Search

The competitive calendars in sports often lead to fluctuations in the effort-recovery cycle and sleep quality. NESA noninvasive neuromodulation, achieved through microcurrent modulation of the autonomic nervous system, holds promise for enhancing sleep quality and autonomic activation during stressful situations. The objective of this study was to analyze the sleep and recovery responses of basketball players over six weeks of training and competition, with the integration of NESA noninvasive neuromodulation. A preliminary experimental study involving 12 participants was conducted, with a placebo group (n = 6) and an intervention group (n = 6) treated with NESA noninvasive neuromodulation. Sleep variables and biomarkers such as testosterone, cortisol, and the cortisol:testosterone ratio were analyzed to assess player recovery and adaptations. Significant differences were observed in total, duration, and REM sleep variables (p-value= < 0.001; 0.007;

Head and neck cancers are being diagnosed more frequently in elderly patients and at advanced stages. In these cases, standard treatment methods are often not feasible due to patient frailty and malnutrition. A few trials have demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) as neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced oral cancer. We present the case of a 51-year-old male patient who had locally advanced oral cavity cancer that was treated with the combination of pembrolizumab and weekly carboplatin and paclitaxel. This treatment resulted in a major pathological response, leading to a significant reduction in tumor size and allowing for surgical treatment. In addition, the patient remains free of locoregional disease nine months after the surgery. Clinical trials are essential to investigate the viability of this potentially less toxic and more convenient combined therapy in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.

During the first decades of the 20th century, many European intellectuals were developing negative responses to modernity. Hermann Hesse was aware of the moral and social difficulties plaguing Europe at that time and dealt with these problems in his writing. Despite being a German author, he is well read even today, and his characters' quests and journeys of self-discovery captivate young people worldwide. This study aims to bring out the relevance of Hesse by analysing the historiography of the studies on Hesse's works and interrogating the significance of different perspectives on him, which will open doors for future studies in health humanities and memory studies. The authors systematically analyse 100 studies on Hesse and his works from journals indexed in the Web of Science. It is concluded that Hesse’s literary world, comprised of novels, poems, and autobiographical reflections, is deeper and bigger than what has been discovered.

La entrevista clínica se considera de gran importancia en la educación de los profesionales de la salud para que estos posean las habilidades necesarias para afrontar con éxito la relación terapeuta-paciente. Los objetivos de esta revisión bibliográfica exploratoria consisten en averiguar si, en la literatura actual, existen métodos de evaluación de forma escrita que permitan medir la entrevista clínica en Fisioterapia y en otras carreras de Ciencias de la Salud como Medicina o Enfermería. Y como segundo objetivo, si coinciden los métodos de evaluación utilizados en cada una de ellas, observando, además, la posible existencia o no desigualdades entre las mismas. Se revisó la información existente en los buscadores PubMed, Cochrane, PEDro, Google Académico o ScienceDirect, entre otros. Se utilizaron estudios realizados entre los años 2000 y 2020. Finalmente se aplicaron los criterios de inclusión y exclusión mediante la Declaración PRISMA. Se encontraron un total de 9 trabajos que expresan la existencia de cuestionarios o escalas en las titulaciones anteriormente referidas (Medicina, Enfermería y Fisioterapia) y nos permiten ver las diferencias entre unos métodos y otros. Además, la escala PRISMA aporta información de calidad que nos permite observar las similitudes y diferencias en cuanto al contenido de los artículos. Existe evidencia disponible en las distintas disciplinas y en todas ellas existe una coincidencia en cuanto a los cuestionarios o escalas utilizados. Se necesita mayor investigación futura en este campo, sobre todo en Fisioterapia.

