Preventive chemotherapy (PC), the large-scale distribution of anthelminthic drugs to population groups at risk, is the core intervention recommended by the WHO for reducing morbidity and transmission ...of the four main helminth infections, namely lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis. The strategy is widely implemented worldwide but its general theoretical foundations have not been described so far in a comprehensive and cohesive manner. Starting from the information available on the biological and epidemiological characteristics of helminth infections, as well as from the experience generated by disease control and elimination interventions across the world, we extrapolate the fundamentals and synthesise the principles that regulate PC and justify its implementation as a sound and essential public health intervention. The outline of the theoretical aspects of PC contributes to a thorough understanding of the different facets of this strategy and helps comprehend opportunities and limits of control and elimination interventions directed against helminth infections.
Incapacitating agents are chemical weapons that produce a temporary disabling condition that persists for hours or days after exposure. Their main site of action is the central nervous system and ...includes substances that are considered depressants or stimulants. While not intended to cause death, can produce significant morbidity in affected patients. The objective of this narrative review is to update the toxicokinetics, toxicodynamics, diagnosis, and treatment of these chemicals, considering that 20 years have passed since the Nord Ost Siege, where a fentanyl derivative was used by Russian forces to neutralize a group of Chechen dissidents. A bibliographic search was carried out in PubMed, SciELO, and Cochrane Library databases as well as nonindexed scientific literature.
Fibroblast growth factor 21 is an endocrine factor, secreted mainly by the liver, that exerts metabolic actions that favour glucose metabolism. Its role in the heart is unknown. Here we show that ...Fgf21(-/-) mice exhibit an increased relative heart weight and develop enhanced signs of dilatation and cardiac dysfunction in response to isoproterenol infusion, indicating eccentric hypertrophy development. In addition, Fgf21(-/-) mice exhibit enhanced induction of cardiac hypertrophy markers and pro-inflammatory pathways and show greater repression of fatty acid oxidation. Most of these alterations are already present in Fgf21(-/-) neonates, and treatment with fibroblast growth factor 21 reverses them in vivo and in cultured cardiomyocytes. Moreover, fibroblast growth factor 21 is expressed in the heart and is released by cardiomyocytes. Fibroblast growth factor 21 released by cardiomyocytes protects cardiac cells against hypertrophic insults. Therefore, the heart appears to be a target of systemic, and possibly locally generated, fibroblast growth factor 21, which exerts a protective action against cardiac hypertrophy.
A higher incidence of cancer in scleroderma patients compared with the general population has been suggested by several observational studies, reporting, however, different estimates. Therefore, we ...aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to definitely assess this association.
We searched MEDLINE and Embase for all original articles of observational studies on cancer incidence in scleroderma patients without language restriction published up to December 2011. Two independent authors reviewed all titles/abstracts and retrieved detailed full-text of potentially relevant articles to identify studies according to predefined selection criteria. Summary estimates were derived using random-effects model and reported as relative risk (RR). Publication bias was evaluated by trim and fill analysis.
From articles initially identified, 16 original studies, involving more than 7000 patients, were included in the present review. Compared with the general population, the summary RR to develop all invasive cancers in scleroderma patients was 1.75 (95% CI 1.41, 2.18). The results for selected cancer sites indicated a strong association with lung cancer (RR 4.35; 95% CI 2.08, 9.09), and a significant increased risk also for haematological neoplasms (RR 2.24; 95% CI 1.53, 3.29). The relation with breast cancer, suggested in some previous epidemiological studies, was not confirmed (RR 1.05; 95% CI 0.86, 1.29).
The present meta-analysis, the first on scleroderma and cancer risk, provides definite estimates on the association between scleroderma and cancer.
The availability of data corresponding to the products exported by all countries provides an excellent dataset to test economic ideas and extracts new information about the process of economic ...development. The matrix of countries and exported products shows a marked triangular structure instead of the block-diagonal structure expected from Ricardian arguments of specialization. This observation points to the fact that diversification is instead the dominant effect in the globalized market. We discuss how to define a suitable non-monetary metrics for the value of diversification and the effective complexity of products. We discuss in detail the previous proposed approaches to assess this challenge and their limitations. We introduce a new approach to the definition of these metrics which seems to overcome the previous problems and we test it in a series of model systems.
