Search results for "chemical science"
showing 10 items of 9771 documents
Metabolomics of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome : response to Maniscalco and Motta
2016
We appreciate Maniscalco and Motta’s comments on our recently published article “Fusion of the 1H NMR data of serum, urine and exhaled breath condensate in order to discriminate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome” (Zabek et al. 2015) and we are grateful for the opportunity to clarify a number of points from our work. We are glad that the authors appreciated our data analysis and interpretation. Fusion of metabolomic data is an outstanding tool for a comprehensive description of patient’s phenotype that combines metabolic profiles acquired in different domains. Such an integrative approach is highly valued in the so-called ‘breathomics’ (Smolinska et a…
When a death apparently associated to sexual assault is instead a natural death due to idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome: The importance of gamma…
2017
We here report a case involving a 21-year-old female, found dead in a central square of a city in the south of Italy. Initial evidences and circumstances were suggestive of a death associated with a sexual assault. Two peripheral blood and two vitreous humor samples were collected for the purpose of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) testing from the dead body at two different post-mortem intervals (PMIs): approximately 2 (t0) and 36 (t1) hours. The obtained results showed that, between t0 and t1, there was an increase of GHB concentrations in peripheral blood and vitreous humor of 66.3% and 8.1%, respectively. This case was the first evidence of GHB post mortem production in a dead body and n…
Rapid hemodilution induced by desmopressin after erythropoietin administration in humans
2011
We have shown that treatment with desmopressin has a very effective hemodilution effect in healthy humans. These results led us to suggest the possible role of desmopressin to mask blood doping in sports. Based on our results, the World Anti-Doping Agency included the desmopressin in the 2011 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods. On this occasion, the aim of our study was to test the desmopressin-induced hemodilution after rHuEpo administration in humans. This was an intra-subject, crossover study in which five physically active males acted as their own controls. A basal blood sample was taken on their first visit to the laboratory. The next day, the subjects began the treatment. They …
Perception of improved state of health and subjective quality of life in Crohn's disease patients treated with Infliximab.
2009
International audience; UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND AND AIMS AND METHOD: Although Infliximab is a very potent therapy of refractory Crohn's disease, its administration requires iterative infusions in hospital and there are concerns regarding its long-term safety. The aim of this study was to assess in a sample of 51 patients suffering from CD the impact of type of treatment (intravenous Infliximab versus conventional therapy without Infliximab) on the evaluation of the state of health (CGI) and the quality of life (MOS-SF36). Secondary variables were also assessed: the impact of depression (MADRS), the impact of activity of the disease (Harvey-Bradshaw Index). RESULTS: Overall, the assessments m…
Newborn rabbit responsiveness to the mammary pheromone is concentration-dependent.
2004
The effect of the intensity of odour signals has rarely been investigated in the regulation of odour-guided behaviour in young mammals. This series of experiments used the mammary pheromone (MP) of the female rabbit to assess the influence of stimulus concentration on neonatal pup responsiveness. The MP is a single compound isolated from rabbit milk that releases in pups the typical head searching and oral seizing behaviour. The pups (n = 621) were exposed to graded concentrations of the MP in bioassays varying in stimulus delivery conditions. Experiment 1 demonstrated that in aqueous dilutions the MP efficiently elicits behavioural responses only within a limited range of concentrations (f…
Autofluorescence imaging for recurrence detection in skin cancer postoperative scars
2020
This clinical study is a first attempt to use autofluorescence for recurrence diagnosis of skin cancer in postoperative scars. The proposed diagnostic parameter is based on a reduction in scar autofluorescence, evaluated in the green spectral channel. The validity of the method has been tested on 110 postoperative scars from 56 patients suspected of non-melanoma skin cancer, with eight patients (13 scars) available for the repeated examination. The recurrence diagnosis within a scar has been made after two subsequent autofluorescence check-ups, representing the temporal difference between the scar autofluorescence amplitudes as a vector. The recognition of recurrence has been discussed to r…
A body weight loss- and health-promoting gut microbiota is established after bariatric surgery in individuals with severe obesity
2020
Obesity has reached an epidemic level worldwide, and bariatric surgery (BS) has been proven to be the most efficient therapy to reduce severe obesity-related comorbidities. Given that the gut microbiota plays a causal role in obesity development and that surgery may alter the gut environment, investigating the impact of BS on the microbiota in the context of severe obesity is important. Although, alterations at the level of total gut bacteria, total gene content and total metabolite content have started to be disentangled, a clear deficit exists regarding the analysis of the active fraction of the microbiota, which is the fraction that is most reactive to the BS. Here, active gut microbiota…
Sodium Oxybate Therapy for Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome and Keeping of Alcohol Abstinence
2018
BACKGROUND Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB or sodium oxybate) is both an exogenous and endogenous molecule with neuromodulator properties. In the United States, GHB is an approved drug for the treatment of narcolepsy and narcolepsy with cataplexy in adults. In some European Union countries, sodium oxybate is applied for the treatment of opioid and alcohol withdrawal. OBJECTIVE The aim of the present review was to describe the state of art of the pre-clinical research and the clinical evidence related to GHB used alone or in combination with other treatments in alcohol withdrawal syndrome and alcohol abstinence maintenance. METHOD Internationally published pre-clinical findings and clinical studi…
A new resonant Laser-SNMS system for environmental ultra-trace analysis: Installation and optimization
2017
Abstract Localization, analysis and mobility of radioactive contaminated particles is of major concern for assessment of contamination threads and nuclear forensics. For this purpose, a new resonant Laser-SNMS system was developed and set up at the Institute for Radioecology and Radiation Protection for spatially resolved ultra-trace analysis of low concentrated radionuclides directly on environmental samples. This paper describes the adaption and combination of a dedicated Ti:sapphire laser system with a commercial TOF-SIMS instrument for resonant Laser-SNMS. The project includes computer simulations for optimization of the TOF analyzer. Results on synthetic uranium and technetium samples …
The importance of balance and postural control in the recovery of stroke patients
2020
Introduction.According to the criteria of WHO, stroke is a health condition that causes focal or global brain disorders (1), but without an apparent nonvascular cause. Stroke is considered the third leading cause of death in industrialized countries and accounts for 9% of all deaths, being considered one of the largest cases of disability in the world. Due to the medical, social and economic consequences that it causes, stroke is considered a public health issue. Purpose of research. The study starts from the idea that in the recovery of stroke patients it is important to have an individualized physiotherapy program adapted to the functional parts of each patient, having the role of improvi…