Search

Recurrence is often reported as the primary outcome among studies of patients with hernias; however, there is growing interest in patient quality of life. The relationship between quality of life and recurrence is poorly understood. This study evaluates this relationship. A secondary analysis of 3 prospective clinical trials was performed. The modified Activities Assessment Scale, a validated, abdominal wall–specific quality of life tool was used (1 = poor quality of life and 100 = perfect quality of life). Patients with and without a hernia recurrence were compared. Baseline quality of life, follow-up quality of life, and change in quality of life were measured. The relationship between quality of life and clinical outcomes was examined. A total of 238 patients were followed for median (range) 30 (14–44) months, of whom 31 (13.0%) had a clinical recurrence, whereas 207 (87.0%) had no clinical recurrence. Patients with recurrence were more likely to have a lower mean baseline quality of life (14 vs 26; P =.035), follow-up quality of life (42 vs 82; P <.001), and change in quality of life (19 vs 33; P <.018). The majority of patients with or without recurrence still experienced an improvement in quality of life (68% vs 79%; P =.142). Patients with lower baseline quality of life are likely to experience a recurrence following repair; however, most still report substantial improvements in quality of life. Assessing follow-up quality of life without accounting for baseline quality of life is incomplete; follow-up quality of life should be assessed with appropriate adjustment for baseline quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study hypothesizes that raw materials used in bread making can transfer antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) to processed breads. Four types of flour and four types of semolina were purchased from supermarkets and inoculated with a commercial dried sourdough starter to make breads. The microbiological characteristics of all raw materials and fermented doughs were investigated. The levels of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) increased up to 107 CFU/g. The values of pH decreased to 4.54–4.86 while total titratable acidity increased inversely. All unprocessed and processed samples, including breads, were analyzed by a molecular approach to detect bacterial and fungal DNAs and 17 antibiotic resistance genes for penicillins, macrolides, tetracyclines, and chloramphenicol. Illumina technology showed that the operational taxonomy units (OTUs) identified from unprocessed wheat milling products, fermented doughs, and baked products mainly belonged to Acetobacteraceae. Enterococci were present in all doughs. After baking, the relative abundance (RA)% of Enterococcus and Acetobacteraceae decreased. The DNA analyzed for fungal composition showed that Kazachstania humilis dominated dried sourdough starter and doughs, and its OTUs were also detected at high RA% in baked products. The search for ARGs revealed that all samples analyzed did not show resistance to penicillins, chloramphenicol, and macrolides. However, three of the semolinas included in this study (S1, S3 and S4) and the corresponding doughs (SD1, SD3 and SD4) were positive for tet (A) and tet (B) resistance genes. This work indicated that breads have a limited role in the dissemination of ARGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hyaluronic acid (HA) derivative bearing octadecylamine and acylhydrazine functionalities has been here employed for the production of a paclitaxel delivering matrix for locoregional chemotherapy. Through a strategy consisting in a powder compression and a plasticization with a mixture water/ethanol, a physically assembled biomaterial, stable in solutions with physiologic ionic strengths, has been produced. Two different drug loading strategies have been adopted, by using paclitaxel as chemotherapic agent, and obtained samples have been assayed in terms of release in enhanced solubility conditions and in vitro and in vivo tumoural cytotoxicity. In particular sample with the best releasing characteristics was chosen for an in vivo evaluation against a HCT-116 xenograft on mice. Local tumour establishment and metastatic diffusion was assayed locally at the site of xenograft implantation and at the tributary lymph nodes. Obtained results demonstrated how loading procedure influenced paclitaxel crystallinity into the matrix and consequently drug diffusion and its cytoreductive potential. Chosen paclitaxel loaded matrix was able to drastically inhibit HCT-116 establishment and metastatic diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Diverticular disease is increasingly prevalent in Western societies and is associated with significant morbidity. Objective Two-stage endoscopic device development for inversion and secured ligation of colonic diverticula; first, human cadaver studies were performed to measure forces required for diverticular inversion; second, a novel set of devices (elastic spiked O-ring with delivery system) was tested in animals. Design Prospective, observational study of human cadavers and prospective, interventional study of a porcine model. Setting University hospital pathology laboratory and animal facility. Intervention Full-thickness inversion of the colonic wall with a pipelike delivery instrument to produce an inverted pseudodiverticulum that was secured with a spiked O-ring. Main Outcome Measurements The forces required for diverticular inversion, the secured closure of inverted pseudodiverticula, and the time until necrotic tissue falls off. Results A total of 248 of 248 of cadaveric sigmoid diverticula could be inverted by means of vacuum or forceps. The forces required for inversion ranged from 0.28 to 0.47 N (median, 0.37 N). Twenty-four spiked O-rings were delivered in 6 living pigs to produce 24 inverted pseudodiverticula. One animal died the day after the procedure of a pulmonary thromboembolism. In the remaining 5 pigs, all delivered spiked O-rings remained in place for 7 to 22 days. At necropsy, none of the inverted sites showed signs of perforation but rather full-thickness reparative scarring with ingrowth of connective tissue. Limitations Animal model, stiff pipelike delivery instrument, variations in diverticular location, diameter, and size. Conclusions Endoluminal inversion and securing of colonic diverticula induces tissue necrosis, diverticular sloughing, and full-thickness scarring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Lacustrine sediments of the Wilson Creek Formation in the Mono Basin, California, record a paleomagnetic field excursion constrained by 14C and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology to have occurred