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  • Charles posted an update 7 months, 1 week ago

    Mothers of people with intellectual disabilities (IDs) face exceptional challenges and may be more prone to experiencing mental ill-health compared with mothers of typically developing people. These mental ill-health problems may differ at different stages of the caregiving trajectory. However, there is no evidence synthesis on this topic. We aimed to systematically review evidence in this area and identify gaps in the existing literature.

    Prospero registration CRD42018088197. Medline, Embase, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases were searched. No time limits were applied. selleck chemicals Studies were limited to English language. Inclusion criteria were studies of mothers of people with IDs that also included a comparison group of mothers of typically developing/developed children. Data were extracted from selected studies using a structured database. Study selection and quality appraisal were double rated. Where possible, meta-analyses were performed.

    Of the retrieved articles, 32/3089 were included, of which 10 reported on ther methodologically robust research.

    There is evidence of poorer mental ill-health in mothers of people with IDs compared with mothers of typically developing people, but lack of focus on different stages of the caregiving trajectory, methodological inconsistencies between studies and lack of robust studies pose limitations. This highlights the need both for improved support for mothers of people with IDs and for further methodologically robust research.

    To determine the predictors of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) following nonemergent cardiac surgery among patients with variable preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) levels.

    A retrospective study of patients who underwent elective or in-hospital cardiac surgical procedures was performed between January 2006 and November 2015. The procedures included isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR), or combined CABG and AVR. The primary outcome AKI (any stage) following nonemergent cardiac surgery utilizing the 2012 Kidney Disease-Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria. Patients were categorized based on the following renal outcomes mild AKI, severe AKI (KDIGO stage 2 or 3), and postoperative dialysis. Patients with G5 preoperative kidney function (including dialysis patients) were excluded.

    A total of 6675 patients were included in our study. The mean age was 66.8 years (SD ± 10.4), with 76.3% being males. A total of 4487 patients ardiac surgery. A practical scorecard incorporating preoperative predictors of AKI may allow informed decision-making and predict AKI following nonemergent cardiac surgery.

    The dual isotope ratio analysis, carbon (δ

    C value) and hydrogen (δ

    H value), of methane (CH

    ) is a valuable tracer tool within a range of areas of scientific investigation, not least wetland ecology, microbiology, CH

    source identification and the tracing of geological leakages of thermogenic CH

    in groundwater. Traditional methods of collecting, purification, separating and analysing CH

    for δ

    C and δ

    H determination are, however, very time consuming, involving offline manual extractions.

    Here we describe a new gas chromatography, pyrolysis/combustion, isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) system for the automated analysis of either dissolved or gaseous CH

    down to ambient atmospheric concentrations (2.0 ppm). Sample introduction is via a traditional XYZ autosampler, allowing either helium (He) purging of gas or sparging of water from a range of suitable, airtight bottles.

    The system routinely achieves precision of <0.3‰ for δ

    C values and <3.0‰ for δ

    H values, based on long-term replicate analysis of an in-house CH

    /He mix standard (BGS-1), corrected to two externally calibrated reference gases at near atmospheric concentrations of methane. Depending upon CH

    concentration and therefore bottle size, the system runs between 21 (140-mL bottle) and 200 samples (12-mL exetainer) in an unattended run overnight.

    This represents the first commercially available IRMS system for dual δ

    C and δ

    H analysis of methane at atmospheric concentrations and a step forward for the routine (and high-volume) analysis of CH

    in environmental studies.

    This represents the first commercially available IRMS system for dual δ13 C and δ2 H analysis of methane at atmospheric concentrations and a step forward for the routine (and high-volume) analysis of CH4 in environmental studies.Malignant melanoma (MM) is one of the most dangerous skin cancers. The aim of this study was to present a potential new method for the differential diagnosis of MM from melanocytic naevi (MN). We examined 20 MM and 19 MN with a new ultra-high-frequency ultrasound (UHFUS) equipped with a 70 MHz linear probe. Ultrasonographic images were processed for calculating 8 morphological parameters (area, perimeter, circularity, area ratio, standard deviation of normalized radial range, roughness index, overlap ratio and normalized residual mean square value) and 122 texture parameters. Colour Doppler images were used to evaluate the vascularization. Features reduction was implemented by means of principal component analysis (PCA), and 23 classification algorithms were tested on the reduced features using histological response as ground-truth. Best results were obtained using only the first component of the PCA and the weighted k-nearest neighbour classifier; this combination led to an accuracy of 76.9%, area under the ROC curve of 83%, sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 70%. The histological analysis still remains the gold-standard, but the UHFUS images processing using a machine learning approach could represent a new non-invasive approach.

    In somatotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (adenomas), a pattern of cytokeratin (CK) 18 expression is used for tumour subclassification, with possible clinical implications. Rare somatotroph tumours do not express CK 18. We aimed to characterise this subset clinically and histologically.

    Clinical and pathological data for the study were derived from a previously published data set of a cohort of 110 patients with acromegaly. Data included serum levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), growth hormone (GH), prolactin and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), tumour diameter, tumour invasion defined by Knosp grade and immunohistochemical data concerning the expression of Ki67, p53, E-cadherin, somatostatin receptor (SSTR)1, SSTR2A, SSTR3, SSTR5 and D2 dopamine receptor. Additional immunohistochemical analysis (AE1/3, CK 8/18, vimentin, neurofilament light chain, internexin-α) was performed. CK 18 was negative in 10 of 110 (9.1%) tumours. One of these tumours was immunoreactive with CK 8/18 antibody, while the remainder expressed only internexin-α intermediate filament in patterns similar to CK 18 (perinuclear fibrous bodies).

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