Notes

Calculating the outcomes of the COVID-19 tremendous spreader: A stochastic type of a night out and about.
ention and emotion.Bodily sensation mapping (BSM) is a recently developed self-report tool for the assessment of emotions in which people draw their sensations of activation in a body silhouette. Following the circumplex model of affect, activity and valence are the underling dimensions of every emotional experience. The aim of this study was to introduce the neglected valence dimension in BSM. We found that participants systematically report valence-related sensations of bodily lightness for positive emotions (happiness, love, pride), and sensations of bodily heaviness in response to negative emotions (e.g., anger, fear, sadness, depression) with specific body topography (Experiment 1). Further experiments showed that both computers (using a machine learning approach) and humans recognize emotions better when classification is based on the combined activity- and valence-related BSMs compared to either type of BSM alone (Experiments 2 and 3), suggesting that both types of bodily sensations reflect distinct parts of emotion knowledge. Importantly, participants found it clearer to indicate their bodily sensations induced by sadness and depression in terms of bodily weight than bodily activity (Experiment 2 and 4), suggesting that the added value of valence-related BSMs is particularly relevant for the assessment of emotions at the negative end of the valence spectrum.Plasma amino acids reflect the dynamics of amino acids in organs and their levels have clinical significance. Amino acids as clinical indicators have been evaluated as a mixture of D- and L-amino acids because D-enantiomers are believed to be physiologically nonexistent. However, it has become clear that some D-amino acids are synthesized by endogenous enzymes and symbiotic bacteria. Here, using a two-dimensional HPLC system, we measured enantiomers of all proteinogenic amino acids in plasma and urine and analyzed for correlation with other biochemical parameters in humans who underwent health checkups at our institutional hospital. Four D-amino acids (D-asparagine, D-alanine, D-serine, and D-proline) were detected in the plasma, amounting to less than 1% of the quantities of L-amino acids, but in the urine at several tens of percent, showing that D-amino acids have much higher fractional excretion than their L-counterparts. Detected plasma D-amino acids and D-/L-amino acid ratios were well correlated with renal parameters, such as blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and cystatin C. On the other hand, a set of plasma L-amino acids were associated with body mass index and correlated with metabolic parameters such as liver enzymes, lipids, blood glucose, and uric acid. Thus, chiral resolution of plasma amino acids revealed totally different associations of the enantiomers with organ functions, and warrants further investigation for clinical and laboratory usefulness.
This study aims to investigate how emotional information and pain-related information affect the activity of the masticatory muscles in participants with awake bruxism and controls.

Different videos and texts, with positive, negative, and neutral valence or related to pain, were presented to a sample of university students, while their electromyographic (EMG) activity around the masseter muscle and their skin conductance were recorded. Two groups were selected, with 24 subjects each one group of subjects with definitive awake bruxism (confirmed by posterior EMG activity) who also suffered from moderate jaw discomfort, and another group of subjects without bruxism.

The results demonstrated that the subjects with definitive awake bruxism displayed greater muscular activity when presented videos and texts with negative valence, especially when related to pain, than the non-bruxist group.

This study supports the idea that persons with bruxism who also suffer moderate levels of jaw discomfort present greater bruxism activity when watching pain-related stimuli, and to a lesser extent when watching negative stimuli.

The increased muscular activity induced by negative and pain-related information might contribute to pain exacerbation and perpetuation in persons with bruxism who suffer from discomfort.
The increased muscular activity induced by negative and pain-related information might contribute to pain exacerbation and perpetuation in persons with bruxism who suffer from discomfort.
Serum increase of nitrogenous compounds (NC) in cirrhotic patients has been associated with the development of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). However, the relation between NC in saliva and HE is unclear. The objective of this study is to measure the levels of nitric oxide and urea in the blood and saliva in 38 cirrhotic patients and correlate them with clinical characteristics and presence and grades of HE.

Automated enzymatic colourimetric assays were performed to determine the levels of NC. Diagnosis and severity of HE were determined based on the West Haven criteria and by using the inhibitory control test.

HE was diagnosed in 89.47% of the patients, with the majority (60.50%) presenting covert HE. With regard to the measurement of NC, although nitric oxide is moderately correlated with its amount in blood and saliva (r = 0.630; P < 0.001), only salivary levels were associated with the presence of ascites and ecchymosis (P = 0.013 and P = 0.030, respectively). In patients with HE, the serum levels of urea were higher (P = 0.013) than those in patients without HE or minimal HE.

Nitrogenous compounds in the saliva were correlated with neither the presence nor grades of HE, whereas in the blood, only urea was positively correlated with the severity and presence of HE.

