Mr. J. was 35 years old when he died. He had loved the ocean, playing music, and joking with family and hospital staff alike. As an inpatient palliative care consultant, I took care of him during his last week. Mr. J. had all the makings of a "difficult case": he was young with an invasive pelvic…
On average, Americans have worse health outcomes than their counterparts in other high-income countries, even though the United States spends far more on health care than those countries do. This disparity is often attributed to social factors that influence health, such as housing, nutrition, and…
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Background and Objectives Structured physical activities and dietary control have traditionally been used with the aim of controlling obesity. However, effective auxiliary modalities still needed to reduce local obesity, specifically abdominal obesity. This study examined the adjunct effect of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT), and non‐contact selective‐field radiofrequency (NcRF) on abdominal adiposity in adolescents with obesity. Study Design/Materials and Methods Fifty‐four adolescents...
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Abstract Heavy-ion beam (HIB) irradiation has been widely used in microbial mutation breeding. However, a global cellular response to such radiation remains mostly uncharacterised. In this study, we used transcriptomics to analyse the damage repair response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae following a semi-lethal HIB irradiation (80 Gy), which induced a significant number of DNA double-strand breaks. Our analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from 50 to 150 min post-irradiation...
Abstract Wood in service is sequestering carbon, but it is principally prone to deterioration where different fungi metabolize wood, and carbon dioxide is released back to the atmosphere. A key prerequisite for fungal degradation of wood is the presence of moisture. Conversely, keeping wood dry is the most effective way to protect wood from wood degradation and for long-term binding of carbon. Wood is porous and hygroscopic; it can take up water in liquid...
Abstract l-Arginine (L-Arg) depletion has attracted great attention in cancer therapy. Although two types of arginine-depleting enzymes, arginine deiminase (ADI) and human arginase I, are undergoing clinical trials, random site of PEGylation, low efficacy of heavy metal as co-factor, and immunogenicity limit the performance of these drugs and cause difficulty in a homogeneous production. Here we screened ten catalytic metal ions and have successfully produced...
Abstract β-Hydroxy-α-amino acids (βH-AAs) are key components of many bioactive molecules as well as exist as specialised metabolites. Among these βH-AAs, 4-fluorothreonine (4-FT) is the only naturally occurring fluorinated AA discovered thus far. Here we report overexpression and biochemical characterisation of 4-fluorothreonine transaldolase from Streptomyces sp. MA37 (FTaseMA), a homologue of FTase previously identified in the biosynthesis of 4-FT in S. cattleya. FTaseMA displays...
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In the original publication of the article, under the experimental protocol of the section “Clinical head position study in postoperative CRS patients”, the following sentence “There were 20 CRS patients, 12 male and 8 female across an age range of 19–64 years…” was published incorrectly.
In the original publication of the article, first name and last names of all authors were swapped.
Abstract Purpose To investigate the effects of submucosal platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection on nasal mucosal wound healing after endoscopic sinus surgery. Methods 24 New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into three groups. To mimic surgery, injury was created using 3-mm punch forceps on ventral turbinate mucosa for all groups. Submucosal PRP...
Abstract Purpose Hearing performance data was collected from a large heterogeneous group of subjects implanted with the Cochlear™ Nucleus® CI532 with Slim Modiolar Electrode, for the purposes of postmarket clinical follow-up. Data was analysed for factors which may predict postoperative speech recognition scores. Methods Data was collected retrospectively...
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Abstract Objectives This randomized controlled trial compares for the first time effects of Alvogyl versus absorbable gelatin sponge as palatal wound dressings on postoperative pain, amount of analgesic consumption, post-surgical bleeding, and wound re-epithelization. Materials and methods Following sample size calculation, 36 systemically healthy patients...
Abstract Objectives To assess occurrence and its variation over time of serious accidental perforations during endodontic treatment and the fate of perforated teeth by tooth type and characteristics of patients and dentists. Materials and methods Data, based on patient documents on healthcare malpractice claims, comprised all endodontic injuries (n = 970)...
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Abstract Background High concentrations of Co, Ni, and Cr in the blood serum of dental technicians are strongly associated with free radical formation. It has highly reactive properties that can cause further oxidation of molecule in the vicinity. Purpose This study intended to investigate whether the Dental Technician occupational exposure...