The extracts of Platycladus orientalis (L.) Franco leaves have shown promising anti-cancer, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory potency with the traditional knowledge of healing HPV associated warts. The purpose of this research is to assess the synergistic activity of sorafenib and Platycladus orientalis (L) leaf extraction on cervical cancer cells. The cytotoxicity efficiency of different concentrations of Sorafenib and ethanol extract of Platycladus orientalis (L.) leaves were tested on HeLa cells by MTT and Trypan blue assays. The synergistic effect of the IC50 concentrations of Sorafenib and Platycladus orientalis (L.) on HeLa cell by MTT assay, and mRNA expression levels of tumor suppressor tazarotene-induced gene 3 (TIG3), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) gene and apoptosis modulator (Bcl-2) gene by RT-PCR were evaluated with individual treatments. Combination treatment showed a relatively more expression of TIG3 and less expression of Bcl-2 and PCNA was observed. Growth factor-induced MAPKP activation was arrested by compound combination treatment, which and suppression of proliferation-induced apoptosis of cervical cancer cells. Based on the our results, the combination of sorafenib and crude leaf extract from Platycladus orientalis (L.) can effectively suppress cervical cancer cell growth, thereby providing an interesting rationale for further clinical trials and in-vivo studies.

Abstract Background Students require feedback on their self-regulated learning (SRL) processes to improve the performance of clinical examinations. The key SRL processes used by students can be identified by SRL-micro-analysis but, this method has not been previously applied to physiotherapy students. The aim of this pilot study was to test a research design that might allow the evaluation of the potential usefulness of SRL microanalysis for the identification of key SRL processes used by physiotherapy students during the performance of a clinical examination skill. The objectives of the pilot study were: 1) to evaluate whether SRL-microanalysis could identify differences in the use of SRL processes between successful and unsuccessful students; 2) to evaluate the reliability of SRL microanalysis ratings produced by different assessors. Methods SRL-microanalysis was used with second year physiotherapy students of a Spanish university (n = 26) as they performed a goniometric task. The task required students to obtain a goniometric measurement of the shoulder joint of a peer. Two assessors evaluated student performance and conducted the SRL- microanalysis with all students. An analysis of inter-rater reliability was performed to evaluate the degree of agreement between assessors. Results The SRL-microanalysis revealed differences in the use of key SRL processes between successful (n = 15: 57.0%) and unsuccessful performers (n = 11: 43.0%): The differences were particularly evident in strategic planning and self-monitoring skills. There was good inter-rater reliability for scoring of strategic planning (k = 0.792), self-monitoring (k = 0.946) and self-evaluation (k = 0.846). Conclusion The use of SRL microanalysis characterized the key SRL processes of physiotherapy students performing a clinical skill with reliability between the assessors. This pilot study supports the potential usefulness of SRL-microanalysis for the identification of key SRL processes in physiotherapy education. Therefore, this study paves the way to the development of a full study, with a larger number of students and more diverse clinical tasks, to evaluate the SRL processes in successful and unsuccessful students.

Background: Pituitary adenomas with parasellar extension present a technical challenge for adequate visualization and gross total resection (GTR). The endoscope improves identification of parasellar extension, however, additional intraoperative imaging adjuncts can further augment visualization. Intraoperative ultrasound (iUS) may provide a viable and cost-effective solution for intraoperative imaging. We sought to assess the ability of intraoperative ultrasound to predict extent of resection on 3-month postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pituitary adenomas with parasellar extension. Methods: Twenty consecutive patients undergoing endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary adenomas with the assistance of intraoperative ultrasound were prospectively collected. Intraoperative ultrasound findings were recorded during each case. 3-month postoperative MRI studies were reviewed in a blinded fashion to assess for residual tumor and compared with the intraoperative ultrasound findings. Results: Median preoperative Knosp grade was 2. Cavernous sinus invasion was encountered intraoperatively in 3 patients, all of whom were Knosp grade 3 preoperatively. Median operative time was 152 min. Based on iUS findings, 17 patients were expected to have a GTR while 3 patients underwent subtotal resection. 18 patients completed a 3-month postoperative MRI. The iUS and MRI findings were concordant in 16 cases (88.9%) with only two instances of discordance. Conclusion: Intraoperative ultrasound can reliably predict tumor resection as assessed by 3-month postoperative MRI in pituitary adenomas with parasellar extension. Image capture and interpretation may vary based on operator experience. Ultrasound provides reliable immediate assessment of extent of resection, identification of normal pituitary gland and other important neurovascular structures.

