BACKGROUND: Neuronal health as a potential underlying mechanism of the beneficial effects of exercise has been understudied in humans. Furthermore, there has been limited consideration of potential moderators (e.g., cardiovascular health) on the effects of exercise.
METHODS: Clinically normal middle-aged and older adults completed a validated questionnaire about exercise engagement over a 10-year period (n = 75; age 63 ± 8 years). A composite estimate of neuronal injury was formulated that included cerebrospinal fluid-based measures of visinin-like protein-1, neurogranin, synaptosomal-associated protein 25, and neurofilament light chain. Cardiovascular risk was estimated using the Framingham Risk Score.
RESULTS: Cross-sectional analyses showed that greater exercise engagement was associated with less neuronal injury in the group with lower cardiovascular risk (p = 0.008), but not the group with higher cardiovascular risk (p = 0.209).
CONCLUSIONS: Cardiovascular risk is an important moderator to consider when examining the effects of exercise on cognitive and neural health, and may be relevant to personalized exercise recommendations.
CONCLUSIONS: We examined the association between exercise engagement and neuronal injury. Vascular risk moderated the association between exercise and neuronal injury. Cardiovascular risk may be relevant to personalized exercise recommendations.

Nasogastric (NG) tube insertion is a routine procedure performed for a variety of indications, such as delivering enteral nutrition. NG tubes can be associated with complications, including knotting of the tube. The case of a 68-year-old who was admitted to the hospital for AIDS complicated by septic shock is presented. The patient received an NG tube to provide enteral nutrition, which was subsequently found to be clogged. An X-ray of the pharynx revealed a knot at the distal end of the NG tube. The knotted NG tube was removed with a fiberoptic bronchoscope through the nostril. The knotting of an NG tube is a rare complication. Clinicians should be aware of alternative methods of removing knotted NG tubes, including the use of a fiberoptic bronchoscope.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widespread and persistent environmental contaminants, but their association with nodular goiter (NG) remains unknown. The present case-control study of 179 NG cases and 358 matched normal controls aimed to investigate the association between PBDEs and risk of NG. The plasma concentrations of 8 PBDEs congeners (BDE-28, -47, -99, -100, -153, -154, -183, and -209) were determined by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. Conditional logistic regression model was used to evaluate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the association between each PBDEs congener and NG. Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) was used to evaluate the association between overall levels of 8 PBDEs mixture and NG. The results of logistic model suggested that increased risk of NG was associated with elevated concentrations of all PBDEs congeners, except for BDE-209. In BKMR model, the risk of NG increased with the increase in overall exposure level of 8 PBDEs mixture. Compared to when all PBDEs mixture were at their median value, the risk of exposure-response function for NG increased by 0.34 units when all PBDEs were at their 75th percentile. In women, the results showed similar trends after additional adjustment for age at menarche and menopausal status. These findings provide novel epidemiological evidence for the prevention of NG. However, larger prospective studies are required to address the associations between PBDEs exposure and NG risk.

BACKGROUND: Yunnan has the highest rates of HIV in China. Other treatable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are associated with accelerated HIV transmission and poor ART outcomes, but are only diagnosed by syndromic algorithms.
METHODS: We recruited 406 HIV-positive participants for a cross-sectional study (204 ART-naive and 202 receiving ART). Blood samples and first-voided urine samples were collected. Real-time polymerase chain reaction methods were used for diagnosing Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhea (NG) and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG). Syphilis and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) tests were also performed.
RESULTS: Among the 406 participants, the overall prevalence of STIs was 47.0% and 45.1% in ART-naive individuals and 49.0% in individuals receiving ART, respectively. The testing frequencies were 11.6% (11.8% vs. 11.4%), 33.2% (29.4% vs. 37.1%), 3.2% (3.4% vs. 3.0%), 2.0% (3.4% vs. 0.5%) and 4.7% (6.4% vs. 3.0%) for active syphilis, HSV-2, CT, NG and MG, respectively. The percentage of multiple infections in both groups was 10.8% (22/204) in ART-naive participants and 9.9% (20/202) in participants receiving ART. Female sex, an age between 18 and 35 years, ever injecting drugs, homosexual or bisexual status, HIV/HBV coinfection, and not receiving ART were identified as risk factors. Self-reported asymptomatic patients were not eliminated from having a laboratory-diagnosed STI.
CONCLUSIONS: The STI prevalence was 47.0% (45.1% vs. 49.0%), and HSV-2, syphilis and MG were the most common STIs in HIV-infected individuals. We found a high prevalence (6.4%) of MG in ART-naive individuals. HIV-positive individuals tend to neglect or hide their genital tract discomfort; thus, we suggest strengthening STI joint screening and treatment services among HIV-infected individuals regardless of whether they describe genital tract discomfort.

