Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick transmitted disease in Europe. The diagnosis of LB today is based on the patient´s medical history, clinical presentation and laboratory findings. The ...laboratory diagnostics are mainly based on antibody detection, but in certain conditions molecular detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) may serve as a complement.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the analytical sensitivity, analytical specificity and concordance of eight different real-time PCR methods at five laboratories in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
Each participating laboratory was asked to analyse three different sets of samples (reference panels; all blinded) i) cDNA extracted and transcribed from water spiked with cultured Borrelia strains, ii) cerebrospinal fluid spiked with cultured Borrelia strains, and iii) DNA dilution series extracted from cultured Borrelia and relapsing fever strains. The results and the method descriptions of each laboratory were systematically evaluated.
The analytical sensitivities and the concordance between the eight protocols were in general high. The concordance was especially high between the protocols using 16S rRNA as the target gene, however, this concordance was mainly related to cDNA as the type of template. When comparing cDNA and DNA as the type of template the analytical sensitivity was in general higher for the protocols using DNA as template regardless of the use of target gene. The analytical specificity for all eight protocols was high. However, some protocols were not able to detect Borrelia spielmanii, Borrelia lusitaniae or Borrelia japonica.
To assess the ability of a multidisciplinary approach to diabetic foot care to reduce the incidence of recurrent ulceration and amputations compared with standard care in a 2-year prospective study.
...A total of 145 patients with a past history of neuropathic foot ulcers but no evidence of peripheral vascular disease entered the study. Subjects were screened for their neuropathic and vascular status at baseline, and all received identical foot care education. The intervention group (n = 56) was followed by the multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, and podiatrists with regular podiatry and reeducation every 3 months and the provision of specialty footwear as required. The standard treatment group was followed in local clinics on a trimonthly basis and received identical screening and education at baseline.
There were no significant differences at baseline in age (intervention 59.2+/-13.4, standard treatment 58.5+/-11.5 years), duration of diabetes (14.0+/-7.1 vs. 15.6+/-7.8 years), or neuropathic status (vibration perception threshold VPT: 31.1+/-12.1 vs. 33.9+/-11.3 V, neuropathy disability score NDS: 8.1+/-1.4 vs. 7.9+/-1.7). All patients had an ankle brachial pressure index (ABPI) of >0.9 and at least one palpable foot pulse. Significantly fewer recurrent ulcers were seen in the intervention group than in the standard treatment group during the 2-year period (30.4 vs. 58.4%, P < 0.001).
This prospective study has demonstrated the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary approach to diabetic foot care together with the provision of specialty footwear in the long-term management of high-risk patients with a history of neuropathic foot ulcers.
This study investigated the clinical performance and safety of a sustained silver-releasing foam dressing, Contreet Foam, in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. Twenty-seven patients with diabetic ...foot ulcers of grade I or II (Wagner's classification) were followed for six weeks: one week run-in using Biatain dressings, four weeks' treatment with Contreet dressings. Four ulcers healed during the four-week treatment with Contreet 56% in average. Contreet Foam showed good exudate management properties and was considered easy to use. Only two infections occurred showed that all six of the non-study ulcers developed an infection during the study. All ulcers (study ulcers as well as non-study ulcers) were treated according to good practice of diabetic wound care. There were no directions for the treatment of secondary wounds. No device-related adverse events were observed. This study demonstrated that Contreet Foam is safe and easy to use and effectively supports healing and good wound progress of diabetic foot ulcers.
To evaluate the safety and performance of Alione Hydrocapillary dressing (Coloplast A/S) in the management of highly exuding chronic venous leg ulcers and compare it with two hydropolymer ...dressings,Tielle and Tielle Plus (Johnson & Johnson).
A comparative clinical trial was conducted on 97 patients with an ankle brachial pressure index > or = 0.8 and a highly exuding leg ulcer. Ulcer duration was at least four weeks. Treatment continued until healing or for a maximum of 12 months.
There was no statistically significant difference in healing time or wound area reduction between the two treatment protocols. The test dressing (Alione Hydrocapillary) had better absorption capacity and was more comfortable for the patients than the comparator dressings (Tielle/Tielle Plus) and adhered less to the wound bed.Also, more patients preferred the test dressing to their previous treatment. Although severe leakage and maceration were observed more frequently in the comparator group compared with the test group, this was not statistically significant.
Both treatment protocols were safe and effective in treating highly exuding chronic venous leg ulcers. The test dressing performed as well as or better than the comparator dressings for all study parameters and more patients preferred the test dressing to their previous dressing compared with the comparator dressings.
In this work we show that by efficiently exploiting the growth kinetics during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) one could create Si nanostructures of different dimensions. Examples are Si quantum dots ...(QD) or quantum wells (QW), which are buried into an epitaxial rare-earth oxide, e.g. Gd2O3. Electrical measurements carried out on Pt/Gd2O3/Si MOS capacitors comprised with Si-QD demonstrate that such well embedded Si-QD with average size of 5nm and density of 2×1012cm−2 exhibit very good charge storage capacity with suitable retention (∼105s) and endurance (∼105 write/erase cycles) characteristics. The Pt/Gd2O3/Si (metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS)) basic memory cells with embedded Si-QD display large programming window (∼1.5–2V) and fast writing speed and hence could be a potential candidate for future non-volatile memory application. The optical absorption of such Si-QD embedded into epitaxial Gd2O3 was found to exhibit a spectral threshold maximum up to 2.9±0.1eV depending on their sizes, inferring a significant influence of quantum confinement on the QD/oxide interface band diagram.
Ultra-thin single-crystalline Si-QW with epitaxial insulator (Gd2O3) as the barrier layers were grown by a novel approach based on cooperative vapor phase MBE on Si wafer with sharp interfaces between well and barriers. The current–voltage characteristics obtained for such structure exhibits negative differential resistance at lower temperature, making them a good candidate for resonant tunneling devices.
Tau protein is a neuronal microtubule-associated protein that promotes the assembly and stability of microtubules. To evaluate the biological significance of tau isoform diversity, NIH-3T3 cells were ...stably transfected with cDNAs encoding each of the six isoforms present in human brain. Cells expressing different isoforms developed distinct morphologies. Cell lines expressing 3-repeat tau isoforms developed large flat cell bodies while cells expressing 4-repeat isoforms had small, round cell bodies. All transfected cell lines, except those expressing the shortest tau isoform, displayed very long thin neurite-like processes. Tau colocalized with microtubules in both the cell body and the long processes in all of the tau-transfected cells. Tau also displayed a diffuse amorphous staining pattern that was concentrated around the cell nucleus. Microtubule bundling was not enhanced in any of the transfected cells as compared to untransfected controls. The transfected cells showed increased resistance to colchicine treatment. Thus, different tau isoforms can confer unique cellular morphologies to 3T3 cells and can alter the susceptibility of these cells to a microtubule depolymerizing agent.
Certain conditions like drug use, diet, physical activity, etc., must be adhered to while running the glucose tolerance test. The Second WHO Expert Committee on Diabetes Mellitus (1979) suggested ...that the oral glucose tolerance test should be carried out with 75 g of glucose (for children 1.75 g/kg of ideal body mass but not over 75 g). During epidemiological investigations a glucose solution should be prepared by a constant concentration method using an areometer. Schematic interpretation expressed in the rectangular coordinate system reflecting diagnosis was offered for the estimation of findings.
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