769 research outputs found
Percutaneous suction and irrigation for the treatment of recalcitrant pyogenic spondylodiscitis.
The primary management of pyogenic spondylodiscitis is conservative. Once the causative organism has been identified, by blood culture or biopsy, administration of appropriate intravenous antibiotics is started. Occasionally patients do not respond to antibiotics and surgical irrigation and debridement is needed. The treatment of these cases is challenging and controversial. Furthermore, many affected patients have significant comorbidities often precluding more extensive surgical intervention. The aim of this study is to describe early results of a novel, minimally invasive percutaneous technique for disc irrigation and debridement in pyogenic spondylodiscitis.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Additional Link above to access the full-text via the publisher's sit
Human RSPO1/R-spondin1 Is Expressed during Early Ovary Development and Augments β-Catenin Signaling
Human testis development starts from around 42 days post conception with a transient wave of SRY expression followed by up-regulation of testis specific genes and a distinct set of morphological, paracrine and endocrine events. Although anatomical changes in the ovary are less marked, a distinct sub-set of ovary specific genes are also expressed during this time. The furin-domain containing peptide R-spondin1 (RSPO1) has recently emerged as an important regulator of ovary development through up-regulation of the WNT/β-catenin pathway to oppose testis formation. Here, we show that RSPO1 is upregulated in the ovary but not in the testis during critical early stages of gonad development in humans (between 6–9 weeks post conception), whereas the expression of the related genes WNT4 and CTNNB1 (encoding β catenin) is not significantly different between these tissues. Furthermore, reduced R-spondin1 function in the ovotestis of an individual (46,XX) with a RSPO1 mutation leads to reduced β-catenin protein and WNT4 mRNA levels, consistent with down regulation of ovarian pathways. Transfection of wild-type RSPO1 cDNA resulted in weak dose-dependent activation of a β-catenin responsive TOPFLASH reporter (1.8 fold maximum), whereas co-transfection of CTNNB1 (encoding β-catenin) with RSPO1 resulted in dose-dependent synergistic augmentation of this reporter (approximately 10 fold). Furthermore, R-spondin1 showed strong nuclear localization in several different cell lines. Taken together, these data show that R-spondin1 is upregulated during critical stages of early human ovary development and may function as a tissue-specific amplifier of β-catenin signaling to oppose testis determination
Spinal infection: state of the art and management algorithm
Spinal infection is a rare pathology although a concerning rising incidence has been observed in recent years. This increase might reflect a progressively more susceptible population but also the availability of increased diagnostic accuracy. Yet, even with improved diagnosis tools and procedures, the delay in diagnosis remains an important issue. This review aims to highlight the importance of a methodological attitude towards accurate and prompt diagnosis using an algorithm to aid on spinal infection management.
METHODS:
Appropriate literature on spinal infection was selected using databases from the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
RESULTS:
Literature reveals that histopathological analysis of infected tissues is a paramount for diagnosis and must be performed routinely. Antibiotic therapy is transversal to both conservative and surgical approaches and must be initiated after etiological diagnosis. Indications for surgical treatment include neurological deficits or sepsis, spine instability and/or deformity, presence of epidural abscess and upon failure of conservative treatment.
CONCLUSIONS:
A methodological assessment could lead to diagnosis effectiveness of spinal infection. Towards this, we present a management algorithm based on literature findings
First measurement of as an inclusive test of the anomaly
We measure the tau-to-light-lepton ratio of inclusive -meson branching
fractions , where indicates an electron or muon, and thereby test
the universality of charged-current weak interactions. We select events that
have one fully reconstructed meson and a charged lepton candidate from
of electron-positron collision data collected with the
Belle II detector. We find , in agreement with standard-model expectations. This
is the first direct measurement of
Measurement of branching fractions and direct asymmetries for and decays at Belle II
We report measurements of the branching fractions and direct
asymmetries of the decays , , , and , and use these for testing the standard
model through an isospin-based sum rule. In addition, we measure the branching
fraction and direct asymmetry of the decay and
the branching fraction of the decay . The data are
collected with the Belle II detector from collisions at the
resonance produced by the SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy collider
and contain bottom-antibottom meson pairs. Signal yields are
determined in two-dimensional fits to background-discriminating variables, and
range from 500 to 3900 decays, depending on the channel. We obtain for the sum rule, in agreement with the standard model
expectation of zero and with a precision comparable to the best existing
determinations
Measurement of asymmetries in decays with Belle II
We present a measurement of time-dependent rate asymmetries in decays to search for non-standard-model physics in transitions. The data sample is collected with the Belle II
detector at the SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy collider in 2019-2022
and contains bottom-antibottom mesons from
resonance decays. We reconstruct signal events and
extract the charge-parity () violating parameters from a fit to the
distribution of the proper-decay-time difference of the two mesons. The
measured direct and mixing-induced asymmetries are
and , respectively, where the first
uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The results are
compatible with the asymmetries observed in
transitions
Observation of decays using the 2019-2022 Belle II data sample
We present a measurement of the branching fractions of four decay modes. The measurement is based on data from
SuperKEKB electron-positron collisions at the resonance
collected with the Belle II detector and corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of . The event yields are extracted from fits
to the distributions of the difference between expected and observed meson
energy to separate signal and background, and are efficiency-corrected as a
function of the invariant mass of the system. We find the branching
fractions to be: where the first uncertainty is statistical and
the second systematic. These results include the first observation of
, , and decays and a significant improvement in the precision
of compared to previous measurements
Measurement of the -lepton mass with the Belle~II experiment
We present a measurement of the -lepton mass using a sample of about
175 million events collected with the Belle II
detector at the SuperKEKB collider at a center-of-mass energy of
. This sample corresponds to an integrated
luminosity of . We use the kinematic edge of the
pseudomass distribution in the decay and
measure the mass to be , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second
systematic. This result is the most precise to date
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