This clinical case is showing a potential synergistic neuroprotective interaction of Cerebrolysin and high doses of aspirin. The case describes the significant recovery of neurological deficits in a patient with moderate ischemic stroke caused by right posterior cerebral artery thrombosis after treatment with Cerebrolysin in combination with aspirin

A child with a A350V IQSEC2 missense mutation resulting in drug resistant epilepsy stops having seizures when he has a fever. We demonstrate that raising the body temperature of the child using a commercial Jacuzzi dramatically reduces his seizures and appears to improve his social behavioral interactions.

The denatured state of several proteins has been shown to display transient structures that are relevant for folding, stability and aggregation. To detect them by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the denatured state must be stabilized by chemical agents or changes in temperature. This makes the environment different from that experienced in biologically relevant processes. Using high-resolution heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy, we have characterized several denatured states of a monomeric variant of HIV-1 protease induced by different concentrations of urea, guanidinium chloride and acetic acid. We have extrapolated the chemical shifts and the relaxation parameters to the denaturant-free denatured state at native conditions, showing that they converge to the same values. Subsequently, we characterized the conformational properties of this biologically relevant denatured state under native conditions by advanced molecular dynamics simulations and validated the results by comparison to experimental data. We show that the denatured state of HIV-1 protease under native conditions displays rich patterns of transient native and non-native structures, which could be of relevance to its guidance through a complex folding process.

This study aimed to compare the infection dynamics of three genotype II African swine fever viruses (ASFV) circulating in Europe. Eighteen domestic pigs divided into three groups were infected intramuscularly or by direct contact with two haemadsorbent ASFVs (HAD) from Poland (Pol16/DP/ OUT21) and Estonia (Est16/WB/Viru8), and with the Latvian non-HAD ASFV (Lv17/WB/Rie1). Parameters such as symptoms, pathogenicity, and distribution of the virus in tissues, humoral immune response, and dissemination of the virus by blood, oropharyngeal and rectal routes were investigated. The Polish ASFV caused a case of rapidly developing fatal acute disease, while the Estonian ASFV caused acute to subacute infections in the presence of surviving animals. In contrast, animals infected with the ASFV from Latvia developed a more subtle, mild, or even subclinical disease. Oral excretion was sporadic or even absent in the attenuated group, whereas in animals that developed an acute or subacute form of ASF, oral excretion began at the same time as in the blood, or even 3 days earlier, and persisted up to 22 days. Regardless of virulence, blood was the main route of transmission of ASFV and infectious virus was isolated from persistently infected animals for at least 19 days in the attenuated group and up to 44 days in the group of moderate virulence. Rectal excretion was limited to the acute phase of infection. In terms of diagnostics, the ASFV genome was detected in contact pigs from oropharyngeal samples earlier than in blood, independently of virulence and, together with blood, both samples could cover a longer range to detect ASFV infection. The results presented here provide quantitative data on the spread and excretion of ASFV strains of different virulence among domestic pigs that can help to better focus surveillance activities and thus increase the ability to detect ASF introductions earlier.

Conjugated open ended cones in which the configured pentagons are consistent, lies in the circle of Fries Kekule structure [8]. This non-adjacent tightest configuration of pentagons as shown in the Fig. 1 is consistent with a Fries Kekule structure and thus provides the most stable cone. In the study, various topological indices of the same structure in regard of physico-concoction resources and bioactivity of substance mixtures are studied which further helps to study the behavior of chemical compounds. In this regard, Zagreb indices M_1^* (G) and M_2^* (G) of a molecular graph G are used to evaluate the complexity in chemical systems and biological organisms. In this manuscript, we consider two complex families of stable carbon nanocones and compute their ECI, TEI and eccentricity-based Zagreb indices.

We located ‘hidden’ S-character chirality in formally achiral glycine using a vector-based interpretation of the total electronic charge density distribution. We induced the formation of stereoisomers in glycine by the application of an electric field. Control of chirality was indicated from the proportionate response to a non-structurally distorting electric field. The bond-flexing was determined to be a measure of bond strain, which could be a factor of three lower or higher, depending on the direction of the electric field, than in the absence of the electric field. The bond-anharmonicity was found to be approximately independent of the electric field. We also compared the formally achiral glycine with the chiral molecules alanine and lactic acid, quantifying the preferences for the S and R stereoisomers. The proportional response of the chiral discrimination to the magnitude and direction of the applied electric field indicated use of the chirality discrimination as a molecular similarity measure.

von Willebrand disease is a hereditary disease associated with a tendency to bleed and it is important to reduce the possibility of bleeding in a procedure. This case describes the use of a hemostatic factor, Factor VIII concentrate (Confact F®), during a dental procedure involving teeth extraction and implant placement.