Differentiation of a human aggressive PC-3 cancer cell line was obtained, in a previous investigation, by the synergic effect of α-tocopherol (α-TOC) and naringenin (NG). This combined treatment induced apoptosis and subsequent reduction of the PC-3 cell proliferation and invasion, by a pro-differentiating action. Since one of the peculiar characteristics of NG and α-TOC is their strong antioxidant activity, this study aimed to investigate their potential effect on the activity of the main enzymes involved in the antioxidant mechanism in prostate cancer cells. NG and α-TOC administered singularly or combined in the PC-3 cell line, affected the activity of several enzymes biomarkers of the cellular antioxidant activity, as well as the concentration of total glutathione (GSH + GSSG) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). The combined treatment increased the TBARS levels and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, while decreased the glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), and glyoxalase I (GI) activities. The results obtained indicate that a combined treatment with these natural compounds mitigated the oxidative stress in the human PC-3 cell line. In addition, a significant reduction of both ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) expression and intracellular levels of polyamines, both well-known positive regulators of cell proliferation, accompanied the reduction of oxidative stress observed in the combined α-TOC and NG treatment. Considering the established role of polyamines in cell differentiation, the synergism with NG makes α-TOC a potential drug for further study on the differentiation therapy in prostate cancer patients.

Hair transplant is becoming the most common cosmetic procedure across the world with demand for higher density and coverage of baldness. This needs more number of donor hair follicles. Scalp donor has limitations to fulfill the required number of follicles for Norwood Grade VI and VII baldness. The body hair follicles can be used to cover up the deficit.
The objective of this study was to observe the use of body hair follicles to increase the visual density and for better coverage for higher grades of baldness as an adjuvant to scalp hair follicles.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 16 patients were evaluated for the availability of body donor hair, and consent for body hair harvesting was obtained from them. The beard was the first preference and then chest and abdomen hair follicles were used in combination with scalp hair follicles to cover bald area of Norwood grade IV and above baldness. Body hairs were harvested using follicular unit extraction (FUE) technique. Postoperative pictures were taken, and patient satisfaction, doctor\'s observation, and global photographic evaluation was carried out.
UNASSIGNED: The patient\'s photographs were taken after 4, 8, and 12 months of hair transplant. The results were analyzed on the basis of global photography. The use of body hair with scalp has enhanced the visual density, leaving to better coverage in even higher grades of baldness.

A Pb(II)-DNAzyme is used in an amperometric method for the determination of Pb(II). The method is based on two feedback processes. In the first, the Pb(II)-DNAzyme initiates a reaction in presence of Pb(II) in a micro-tube to release a linear DNA (S1). In the second, the S1 triggers the recycling amplification between two types of hairpin-shaped DNA templates (H1 and H2) which consist of a primer sequence and a Pb(II)-DNAzyme substrate sequence. The Pb(II)-DNAzyme has excellent cleavage specificity toward the substrate sequence in S1 that combined firstly with H1 and then is linked to H2. This process will connect H1 and H2. After hybridization with H1 and H2 to form two DNA complexes, S1 is released and initiates the next recycling process. This results in efficient amplification. A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was immersed into solution of HAuCl4 to electrodeposit a layer of gold nanoparticles. This is followed by the assembly of the hairpin probe H1 on the GCE. In addition, a nanohybrid consisting of 3, 4, 9, 10-Perylenetetracarboxylic acid (PTCA) and nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) was loaded with electroactive thionine (Thi) and gold to form nanoparticles of type NG-PTCA-Thi-Au. This is responsible for generating the amperometric signal (best measured at around -0.30 V vs. SCE) and also acts as the reducing agent for synthesizing the NG-PTCA-Thi-Au nanohybrid. H2 is immobilized on NG-PTCA-Thi-Au to form a new tracer label. The concentration of Pb(II) in a solution can be quantified by determination of the amount of cleaved S1. The method has high sensitivity and selectivity for Pb(II). The detection limit is 0.42 pM (S/N = 3), and the detection range extends from 1 pM to 1000 nM. Graphical abstract Schematic representation of electrodes for the determination of the lead ions (Pb2+). The sensor is using Pb2+-DNAzyme assisted recycling amplification based on hairpin assembly on a composite prepared from nitrogen doped graphene, perylenetetracarboxylic anhydride, thionine and gold nanoparticles (NG-PTCA-Thi-Au). This versatile platform expands studies on the detection of heavy metal ions.