Saliva is an excellent fluid for diagnosing several diseases, but it does not seem to be able to collaborate with the identification of HE.
Saliva is an excellent fluid for diagnosing several diseases, but it does not seem to be able to collaborate with the identification of HE.The successful experiences of HER2 inhibitors in patients with HER2 ( +) breast cancer (BC) and advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA) have encouraged us to continuously explore the HER2 status and its potential as a therapeutic target in primary mucinous ovarian carcinoma (mOC). Using 49 primary mOC samples, we compared the assay characteristics of HER2 status between both 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists (ASCO/CAP) for GEA and 2018 ASCO/CAP for BC guideline recommendations. We demonstrated moderate to strong agreement between their HER2 IHC results (Weighted Kappa = 0.78) and perfect agreement between their HER2 FISH results (Kappa = 1.00). The overall concordance of non-equivocal HER2 IHC and HER2 FISH results was 97.56% (kappa = 0.93) by 2017 ASCO/CAP for GEA criteria and 100% (kappa = 1.00) by 2018 ASCO/CAP for BC criteria. The number (n = 8; 16.32%) of HER2 IHC equivocal (score + 2) by 2017 ASCO/CAP for GEA criteria was twofold higher than that (n = 4; 8.16%) by 2018 ASCO/CAP for BC criteria. Additionally, we identified one false-positive (FP) case (n = 1; 2.04%) that was HER2 IHC positive (score + 3), but HER2 FISH non-amplified result by the 2017 ASCO/CAP for GEA criteria. In conclusion, owing to the absence of FP/ FN and fewer equivocal cases of HER2 IHC, we recommend that the 2018 ASCO/CAP for BC are more appropriate than 2017 ASCO/CAP for GEA criteria in appraising the HER2 status in mOC and justifying the inclusion of eligible subjects for basket clinical trials of the newly developmental anti-HER2 treatments.
Anterior bilateral sacrospinous ligament fixation (ABSSLF) was first described in 2000 but only evaluated in a limited number of studies. However, due to the FDA's ban on transvaginal mesh, interest in this technique has re-emerged. The SSLF procedure is known for its inherent high risk for anterior compartment failure; hence, in our center we started performing a preemptive concomitant anterior repair with the intention to reduce such risk. The aim of this study was to review the feasibility and clinical outcomes of this innovative technique.

We performed a retrospective cohort study of all the women who had an ABSSLF and a concomitant anterior native tissue repair between May 2019 and July 2020 in a tertiary hospital in France. Our primary endpoint was surgical feasibility, while as secondary endpoints we wanted to explore the perioperative morbidities and clinical outcomes associated with this technique.

A total of 50 women were operated on in the studied period. The median follow-up time was 10 [8.5ative transvaginal surgical approaches are needed.
Sacrocolpopexy is considered mainstay treatment for apical or vaginal vault prolapse and is currently most often performed via a minimally invasive approach. Although mesh-related complications after this procedure are uncommon, mesh exposure can have an important impact on the patient's quality of life. Our objective is to perform a literature review on this complication post laparoscopic or robotic sacrocolpopexy.

Web of Science and MEDLINE databases were searched for relevant articlespublished between 2005 and 2021. We retrieved 272 articles of which 83 ultimately were withheld.

Minimally invasive sacrocolpopexy (MISC) implies a low risk of mesh exposure, which is currently estimated at 3.5%. Literature however is marked by substantial methodological heterogeneity. Controversy remains in the debate over prevention of mesh exposure after MISC. Performing a concomitant total hysterectomy is associated with an increased risk compared to subtotal hysterectomy or hysteropexy. Treatment of mesh exposure isn increased morbidity.
To examine the changes induced by electroacupuncture in stress urinary incontinence (SUI) rats, including the urodynamics and collagen degradation-related cytokine molecular biological expression changes, and to explore the effect and mechanism of EA treatment in SUI.

Female SPF Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to five groups (n = 10) sham, model, electroacupuncture control, electroacupuncture, and blocker. The leak point pressure (LPP) and maximum bladder capacity (MBC) were measured for each group of rats, and collagen I, collagen III, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMPs) in the anterior vaginal wall of rats in each group were determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. The data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance or Kruskal-Wallis test.

Electroacupuncture Shenshu (BL23) and Huiyang (BL35) increased the LPP and MBC in SUI rats (P < 0.05). Electroacupuncture treatment significantly increased the protein expression of collagen I and collagen III in the anterior vaginal wall of SUI rats (P < 0.05) and significantly reduced the protein expression of MMP1, MMP2, and MMP9 (P < 0.05).

Electroacupuncture stimulation can alleviate the signs of SUI, and its mechanism is related to the degradation of collagen in the anterior vaginal wall.
Electroacupuncture stimulation can alleviate the signs of SUI, and its mechanism is related to the degradation of collagen in the anterior vaginal wall.
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