Notes

Anomalous Diffusion in Dipole- and also Higher-Moment-Conserving Programs.
Ketamine is increasingly used in clinical practice, and ketamine addiction is common in young individuals. There are limited reviews on the chronic effects of ketamine on the testes. Three groups of rats received saline or ketamine 50 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally for 6 weeks with or without a subsequent 4-week drug-free period. Serum follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin, and testosterone levels, as well as testicular malondialdehyde concentrations, were measured. Epididymal sperm parameters were assessed. Testicular tissues were examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemical staining using caspase-3 and vimentin antibodies. Chronic ketamine injection significantly decreased the levels of the examined hormones and adversely affected sperm parameters. Testicular tissue showed a significant increase in caspase-3 expression. In addition, Sertoli cell shape and position were disrupted. These effects disappeared 4 weeks after drug withdrawal. Chronic ketamine treatment has revisable hazardous effects on the rat reproductive function. There is a need to increase the knowledge of physicians and the public regarding these harmful effects of ketamine.Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to produce polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins which are used in many consumer products. Most people encounter BPA in their daily routines. However, it has been heavily reported that BPA has a neurotoxic effect. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of lycopene on cognitive deficits induced by a high dose of BPA focusing on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and memory retrieval in adult male rats. Therefore, 72 rats were divided into four groups control group, BPA group (50 mg/kg body weight (bw)) 3 days a week for 42 days, lycopene group (10 mg/kg bw) daily for 42 days, and lycopene + BPA group. Concurrent treatment of lycopene with BPA improved the learning and cognition memory in Morris water maze and novel object recognition tests along with an increase in acetylcholine esterase activity as well as inhibition of oxidative stress by restoring reduced glutathione and suppressing malondialdehyde hippocampal level to their normal levels. Mechanistically, lycopene upregulated the protein expression of tyrosine receptor kinase B, which resulted in an upsurge in its downstream cascades MAPK/ERK1/2/cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB)/brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling pathway in the hippocampus of BPA-intoxicated rats. Furthermore, concurrent treatment of lycopene with BPA prevented apoptosis by marked decrease in Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax) gene expression and caspase 3 activity while restoring B-cell leukemia/lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) gene expression. In conclusion, the present study provided evidence that lycopene exerted a neuroprotective effect against BPA intoxication in hippocampi of rats via its antioxidant properties, activation of MAPK/ERK pathway, and inhibiting a neuronal apoptosis which reflected on improving the learning and cognition memory.Public health groups, researchers, the beverage alcohol industry, and other stakeholders have promoted and applied the concept of "responsible drinking" for the past 50 years. However, little is known about the state of the existing responsible drinking evaluation research and its application to policy and practice. This project provides a scoping review of studies evaluating responsible drinking interventions. Two primary research questions guided this investigation (1) To what extent have authors attempted to define the concept of responsible drinking while evaluating responsible drinking interventions? and (2) What is the state of the responsible drinking intervention evaluation literature? We retrieved 49 peer-reviewed articles that evaluated interventions designed to promote "responsible drinking." Four articles provided, or attempted to provide, an explicit definition of responsible drinking; these four definitions lacked consensus. The existing responsible drinking interventions varied considerably in terms of the messages they attempted to convey (e.g., avoid binge drinking, use protective behavioral strategies, stick to relatively safe drinking limits), again suggesting lack of consensus. We observed greater consensus concerning the approach to evaluating responsible drinking interventions studies typically recruited college students to complete brief, well-controlled experiments and measured potential predictors of drinking behavior (e.g., attitudes, expectancies, intentions) rather than actual drinking behavior. We discuss limitations of this methodological approach and the need for greater consensus regarding the concept of responsible drinking.Purpose Anecdotally a higher pelvic incidence (PI) confers a 'deeper' pelvis with the potential for challenging access, yet this is ill-defined in the existing literature. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship of sacropelvic sagittal parameters and their relationship with the projection angle (PA), an indicator of access to and orientation of the lumbosacral disc with respect to the pelvis and identify a threshold PI value beyond which more difficult surgical access may be anticipated.Materials and methods Computed tomography (CT) scans taken for trauma were studied. Measures including the PI, sacral kyphosis (SK), sacral table angle (STA), PA and anterior pelvic angle (APA) were taken. The PA is the angle subtended by a line from the apex of the pubic symphysis to the sacral promontory and a line running along the sacral endplate. A positive value is obtained when the line from the endplate runs superior to the symphysis.Results 168 scans were reviewed, mean age 44.2 years (s.d. 18.4). The mean PI was 50.0 (s.d. 10.2), SK 24.4 (s.d. 12.3), and STA 