The authors present the results of a morphological study of the biological samples from patients treated with the inferior esophageal atresia with tracheoesophageal fistula, which included immunohistochemical examination of neuronal changes in the esophageal wall, predominantly in the anomalous segment, with the need surgical involvement. The results obtained in the control group shows that the period of 36–37 weeks of gestation there is persisting glial cell component. The attested features are characteristic for the morpho-functional transition period from prematurity to maturity, being a specific neuronal cytology of the norm in the course of maturation of the child. Congenital morphopathological modifications of intramural ganglio-neural structures determined in both esophageal segments in cases of esophageal atresia with inferior tracheoesophageal fistula, concomitant with fibromuscular dysplasia, may be considered as factors with significant impact on esophageal motility regulation in children with esophageal atresia with tracheoesophageal fistula, and explains within certain limits their role in esophageal dismotility found postoperatively in this group of children.

Generating long-lived mucosal and systemic antibodies through respiratory immunization with protective antigens encapsulated in nanoscale biodegradable particles could potentially decrease or eliminate the incidence of many infectious diseases, but requires the incorporation of a suitable mucosal immunostimulant. We previously found that respiratory immunization with a model protein antigen (LPS-free OVA) encapsulated in PLGA 50:50 nanoparticles (~380 nm diameter) surface-modified with complement peptide-derived immunostimulant 02 (CPDI-02; formerly EP67) through 2 kDa PEG linkers increases mucosal and systemic OVA-specific memory T-cells with long-lived surface phenotypes in young, naïve female C57BL/6 mice. Here, we determined if respiratory immunization with LPS-free OVA encapsulated in similar PLGA 50:50 microparticles (~1 μm diameter) surface-modified with CPDI-02 (CPDI-02-MP) increases long-term OVA-specific mucosal and systemic antibodies. We found that, compared to MP surface-modified with inactive, scrambled scCPDI-02 (scCPDI-02-MP), intranasal administration of CPDI-02-MP in 50 μL sterile PBS greatly increased titers of short-term (14 days post-immunization) and long-term (90 days post-immunization) antibodies against encapsulated LPS-free OVA in nasal lavage fluids, bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, and sera of young, naïve female C57BL/6 mice with minimal lung inflammation. Thus, surface modification of ~1 μm biodegradable microparticles with CPDI-02 is likely to increase long-term mucosal and systemic antibodies against encapsulated protein antigen after respiratory and possibly other routes of mucosal immunization.

Introduction The tryptophan pathway along with its two branches of metabolism to serotonin and kynurenine seems to be affected in major depression. In depressed patients, peripheral levels of tryptophan, serotonin, kynurenine and their metabolite remain unclear. Objectives Therefore, peripheral tryptophan and metabolites of serotonin and kynurenine were investigated extensively in 173 patients suffering from a current major depressive episode (MDE) and compared to 214 healthy controls (HC). Methods Fasting plasma levels of 11 peripheral metabolites were quantified: tryptophan, serotonin pathway (serotonin, its precursor 5-hydroxy-tryptophan and its metabolite the 5-hydroxy-indole acetic acid), and kynurenine pathway (kynurenine and six of its metabolites including anthranilic acid, kynurenic acid, nicotinamide, picolinic acid, xanthurenic acid and 3-hydroxy-anthranilic acid). Results 60 (34.7%) patients were antidepressant drug free. Tryptophan levels did not differ between MDE patients and HC. Serotonin and its precursor (5-hydroxy-tryptophan) levels were lower in MDE patients than HC. Whereas, its metabolite (5-hydroxy-indole acetic acid) levels were within the standard range. Kynurenine and four of its metabolites (kynurenic acid, nicotinamide, picolinic acid and xanthurenic acid) were lower in MDE patients. Conclusions This study uses the largest ever sample of MDE patients, with an extensive assessment of peripheral tryptophan metabolism in plasma. These findings provide new insights into the peripheral signature of MDE. The reasons for these changes should be further investigated. These results might suggest a better stratification of patients and different therapeutic strategies therapeutic strategies.

