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Objective We set out to assess the feasibility, reliability, and sensitivity to change of 4 radiographic scoring methods in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Methods Hand and feet radiographs from 50 patients with PsA were scored at 2 time points by 2 assessors with each of the following methods: modified Steinbrocker score, modified Sharp score (MSS), modified Sharp/van der Heijde score (SHS), and the Ratingen score for PsA. The radiographs of 10 patients were scored by both assessors to assess reliability using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Sensitivity to change was estimated using a standardized response mean (SRM) and smallest detectable change (SDC). Results The patients' mean ± SD age at baseline was 50 ± 12.1 years, the mean ± SD disease duration was 10 ± 8.4 years, and the mean ± SD followup period was 25 ± 9.6 months. Intrarater reliability was excellent for all methods (ICC >0.97). Interrater reliability was highest for the SHS (ICC 0.95-0.99). The percentage SDC for the Steinbrocker method, the Ratingen method, the MSS, and the SHS was 2.9%, 2.1%, 1.4%, and 1.2%, respectively, and the SRMs were 0.46, 0.44, 0.77, and 0.79, respectively. The mean time to score each of the Steinbrocker method, the Ratingen method, the MSS, and the SHS was 6.2, 10.5, 14.6, and 14.4 minutes, respectively. Conclusion The SHS method was the most reliable and sensitive to change but took longer to perform. The Steinbrocker method is the most feasible but lacks the sensitivity of the SHS. The SDC of the Ratingen method is close to that of the SHS and MSS, but is quicker to perform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with a study which successfully synthesized and characterized an in situ sodium-activated and organomodified bentonite clay/styrene-butadiene rubber nanocomposites using a latex blending method. Based on X-ray diffraction data, it was found that the in situ sodium activation has helped increase the intergallery distance from 1.28 to 1.88 nanometers. The in situ sodium-activated compound also exhibited a substantial improvement in physical properties.

This article presents a study regarding the rubber/clay nanocomposites with focus on the mechanical properties. It discusses the preparations of rubber/clay nanocomposites by solution bending, melt intercalation, and latex compounding. It also presents a thorough discussion of the mechanical properties of the different rubber/clay nanocomposite systems. Other properties including barrier, thermal properties, and dynamic mechanical behavior are also discussed. Finally, it mentions the future trends in the rubber/clay nanocomposites.

Objective To determine the accuracy with which the absence of fetal breathing movements on ultrasound examination predicts spontaneous preterm birth in women with threatened preterm labor. Methods Data sources included Medline, Em base, Pascal, Biosis, Cochrane Library, Medion, National Research Register, SciSearch, conference papers, and manual searching of bibliographies of known primary and review articles. A study was selected if it used absence of fetal breathing movements on ultrasound to predict spontaneous preterm birth in women with threatened preterm labor but before advanced cervical dilatation. Two reviewers independently selected studies and extracted data on their characteristics, quality and accuracy. Accuracy data were used to form 2 × 2 contingency tables with birth within 48 h and within 7 days of testing as the reference standards. Likelihood ratios for a positive test (LR+) and negative test (LR-) were calculated as a measure of accuracy. Results There were eight studies, which included a total of 328 women, evaluating the accuracy of absence of fetal breathing movements in predicting spontaneous preterm birth in women with threatened preterm labor. There were differences in the methodological quality among the included studies. All were lacking in one or more item that make up an ideal test accuracy study. For women presenting with threatened preterm labor, meta-analysis showed a summary LR+ of 14.80 (95% CI, 6.30–34.79) with a corresponding summary LR- of 0.46 (95% CI, 0.3 6–0.58) for predicting preterm birth within 7 days, and summary LR+ of 7.84(95% CI, 1.12–54.99) and summary LR- of 0.25 (95% CI, 0.13–0.48) for predicting preterm birth within 48 h of testing. Conclusion Absence of fetal breathing movements has the potential to be a useful test in predicting preterm birth both within 7 days and within 48 h of testing. However, the available studies were deficient in their sample size and quality of methodology. Future research should be undertaken to evaluate this technology and to address the methodological deficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous enzymatic extraction was investigated for recovery of oil from mustard seed and rice bran. The extraction process was reproducible based on statistical analysis of extraction data under different extraction conditions. The most significant factors for extraction were the time of digestion with enzymes, seed or bran concentration in water, volume of hexane added before recovery, and amount of enzyme(s) used. The pretreatment steps of each material before enzyme digestion influenced oil yield. Quality of enzyme-extracted mustard oil was better with respect to color and odor than commercial expeller-extracted and Soxhlet-extracted oils. Most of the characteristics of rice bran oil were identical to those of commercial solvent-extracted oils, but rice bran oil had a lower content of colored substances and higher acidity (free fatty acid). Enzymatic extraction led to recovery of a protein concentrate with increased protein and reduced fiber and ash contents in the mustard and rice bran meals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biorefining process under optimum conditions de-acidified the high-acid mohua oil by nearly 85% with considerable improvement of color. The process, in combination with alkali-refining, bleaching and deodorization, yielded excellent oil with respect to color, unsaponifiable matter content and triglyceride content. The combination of biorefining