Notes

A manuscript Application regarding Gait Evaluation: Validation Examine with the Smart Sole PODOSmart®.
The benefit of a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) is not certain for older patients, particularly in the surgical context.

The objective of this study was to identify the factors associated with an unfavourable outcome in this population.

Prospective, descriptive, monocentric study conducted in the surgical ICU of a French university hospital.

Patients aged ≥75 years admitted in the surgical ICU for a predicted length of stay ≥48 hours were included. Patients received an initial and a 6-months nutritional and functional assessment performed by physicians and nurses. The outcome was considered as favourable if the Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) variation (ADL delta=6-months ADL - ICU admission ADL) was between 0 and -0.5 point 6 months after ICU discharge and unfavourable if the ADL delta decreased by more than 0.5 points or if the patient had died 6 months after ICU discharge.

Fifty-six patients-32 (57%) male-aged 79 [77; 83]y were included. ICU mortality was 19%; 6-month mortality was 22%. Median ADL delta was -0.5 [-0.5-0] points. A low ADL score (P=.0438) and a low albumin level (P=.0213) at admission were the two independent factors associated with an unfavourable outcome.

Mortality and loss of independence were high in this elderly population during and after their surgical ICU stay. The benefit of a systematic collaboration between intensive care specialists, ICU nurses, and geriatricians, to assess and manage nutritional and functional problems and to prevent a pejorative outcome in patients over 75 years old admitted in surgical ICU needs to be studied.

There should be systematic screening for objective markers of undernutrition and frailty on ICU admission of older patients as they are associated with a poor prognosis.
There should be systematic screening for objective markers of undernutrition and frailty on ICU admission of older patients as they are associated with a poor prognosis.
HHV-8/Kaposi Sarcoma herpesvirus has been associated with a broad spectrum of diseases in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. Primary donor-derived infection can be associated with severe and rapidly fatal non-neoplastic disease, and diagnosis is made with high HHV-8 DNAemia.

We carried out an international survey to investigate the current approach to HHV-8 screening, and management in SOT since a protocol has not been established by international guidelines.

A total of 51 transplant centers from 15 countries filled out the survey. HHV-8-associated diseases in SOT have been diagnosed during the previous 5 years in 67% of centers. Pretransplant serological screening is performed in 17 centers (33%), and posttransplant HHV-8 nucleic acid testing (NAT) monitoring is performed in 21 centers (41%). Performing HHV-8 NAT monitoring and serological screening were found associated with having diagnosed in the previous 5 years a non-malignant HHV-8-associated disease.

Serological pretransplant screening of donors and recipients and post-transplant HHV-8 NAT monitoring recommendations should be standardized. check details Even though serological assays are not optimal, they could contribute to increasing knowledge on epidemiology and management of HHV-8-associated diseases after SOT.
Serological pretransplant screening of donors and recipients and post-transplant HHV-8 NAT monitoring recommendations should be standardized. Even though serological assays are not optimal, they could contribute to increasing knowledge on epidemiology and management of HHV-8-associated diseases after SOT.We report the liquid-crystalline (LC) and luminescent properties of a series of N-annulated perylenes (1-4) in whose molecular structures amide and ester groups alternate. We found that the LC properties of these compounds not only depend on the number of hydrogen-bonding units, but also on the relative position of the amide linkers in the molecule. The absence of amide groups in compound 1 leads to no LC properties, whereas four amide groups induce the formation of a wide temperature range columnar hexagonal phase in compound 4. Remarkably, compound 3, with two amide groups in the inner part of the structure, stabilizes the columnar LC phases better than its structural isomer 2, with the amide groups in the outer part of the molecule. Similarly, we found that only compounds 1 and 2, which have no hydrogen bonding units in the inner part of the molecule, exhibit luminescence vapochromism upon exposure to organic solvent vapors.
Patients with a jejunostomy or high output stoma may need a glucose-sodium oral rehydration solution drink to maintain hydration. These solutions are unpalatable and a new flavoured pre-packaged solution was developed.

After 8 h of fasting, 27 patients took 500 mL of the modified World Health Organization (WHO) cholera solution or Glucodrate® (Vitaflo) on two occasions in a cross-over random order and urine and stomal output was collected for 6 h.

There was a small but significant difference in net sodium absorption in favour of the modified WHO cholera solution (10 ± 28 mmol modified WHO cholera solution vs. -1 ± 26 mmol Glucodrate®, p = 0.01). However the Glucodrate® was more palatable, with 24 patients (89%) preferring it to the modified WHO cholera solution (p < 0.005).

