Resection of the root of the zygomatic arch including the glenoid fossa, and the roof of the external ear and superior third of the mastoid process was seen to improve the basal exposure of the ...lateral subtemporal middle fossa approach. The exposure was horizontally wide. The enhanced exposure helped in reducing the extent of brain retraction that was necessary and improved the working space for manipulation of the instruments.
Hypertension affects more than one billion people worldwide. Here we identify 113 novel loci, reporting a total of 2,103 independent genetic signals (P < 5 × 10
) from the largest single-stage blood ...pressure (BP) genome-wide association study to date (n = 1,028,980 European individuals). These associations explain more than 60% of single nucleotide polymorphism-based BP heritability. Comparing top versus bottom deciles of polygenic risk scores (PRSs) reveals clinically meaningful differences in BP (16.9 mmHg systolic BP, 95% CI, 15.5-18.2 mmHg, P = 2.22 × 10
) and more than a sevenfold higher odds of hypertension risk (odds ratio, 7.33; 95% CI, 5.54-9.70; P = 4.13 × 10
) in an independent dataset. Adding PRS into hypertension-prediction models increased the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) from 0.791 (95% CI, 0.781-0.801) to 0.826 (95% CI, 0.817-0.836, ∆AUROC, 0.035, P = 1.98 × 10
). We compare the 2,103 loci results in non-European ancestries and show significant PRS associations in a large African-American sample. Secondary analyses implicate 500 genes previously unreported for BP. Our study highlights the role of increasingly large genomic studies for precision health research.
The influence of varying the CaO/MgO ratio on the structure and thermal properties of CaO–MgO–SiO2–P2O5–CaF2 glasses was studied in a series of eight glass compositions in the glass forming region of ...diopside (CaMgSi2O6)–fluorapatite Ca5(PO4)3F–wollastonite (CaSiO3) ternary system. The melt-quenched glasses were characterized for their structure by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and magic angle spinning (MAS)-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Silicon is predominantly present as Q2 (Si) species, while phosphorus tends to coordinate in orthophosphate environment. The sintering and crystallization parameters of the glasses were obtained from differential thermal analysis (DTA) while crystalline phase fractions in the sintered glass–ceramics were analyzed by X-ray diffraction adjoined with Rietveld refinement. Diopside, fluorapatite, wollastonite and pseudowollastonite crystallized as the main crystalline phases in all the glass–ceramics with their content varying with respect to variation in CaO/MgO ratio in glasses. The implications of structure and sintering behaviour of glasses on their bioactivity were discussed.
We conducted a genome-wide association study to identify novel associations between genetic variants and circulating plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) concentration, and examined functional ...implications of variants and genes that were discovered. A discovery meta-analysis was performed in 19 599 subjects, followed by replication analysis of genome-wide significant (P < 5 × 10−8) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 10 796 independent samples. We further examined associations with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease, assessed the functional significance of the SNPs for gene expression in human tissues, and conducted RNA-silencing experiments for one novel association. We confirmed the association of the 4G/5G proxy SNP rs2227631 in the promoter region of SERPINE1 (7q22.1) and discovered genome-wide significant associations at 3 additional loci: chromosome 7q22.1 close to SERPINE1 (rs6976053, discovery P = 3.4 × 10−10); chromosome 11p15.2 within ARNTL (rs6486122, discovery P = 3.0 × 10−8); and chromosome 3p25.2 within PPARG (rs11128603, discovery P = 2.9 × 10−8). Replication was achieved for the 7q22.1 and 11p15.2 loci. There was nominal association with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease at ARNTL (P < .05). Functional studies identified MUC3 as a candidate gene for the second association signal on 7q22.1. In summary, SNPs in SERPINE1 and ARNTL and an SNP associated with the expression of MUC3 were robustly associated with circulating levels of PAI-1.
•Simulations performed for impact of granular slug on deformable beams.•Slug evolution strongly dependent on inter-particle stiffness.•Pressure applied to the beams from the slug decreases with ...increasing stand-off.•Stand-off dependence arises from the lengthening of slugs.
