Objective
Subtle deformities of the hip joint are implicated in the etiology of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip. Parameters that quantify these deformities may aid understanding of these associations. ...We undertook this study to examine relationships between such parameters and the 19‐year risk of total hip arthroplasty (THA) for end‐stage OA.
Methods
A new software program designed for measuring morphologic parameters around the hip was developed and validated in a reliability study. THA was the outcome measure for end‐stage OA. A nested case–control study was used with individuals from a cohort of 1,003 women who were recruited at year 1 in 1989 and followed up to year 20 (the Chingford Study). All hips with THA by year 20 and 243 randomly selected control hips were studied. Pelvis radiographs obtained at year 2 were analyzed for variations in hip morphology. Measurements were compared between the THA case group and the control group.
Results
Patients with THA had a higher prevalence of cam deformity than did their respective controls (median alpha angle 62.4° versus 45.8° P = 0.001; mean modified triangular index height 28.5 mm versus 26.9 mm P = 0.001) as well as a higher prevalence of acetabular dysplasia (mean lateral center edge angle 29.5° versus 34.3° P = 0.001; median extrusion index 0.25 versus 0.185 P = 0.009). Logistic regression analyses clustering by subject and adjusting for radiographic hip OA at year 2 showed that these morphologic parameters were still significantly associated with THA by year 20. The alpha angle and lateral center edge angle predicted the risk of THA independently when included in the same model.
Conclusion
This investigation describes measurements that predict the risk of THA for end‐stage OA by year 20, independently of the presence of radiographic hip OA at year 2. These measurements can be made on an anteroposterior pelvis radiograph, which is an inexpensive and commonly used clinical method of investigation.
There is unequivocal evidence that administration of probiotics could be effective in the treatment of acute infectious diarrhoea in children and the prevention of antibiotic associated diarrhoea and ...nosocomial/community acquired diarrhoea. Encouraging evidence is also emerging for the effectiveness of probiotics in the prevention and management of pouchitis and paediatric atopic diseases, and the prevention of postoperative infections. There is also strong evidence that certain probiotic strains are able to enhance immune function, especially in subjects with less than adequate immune function such as the elderly. Efficacy of probiotics in the prevention of traveller’s diarrhoea, sepsis associated with severe acute pancreatitis, and cancers, the management of ulcerative colitis, and lowering of blood cholesterol remains unproven. In addition to firm evidence of efficacy (for a range of conditions), major gaps exist in our knowledge regarding the mechanisms by which probiotics modulate various physiological functions and the optimum dose, frequency, and duration of treatment for different probiotic strains.
A tracing of the dynamics of the relationship between Faith and Philosophy throughout Western intellectual history, following the dynamics of Tertullian's ancient question: "What has Athens to do ...with Jerusalem?" In the conclusion the author presents his own approach to this question.
The skin is potentially an excellent organ for vaccine delivery because of accessibility and the presence of immune cells. However, no simple and inexpensive cutaneous vaccination method is ...available. Micron-scale needles coated with DNA were tested as a simple, inexpensive device for skin delivery. Vaccination with a plasmid encoding hepatitis C virus nonstructural 3/4A protein using microneedles effectively primed specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Importantly, the minimally invasive microneedles were as efficient in priming CTLs as more complicated or invasive delivery techniques, such as gene gun and hypodermic needles. Thus, microneedles may offer a promising technology for DNA vaccination.
The diisopropyl ethyl ammonium acetate (DIPEAc)-promoted Biginelli protocol has been developed for the first time by a successive one-pot three-component reaction of aldehydes, ...ethylcyanoacetate/ethyl acetoacetate, and thiourea/urea to afford pharmacologically promising 1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidines in high yields at room temperature. The key benefits of the present scheme are the capability to allow a variability of functional groups, short reaction times, easy workup, high yields, recyclability of the catalyst, and solvent-free conditions, thus providing economic and environmental advantages. In addition, a series of 4-oxo-6-aryl-2-thioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidine-5-carbonitriles analogues were synthesized and selected for their in vitro antifungal and antibacterial activities.