Glucodrate® is a more palatable solution than the modified WHO cholera solution and is almost as effective and so can be used when patients find the modified WHO cholera solution unpalatable.
Glucodrate® is a more palatable solution than the modified WHO cholera solution and is almost as effective and so can be used when patients find the modified WHO cholera solution unpalatable.
Chemotherapy-induced nausea is challenging to predict and treat. Research indicates that pretreatment psychological variables including patients' perceptions of their susceptibility to nausea, expectancies of treatment-related nausea and nausea history (i.e., motion sickness, morning sickness and baseline levels of nausea) may aid in predicting nausea severity during chemotherapy. However, this research is dated and limited in quantity. We investigated whether psychological variables could improve prediction of nausea severity to inform interventions targeting chemotherapy-induced nausea.

In this secondary analysis, a subgroup of women receiving chemotherapy (for the first time) for breast cancer completed pretreatment measures perceived nausea susceptibility, nausea expectancies, nausea history and baseline nausea. They rated subsequent nausea severity across 4-days, during treatment and posttreatment in a self-report diary. Structural Equation Modelling was used to explore associations.

Across the women (N = 481), perceived nausea susceptibility predicted subsequent nausea severity (β = 0.16), but nausea expectancies did not (β = 0.05). Nausea history variables demonstrated small-moderate associations with perceived susceptibility (β = 0.21-0.32) and negligible-small associations with nausea expectancies (β = 0.07-0.14).

Perceived nausea susceptibility appears to capture patients' nausea history, to a degree, and is related to nausea severity during treatment. This is an important variable to include in pretreatment prediction of patients at risk of severe nausea.
Perceived nausea susceptibility appears to capture patients' nausea history, to a degree, and is related to nausea severity during treatment. This is an important variable to include in pretreatment prediction of patients at risk of severe nausea.Individualized treatment of acute stroke depends on the timely detection of ischemia and potentially salvageable tissue in the brain. Using functional MRI (fMRI), it is possible to characterize cerebral blood flow from blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals without the administration of exogenous contrast agents. In this study, we applied spatial independent component analysis to resting-state fMRI data of 37 stroke patients scanned within 24 hr of symptom onset, 17 of whom received follow-up scans the next day. Our analysis revealed "Hypoperfusion spatially-Independent Components" (HICs) whose spatial patterns of BOLD signal resembled regions of delayed perfusion depicted by dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI. These HICs were detected even in the presence of excessive patient motion, and disappeared following successful tissue reperfusion. The unique spatial and temporal features of HICs allowed them to be distinguished with high accuracy from other components in a user-independent manner (area under the curve = 0.93, balanced accuracy = 0.90, sensitivity = 1.00, and specificity = 0.85). Our study therefore presents a new, noninvasive method for assessing blood flow in acute stroke that minimizes interpretative subjectivity and is robust to severe patient motion.
The derivation of neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has been commonly induced by WNT activation in combination with dual-SMAD inhibition. In this study, by fine-tuning BMP signalling in the conventional dual-SMAD inhibition, we sought to generate large numbers of NCSCs without WNT activation.

In the absence of WNT activation, we modulated the level of BMP signalling in the dual-SMAD inhibition system to identify conditions that efficiently drove the differentiation of hPSCs into NCSCs. We isolated two NCSC populations separately and characterized them in terms of global gene expression profiles and differentiation ability.

Our modified dual-SMAD inhibition containing a lower dose of BMP inhibitor than that of the conventional dual-SMAD inhibition drove hPSCs into mainly NCSCs, which consisted of HNK
p75high and HNK
p75low cell populations. We showed that the p75high population formed spherical cell clumps, while the p75low cell population generated a 2D monolayer. We detected substantial differences in gene expression profiles between the two cell groups and showed that both p75high and p75low cells differentiated into mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), while only p75high cells had the ability to become peripheral neurons.

This study will provide a framework for the generation and isolation of NCSC populations for effective cell therapy for peripheral neuropathies and MSC-based cell therapy.
This study will provide a framework for the generation and isolation of NCSC populations for effective cell therapy for peripheral neuropathies and MSC-based cell therapy.
The present study examined the effect of a herbal supplement containing a Gynostemma pentaphyllum (Gpp) extract (ActivAMP®) with respect to improving body composition in overweight males and females.

One-hundred and seventeen men and women aged over 18years completed 16 weeks of daily supplementation with either Gpp or a placebo. Participants underwent dual-energy X-rays to assess body composition (fat mass, lean mass and mass distribution), as well as anthropometric measures (weight, height, hip and waist circumference), in addition to blood tests to assess inflammatory and safety markers.

Following 16 weeks of treatment, the Gpp group had a significant reduction in total body weight, body mass index, total fat mass and gynoid fat mass compared to the placebo group. Blood measures showed plasma triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase and tumour necrosis factor-α to be statistically different between groups at week 16. Subgroup analysis of gender for fat distribution showed males in the Gpp group had a significant reduction in visceral fat compared to males in the placebo group and females in the Gpp group had a significant reduction in gynoid fat compared to the placebo group.
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