Search results for "structures"

Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) for cocaine dependence in the Spanish public health system: 1 year outcome

2010

Introduction and Aims.The development and dissemination of effective treatments for cocaine dependence is an important public health priority in Europe, and especially in Spain, given the increase in treatment demand over recent years. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) for cocaine dependents at an outpatient clinic within the Spanish public health system. Design and Methods.A total of 82 cocaine-dependent patients were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: Standard Treatment (n = 35) or CRA (n = 47). Dependent variables were treatment retention, cocaine abstinence and composite scores from the European vers…

Alimentary and Pharmaceutical Approach to Natural Antimicrobials against Clostridioides difficile Gastrointestinal Infection

2021

Incidence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) has been increasing in recent decades due to different factors, namely (i) extended use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, (ii) transmission within asymptomatic and susceptible patients, and (iii) unbalanced gastrointestinal microbiome and collateral diseases that favor C. difficile gastrointestinal domination and toxin production. Although antibiotic therapies have resulted in successful control of CDI in the last 20 years, the development of novel strategies is urged in order to combat the capability of C. difficile to generate and acquire resistance to conventional treatments and its consequent proliferation. In this regard, vegetable and…

How reproductive and regenerative medicine meet in a Chinese fertility clinic. Interviews with women about the donation of embryos to stem cell resea…

2010

The social interface between reproductive medicine and embryonic stem cell research has been investigated in a pilot study at a large IVF clinic in central China. Methods included observation, interviews with hospital personnel, and five in-depth qualitative interviews with women who underwent IVF and who were asked for their consent to the donation of embryos for use in medical (in fact human embryonic stem cell) research. This paper reports, and discusses from an ethical perspective, the results of an analysis of these interviews. The participants talked of extreme social pressure to become pregnant. Once they had a baby, 'spare' embryos lost practical significance due to the Chinese one-…

Beneficial Effect of Melatonin on Blastocyst In Vitro Production from Heat-Stressed Bovine Oocytes

2013

Melatonin may play an important role in protecting gametes and embryos from the potential harmful effects of oxidative stress. In this study, we first examined two different heat stress (HS) treatments for in vitro oocyte maturation (Experiment 1: 38.5 vs 41.0°C, during the first 20 h; Experiment 2: 38.5 vs 41.5°C, during the entire period) on bovine oocyte maturation and embryo development. Second, we tested different melatonin concentrations added to the maturation and culture medium (Experiment 3: 0, 10(-12) , 10(-9) , 10(-4)  m; Experiment 4: 0, 10(-3)  m), both with and without HS (38.5 or 41.5°C, respectively). In Experiment 1, the HS treatment resulted in a lower maturation rate and …

An alternative role of C1q in cell migration and tissue remodeling: contribution to trophoblast invasion and placental development.

2010

Abstract Fetal trophoblast cells invading the decidua in the early phase of pregnancy establish complex interaction with the maternal extracellular matrix. We discovered that C1q was widely distributed in human decidual stroma in the absence of C4 and C3 and was actively synthesized by migrating extravillous trophoblasts. The cells expressed the messages for the three chains of C1q and secreted this complement component that interacted with the proteins of the decidual extracellular matrix. Solid phase-bound C1q promoted trophoblast adhesion and migration, and cell binding to C1q resulted in activation of ERK1/2 MAPKs. Ab inhibition experiments showed that the receptors for the globular hea…

Psychophysical and electrofunctional contrast sensitivity in cataractous patients treated with bendazac-lysine salt

1990

The clinical progression of the cataract may be influenced by drugs which reduce the denaturation of lens proteins. One of the most promising drugs is the bendazac-lysine salt. The drug was used in a double-blind study of a group of patients with initial cortical cataract in order to evaluate the changes in visual acuity and contrast sensitivity by means of a psychophysical and an electrophysiological method. After 6 months of treatment with bendazac the mean values of visual acuity showed a statistically significant increase in respect to baseline values, as well as an improvement of the threshold of contrast for most spatial frequencies. In the eyes treated with placebo there was no stati…

Inspection of architectural structures with integrated electrical methodologies and infrared thermography

2005

B030 INSPECTION OF ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURES WITH INTEGRATED ELECTRICAL METHODOLOGIES AND INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY Abstract 1 The attention of this paper was focused on the detection of moisture and local inhomogeneities inside architectural structures with electrical methodologies and infrared thermography. To this end a suitable specimen was fabricated using a mixture of sand water and concrete and with slag inclusions. To monitor the moisture variation with time in concrete nondestructive evaluation with both the techniques was made three months after the specimen fabrication and repeated again six months later. Introduction The inspection of architectural structures generally includes vario…

Histopathologic Findings in Early Encapsulated Blebs of Young Patients Treated With the Ahmed Glaucoma Valve

2010

Objective/aim Uncontrolled glaucoma presents a challenge for the ophthalmic surgeon especially in children and juvenile patients. For many patients who have undergone failed surgical procedures before, episcleral implants remain the last choice. Encapsulated blebs forming over antiglaucoma devices present a complication leading to malfunctioning or even failure with reincrease in intraocular pressure. We report our histopathologic findings of such blebs developing around the Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) after a short time period in young patients. Materials and methods Nine young patients (2 to 17 y of age) with otherwise uncontrollable glaucoma were treated with AGV (models FP-7 and FP-8, si…

Assessment of environmental AMD risk factors in a population of patients suffering from stroke and myocardial infarction

2010

International audience; Purpose: Stroke and myocardial infarction are common diseases occurring in patients suffering from Age Macular Degeneration (AMD). We assessed the rate of AMD and AMD risk factors in patients suffering from recent stroke or myocardial infarction. Methods: Patients suffering from a recent stroke or myocardial infarction (less than 1 month) benefited from a thorough ophthalmic examination with the following measurements and evaluations: visual acuity, intraocular pressure, fundus photography, Raman spectroscopy and macular OCT. In the same time a food questionnaire was dispensed. Finally, blood samples to measure fatty acids and lutein were performed. Results: 74 patie…

2017

Purpose Intraocular pressure (IOP) fluctuation is considered as a risk factor for glaucoma progression. We investigated IOP values and IOP fluctuation before and after trabeculectomy (TE) with mitomycin C (MMC) measured by 48-hour diurnal-nocturnal-IOP-profiles (DNP). Methods Pre- and postoperative DNPs of 92 eyes undergoing primary TE with MMC were analysed. Each 48-hour IOP-profile involved 10 IOP measurements (8:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. in sitting and at 00:00 in supine position). The “preoperative DNP” was performed a few weeks before TE. The “postoperative DNP” was performed at least six months (range: 6 months—2 years) after TE. Mean IOP values and IOP fluctuations…