Cooperative is an institution founded by and for the members with the purpose to prosper the members with maximum achievement of outcome. The phenomenon that happened in Sharia civil servant cooperative Al-Ikhlas in IAIN Batusangkar from year of 2015 until the closing book in 2016, shows that member deposits and financing toward members has increased. Meanwhile, the net income is decreased. This phenomenon is interesting to investigate because it seems like the increasing of deposits and financing do not influence the net income. Consequently, This research aims to analysis the effect of deposit, such as special obligatory deposit, financing deposit and financing simultaneously and partially towards net income (SHU) at sharia civil servant cooperative (KPN) Al Ikhlas IAIN Batusangkar. This is a field research with quantitative approach during the year of 2015 and 2016 as the secondary data. The Result of this research shows that partially, merely financing that has effect towards net income (SHU) with significance level accost 6% that is 0.059 on wald value in the amount of 3,561.While basic contribution, obligatory deposit, special obligatory deposit, financing deposit have no significant effect on net income (SHU). Furhtermore, the amount of basic contribution effect, obligatory deposit effect, special obligatory deposit effect, financing deposit and financing simultaneously on net income (SHU) is 57.2%, while the remaining 42.8% is influenced by other factors that not examined in this research. It is suggested to the management of this sharia cooperative to find out another halal finance to increase financing so it can increase net income such as increasing member participation by gaining the amount of deposits.

Objective: Adenosine participates in maintaining the excitatory/inhibitory balance in neuronal circuits. Studies indicate that adenosine levels in the cortex and hippocampus increase and exert sleep pressure in sleep-deprived and control animals, whereas in epilepsy reduced adenosine tone promotes hyperexcitability. To date, the role of adenosine in pathological conditions that result in both seizures and sleep disorders is unknown. Here, we determined adenosine tone in sleep and seizure regulating brain regions of Kv1.1 knockout (KO) mice, a model of temporal epilepsy with comorbid sleep disorders. Methods: 1) Reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was performed on brain tissue to determine levels of adenosine and adenine nucleotides. 2) Multi-electrode array extracellular electrophysiology was used to determine adenosine tone in the hippocampal CA1 region and the lateral hypothalamus (LH). Results: RP-HPLC indicated a non-significant decrease in adenosine (~50%, p = 0.23) in whole brain homogenates of KO mice. Regional examination of relative levels of adenine nucleotides indicated decreased ATP and increased AMP in the cortex and hippocampus and increased adenosine in cortical tissue. Using electrophysiological and pharmacological techniques, estimated adenosine levels were ~35% lower in the KO hippocampal CA1 region, and 1–2 fold higher in the KO LH. Moreover, the increased adenosine in KO LH contributed to lower spontaneous firing rates of putative wake-promoting orexin/hypocretin neurons. Interpretation: This is the first study to demonstrate a direct correlation of regionally distinct dichotomous adenosine levels in a single model with both epilepsy and comorbid sleep disorders. The weaker inhibitory tone in the dorsal hippocampus is consistent with lower seizure threshold, whereas increased adenosine in the LH is consistent with chronic partial sleep deprivation. This work furthers our understanding of how adenosine may contribute to pathological conditions that underlie sleep disorders within the epileptic brain.

