Activity

We also observed a temporal trend towards later departure. Increasing temperature and crop sizes advanced spring arrival dates. Our results support the hypothesis that the timing of autumn migration in the frugivorous birds depends on the availability of food and is weakly connected with the variation in temperature. Importantly, crop size can have carry-over effects and affect the timing of spring arrival possibly because birds have overwintered closer to the breeding grounds after an abundant crop year.We aimed to clarify the clinical characteristics, prognostic factors, and effectiveness of the HLH-94/2004 regimens and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in pediatric patients with primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (pHLH) in China. A retrospective analysis was performed on 38 patients with pHLH at Beijing Children’s Hospital. PRF1 (34.2%) and UNC13D (31.6%) were the most common mutations in the pHLH. Thirty-eight patients were treated with the HLH-94/2004 regimens after diagnosis. Twenty-six patients (72.2%) responded to first-line treatment (complete response 55.5%, partial response 16.7%). The median survival time was 23 months. The overall survival (OS) rate at 3 years was 74.7%. There was no significant difference in the response rate (72% vs. 63.6%, P = 0.703) or 3-year OS (83.6% vs. 66.7%, P = 0.443) between the patients treated with the HLH-94 regimen and those treated with the HLH-2004 regimen. The incidences of all side effects in patients treated with the HLH-94 or HLH-2004 regimen were 32.0% and 18.2%, respectively (P = 0.394). Among 15 patients treated with HSCT, neither the preconditioning regimen nor the donor type affected patient prognosis (P = 0.205 and P = 0.161, respectively). The disease status (remission or nonremission) before preconditioning did not affect prognosis or the incidence of GVHD. Furthermore, a higher bilirubin level (≥ 30 μmol/L) was correlated with a poorer prognosis in pHLH patients (P = 0.026). The effectiveness rates of the HLH-94 and HLH-2004 regimens, chemotherapy, and HSCT were similar in pHLH patients. A bilirubin level ≥ 30 μmol/L might be an adverse prognostic factor in pHLH.Lowering the background signal for more sensitive analysis of determinands is as important as amplifying the target signal. The photoinduced oxidase of fluorescein has been reported, which can catalyze the oxidization of common substrates in a few minutes. As a metaphor for locks and keys, we designed double locks confining the activity of fluorescein to reduce the background absorbance during colorimetric detection. The first lock inhibits the main activity of fluorescein by phosphating. The second lock almost completely deactivates fluorescein by forming coordination nanoparticles (CNPs) via the self-assembly of cerium chloride and fluorescein diphosphate (FDP). The Ce-FDP CNPs are characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and energy dispersive spectrum (EDS), which show electrostatic formation and amorphous character in the morphology. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), the key to release fluorescein, can destroy Ce-FDP CNPs along with decomposing FDP by degrading phosphate groups. Therefore, a novel colorimetric strategy for sensitive detection of ALP is established. The detection of α-fetoprotein (AFP) is further succeeded by labeling AFP antibody with ALP. By dramatically reducing the background absorbance, the detection limits of ALP and AFP are as low as 0.014 mU/mL and 0.023 ng/mL, respectively. This convenient, brief, sensitive assay provides a promising prospect for clinical diagnosis. Graphical abstract.

Facing the relentless worsening of their condition, ALS patients are required to make decisions on treatments and end-of-life care. A cognitive impairment showed to be a negative prognostic factor in ALS patients, perhaps affecting the ability to make informed decisions. Notwithstanding its crucial role, the capacity to consent to treatment (CCT) has never been evaluated in these patients.

To assess the CCT in an ALS cohort in comparison to a control group, and to study the effects of demographic and clinical variables on this high-level cognitive function.

102 ALS patients and 106 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. CCT was assessed using the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment (MAC-CAT-T) and the performance was classified into the three CCT outcomes (full credit, partial credit, no credit). Cognitive and psychological variables were assessed by MMSE, phonemic fluencies, Frontal System Behavioural Scale (FrSBe), and ALS Depression Inventory (ADI). Clinical and demographic variables werconsent disclosure in this disease.

Prevalence and sex differences of non-traumatic hemoperitoneum in the Emergency Departmenthas not been studied in the literature.

Following IRB approval, multiple keyword searches were used to identify all cases of hemoperitoneum over a 55-month period. Cases were reviewed to confirm and quantify the hemoperitoneum. Maximum attenuation was used to grade blood density. Medical records were reviewed to determine cause, interventions and outcomes in each patient.

Of the 171 verified cases of non-traumatic hemoperitoneum, 76% of cases were in women. CT exams in women were positive for hemoperitoneum 0.25% of the time, while 0.13% were positive in men. Regarding size, 25.7% were large, 24.5% were moderate and 49.7% were small. Contrast-enhanced studies had HU values of 103 ± 19 (range 47-146) which were significantly higher than for non-enhanced studies with values of 82 ± 19 (range 43-121, p < 0.001). The most common cause of non-traumatic hemoperitoneum was ruptured ovarian cyst which was found in 58% olthough unusual causes of hemoperitoneum will be encountered, understanding the most common causes of hemoperitoneum can provide a reasonable starting point when attempting to determine the most likely etiology of hemoperitoneum in any individual patient.

PerClot

is a biocompatible, polysaccharide haemostatic system recommended for surgical procedures. It is an absorbable modified polymer that is non-pyrogenic and is derived from purified plant starch. Our goal was to evaluate the safety, efficacy and usefulness of PerClot

in head and neck surgery (H&N) in our department.

All patients who received PerClot

after their neck operation over 1-year period (2019-2020) were prospectively investigated. The information collected included demographics, admission and discharge dates, type of operation, operative details, postoperative complications and their management. The data were collected and analysed using Excel.

A total of 57 patients (males = 26, females = 31) with mean age of 51 (range 19-83) were identified. None of the patients developed primary or secondary haemorrhage. Ten patients suffered from post-operative wound complications (18%). Selleckchem SF2312 Wound infection was noticed in 9/57 (16%) of patients. 1/57 patients had seroma.

PerClot

is safe, effective in reducing the postoperative bleeding and would appear to be useful in head and neck surgery with minimal adverse effects.