Purpose: Estimation of uncertainty of MAP-MRI metrics is an important topic, for several reasons. Bootstrap derived uncertainty, such as the standard deviation, provides valuable information, and can be incorporated in MAP-MRI studies to provide more extensive insight. Methods: In this paper, the uncertainty of different MAP-MRI metrics was quantified by estimating the empirical distributions using the wild bootstrap. We applied the wild bootstrap to both phantom data and human brain data, and obtain empirical distributions for the MAP-MRI metrics return-to-origin probability (RTOP), non-Gaussianity (NG), and propagator anisotropy (PA). Results: We demonstrated the impact of diffusion acquisition scheme (number of shells and number of measurements per shell) on the uncertainty of MAP-MRI metrics. We demonstrated how the uncertainty of these metrics can be used to improve group analyses, and to compare different preprocessing pipelines. We demonstrated that with uncertainty considered, the results for a group analysis can be different. Conclusion: Bootstrap derived uncertain measures provide additional information to the MAP-MRI derived metrics, and should be incorporated in ongoing and future MAP-MRI studies to provide more extensive insight.

Nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) chemically coupled with graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) may facilitate the kinetics of overall electrochemical water splitting. Herein, a facile strategy is adopted to synthesize monodispersed Ir nanoparticles on g-C3N4/NG layers. Benefiting from the synergistic effect between different components of the catalyst, the optimal Ir/g-C3N4/NG catalyst with a low content of Ir (5.9 wt %) exhibits highly active for electrochemical water splitting in acidic electrolyte. Specifically, as a hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst, the optimal Ir/g-C3N4/NG exhibits a Tafel slope of 22 mV·dec-1. The optimal catalyst requires an overpotential of 22 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA·cm-2, the value of which is superior to Ir/NG (32 mV) and 20 wt % Pt/C (28 mV) catalysts; as an oxygen evolution reaction catalyst, it also achieve the Tafel slope of only 72.8 mV·dec-1. At the overpotential of 300 mV, the mass activity of the optimal Ir/g-C3N4/NG catalyst is 2.8 times as large as that of 5.7 wt % Ir/NG catalyst. More significantly, as a bifunctional catalyst, the optimal Ir/g-C3N4/NG achieves a current density of 10 mA·cm-2 with a potential of only 1.56 V and displays good stability for overall water splitting. This work provides a new strategy to design highly efficient acidic catalysts for electrochemical overall water splitting.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) develops in up to 50% of patients with cirrhosis and is a feature of decompensated cirrhosis. With the goal of reviewing the evidence for treatment and prevention of overt hepatic encephalopathy, pubmed was searched using search terms hepatic encephalopathy AND treatment, limited to human studies from January 1, 2003, through December 1, 2013, and supplemented by key references. The inpatient incidence of HE is approximately 23,000 annually, and management of these patients is common for internists and subspecialists. Treatment of the hospitalized patient with HE has changed in recent years. Treatment entails 2 phases: induction and maintenance of remission. Most cases of significant HE are precipitated by infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, medications, or other culprits. All patients should be evaluated for secondary triggers of HE, and treatment should be initiated with a nonabsorbable disaccharide (ie, lactulose) in most patients. Rifaximin (off label) can be added in patients not responding to lactulose. Neomycin is a less preferred alternative to rifaximin owing to its adverse effect profile. Other therapies, including zinc, L-ornithine-L-aspartate, and branched-chain amino acids, can be considered for patients not responding to disaccharides and nonabsorbable antibiotics. Large portosystemic shunts may be embolized in patients with medically refractory recurrent or severe HE with otherwise well-compensated cirrhosis. Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System is now available for patients with severe HE who do not respond to medical therapy. It is critically important that patients hospitalized with significant HE continue maintenance therapy at the time of dismissal to prevent further episodes. Patients with a first-time episode of HE can be administered lactulose, and careful instructions should be provided to patients and caregivers about dose titration to achieve 3 bowel movements daily. Patients with recurrent HE episodes despite lactulose use benefit from the addition of rifaximin, which decreases the frequency of recurrent HE episodes and related hospitalizations. Last, patients and their families should be counseled about the risk of motor vehicle accidents, which require mandatory reporting to the Department of Motor Vehicles in some states.