Using two case studies, we highlight preservice teachers' (PSTs) perspectival understanding to consider what experiences, or combinations of experiences, children's literature supports PSTs' journeys in building empathy in their teaching. The notion of "perspectival understanding" guided our examination as we unpacked PSTs' responses to opportunities to engage with multiple perspectives that existed in diverse children's literature. Two individual literacy courses served as the foundation for this analysis. The findings of the first case suggest that PSTs shifted their views on the roles of children's literature, gaining an understanding of how multicultural literature could more equitably represent and support diverse students' learning. In the second case, PSTs' participation in book club discussions of chapter books depicting immigrant children's experiences revealed that they were able to engage in perspective-taking to some extent by focusing on protagonists without considering other supporting characters. Productive future inquiries could include assignment-level, course-level, and semester-level study of teacher education programmatic redesign to center empathy, leading to the development of perspectival understanding, toward children from historically marginalized communities.

Background and objective . Increasing physical activity (PA) is safe and beneficial in lung cancer (LC) patients. Advanced-stage LC patients are under-studied and have worse symptoms and quality of life (QoL). We evaluated the feasibility of monitoring step count in advanced LC as well as potential correlations between PA and QoL. Methods . This is a prospective, observational study of 39 consecutive patients with advanced-stage LC. Daily step count over 1 week (via Fitbit Zip), QoL, dyspnea, and depression scores were collected. Spearman rank testing was used to assess correlations. Correlation coefficients (ρ) >0.3 or

Interest in broadband wireless access (BWA) has been growing due to increased user mobility and the need for data access at all times. IEEE 802.16e based WiMAX networks promise the best available quality of experience for mobile data service users. WiMAX networks incorporate several Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms at the Media Access Control (MAC) level for guaranteed services for multimedia viz. data, voice and video. The problem of assuring QoS is how to allocate available resources among users to meet the QoS criteria such as delay, delay jitter, fairness and throughput requirements. IEEE standard does not include a standard scheduling mechanism and leaves it for various implementer differentiations. Although a lot of the real-time and non real-time packet scheduling schemes has been proposed, it needs to be modified to apply to Mobile WiMAX system that supports five kinds of service classes. In this paper, we propose a novel Priority based Scheduling scheme that uses Artificial Intelligence to support various services by considering the QoS constraints of each class. The simulation results show that slow mobility does not affect the performances and faster mobility and the increment in users beyond a particular load have their say in defining average throughput, average per user throughput, fairness index, average end to end delay and average delay jitter. Nevertheless the results are encouraging that the proposed scheme provides QoS support for each class efficiently.

During the last few years, users all over the world have become more and more familiar to the availability of broadband access. When users want broadband Internet service, they are generally restricted to a DSL (Digital Subscribers Line), or cable-modem-based connection. Proponents are advocating worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), a technology based on an evolving standard for point-to multipoint wireless networking. Scheduling algorithms that support Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation and guarantees for wireless data networks are crucial to the deployment of broadband wireless networks. The performance affecting parameters like fairness, bandwidth allocation, throughput, latency are studied and found out that none of the conventional algorithms perform effectively for both fairness and bandwidth allocation simultaneously. Hence it is absolutely essential for an efficient scheduling algorithm with a better trade off for these two parameters. So we are proposing a novel Scheduling Algorithm using Fuzzy logic and Artificial neural networks that addresses these aspects simultaneously. The initial results show that a fair amount of fairness is attained while keeping the priority intact. Results also show that maximum channel utilization is achieved with a negligible increment in processing time.

We report a case of massive associative visual agnosia. In the light of current theories of identification and semantic knowledge organization, a deficit involving both levels of structural description system and visual semantics must be assumed to explain the case. We suggest, in line with a previous case study [1], an alternative account in the framework of (non abstractive) episodic models of memory [4].

Abstract preview not available - see full-text PDF article.

Este trabajo presenta los resultados de un análisis fonológico del cabécar realizado entre comienzos de abril y fines de junio de 1973, durante un total de tres meses y con un promedio de cinco horas semanales con el informante. La fuente de información fue un informante bilingüe, en español y cabécar, llamado José Raúl Villanueva Vargas, quien nació el 2 de agosto de 1958 en Ujarrás, provincia de Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Este informante cursó la enseñanza primaria en Ujarrás y estaba matriculado en un colegio en San José durante el tiempo de este estudio. El pertenece al clan uniwak por línea materna y dice que ignora a qué clan pertenece su padre.