and physical refining significantly reduced the loss of oil, and the color, unsaponifiable matter and diglyceride content increased while triglyceride content decreased. The physical refining process alone, on the other hand, produced oil with considerably darker color, increased unsaponifiable matter and diglycerides, and decreased triglyceride. Biorefining followed by alkali-refining, bleaching and deodorizing steps or by physical refining can be regarded as a much better alternative refining process than the physical refining process alone for oils of high acidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactobacillus fermentum is commonly found in food products, and some strains are known to have beneficial effects on human health. However, our previous research indicated that L. fermentum AGR1487 decreases in vitro intestinal barrier integrity. The hypothesis was that cell surface structures of AGR1487 are responsible for the observed in vitro effect. AGR1487 was compared to another human oral L. fermentum strain, AGR1485, which does not cause the same effect. The examination of phenotypic traits associated with the composition of cell surface structures showed that compared to AGR1485, AGR1487 had a smaller genome, utilized different sugars, and had greater tolerance to acid and bile. The effect of the two strains on intestinal barrier integrity was determined using two independent measures of paracellular permeability of the intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cell line. The transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) assay specifically measures ion permeability, whereas the mannitol flux assay measures the passage of uncharged molecules. Both live and UV-inactivated AGR1487 decreased TEER across Caco-2 cells implicating the cell surfaces structures in the effect. However, only live AGR1487, and not UV-inactivated AGR1487, increased the rate of passage of mannitol, implying that a secreted component(s) is responsible for this effect. These differences in barrier integrity results are likely due to the TEER and mannitol flux assays measuring different characteristics of the epithelial barrier, and therefore imply that there are multiple mechanisms involved in the effect of AGR1487 on barrier integrity., (© 2015 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The chemokine receptor CXCR4 and the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) are G-protein-coupled receptors that are essential for normal function of the nervous and immune systems. Several studies have suggested that MOR is a key regulator of CXCR4 in the brain; however, the molecular basis of the opioid-chemokine interaction is not fully understood, and it may involve different mechanisms in neuronal and glial cells. Our previous studies demonstrated that MOR stimulation specifically upregulates the protein ferritin heavy chain - an inhibitor of CXCR4 - in neurons, and suggested that additional mechanisms could be operative in glia. In this study, we investigated CXCR4 function in brains and astroglial cultures deprived of MOR. Reduced coupling of CXCR4 to G-proteins was found in brain slices and tissue homogenates of MOR(-/-) mice as compared with wild-type controls. CXCR4-induced signaling was also reduced in glial cultures from MOR(-/-) mice, as shown by analysis of CXCR4 downstream targets (Akt and ERK1/2). Pharmacological studies with δ-opioid receptor (DOR)-specific ligands suggested that DOR-CXCR4 interactions are implicated in the inhibition of CXCR4 in MOR-deficient cells both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, increased CXCR4/DOR co-immunoprecipitation was found in brain tissue and cultured glia from MOR(-/-) mice. Importantly, CXCR4 function was restored by pretreatment with a DOR antagonist. Overall, these findings indicate that DOR plays a crucial role in the regulation of CXCR4 in glia, probably via silent receptor heterodimers. The data also suggest that the opiate system interferes with normal CXCR4 function in different ways, depending on receptor subtypes., (© 2010 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2010 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Background: There are few data on echocardiographic indexes incorporating peak mitral inflow velocity (E), left atrial volume index (LAVi), and pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) for estimation of left ventricular (LV) filling pressure in patients with preserved LV ejection fraction (EF ≥ 50%)., Methods: Patients underwent echocardiography ≤20 minutes of cardiac catheterization. Echocardiographic variables were compared to invasively measured LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP)., Results: Of the 122 patients, 67 (55%) were women, the mean age was 55 ± 9 years, the mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 61 ± 6%, 107 (88%) were hypertensive, and 79 (65%) had significant coronary artery disease at catheterization. E/Ea correlated with LVEDP (R = 0.68, P < 0.0001), compared to PAP (R = 0.53, P < 0.001), peak E velocity (R = 0.48, P < 0.001), and LAVi (R = 0.48, P < 0.001). E/Ea > 12 had 75% sensitivity and 78% specificity for LVEDP ≥ 20 mmHg (area under curve (AUC) = 0.79, P < 0.0001), compared with (PAP + LAVi)/2 > 30 (sensitivity = 72%, specificity = 80%, AUC = 0.84, P < 0.001) and (E + LAVi)/2 > 57 (sensitivity = 73% and specificity = 81%, AUC = 0.82, P < 0.001) (P = NS). E <60 cm/sec had 94% negative, and E>90 cm/sec had 96% positive, predictive value for LVEDP ≥ 20 mmHg. (E + LAVi)/2 added incrementally to E/Ea when E/Ea was in the gray zone., Conclusions: New, simple echocardiographic equations, (E + LAVi)/2 and (PAP + LAVi)/2, have comparable accuracy to E/Ea for LVEDP estimation in patients with cardiac disease and preserved LVEF, and (E + LAVi)/2 added incrementally to E/Ea alone when E/Ea was in the gray zone. Peak E velocity alone had high negative and positive predictive value for elevated LVEDP in this population. These simple echocardiographic variables could be used-in isolation or with E/Ea-in patients with cardiac disease and preserved LVEF for the diagnosis of diastolic heart failure., (© 2010, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)