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  • Pritchard Nygaard posted an update 1 week, 5 days ago

    Essential tremor (ET) is a progressive neurological disease whose natural history is one of progressive increase in tremor severity over time; surprisingly though, there are no published videotape diaries that visually and tangibly portray this progression over time.

    Progressive, stepwise increase in limb tremor severity over a ten-to-fifteen-year period in three patients with ET.

    We hope that this brief visual diary will serve as a useful teaching tool for students, primary care physicians, and neurologists to “see with their own eyes” the extent of change that can occur in the ETs.

    We hope that this brief visual diary will serve as a useful teaching tool for students, primary care physicians, and neurologists to “see with their own eyes” the extent of change that can occur in the ETs.Historically, primordial germ cells (PGCs) have been a good model to study pluripotency. Despite their low numbers and limited accessibility in the mouse embryo, they can be easily and rapidly reprogrammed at high efficiency with external physicochemical factors and do not require transcription factor transfection. Employing this model to deepen our understanding of cell reprogramming, we specifically aimed to determine the relevance of Ca2+ signal transduction pathway components in the reprogramming process. Our results showed that PGC reprogramming requires a normal extracellular [Ca2+] range, in contrast to neoplastic or transformed cells, which can continue to proliferate in Ca2+-deficient media, differentiating normal reprogramming from neoplastic transformation. Our results also showed that a spike in extracellular [Ca2+] of 1-3 mM can directly reprogram PGC. Intracellular manipulation of Ca2+ signal transduction pathway components revealed that inhibition of classical Ca2+ and diacylglycerol (DAG)-dependent PKCs, or intriguingly, of only the novel DAG-dependent PKC, PKCε, were able to induce reprogramming. PKCε inhibition changed the metabolism of PGCs toward glycolysis, increasing the proportion of inactive mitochondria. This metabolic switch from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis is mediated by hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs), given we found upregulation of both HIF1α and HIF2α in the first 48 hours of culturing. PKCε inhibition did not change the classical pluripotency gene expression of PGCs, Oct4, or Nanog. PKCε inhibition changed the histone acetylation of PGCs, with histones H2B, H3, and H4 becoming acetylated in PKCε-inhibited cultures (markers were H2BacK20, H3acK9, and H4acK5K8, K12, K16), suggesting that reprogramming by PKCε inhibition is mediated by histone acetylation.Deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a subset of venous thromboembolism (VTE), is a major preventable cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. We aim to investigate changes in oxidative injury markers and the levels of antioxidant parameters in DVT patients. 50 DVT patients who were admitted to the cardiovascular surgery clinic with acute (0.05). In all DVT patients having thrombosis in the distal and proximal leg veins the mean malondialdehyde and glutathione peroxidase activity were significantly increased, but superoxide dismutase activity significantly decreased, compared to the healthy controls (P less then 0.05). No difference was observed between distal and proximal DVT patient groups. The increased levels of malondialdehyde in our study is considered to result from the significant decrease in the antioxidant enzyme activity of superoxide dismutase. Furthermore, we are of the opinion that the increased levels of glutathione peroxidase enzyme activity observed in all patients could not compensate the reduction in the superoxide dismutase activity, thereby being insufficient in preventing the increase in the malondialdehyde levels.

    To study the effects of coronary revascularization using elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on autonomic modulation assessed by heart rate variability measurement (HRV) in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.

    A single-center prospective cohort study included 100 patients were included undergoing elective PCI excluding those with contraindication to contrast or dual antiplatelet therapy, atrial fibrillation or multiple premature beats, receiving anti-arrhythmic drugs and those who underwent previous PCI or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Short-term measurement of time domain parameters (mean, SDNN, RMSSD) and frequency domain parameters (LF component, HF component, LF/HF ratio) of HRV was performed at the same time of the day, pre-PCI, 24 hours and 6 months post-PCI by CheckMyheart™ handheld HRV device. 5-min HRV analysis software was used to interpret the data using standard methods of HRV measurement of the Task Force of The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and The North Americproved by coronary revascularization using PCI assessed by serial HRV measurement. Patients with CR had better autonomic modulation than those with IR assessed by HRV 24 and 6 months after PCI.

    Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a major complication after cardiovascular surgery. The unclear etiology of this highly complex event challenges definition, diagnosis and prediction of AKI, and hence hampers adequate patient management. Identification of associated risk factors have the potential to overcome this limitation.

    This retrospective study comprised 3574 patients who underwent cardiac surgery in a hospital in Germany. The patient cohort was interrogated for risk factors for AKI.

    The analysis identified risk factors for AKI development, such as type of surgery (particularly bypass surgery) (P = 0.02), previous coronary surgeries (P < 0.01), the application of intra-aortic balloon pump in surgery (P < 0.01), and blood loss during surgery (P < 0.01). In addition, old age, duration of surgery as well as ischemia, perfusion and reperfusion times contributed to AKI development (P < 0.01). Further, perioperative hypothermia also appeared as putative risk factor in the analysis (P < 0.01).