102.0 (s.d. 6.1). The mean PA was 20.1 (range -14 to 46; s.d. 10.3). PA correlated with PI (R = -0.892; p  less then  .001) and also SK (R = -0.760; p  less then  .001). With PI values above 73 the PA is likely to be negative with the lumbosacral disc orientation falling behind the pubic symphysis. One-way analysis of variance showed differences in PA according the six subclasses of PI.Conclusion The PA, as an indicator of the orientation of the lumbosacral disc with respect to the pelvis, correlated strongly with the PI. Patients with high PI are more likely to have a lumbosacral disc with trajectory falling behind the pubic symphysis and surgeons should closely analyse pelvic anatomy, particularly in patients with high PI.Clinical trials embedded in health systems can randomize large populations using automated data sources to determine trial eligibility and assess outcomes. The suicide prevention outreach trial used real-world data for trial design and randomized 18,868 individuals in four health systems using patient-reported thoughts of death or self-harm (Patient Health Questionnaire item 9). This took 3.5 years. We consider if using predictive analytics, that is, suicide risk estimates based on prediction models, could improve trial "efficiency." We used data on mental health outpatient visits between 1 January 2009 and 30 September 2017 in seven health systems (HealthPartners; Henry Ford Health System; and Colorado, Hawaii, Northwest, Southern California, and Washington Kaiser Permanente regions). We used a suicide risk prediction model developed in these same systems. We compared five trial designs with different eligibility criteria a response of a 2 or 3 on Patient Health Questionnaire item 9, a response of a 3, suicirate 3.95%). Eligibility criterion of a Patient Health Questionnaire item 9 response of a 2 or 3 would require randomizing 44,081 individuals (40.2% of eligible population in our sample); eligibility criterion of a 3 would require 31,024 individuals (62.0% of eligible population). Eligibility criterion of a suicide risk score of 90th percentile or higher would require 45,675 individuals (13.8% of eligible population), 95th percentile 28,699 individuals (15.7% of eligible population), and 99th percentile 15,509 (19.7% of eligible population). A suicide risk prediction calculator could improve trial "efficiency"; identifying more individuals at increased suicide risk than relying on patient-report. It is an open scientific question if individuals identified using predictive analytics would respond differently to interventions than those identified by more traditional means.Introduction There is limited research regarding the benefits of mind-body practices such as meditation in hospitalized patients with an active diagnosis of any cancer type. Methods We conducted a prospective, randomized, clinical trial (NCT03445572) comparing 2 meditative practices-Isha Kriya (IK) and meditative slow breathing (MSB)-versus wait-list controls in hospitalized cancer patients. Our aim was to determine the feasibility of meditation practice in cancer inpatients. Feasibility was defined as recruitment of more than 50% of the eligible patients approached and at least 60% of the patients having meditated at least 4 days by day 7. Acceptability was assessed on day 7 as a positive response on at least 2 questions on the modified Global Symptom Evaluation (GSE) scale. Results Forty patients (39% of the eligible patients approached) consented to participate in the study and were randomly assigned to the MSB (n = 13), IK (n = 14), or wait-list (n = 13) groups. Of the 27 patients assigned to receive MSB and IK meditations, day 7 data were available for 18 patients. Fifteen of the 18 patients meditated at least once in the first 7 days, and most (12/15) responded positively on the GSE. Conclusion Both IK and MSB meditations were acceptable among the hospitalized cancer patients. Feasibility for enrollment and practice was likely not achieved due to limited uninterrupted time for daily meditation, high levels of morbidity in some participants, and limited research staff support. Shorter term outcomes should be explored in future meditation studies involving hospitalized cancer patients.Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complex metabolic disease and it is also closely associated with a reduction in fertility in male patients. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the antidiabetic effect of carvacrol (CRV), as a potent antioxidant, on the numbers of germ cells and Sertoli cells in testicular tissue, and the messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression of some genes involved in spermatogenesis, including luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor (LHCGR), follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR), and steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1), as well as hormones such as luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone (T), and insulin. Adult male Wistar rats (n = 32) were randomly divided into four groups (eight animals per group), including healthy control that received 0.2% Tween 80, diabetic control group, the diabetic group treated orally with CRV (75 mg/kg), and CRV group that received orally CRV (75 mg/kg). The duration of the treatment period lasted 8 weeks. In the diabetic group, the numbers of Sertoli cells and germ cells were significantly decreased, while the treatment with CRV prevented the degree of the damage to the cells mentioned earlier. CRV administration elevated the concentrations of insulin, T, FSH, and LH. Moreover, treatment with CRV significantly enhanced the levels of the mRNA and protein expression of SF-1, LHCGR, and FSHR. According to the obtained results, CRV administration could prevent the deleterious effects of DM on testicular germ cells, and it increases the levels of hormones and some essential genes, such as SF-1, LHCGR, and FSHR, involved in the process of spermatogenesis.
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