Notes

Electrospun PLGA and PLGA/gelatin scaffolds for tubularized urethral alternative: Studies throughout vitro as well as in vivo.
These depictions from the area of Croatia contextualizing and filling in the gaps in verbal records on this topic in our region fit Croatia into an undoubted component of the European Judeo-Christian heritage and when it comes to rare iconographic depictions.Ibn Sina, better known to the Western medical historians by his Latin nickname Avicenna, is considered the third most important physician in medical history, along with the Greek physician Hippocrates and the Roman physician Galen. He was born around 980 in Afshona near Bukhara on the Silk Road in present-day Uzbekistan and died in 1037 in Hamadan near Tehran in present-day Iran. Among his greatest contributions to the development of medicine is his work entitled The Canon of Medicine, in which he summarized all the previous medical knowledge, which is why it has been used for centuries as a basic medical textbook. In recent times, in connection with the controversy over the naming of the medieval caliphate medicine, with the aim of formulating an inclusive term, which would not emphasize any involved group to the detriment of the others, paradoxically in the focus of the research of the in it interested historians of medicine, instead of the achievements of the individual doctors from the mentioned era, came the determination of their ethnic and religious affiliation, including Avicenna’s, all the more so because he came from the disputed area of the conflicts between different nations and opposing religions. In doing so, scientific discus-sions are increasingly joined by the erection of the representative architectural structures in the places related to the individual doctors, one of which is the representative Avicenna Museum in Afshona.
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a promising optical neuroimaging technique, measuring the hemodynamic signals from the cortex. However, improving signal quality and reducing artifacts arising from oscillation and baseline shift (BS) are still challenging up to now for fNIRS applications.

Considering the advantages and weaknesses of the different algorithms to reduce the artifact effect in fNIRS signals, we propose a hybrid artifact detection and correction approach.

First, distinct artifact detection was realized through an fNIRS detection strategy. Then the artifacts were divided into three categories BS, slight oscillation, and severe oscillation. A comprehensive correction was applied through three main steps severe artifact correction by cubic spline interpolation, BS removal by spline interpolation, and slight oscillation reduction by dual-threshold wavelet-based method.

Using fNIRS data acquired during whole night sleep monitoring, we compared the performance of our approach with existing algorithms in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and Pearson's correlation coefficient (R). We found that the proposed method showed improvements in performance in SNR and R with strong stability.

These results suggest that the new hybrid artifact detection and correction method enhances the viability of fNIRS as a functional neuroimaging modality.
These results suggest that the new hybrid artifact detection and correction method enhances the viability of fNIRS as a functional neuroimaging modality.Anticoagulant-related nephropathy (ARN) is a novel and not well-studied cause of acute kidney injury (AKI). The prevalence of ARN varies significantly between studies and is estimated at 20% in patients treated with warfarin. Patients with ARN have a significantly higher mortality risk and an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Unexplained AKI with hematuria are clinical manifestations of ARN. In most cases, ARN is diagnosed within the first 2 months of anticoagulant therapy, but later ARN occurrence is possible. Among the studied anticoagulants, most data concern warfarin toxicity, whereas cases of ARN caused by direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have also been presented. Tubular obstruction by red blood cell casts or hemoglobin and iron tubular toxicity are the postulated mechanisms of ARN. On the molecular level, the inhibition of thrombin and protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR-1), leading to endothelial susceptibility to damage or abnormal protein C endothelial signaling, is suggested to contribute to ARN. Older age, impaired kidney function, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus are the main risk factors for ARN, but their significance may differ between anticoagulants. From therapeutic options, the withdrawal of the anticoagulant and the administration of its antidote, as well as corticosteroids or N-acetylcysteine, are proposed. Since the number of patients with kidney diseases on anticoagulants increases, and DOACs are starting to be more useful in this group of patients, we aim to summarize the pathogenesis, clinical picture and possible ways of treatment of DOAC-induced ARN.
Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is a lifesaving procedure in malignant and nonmalignant diseases. However, it is associated with a considerable risk of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Steroids are a first-line therapy for acute GvHD (aGvHD), but there is no standard treatment for steroid-resistant (SR) gastrointestinal (GI) aGvHD, which has a poor prognosis. The anti-integrin antibody, vedolizumab, could help in controlling SR GI aGvHD symptoms by blocking lymphocyte extravasation and infiltration of the intestinal wall.

To report the outcomes of 3 children with SR GI aGvHD after allo-HSCT, treated with vedolizumab as the last chance drug.

The study included 3 patients aged from 8 to 10 years who underwent HSCT in Department of Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation, Oncology and Hematology at Wroclaw Medical University, Poland, and who developed severe SR GI aGvHD. All patients had grade IV SR aGvHD with GI stage 4 manifestation. Vedolizumab was given as salvage therapy after an ineffective treatment with etanercept, basiliximab, ruxolitinib, extracorporeal photopheresis, and mesenchymal stem cell infusions. Vedolizumab was administered intravenously at a dose of 300 mg.