    This study identified several risk factors for the development of AKI after cardiac surgery. Further validation of these risk factors could allow the implementation of adequate patient management, and the appropriate implementation of risk-adverse interventions in cardiovascular surgery.

    This study identified several risk factors for the development of AKI after cardiac surgery. Further validation of these risk factors could allow the implementation of adequate patient management, and the appropriate implementation of risk-adverse interventions in cardiovascular surgery.

    Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in Brazil and worldwide. Seasonality and climate change seem to be associated with hospitalization for AMI.

    to analyze the effect that seasonality and temperature have on the number of hospitalizations and deaths due to AMI, stratified by gender and age group, from 2009 to 2018 in a region of southern Brazil.

    An Ecological study, composed of cases of hospitalizations and deaths by AMI in the Association of Municipalities of the Laguna Region (AMUREL), SC, Brazil. Data on AMI were collected by the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System (DATASUS) and data on average monthly temperature (degrees Celsius) of the Laguna region (SC, Brazil) were provided by the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET). The data analysis was performed through linear regression and ANOVA test with Tukey post-hoc.

    2947 hospitalizations were analyzed. The monthly average hospitalization per AMI was 24.6±8.1 cases (7.0±2.2/100increase of 1 hospitalization per AMI/100,000 inhabitants. It is hoped that the results may assist in the formulation of public environmental policies for the prevention of risk factors for AMI.Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) patients generally have lower blood pressures compared to those with the AA haemoglobin genotype. However, during vaso-occlusive crises (SCA-VOC), blood pressures (BP) may elevate transiently to levels beyond the 95th percentile. The risk of stroke or even death increases with increasing systolic BP in SCA. Therefore, interventions targeted at BP reduction may be essential during severe vaso-occlusive episodes. Reduction in BP was achieved with arginine therapy in a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCT) in non-sickle cell adults. The impact of oral arginine (given for pain control) on the BP of children with SCA-VOC has not been documented.

    A double-blind RCT of oral

    -arginine hydrochloride as adjuvant therapy for pain reduction was conducted in children with SCA-VOC, aged 5-17 years, over a 2-year period. ABT-888 The mean change in BP and the time to achieve BP <90

    percentile was added as part of the outcome variables. The anthropometry, pain scores and mercury sphygmoization much faster than the placebo group (P=0.112), and no serious adverse events were documented related to the hypertension or arginine administration.

    High blood pressure (≥95

    percentile) is common amongst children with SCA-VOC and are mostly asymptomatic. Administration of oral arginine given for pain control achieves a reduction of the BP at a faster rate in children compared to placebo and it is safe.

    High blood pressure (≥95th percentile) is common amongst children with SCA-VOC and are mostly asymptomatic. Administration of oral arginine given for pain control achieves a reduction of the BP at a faster rate in children compared to placebo and it is safe.Conjugated Linoleic Acids (CLA) may have beneficial effects on the prevention of atherosclerosis, but their net effects on circulating levels of lipoprotein (a) [Lp (a)] are unclear. The present study aimed to systematically review and analyze the Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) assessing the effects of CLA on circulating Lp (a) concentrations. A literature search of SCOPUS, PubMed-Medline, ISI, Web of Science, and Cochrane library databases was conducted for the relevant RCTs investigating the effects of CLA supplementation on circulating Lp (a) levels, which had been published up to 20 August 2020. Weighted Mean Difference (WMD) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) were reported as the summary statistics. Statistical analysis were done with Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) V2 software (Biostat, NJ). Totally, six studies with 13 treatment arms including 752 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed a significant increase in circulating Lp (a) levels after CLA supplementation (WMD 16.68 mg/L, 95% CI 5.43-27.93; P=0.004) with no evidence of heterogeneity across the studies. In the subgroup analysis, a more significant elevation of Lp (a) levels was observed in the trials lasting for six months or more (WMD 21.61 mg/L, 95% CI 9.85-33.37, P less then 0.001) as well as in those with a supplementation dosage of ≥3.5 g/d (WMD 26.13 mg/L, 95% CI 7.02-45.24, P=0.007). These findings were sensitive to one study. It can be concluded that CLA supplementation with a dose of ≥3.5 g/d over a six-month period might significantly increase the circulating Lp (a) concentrations.

    Myocardial infarction is one of the most important causes of mortality worldwide. The role of opium addiction in the outcome of myocardial infarction is not known with many unproven beliefs surrounding it. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of opium addiction on in-hospital and six-month outcomes of patients presenting with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

    This study was performed on STEMI patients who were initially treated medically in two hospitals without any primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) facility. A total 117 opium addicted patients and 217 non-opium-addicted controls were followed during hospitalization and six months thereafter. The primary endpoint of this study was the in-hospital composite of death, heart failure, recurrent chest pain, and recurrent STEMI.

    The composite endpoint was not significantly different either in-hospital or after six-month follow up (RR=0.851, 95% CI 0.578-1.253 and RR=0.899, 95% CI 0.578-1.253 relatively). Multivariate analysis also confirmed that opium addiction was not a predictor of in-hospital or six-month adverse outcome.