EP67 is a second-generation, human C5a-derived decapeptide agonist of C5a receptor 1 (C5aR1/CD88) that selectively activates mononuclear phagocytes over neutrophils to potentiate protective innate and adaptive immune responses while potentially minimizing neutrophil-mediated toxicity. Pro7 and N-methyl-Leu8 (Me-Leu8) amino acid residues within EP67 likely induce backbone structural changes that increase potency and selective activation of mononuclear phagocytes over neutrophils versus first-generation EP54. The low coupling efficiency between Pro7 and Me-Leu8 and challenging purification by HPLC, however, greatly increase scale-up costs of EP67 for clinical use. Thus, the goal of this study was to determine whether replacing Pro7 and/or Me-Leu8 with large-scale amenable amino acid residues predicted to induce similar structural changes (cyclohexylalanine7 and/or leucine8) sufficiently preserves EP67 activity in primary human mononuclear phagocytes and neutrophils. We found that EP67 analogues had similar potency, efficacy, and selective activation of mononuclear phagocytes over neutrophils. Thus, replacing Pro7 and/or Me-Leu8 with large-scale amenable amino acid residues predicted to induce similar structural changes is a suitable strategy to overcome scale-up challenges with EP67.

Severe problems of rising groundwater and secondary soil salinization demand holistic agricultural water management in canal command areas. Drip irrigation with alternate use of fresh and saline waters is an excellent irrigation approach to mitigate salinity stress caused by highly saline ground water and also to avoid soil sodicity hazards from canal water. Therefore, a study on cyclic mode conjunctive use of good quality surface water (SW) and highly saline ground water (GW) having average electric conductivity 0.3 and 7.6 dS m−1, respectively was carried out in wheat with five treatments of drip viz. 1SW1GW (1:1 :: SW:GW), 1SW2GW (1:2 :: SW:GW), 2SW1GW (2:1 :: SW:GW), SW (all SW), GW (all GW), and one treatment of conventional border -irrigation method (BI). Highest grain yield was observed in SW (2.99 t ha−1) in 2017–2018 and BI (3.83 t ha−1) in 2018–2019 season. However, yield of SW and BI were statistically at par in both seasons. Grain yield of 1SW1GW, in which only 50% freshwater was used was found statistically at par with SW and BI. Physical Water Productivity was highest for SW, amounting 9.34 and 14.13 kg ha−1.mm−1 during 2017–2018 and 2018–2019, respectively. Soil salinity build up was highest for GW and lowest for SW, whereas it was almost similar for BI and 1SW1GW. Thus, 1SW1GW showed added benefits as its grain yield was statistically at par with SW and BI along with 50% fresh water saving over SW and higher water productivity than BI for similar salinity levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stylistic analysis in a literary research assists readers understand and appreciate the meaning of a text by inspecting language patterns and the interconnectedness between linguistics and literary interpretation. The selected poem from the children's novel, Mariel of Redwall is widely known for its author's intellectual fantasy composition. Despite this fact, the style and the pedagogical evidence of the text remains unexplored and therefore this study attempts to address this by intensive stylistic analysis through computational method and explores how these features can be utilized in a pedagogical context. This research employs a mixed method, where qualitative method to discover the stylistic elements at various levels and quantitative methods such as John Ure's lexical density and a computational linguistic tool, MAT to calculate the richness of language employed and to compute the type of genre and contextual intention of the poem respectively. The study identifies literary essence at graphological, phonological, morphological, and lexical level through stylistics. Using John Ure's lexical density, an accuracy of 39.8 is calculated to test the lexical competency. Through the application of MAT, the genre, types of narratives, and functions of the text are identified. Through the results from integrating literature and computational tool, this interdisciplinary research is proved to be a recommended effective pedagogical model for children in future. The research anticipates to contribute to the existing body of knowledge in stylistics and potential application of computing pedagogy in the field of literary and language acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]