at time of delivery was low and large numbers of neonate are susceptible to neonatal tetanus and death. Vaccinating every pregnant woman with at least one dose of TT would be an affordable and effective way to protect against neonatal tetanus, and would be a step toward eliminating the deaths that continue to occur due to this preventable disease in Yemen.                                           Peer Review History: Received 2 February 2018;   Revised 21 February; Accepted 1 March, Available online 15 March 2019 Academic Editor: Dr. Marwa A. A. Fayed, University of Sadat City, Egypt, [email protected] UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file:        Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 5.5/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 8.5/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Dr. Ahmad Abdelsattar El-Ebiary, Tanta University Hospitals, Tanta, Egypt, [email protected] Dr. George Zhu, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, [email protected] Comments of reviewer(s):  Similar Articles: THE PREVALENCE OF VULVOVAGINAL CANDIDIASIS IN PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING SEVERAL HOSPITALS IN SANA’A, YEMEN PREVALENCE OF CYTOMEGALOVIRUS IGG ANTIBODIES, POTENTIAL RISK FACTORS AND AWARENESS OF CONGENITAL CYTOMEGALOVIRUS AMONG FEMALE DOCTOR

Penggambaran superhero pada tokoh Deadpool dalam film Deadpool

Deadpool merupakan film superhero yang diproduksi oleh Marvel Studio pada tahun 2016. Film ini menceritakan sosok superhero yang memiliki sisi lain dari superhero pada umumnya. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melihat bagaimana tanda-tanda penggambaran superhero pada tokoh Deadpool dalam film Deadpool. Superhero merupakan sosok yang memiliki kekuatan diluar nalar manusia dan mereka selalu menutupi identitasnya. Metode analisis semiotika Charles Sanders Pierce digunakan untuk meneliti tanda penggambaran pada tokoh Deadpool dalam film Deadpool. Melalui tanda-tanda yang muncul dalam film Deadpool, peneliti menemukan bahwa menjadi superhero tidak harus menjadi sosok yang sempurna baik fisik maupun sifatnya. Selain itu film ini mempertegas bahwa menjadi superhero hanya membutuhkan kemauan yang kuat, jiwa kepahlawanan yang besar dan usaha yang maksimal

An intellectual-disability-associated mutation of the transcriptional regulator NACC1 impairs glutamatergic neurotransmission

Advances in genome sequencing technologies have favored the identification of rare de novo mutations linked to neurological disorders in humans. Recently, a de novo autosomal dominant mutation in NACC1 was identified (NM_052876.3: c.892C > T, NP_443108.1; p.Arg298Trp), associated with severe neurological symptoms including intellectual disability, microcephaly, and epilepsy. As NACC1 had never before been associated with neurological diseases, we investigated how this mutation might lead to altered brain function. We examined neurotransmission in autaptic glutamatergic mouse neurons expressing the murine homolog of the human mutant NACC1, i.e., Nacc1-R284W. We observed that expression of Nacc1-R284W impaired glutamatergic neurotransmission in a cell-autonomous manner, likely through a dominant negative mechanism. Furthermore, by screening for Nacc1 interaction targets in the brain, we identified SynGAP1, GluK2A, and several SUMO E3 ligases as novel Nacc1 interaction partners. At a biochemical level, Nacc1-R284W exhibited reduced binding to SynGAP1 and GluK2A, and also showed greatly increased SUMOylation. Ablating the SUMOylation of Nacc1-R284W partially restored its interaction with SynGAP1 but did not restore binding to GluK2A. Overall, these data indicate a role for Nacc1 in regulating glutamatergic neurotransmission, which is substantially impaired by the expression of a disease-associated Nacc1 mutant. This study provides the first functional insights into potential deficits in neuronal function in patients expressing the de novo mutant NACC1 protein

The antecedents of biliary cancer: a primary care case–control study in the United Kingdom

In a case–control study using a large UK primary care database, we found that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs had no protective effect against biliary carcinomas (cholangiocarcinoma and gall bladder cancer). Increased risks were observed for cigarette smoking, diabetes, gallstone disease and obesity