Only 1 patient achieved GvHD remission and was alive and well 9 months after the discontinuation of the therapy. One child developed a relapse of malignant disease and eventually died, and the third child died of severe aGvHD.

Vedolizumab can be safely used in children with SR GI aGvHD, offering an additional chance for heavily pretreated patients. Prospective pediatric studies on both prophylactic and therapeutic use of the drug are warranted, according to the preliminary results.
Vedolizumab can be safely used in children with SR GI aGvHD, offering an additional chance for heavily pretreated patients. Prospective pediatric studies on both prophylactic and therapeutic use of the drug are warranted, according to the preliminary results.
Electrophysiological diagnosis of cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is based on the evaluation of cardiovascular autonomic reflex tests (CARTs). CARTs are relatively time consuming and must be performed under standardized conditions. This study aimed to determine whether thermal quantitative sensory testing (TQST) can be used as a screening tool to identify patients with diabetes at a higher risk of CAN.

Eighty-five patients with diabetes and 49 healthy controls were included in the study. Neurological examination, CARTs, TQST, biochemical analyses, and neuropathy symptom questionnaires were performed.

CAN was diagnosed in 46 patients with diabetes (54%). CAN-positive patients with diabetes had significantly higher warm detection thresholds (WDT) and significantly lower cold detection thresholds (CDT) in all tested regions (thenar, tibia, and the dorsum of the foot). CDT on the dorsum<21.8°C in combination with CDT on the tibia<23.15°C showed the best diagnostic ability in CAN prediction, with 97.4 % specificity, 60.9% sensitivity, 96.6% positive predictive value, and 67.3% negative predictive value.

TQST can be used as a screening tool for CAN before CART.
TQST can be used as a screening tool for CAN before CART.
Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a major type of large vessel vasculitis characterized by progressive inflammation in vascular layers. In our recent study we identified a central role of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) hyperactivity in proinflammatory T cell differentiation in TA. This study was undertaken to explore potential mechanisms underpinning T cell-intrinsic mTOR hyperactivity and vascular inflammation in TA, with a focus on Notch-1.

Notch-1 expression and activity was determined according to Notch-1, activated Notch-1, and HES-1 levels. We detected mTOR activity with intracellular expression of phosphorylated ribosomal protein S6. Differentiation of proinflammatory T cells was analyzed by detecting Th1 and Th17 lineage-determining transcription factors. The function of Notch-1 was evaluated using γ-secretase inhibitor DAPT and gene knockdown using a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) strategy. We performed our translational study using humanized NSG mouse chimeras in which human vasculitis was induced u a promising therapeutic strategy for the clinical management of TA.
Although the obesity paradox is a topic of immense interest for oncologists and epidemiologists, the mechanism underlying this unexpected benefit of obesity is poorly understood. We explored the prognostic value of obesity and its association with skeletal muscle mass.

This retrospective study evaluated the data of patients who underwent surgical excision for lung adenocarcinoma between January 2011 and December 2015. Body mass index was categorized according to the criteria of the Asia-Pacific classification. Cross-sectional areas of the skeletal muscle, subcutaneous fat, and visceral fat were measured. Skeletal muscle mass status was defined based on the cut-offs of skeletal muscle index (cm
/m
), calculated as the area of skeletal muscle divided by height squared. Overall survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences in survival probabilities were compared using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was conducted to determine the association with ov interaction=0.512).

Obesity was associated with favourable overall survival, independent of skeletal muscle mass, after surgical excision of lung adenocarcinoma.
Obesity was associated with favourable overall survival, independent of skeletal muscle mass, after surgical excision of lung adenocarcinoma.In this work, Pt@CeO2 catalysts with a nanorod structure (Pt@CeO2 -R) and a bunch structure (Pt@CeO2 -B) were synthesized through an in-situ encapsulation strategy of Pt species in Ce-MOFs, respectively. It was discovered that the Pt@CeO2 -R catalyst possessed the best catalytic performance for toluene catalytic combustion, and this result was mainly caused by the confinement of Pt nanoparticles in Ce-MOFs, which was related to the chemical state of Pt species, redox ability, and the amount of active oxygen species. The Pt@CeO2 -R catalyst contained more Ce3+ species, rich Pt4+ species, and abundant active oxygen species due to the existence of the confined effect, which was conducive to promote catalytic oxidation of toluene. GDC-0077 concentration In addition, the Pt@CeO2 -R catalyst also exhibited more redox ability, which may speed up the catalytic reaction rates. On the contrary, the Pt/CeO2 -R catalyst was synthesized through a simple impregnation method and exhibited the poor activity for toluene catalytic combustion due to poor Pt4+ species and active oxygen species.
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