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Both polyploidization and transposable element (TE) activity are known to be major drivers of plant genome evolution. Here, we utilize the Zea-Tripsacum clade to investigate TE activity and accumulation after a recent shared polyploidization event. Comparisons of TE evolutionary dynamics in various Zea and Tripsacum species, in addition to two closely related diploid species, Urelytrum digitatum and Sorghum bicolor, revealed existing variation in repeat content among all taxa included in the study....
Cancer is caused by genetic alterations that affect cellular fitness, and multicellular organisms have evolved mechanisms to suppress cancer such as cell cycle checkpoints and apoptosis. These pathways may be enhanced by the addition of tumor suppressor gene paralogs or deletion of oncogenes. To provide insights to the evolution of cancer suppression across the mammalian radiation, we estimated copy numbers for 548 human tumor suppressor gene and oncogene homologs in 63 mammalian genome assemblies....
Through the analysis of linkage disequilibrium from genome-wide sequencing data for multiple individuals from eight populations, the general features of the recombinational landscape are revealed in the microcrustacean Daphnia pulex. The data suggest an exceptionally uniform pattern of recombination across the genome, while also confirming general patterns that are inconsistent with existing population-genetic models for the relationship between linkage dis-equilibrium and physical distances between...
Reproductive isolation is central to speciation, but interspecific crosses between two closely related species can produce viable and fertile hybrids. Two different species in the tunicate genus Ciona, Ciona robusta and Ciona intestinalis can produce hybrids. However, wild sympatric populations display limited gene flow, suggesting the existence of obstacles to interspecific reproduction that remain unknown. Here, we took advantage of a closed inland culture system to cross C. robusta with C. intestinalis...
Changes in complex phenotypes, such as pathogenicity levels, trophic lifestyle, and habitat shifts are brought on by multiple genomic changes: sub- and neo-functionalization, loss of function, and levels of gene expression. Thus, detecting the signature of selection in coding sequences and associating it with shifts in phenotypic state can unveil the genes underlying complex traits. Phylogenetic branch-site codon models are routinely applied to detect changes in selective pressures along specific...
Mitochondria and chloroplasts emerged from primary endosymbiosis. Most endosymbiont proteins have subsequently been expressed in the nucleo-cytosol of the host and organelle-targeted via the acquisition of N-terminal presequences, whose evolutionary origin remains enigmatic. Using a quantitative assessment of their physico-chemical properties, we show that organelle targeting peptides, which are distinct from signaling peptides targeting other subcellular compartments, group with a subset of antimicrobial...
Background: Ramp sequences increase translational speed and accuracy when rare, slowly-translated codons are found at the beginnings of genes. Here, the results of the first analysis of ramp sequences in a phylogenetic construct are presented. Methods: Ramp sequences were compared from 211 vertebrates (110 Mammalian and 101 non-mammalian). The presence and absence of ramp sequences was analyzed as a binary character in a parsimony and maximum likelihood framework. Additionally, ramp sequences were...
In pair-bonding species, male reproductive success consists of "within-pair" offspring produced with their socially-paired mate(s), and "extra-pair" offspring produced with additional females throughout the population. Both reproductive pathways offer distinct opportunities for sexual selection to operate in wild populations, as each are composed of sub-components of mate attraction, female fecundity, and paternity allocation. Identifying key sources of variance and covariance among these components...
Estimating demographic histories using genomic datasets has proven to be useful in addressing diverse evolutionary questions. Despite improvements in inference methods and availability of large genomic datasets, quality control steps to be performed prior to the use of sequentially Markovian coalescent (SMC) based methods remains understudied. While various filtering and masking steps have been used by previous studies, the rationale for such filtering and its consequences have not been assessed...
Many species face existence threat under anthropogenic climate change, and standing genetic variation was proposed as a way for sessile species to adapt to novel environments. However, it is still unknown whether standing genetic variants, being adaptive to current environmental variability, are sufficient to guarantee future survival. Here we investigate the relative importance of standing variation versus new mutations from the past to infer their future fate in nature. In the wild banana species...
