Notes

Feasibility involving nasal NO screening in healthy infants.
The current challenge on renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is to finding a non-invasive biomarker for improving their diagnostic and therapeutic management. In the present study, we analyzed the clinical value of plasma levels of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and RNA (cfRNA) of two genes glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate-dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT).

We recruited 82 patients with RCC, and 20 healthy subjects. Using RT-PCR techniques, plasma levels of cfDNA and cfRNA from hTERT and GAPDH genes were quantified pre- and post-operatively, and one year after surgery. Relationships between such plasma levels and clinicopathological features and evolution of disease were analyzed.

Levels of GAPDH cfDNA and cfRNA were significantly higher in patients than in healthy subjects. hTERT cfDNA was detected in plasma from 35% of RCC patients and in none healthy subject. At diagnosis, plasma levels of GAPDH cfDNA were higher in advanced pT and TNM stages, and hTERT cfDNA in patients with 3-4 Fuhrman grade and affected lymph nodes. Levels of cfNAs were not related to the presence of metastasis. Following nephrectomy, GAPDH cfDNA levels dropped, and patients with higher levels before and after nephrectomy, showed lower overall survival (OS). However, Cox's multivariate model did not prove any association of the cfNA levels with progression.

Plasma levels of cfDNA from GADPH and hTERT genes were correlated to tumor diagnosis and progression and, thus, such analyses might help to diagnosis and prognosis of RCC patients.
Plasma levels of cfDNA from GADPH and hTERT genes were correlated to tumor diagnosis and progression and, thus, such analyses might help to diagnosis and prognosis of RCC patients.
The efficacy of thrombolytic therapy with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is highly time dependent. Although clinical guidelines do not recommend written informed consent as it may cause treatment delays, local policy can supersede and require it. From 2014 to 2017, three out of five public hospitals in Singapore changed from written to verbal consent at different time points. We aimed to examine the association of hospital policy changes regarding informed consent on door-to-needle (DTN) times.

Using data from the Singapore Stroke Registry and surveys of local practice, we analyzed data of 915 acute ischemic stroke patients treated with tPA within 3 hours in all public hospitals between July 2014 to Dec 2017. Patient-level DTN times before and after policy changes were examined while adjusting for clinical characteristics, within-hospital clustering, and trends over time.

Patient characteristics and stroke severity were similar before and after the policy changes. Overall, the median DTN times decreased from 68 to 53 minutes after the policy changes. After risk adjustment, changing from written to verbal informed consent was associated with a 5.6 minutes reduction (95% CI 1.1-10.0) in DTN times. After the policy changed, the percentage of patients with DTN ≤60 minutes and ≤45 minutes increased from 35.6% to 66.1% (adjusted OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.12-2.74) and 9.3% to 36.0% (adjusted OR 2.42; 95% CI 1.37-4.25), respectively.

Changing from written to verbal consent is associated with significant improvement in the timeliness of tPA administration in acute ischemic stroke.
Changing from written to verbal consent is associated with significant improvement in the timeliness of tPA administration in acute ischemic stroke.
Perforator stroke is one of the most common complications of vertebrobasilar arterial stenting. We investigated whether perforator stroke after vertebrobasilar arterial stenting is associated with plaque enhancement in patients with severe vertebrobasilar artery stenosis.

We studied patients with symptomatic vertebrobasilar arterial stenosis who underwent stenting from January 2017 to July 2020. Patients who underwent high resolution magnetic resonance imaging were recruited among them. Demographic data, risk factors of atherosclerosis, procedure details, and characteristics of imaging were extracted from electronic health records and imaging data. Plaque features were investigated by high resolution magnetic resonance imaging.

136 patients were enrolled in this study, 39 of whom fulfilled the inclusion criteria. 18 patients (46.2%) had obvious plaque enhancement among the 39 patients, and 21 (53.8%) had plaque non-enhancement. 21 patients (53.8%) had diffuse distribution, and 22 patients (56.4%) had irregular plaques surface. Patients were divided into plaque enhanced and plaque non-enhanced groups according to the degree of plaque enhancement. Clinical characteristics and other plaque features were similar between two groups. Procedure-related perforator stroke was identified in 4 patients (10.3%). Patients with plaque enhancement were more likely to have perforator stroke after stenting compared with those with plaque non-enhancement (22.2% versus 0%, P = 0.037).

Plaque enhancement in high resolution magnetic resonance imaging may be associated with perforator stroke after vertebrobasilar artery stenting.
Plaque enhancement in high resolution magnetic resonance imaging may be associated with perforator stroke after vertebrobasilar artery stenting.Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) may result from mutations in genes encoding for innate immunity, which can lead to exacerbated inflammatory response. Although some mono-targeted treatments have developed in recent years, IBDs are caused through several pathway perturbations. Therefore, targeting all these pathways is difficult to be achieved by a single agent. Moreover, those mono-targeted therapies are usually expensive and may cause side-effects. These limitations highlight the significance of an available, inexpensive and multi-targeted dietary agents or natural compounds for the treatment and prevention of IBDs. Curcumin is a multifunctional phenolic compound that is known for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. ADT-007 Over the past decades, mounting experimental investigations have revealed the therapeutic potential of curcumin against a broad spectrum of inflammatory diseases including IBDs. Furthermore, it has been reported that curcumin directly interacts with many signaling mediators implicated in the pathogenesis of IBDs.
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