ABSTRACT
We analysed 68 candidate planetary systems first identified during Campaigns 5 and 6 (C5 and C6) of the NASA K2 mission. We set out to validate these systems by using a suite of follow-up ...observations, including adaptive optics, speckle imaging, and reconnaissance spectroscopy. The overlap between C5 with C16 and C18, and C6 with C17, yields light curves with long baselines that allow us to measure the transit ephemeris very precisely, revisit single transit candidates identified in earlier campaigns, and search for additional transiting planets with longer periods not detectable in previous works. Using vespa, we compute false positive probabilities of less than 1 per cent for 37 candidates orbiting 29 unique host stars and hence statistically validate them as planets. These planets have a typical size of 2.2 R⊕ and orbital periods between 1.99 and 52.71 d. We highlight interesting systems including a sub-Neptune with the longest period detected by K2, sub-Saturns around F stars, several multiplanetary systems in a variety of architectures. These results show that a wealth of planetary systems still remains in the K2 data, some of which can be validated using minimal follow-up observations and taking advantage of analyses presented in previous catalogues.
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) predisposes to foot ulceration and gangrene. It has been reported that DPN is lower in Indians relative to Caucasians. Studies among recent onset patients with ...type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are very few. We studied the prevalence and risk factors of DPN in patients with newly diagnosed T2DM.
We prospectively studied 195 consecutive patients over age 30 with a duration of diabetes ≤6 months. All underwent a clinical and biochemical evaluation and were screened for DPN using Neuropathy Symptom Score (NSS) and Neuropathy Disability Score (NDS) as well as the vibration perception threshold using a biothesiometer. We compared the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy (PN) in 75 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.
The cases had a mean age of 47.6 ± 10.2 years (59% males) and duration of symptoms of 5.9 ± 8.2 months prior to presentation. The overall prevalence of DPN was 29.2% 95% CI 22.8-35.7. PN among matched control was 10.7% (95% CI 3.5-17.8). The prevalence of DPN showed an increasing trend with age (trend chi-square 11.8, P = 0.001). Abnormal vibration perception threshold was present in 43.3% (95% CI 36.3-50.3) of cases and had a significant correlation with NDS (P = 0.000). Abnormal monofilament testing was present in 6.1% of cases (95% CI 2.7- 9.5). A logistic regression analysis showed that DPN was independently associated with age (P = 0.002) and duration of diabetes prior to presentation (P = 0.02) but not with body mass index, plasma glucose, or HbA1c.
Our study showed high prevalence of PN in recently diagnosed patients with T2DM, which was independently associated with age and duration of symptoms of diabetes prior to the diagnosis. Screening for DPN at diagnosis of diabetes is warranted, especially among older subjects.
The antimicrobial susceptibilities and presence of plasmids in four new probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains,
Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 (DR20™) HN067,
Lactobacillus acidophilus HN017 and
...Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 (DR10™), were determined. Resistance to 18 commonly used antibiotics was assessed by disk diffusion. The three
Lactobacillus strains had similar antibiotic susceptibility profiles to those of
Lactobacillus plantarum strain HN045 and two commercial probiotic
Lactobacillus strains, GG and LA-1. The
B. lactis strain HN019 had a similar profile to three commercial probiotic
B. lactis strains (Bb12, HN049 and HN098). All 10 strains were sensitive to the Gram-positive spectrum antibiotics erythromycin and novobiocin, the broad-spectrum antibiotics rifampicin, spectinomycin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol and the β-lactam antibiotics penicillin, ampicillin and cephalothin. By contrast, most strains were resistant to the Gram-negative spectrum antibiotics fusidic acid, nalidixic acid and polymyxin B and the aminoglycosides neomycin, gentamicin, kanamycin and streptomycin. All three
L. rhamnosus strains (HN001, HN067 and GG) were resistant to vancomycin and several strains were also resistant to cloxacillin. Of the four new probiotic strains, only
L. rhamnosus HN001 contained plasmids; however, a plasmid-free derivative of HN001 had the same antibiotic susceptibility profile as the parent strain.
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