Divergent selection is a powerful driver of speciation and has been widely studied in relation to the physical characters of organisms. Because evolution of behavioural traits may contribute to evolutionary processes, we explored how consistent variation in behaviours may affect the process of adaptive divergence and speciation. We studied whether two sympatric morphs of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) have recently evolved genetically-based differences in personality that conform to their respective...
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Abstract Prior Pan-Canadian surveys of Radiation Oncology (RO) residents reveal a decrease in Canadian RO employment opportunities. Canadian RO resident levels increased from 130 in 2003, peaked at 209 in 2009, then decreased to 130 in 2017. Recognizing that RO has entered another period of transition, we re-examined resident motivations and perspectives on the job market and explored well-being and career aspirations among a contemporary cohort of Canadian RO residents. An online...
Abstract Our review aimed to assess the effectiveness of culturally tailored intervention in mammography practice for Chinese American women. We searched the entire paper published by the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Web of Science from inception to 17 October 2019. Moreover, we manually checked reference lists of included studies to find other potentially eligible studies. It included clinical trials published in English that evaluated the effects of culturally tailored intervention...
Abstract Effective communication between healthcare providers (HCPs) and patients is important for HCP well-being, patient engagement, and health outcomes. Yet, HCPs do not receive adequate communication skills training and report feeling unprepared for difficult conversations. A needs assessment of 64 cancer HCP trainees in Toronto, Canada, found that a majority of trainees rated themselves with low competency in communication skills to support patients through difficult conversations,...
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SUMMARY:The study aim was to compare the ratio of T1WI to T2WI signal intensity (T1/T2) with magnetization transfer ratio, a marker of myelin integrity, in patients with multiple sclerosis. A moderate correlation (r = 0.50, P = .034) was found between the magnetization transfer ratio and T1/T2 in normal-appearing gray matter, and a strong correlation for normal-appearing white matter (r = 0.63, P = .005) and lesions (r = 0.70, P = .001). Results suggest that besides myelin integrity, other factors...
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:Accurate differentiation between glioblastoma and solitary brain metastasis is of vital importance clinically. This study aimed to investigate the potential value of the inflow-based vascular-space-occupancy MR imaging technique, which has no need for an exogenous contrast agent, in differentiating glioblastoma and solitary brain metastasis and to compare it with DSC MR imaging.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Twenty patients with glioblastoma and 22 patients with solitary brain metastasis...
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:Vessel wall imaging is increasingly performed in the diagnostic work-up of patients with ischemic stroke. The aim of this study was to compare vessel wall enhancement after intra-arterial thrombosuction with that in patients not treated with thrombosuction.MATERIALS AND METHODS:From 2009 to 2017, forty-nine patients with an ischemic stroke underwent 7T MR imaging within 3 months after symptom onset as part of a prospective intracranial vessel wall imaging study. Fourteen of...
SUMMARY:The remarkable temperature sensitivity of the brain is widely recognized and has been studied for its role in the potentiation of ischemic and other neurologic injuries. Pyrexia frequently complicates large-vessel acute ischemic stroke and develops commonly in critically ill neurologic patients; the profound sensitivity of the brain even to minor intraischemic temperature changes, together with the discovery of brain-to-systemic as well as intracerebral temperature gradients, has thus compelled...
SUMMARY:Cerebral amyloid angiopathy is characterized by deposition of amyloid-β fibrils in the walls of small-to-medium-sized blood vessels. In this retrospective review of 5 patients with histologically confirmed noninflammatory cerebral amyloid angiopathy, high-resolution vessel wall MRI showed arterial wall enhancement in 2 patients (40%). Despite common consensus of equating vessel wall enhancement with inflammation, this report demonstrates that β-amyloid accumulation alone without inflammation...
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Abstract Purpose Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is useful for glioma grading and discriminating between brain tumor categories in adults, but its diagnostic value for pediatric brain tumors is unclear. Here we evaluated the usefulness of SWI for pediatric tumor grading and differentiation by assessing intratumoral susceptibility signal intensity (ITSS). Methods ...
Abstract Purpose The management of residual or persistent intracranial aneurysms after flow-diversion therapy is not well defined in the literature. In this multicentric study, we report clinical and angiographic outcomes of 11 patients that underwent retreatment for 12 aneurysms initially treated with flow-diverter stents. Methods The median patient...
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