Coupled discrete particle/continuum simulations of the normal (zero obliquity) impact of granular slugs against the centre of deformable, end-clamped beams are reported. The simulations analyse the experiments of Uth et al. (2015) enabling a detailed interpretation of their observations of temporal evolution of granular slug and a strong stand-off distance dependence of the structural response. The high velocity granular slugs were generated by the pushing action of a piston and develop a spatial velocity gradient due to elastic energy stored during the loading phase by the piston. The velocity gradient within the “stretching” slug is a strong function of the inter-particle contact stiffness and the time the piston takes to ramp up to its final velocity. Other inter-particle contact properties such as damping and friction are shown to have negligible effect on the evolution of the granular slug. The velocity gradients result in a slug density that decreases with increasing stand-off distance, and therefore the pressure imposed by the slug on the beams is reduced with increasing stand-off. This results in the stand-off dependence of the beam's deflection observed by Uth et al. (2015). The coupled simulations capture both the permanent deflections of the beams and their dynamic deformation modes with a high degree of fidelity. These simulations shed new light on the stand-off effect observed during the loading of structures by shallow-buried explosions.
The authors present five cases of intracranial hydatid cysts managed at the department of Neurosurgery, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, between 1984-1997. The mean age of presentation was 13.4 ...years. Four patients (80%) were in the first decade of life. All patients presented with focal neurological deficit and clinical features of raised intracranial pressure. Radiological investigations included computerised tomography (CT) scan in three cases, CT and magnetic resonance (MR) scan in one case and accidental cystogram in one case. Two patients had multiple intracranial cysts. One patient had a solitary cyst in the lateral ventricle. Commonest location was in the parietal lobe (3 cases). Total excision of the cyst was done in all five cases. Recurrence was seen in two cases, probably as a result of rupture of the cyst during first surgery. The features of this rare disease are retrospectively analyzed in this presentation and the literature is reviewed.
An immunofluorescence assay for direct detection of V. cholerae O1 was developed using polyclonal antibodies raised against outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of V. cholerae O1. Production of OMPs varied ...with growth media used; maximum production was found in tryptic soy broth. The detection system was specific because no cross-reactivity was observed with other bacteria including V. cholerae O139, E. coli, S. dysenteriae and Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi. The technique was able to detect 240 CFU/mL of V. cholerae O1 suspended in phosphate-buffered saline. The assay coupled with bacterial enrichment in APW for 6 h detected as few as 5 CFU of V. cholerae in spiked samples. Moreover, a 2-h incubation of enriched bacterial cells in 0.1% yeast extract with 10 ppm nalidixic acid enhanced the bacterial size and helped in morphological identification of V. cholerae. Among 32 potable water samples from afflicted hand pumps and wells collected from a cholera-plagued area 12 were found to be contaminated with V. cholerae by immunofluorescence assay as well as by conventional culture methods. The proposed method could thus be employed in environmental surveillance of V. cholerae O1.
The toxicological literature is replete with studies attempting to explain the mechanism of action of organophosphorus (OP) insecticides to their anticholinesterase activities, but not much is known ...about the metabolism and detoxification of these compounds. The goal of this study was to ascertain the toxic effects of chlorpyrifos, one of the most widely used OPs, on the liver of male rats and also to evaluate the protective potential of zinc in mediating its toxic effects. It was observed that chlorpyrifos (13.5 mg/kg body weight) treatment resulted in significant inhibition (p < 0.001) of serum and hepatic acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities after 8 wk. However, zinc-treated (227 mg/L drinking water) animals resulted in significant normalization of the inhibited AChE activities. Similarly, a significant increase in the levels of various serum and liver marker enzymes (viz. alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase AST, and alanine aminotransferase ALT) was observed following treatment with chlorpyrifos. However, coadministration of zinc to these animals restored these enzymes to within normal limits, even though some increase in the activity of serum ALT and hepatic alkaline phosphatase still persisted at the end of the study. Chlorpyrifos treatment diminished serum and hepatic zinc levels significantly (p < 0.01 to p < 0.001) compared to normal control animals. Serum iron concentrations also plummeted significantly following chlorpyrifos treatment. On the contrary, serum copper levels were significantly increased (p < 0.01) in chlorpyrifos-treated animals, but they were normalized following zinc supplementation to the rats in this group. Interestingly, chlorpyrifos treatment resulted in elevated hepatic levels of copper, iron, and selenium, but zinc treatment could only partially restore the raised elemental concentrations. These data clearly demonstrate the potential role of zinc in mediating the toxic effects of chlorpyrifos, presumably because of their antioxidant properties and also their possible interaction with other trace elements in maintaining the cellular harmony.
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