Notes

Introducing a strange fortune soon after dying: The particular singled out Eneolithic skull discovered in the Marcel Loubens Cavern (Bologna, N . Croatia).
Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major human pathogen that must adapt to unique nutritional environments in several host niches. The pneumococcus can metabolize a range of carbohydrates that feed into glycolysis ending in pyruvate, which is catabolized by several enzymes. We investigated how the pneumococcus utilizes these enzymes to metabolize different carbohydrates and how this impacts survival in the host. Loss of ldh decreased bacterial burden in the nasopharynx and enhanced bacteremia in mice. Loss of spxB, pdhC or pfl2 decreased bacteremia and increased host survival. Selleckchem mTOR inhibitor In glucose or galactose, loss of ldh increased capsule production, whereas loss of spxB and pdhC reduced capsule production. The pfl2 mutant exhibited reduced capsule production only in galactose. In glucose, pyruvate was metabolized primarily by LDH to generate lactate and NAD+ and by SpxB and PDHc to generate acetyl-CoA. In galactose, pyruvate metabolism was shunted toward acetyl-CoA production. The majority of acetyl-CoA generated by PFL was used to regenerate NAD+ with a subset used in capsule production, while the acetyl-CoA generated by SpxB and PDHc was utilized primarily for capsule biosynthesis. These data suggest that the pneumococcus can alter flux of pyruvate metabolism dependent on the carbohydrate present to succeed in distinct host niches.Introduction Cancer patients and caregivers have myriad unmet needs which can have detrimental consequences on their psychosocial wellbeing. This systematic review aims to identify the unmet supportive care needs of immigrant and native Chinese cancer patients and caregivers. Methods We systematically searched various electronic databases (e.g. Scopus, CINAHL, PsycInfo, etc.) from the earliest date available until January 2018. Additional studies were identified through reference lists and citation tracking. Eligibility criteria included (a) qualitative, quantitative and/or mixed methods studies published in English; (b) immigrant and native Chinese cancer patients and/or caregivers (age ≥18 years); (c) unmet needs and/or their correlates. Studies were assessed for their risk of bias, and a narrative synthesis of findings was performed. Results Forty-seven papers from 45 studies met eligibility criteria. The most prevalent area of unmet needs was health system and information. Patients most commonly desired one member of the hospital to talk to about all aspects of their care. Caregivers preferred information about the patient's prognosis and likely outcome. Anxiety was most commonly associated with higher levels of health system and information needs. Conclusion Chinese patients and caregivers experience a range of unmet health system and information needs, which differ depending on their stage along the cancer trajectory.Objective This study examined the prevalence of self-perceived burden (SPB) and its association with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among urologic cancer patients. Methods This was a prospective, cross-sectional study. A total of 429 respondents diagnosed with urologic cancers (prostate, bladder and renal cancer) from Sarawak General Hospital and Subang Jaya Medical Centre in Malaysia were interviewed by using a structured questionnaire. SPB and HRQoL were measured by the Self-perceived Burden Scale and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General 7 Item Scale respectively. Results and conclusion Self-perceived burden was experienced by 73.2% of the respondents. Respondents who had a lower education level, a monthly household income less then MYR 5,000, monthly household expenditures less then MYR 3,000 or whose Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG-PS) rating was higher and who faced medium to high subjective financial toxicity (FT) were more likely to experience low HRQoL, but not SPB, after adjustment for covariates. As medium to high subjective FT is significantly associated with high SPB and low HRQoL, future interventions should be prioritised to address subjective FT, which, in turn, would reduce SPB and improve HRQoL.Introduction Research has shown that social support has a significant impact on quality of life. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the relationship between perceived social support, perception of disease and quality of life, and the factors affecting these, in patients with cancer in Turkey. Methods The study data were collected from two hospitals. Data were collected using the face-to-face interview method from patients diagnosed with cancer between March and August 2018. No sampling was performed, and the entire population was studied. Results The mean age of the patients in the study was 61.37 ± 14.89 years. Married patients had better social support than single individuals (t = 2.129; p = 0.035). Significant negative correlation was found between the illness perception scale and total quality of life scale score (r = -0.163; p = 0.026), and physical well-being (r = -0.224; p = 0.002) and social well-being (r = -0.199; p = 0.006) subscales. Conclusion Patients' social support and quality of life were at moderate levels. Married participants had better social support than single participants, and operated participants had better social support than unoperated participants. As illness perception decreased, quality of life, physical well-being and social well-being increased.Tissue engineering is one of the potential fields in the domain of regenerative medicine. Engineered scaffolds are an excellent substitute for the conventional use of bone grafts as they are biocompatible, economic, and provide limitless supply with no risk of disease transmission. Gum-based scaffolds present a good scope for studying tissue-engineering models and analyzing controlled drug delivery. Uniform blending of the gums and the presence of the optimal concentration of appropriate crosslinkers are very crucial for biodegradability nature. Gum-based scaffolds containing gellan gum, xanthan gum, polyvinyl alcohol, and hydroxyapatite, cross-linked with either glutaraldehyde (GA) or sodium trimetaphosphate (STMP) were fabricated to study the efficiency of crosslinkers and were characterized for degradation profile, swelling capacity, porosity, mechanical strength, morphology, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared, and in vitro biocompatibility. Scaffolds crosslinked with STMP exhibited higher degradation rate at Day 21 than scaffolds crosslinked with GA.
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