In this article, we aimed to elaborate a universal clinical multidisciplinary protocol in order to facilitate the management of the peg-shaped maxillary lateral incisors, via a case of two upper lateral incisors affected by microdontia. A meticulous clinical analysis, wax up and mock up are crucial to ensure optimal rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to determine nicotine dependence levels in pre and during pandemic and its correlations with COVID-19 phobia among healthy men during controlled social life: a sample of primary care population. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 472 healthy men in Çorum, Black Sea Region, Turkey between February 2019 and October 2020. An online questionnaire was used to collect data including demographic profile, smoking behavior, intention to quit, Fagerström Nicotine Dependence test (FTND) pre and during COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 phobia scale. RESULTS: In this study, a percentage change of +6.2, +0.8, +1.9, -2.7, -5.1 was found in very low, low, medium, high and very high dependence categories respectively between pre-pandemic and during controlled social life in pandemic. A percentage change of +2.8 was seen in terms of intention to quit smoking. The mean score for COVID-19 phobia was 65.9 ± 15.8 and almost two-thirds of the participants (62%) had medium and high COVID-19 phobia. Men with high/very high dependence had significantly more COVID-19 phobia than the other two groups. There was a significant correlation between FTND scores and COVID-19 phobia. CONCLUSIONS: There were considerable changes in dependence levels and COVID-19 phobia was more common in high/very high dependence group. Controlled social life should be considered a golden opportunity for predicting levels of nicotine dependence and will bring benefit for lower smoking prevalence. COVID-19, Nicotine dependence, Phobia, men, Primary health care.

A document by Rehab Elhiny. Click on the document to view its contents.

Within this study, four thermal ring-opening reactions, Reactions (1-4), were selected in order to investigate the phenomenon of torquoselectivity as well as predicting non-competitive or competitive reactions in QTAIM and stress tensor frameworks rather than using conventional methods. The theoretical analysis for these reactions exhibits differently for non-competitive and competitive reactions as well as for the conrotatory preferences either TSOC or TSIC directions by presenting degeneracy or non-degeneracy in their results. The concordant results of stress tensor and QTAIM scalar and vectors with experimental results provide a better understanding of all reactions mechanism. Examination the (rb), ε, H(rb), ℙσ, 3, BPL, and H indicate that Reaction 1 is a competitive and Reactions (2-4) are non-competitive reactions with TSOC, TSOC, and TSIC preference directions respectively.

In case of valvular infective endocarditis, the infection is mainly localized on the flow side of the valves or at damaged valvular endothelium. We describe a rare case of an aortic valvular inefctive endocarditis with an aortic-valve vegetation situated on the aortic side of the valve. We believe this is the first description of this unusual localization of vegetations in a native aortic valve.

Plants transitioned from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle during their evolution. On land, fluctuations on water availability in the environment became one of the major problems they encountered. The appearance of morpho-physiological adaptations to cope with and tolerate water loss from the cells was undeniably useful to survive on dry land. Some of these adaptations, such as carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs), desiccation tolerance (DT) and root impermeabilization, appeared in multiple plant lineages. Despite being crucial for evolution on land, it has been unclear how these adaptations convergently evolved in the various plant lineages. Recent advances on whole genome and transcriptome sequencing are revealing that co-option of genes and gene regulatory networks (GRNs) is a common feature underlying the convergent evolution of these adaptations. In this review we address how the study of CCMs and DT have provided insight into convergent evolution of GRNs underlying plant adaptation to dry environments, and how these insights could be applied to currently emerging understanding of evolution of root impermeabilization through different barrier cell types. We discuss examples of co-option, conservation, and innovation of genes and GRNs at the cell, tissue and organ levels revealed by recent phylogenomic (comparative genomic) and comparative transcriptomic studies.

In this study, it was investigated to increase the lipid yield of the microalgae Schizochytrium sp., by applying different cell disruption methods. Therefore, acid treatment with HCl, osmotic shock, enzyme applications and ultrasonic homogenizer were tried in this algae species combined with the Bligh and Dyer and Soxhlet methods as an alternative to classical lipid extraction methods. As a result of the study, the highest lipid value (21.72 ± 0.74%) was obtained in enzyme application with Bligh and Dyer method (BDE). The cell disruption processes increased the lipid yield compared to the control groups. The highest PUFA DHA was found in the range of 4.58 ± 2.44-19.25 ± 0.09%, and the highest value was observed in the BDE group. Highest SFA was palmitic acid. Effective results were observed in the Bligh and Dyer applied groups in terms of both total lipid and total fatty acids. In cell disruption methods, particularly in enzyme and HCl extraction, good results were obtained in terms of fatty acids. The highest total fatty acids and the highest lipid content were detected in the Bligh and Dyer enzyme (BDE). Enzyme applications are also advantageous because of being environmentally friendly. Lipid health indices such as n-6/n-3, PUFA/SFA, Atherogenicity index (AI), Thrombogenicity index (TI) and hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic ratios (HH) were almost favorable. With this study, an appropriate lipid extraction methods were determined to provide an economical and environmental friendly suggestion for future studies to be used in areas such as food, feed and cosmetics.