within the last 50ka. However, 14C and 40Ar/39Ar ages are discordant, making it difficult to distinguish which of two possible excursions during this period, the Mono Lake or Laschamp, is recorded in the Mono Basin. New 40Ar/39Ar age determinations from sanidine, as well as the first biotite and obsidian ages, for three of the nineteen rhyolitic ashes intercalated with these sediments are presented and compared to previous 14C and 40Ar/39Ar data sets. Although the sanidine ages of the three ashes are stratigraphically consistent with each other and previously determined 40Ar/39Ar ages for other ashes in the Wilson Creek Formation, each is significantly older than 14C ages obtained from stratigraphically equivalent beds, relative paleointensity field correlations, oxygen isotope records, and glacial histories. These data indicate an absence of juvenile, eruptive crystals and most likely reflect the incorporation of crystals from older volcanic centers or underlying sediment. We examine the strengths and weaknesses of all available geochronologic data for the section exposed at Wilson Creek to arrive at an internally consistent set of age constraints. Using these constraints we propose two new relative paleointensity correlations for the section, both of which indicate that the excursion recorded in the Mono Basin occurred at ∼30–34ka on the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core time scale. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A redetermination of the isotopic composition of atmospheric argon by Lee, J.-Y., Marti, K., Severinghaus, J.P., Kawamura, K., Yoo, H.-S., Lee, J.B., Kim, J.S. [2006. A redetermination of the isotopic abundances of atmospheric Ar. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70, 4507–4512] represents the first refinement since the work of Nier [1950. A redetermination of the relative abundances of the isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and potassium. Physical Reviews 77, 789–793]. The new 40Ar:38Ar:36Ar proportions imply <1% adjustments to 40Ar/39Ar ages in all but exceptional cases of very young and/or K-poor and/or Ca-rich samples, or cases in which samples are grossly under- or over-irradiated. Analytical protocols employing atmospheric argon to determine mass discrimination corrections are insensitive to the effects of revision on the air correction, but are subject to non-negligible adjustments arising from expanded heavy to light isotope ratios attending the increased mass discrimination correction. The competing effects of increased 40Ar/39Ar and 40Ar/37Ar ratios render the adjustments a function of sample chemistry and neutron irradiation parameters. The improved precision of atmospheric 40Ar/36Ar and 38Ar/36Ar permits increasingly sensitive detection of departures from atmospheric values. Non-atmospheric initial 40Ar/36Ar values are increasingly well-documented in volcanic materials, including subatmospheric values correlated with 38Ar/36Ar in a trend consistent with kinetic mass fractionation whereby incomplete equilibration between magma and atmosphere favors light isotope enrichment in the magma. The detailed mechanism(s) of such fractionation are unclear and must be clarified by further study. A detectable increase in atmospheric 40Ar/36Ar in the past 800ka [Bender, M.L., Barnett, B., Dreyfus, G., Jouzel, J., Porcelli, D., 2008. The contemporary degassing rate of 40Ar from the Earth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, 8232–8237] suggests that ages of late Quaternary (e.g., <100ka) materials incorporating large amounts of atmospheric argon such as biotite may be underestimated by as much as 100% if a modern atmospheric 40Ar/36Ar value is erroneously assumed, unless air argon is used to determine mass discrimination. Further evaluation of the evolution of paleoatmospheric 40Ar/36Ar, and the fidelity with which argon trapped in igneous materials reflects this, would be very productive. The use of isochrons rather than model (e.g., plateau) ages mitigates the vagaries associated with uncertain trapped argon isotope ratios, and the importance of strategies to derive statistically valid isochrons is underscored. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Here we present results of detailed diffusion experiments on 37Ar in laser-heated calcite crystals. The data define linear Arrhenius arrays that yield an average apparent activation energy of 417.4±4.3kJ/mol and average frequency factor of 43.2±0.6 ln(s−1), which correspond to a closure temperature of 385±2°C (for a 10°C/Ma cooling rate). These results indicate that calcite quantitatively retains trapped atmospheric and in situ produced cosmogenic argon at Earth surface and upper crustal temperatures over geologic time. Furthermore, these are the first reported data on argon diffusion in a rhombohedral or carbonate mineral, an important constraint on models of noble gas diffusion kinetics in crystalline materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose Fricke gel (FG) dosimeters are good candidates for 3D dose assessment in biological materials. Their effective atomic number and density are similar to those of soft tissue. In view of their chemical and morphological characteristics, FG serve as dosimeters and as phantoms at the same time. FG dosimeters are obtained by incorporating an acidic aqueous solution of ferrous ions Fe2+ into a gel matrix. In order to address the limitations of gels based on natural matrices, we have studied FG produced with a matrix of poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) cross-linked with glutaraldehyde (GTA). Materials and methods The proposed gel contains 10% w/v of PVA and GTA of 1%w/v. A common formulation agarose gel was also prepared and studied for comparison. PVA-GTA gel samples were irradiated using 6 MV X-ray clinical beams. The PVA-GTA FG were read out with magnetic resonance imaging (1.5T clinical MRI scanner and 7T MRI preclinical scanner for small animals). Results and Conclusions MRI was performed with a clinical scanner in order to optimize the acquisition parameters and obtain high contrast between irradiated and non-irradiated samples. The PVA-GTA gels were found to offer good linearity in the range of 0–15 Gy and a stable signal for several hours after irradiation. The sensitivity was about 40% higher compared to gels produced with agarose as gelling agent. The analysis showed that the diffusion process is much slower (more than five times) for PVA-GTA gels than for agarose ones. The dosimetric accuracy of the 3D gels was investigated by comparing their response to percentage depth dose and off-axis ratio measurements made with an ionization chamber in a water phantom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]