Background/Aim
The condylar fracture is among the most frequent facial fractures. Despite all the published studies, its treatment remains controversial. The aim of this retrospective study was to ...evaluate the epidemiology and complications of mandibular condyle fractures managed by surgical and conservative treatments, over a period of twenty years.
Material and Methods
The files of 262 patients with 318 condyle fractures were included in this study. One hundred and seven patients had conservative management, and 155 had surgical management for the condylar fractures. The outcomes were assessed by reviewing the patient's clinical records.
Results
The prevalence was higher in males and most patients were Caucasians in the third decade of life. The mean age was 30.17 years old. The main causes were motorcycle accidents followed by bike accidents, and the mean follow‐up time was 226.5 days. The number of complications found in the two modalities of treatment was low and similar.
Conclusion
Both treatments achieved their goals. There was no statistical difference in the complication rate between the two groups.
This work summarizes the status of the art of electronic designs, using CMOS technologies, to stand LHC and S-LHC radiation-hard environments. Radiation effects can be divided into Single Event ...Effects and Total Ionizing Dose effects, which are consequences of different interaction effects within the silicon and the electronics. These types of effects are commonly investigated and faced separately. The commercial 130
nm CMOS technology, today primarily proposed for SLHC electronic upgrades, only implements redundancies against the Single Event Effects`. On the contrary, the 250
nm technology node used in the past years for LHC experiments, was also hardened against the Total Ionizing Dose. Hence, the choice of the technology to be used for high-energy experiments is very crucial as it implies huge efforts in the designs of the components. In addition, an unavoidable technology scaling keeps moving toward ever-smaller sizes and this affects the availability of the silicon process for medium and long-term experiments.
CD38 is a type II glycoprotein highly expressed on plasmablasts and on short- and long-lived plasma cells, but weakly expressed by lymphoid, myeloid, and non-hematopoietic cells. CD38 is a target for ...therapies aimed at depleting antibody-producing plasma cells. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an immune-mediated disease with a well-documented pathogenic role of B cells. We therefore analyzed CD38 expression in different subsets of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from a cohort of SSc patients.
Cell surface expression of CD38 was evaluated on PBMCs from SSc patients using eight-color flow cytometry analysis performed with a FacsCanto II (BD). Healthy individuals were used as controls (HC).
Forty-six SSc patients (mean age 56, range 23-79 years; 38 females and 8 males), and thirty-two age- and sex-matched HC were studied. Twenty-eight patients had the limited cutaneous form and eighteen the diffuse cutaneous form of SSc. The mean disease duration was 7 years. Fourteen patients were on immunosuppressive therapy (14 MMF, 5 RTX). The total percentages of T, B and NK cells were not different between SSc and HC. Compared to HC, SSc patients had higher levels of CD3+CD38+ T cells (p<0.05), higher percentage (p<0.001) of CD3+CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ regulatory T cells, lower percentage (p<0.05) of CD3+CD56+ NK T cells. Moreover, SSc patients had higher levels of CD24
CD19+CD38
regulatory B cells than HC (p<0.01), while the amount of CD24+CD19+CD38+CD27+ memory B cells was lower (p<0.001). Finally, the percentages of circulating CD38
CD27+ plasmablasts and CD138+CD38
plasma cells were both higher in the SSc group than in HC (p<0.001). We did not observe any correlations between these immunophenotypes and disease subsets or duration, and ongoing immunosuppressive treatment.
The increased expression of CD38 in peripheral blood plasmablasts and plasma cells of SSc patients may suggest this ectoenzyme as a candidate therapeutic target, under the hypothesis that depletion of these cells may beneficially downregulate the chronic immune response in SSc patients. Validation of this data in multicenter cohorts shall be obtained prior to clinical trials with existing anti-CD38 drugs.
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