Introduction: Global medical advances within healthcare have subsequently led to the widespread introduction of biological products such as grafts, haemostats, and sealants. Although these products have been used for many decades, this subject is frequently not discussed during the consent process and remains an area of contention. Methods: A nationwide confidential online survey was distributed to UK-based junior registrars (ST3-5), senior registrars (ST6-8), post-CCT fellows, specialist associates/staff grade doctors and consultants working in general/vascular surgery, neurosurgery, otolaryngology, oral & maxillofacial surgery and plastic surgery. Results: Data was collected from a total of 308 survey respondents. Biological derivatives were correctly identified in surgical products by only 25% of survey respondents, only 19% stated that they regularly consent for use of these products. Our results demonstrate that most participants in this study do not routinely consent (81%) to the intra-operative use of biological materials. An overwhelming 74% of participants agreed that further education on the intra-operative use of biological materials would be valuable. Discussion: This study highlights deficiencies in knowledge that results in potential ethical compromise of the consenting process for surgical procedures. A solution to this would be for clinicians to increase their awareness via educational platforms and to incorporate an additional statement on the consent form which addresses the potential intraoperative use of biological products and what their derivatives may be. Conclusion: Modernising the current consent process to reflect the development and use of surgical biological products will help to ensure improved patient satisfaction, fewer future legal implications as well as a better surgeon-patient relationship.

1 Vegetation attributes derived from species and plant functional types (PFTs) directly or indirectly drive the carbon (C) cycle in peatlands. However, anthropogenic-based disturbances may alter petland soil-plant interactions and their ability to sequester carbon. Likewise, it is unclear how the soil-plant linkages among different soil C decomposition-based pools and plant attributes vary under disturbance conditions. 2 We aimed to assess how anthropogenic disturbances affect the relationships between aboveground vegetation attributes and belowground C pools in a peatland located in Northern Patagonia, Chile. We further evaluated if attributes derived from PFTs are better suited to predict soil C pools than attributes derived from species. We used structural equation modeling and regression analyses to explore these differences. 3 We found that undisturbed peatland has more soil-plant significant relationships between soil C pools and vegetation attributes, yielding higher predictive accuracies than disturbed areas. The species-based attributes yielded consistently better results predicting soil C pools than PFT-based attributes. However, PFT-based information showed significant interactions with the highly-decomposed C pools in the undisturbed peatland. Likewise, plant height and diversity were only significant with C pools in the undisturbed peatland. 4 We observed that water-logged plant communities have different soil-plant interactions than dryer communities. These differences were observed in both areas but were higher in the disturbed peatland, making it impossible to find meaningful soil-plant relationships across vegetation types and taxa. 5 Our results highlight the importance of accounting for disturbance or management when linking vegetation attributes to soil C pools in peatlands. This implies that up-to-date extensive monitoring of peatland disturbances is needed to accurately monitor soil C attributes at the regional level using vegetation as proxies. We also need to aggregate species into specific plant functional types that hold these soil-plant interactions across landscapes, regions, and disturbances to generalize the soil-plant relationships accurately.

The decline of coral reefs has fueled interest in determining whether mesophotic reefs can shield against disturbances and help replenish deteriorated shallower reefs. In this study, we characterized spatial (horizontal and vertical) and seasonal patterns of diversity in coral recruits from Dabaisha and Guiwan reefs at Ludao, Taiwan. Concrete blocks supporting terra cotta tiles were placed at shallow (15m) and mesophotic (40m) depths, during 2016-2018. Half of the tiles were retrieved and replaced biannually over three 6-month surveys (short-term); the remainder retrieved at the end of the 18-month (long-term) survey. 451 recruits were located using fluorescent censusing and identified by DNA barcoding. Barcoding the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene resulted in 17 molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs). To obtain taxonomic resolution beyond the generic level, Pocillopora were phylotyped using the mitochondrial open reading frame (ORF), resolving eight MOTUs. Acropora, Isopora or Montipora recruits were identified by the nuclear PaxC intron, yielding ten MOTUs. Overall, 35 MOTUs were generated and were comprised primarily of Pocillopora, and in fewer numbers, Acropora, Isopora, Pavona, Montipora, Stylophora, among others. 40% of MOTUs recruited solely within mesophotic reefs while 20% were shared by both depth zones. MOTUs recruiting across a broad depth distribution appear consistent with the hypothesis of mesophotic reefs acting as a refuge for shallow water coral reefs. In contrast, Acropora and Isopora MOTUs were structured across depth zones representing an exception to this hypothesis. This research provides an imperative assessment of coral recruitment in understudied mesophotic reefs and imparts insight into the refuge hypothesis.

In this article, we report a 34-year-old man who presented with progressive hip pain and osteolytic bone lesions . Primary workup included Core needle biopsies manifested as osteomyelitis; however as no sign of remission was observed, an open biopsy considered which revealed primary bone lymphoma.