Relative Signs Research Articles

Usefulness of bicarbonate Ringer's solution as perfusate during transurethral resection of the prostate

Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is the most common standard surgical procedure used for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Transurethral resection in saline (TURis) is a bipolar electrosurgery system used to prevent TURP (or TUR) syndrome. The bicarbonate Ringer's solution is not generally used as perfusate for TURP. Hence, we compared the efficacy of the bicarbonate Ringer's solution with that of physiological saline as perfusate during TURP. This prospective, multicenter, cooperative study was conducted on 40 adult patients admitted to a medical college hospital. After obtaining informed consent from all the patients, they were divided into two groups (20 patients per group). For patients of one group, bicarbonate Ringer's solution, and for other group, physiological saline was used as perfusate. Compared to the physiological saline, the electrolyte composition of the bicarbonate Ringer's solution was closer to that of plasma. Hence, the group using bicarbonate Ringer's solution as perfusate was exhibited less variation in plasma electrolytes and blood gas data. The primary endpoints were adverse events of grade 1 or higher according to the JCOG postoperative complication criteria ver. 2.0, unintended diseases, or related signs in patients who underwent the protocol therapy. The secondary endpoints were changes in blood pH, bicarbonate ion level, anion gap (AG), base excess (BE), and chloride (C1), which occurred during and after the surgeries. Therefore, bicarbonate Ringer's solution has superior with that of physiological saline as perfusate during TURP which is directly administered into the blood vessels as an infusion solution.Bicarbonate Ringer's solution is directly administered into the blood vessels as an infusion solution.

Subsystem domination influence on magnetization reversal in designed magnetic patterns in ferrimagnetic Tb/Co multilayers

Recent results showed that the ferrimagnetic compensation point and other characteristic features of Tb/Co ferrimagnetic multilayers can be tailored by He+ ion bombardment. With appropriate choices of the He+ ion dose, we prepared two types of lattices composed of squares with either Tb or Co domination. The magnetization reversal of the first lattice is similar to that seen in ferromagnetic heterostructures consisting of areas with different switching fields. However, in the second lattice, the creation of domains without accompanying domain walls is possible. These domain patterns are particularly stable because they simultaneously lower the demagnetizing energy and the energy associated with the presence of domain walls (exchange and anisotropy). For both lattices, studies of magnetization reversal show that this process takes place by the propagation of the domain walls. If they are not present at the onset, the reversal starts from the nucleation of reversed domains and it is followed by domain wall propagation. The magnetization reversal process does not depend significantly on the relative sign of the effective magnetization in areas separated by domain walls.

Posterior Cortical Atrophy phenotype in a GBA N370S mutation carrier: a case report

BackgroundGlucocerebrosidase (GBA) heterozygous variants are the most important genetic risk factor for the development of alpha-synucleinopathies (i.e., Parkinson’s disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies). Herein, we report for the first time on a patient with a clinical diagnosis of Posterior Cortical Atrophy, carrier of the common GBA heterozygous variant N370S (c.1226A > G).Case presentationA 44-year-old woman with positive familial history for Dementia with Lewy Bodies disclosed three related signs characterizing the Balint’s syndrome: ocular apraxia, optic ataxia and simultanagnosia. Over 2-year follow up, overt gaze apraxia (psychic paralysis of gaze) appeared leading to functional blindness. Given her young age at onset and positive familial history, she underwent a next-generation-sequencing (NGS) based screening of a panel of 32 genes related to neurodegenerative conditions within the ANAMNESYS (An origiNal Approach to study faMiliarity in NEurodegenerative SYndromeS) study. NGS demonstrated the N370S variant in the GBA gene (rs76763715), confirmed by Sanger sequencing. This is a relatively common variant, with predicted mild impact, already reported to occur in 2.4% of PD Italian patients; however, neither this nor other GBA variants have ever been reported to date in patients with Posterior Cortical Atrophy. Glucocerebrosidase activity was investigated and found to be significantly reduced (4.72 nmol/h/mg) compared to healthy controls as well as patients affected by neurodegenerative diseases, further supporting pathogenicity of the GBA variant.ConclusionsWe report on a patient with a clinical diagnosis of Posterior Cortical Atrophy, carrier of the GBA heterozygous variant N370S (c.1226A > G; p.Asn409Ser) determining reduced GCase activity. This report also confirms the role of NGS-based targeted gene analysis in detecting peculiar clinical phenotypes associated with known pathogenic mutations and reinforces the knowledge that carriers of genetic variants often present phenotypic overlaps across different neurodegenerative syndromes, highlighting the limitations of current clinical diagnostic criteria in defining boundaries between distinct conditions and the difficulties of clinicians in reaching the best clinical diagnosis.

Clinical value of digital tomographic fusion imaging in the diagnosis of avascular necrosis of the femoral head in adults

BackgroundTo explore the clinical significance of digital tomographic fusion imaging in the diagnosis of avascular disease of the femoral head in adults.MethodsEighty-two adult patients with avascular necrosis of the femoral head confirmed by MRI in the department of orthopedics of our hospital were studied retrospectively. The related signs of adult avascular necrosis of the femoral head were diagnosed by digital tomographic fusion imaging, and the detection rates of digital X-ray (DR) and digital tomosynthesis (DTS) were compared to clarify the clinical value of digital tomographic fusion imaging in the diagnosis of adult avascular necrosis of the femoral head.ResultsDTS detected DR and 78 cases identified 55 cases. Taking the results of CT/MRI as the gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of DR and DTS in the diagnosis of ANFH were calculated. There was a significant difference in the detection rate between the two methods (P < 0.05).ConclusionThe digital tomographic fusion imaging technique has the advantages of high detection rate and excellent image quality, is economical, and is worth popularizing. For those with negative X-rays, DTS diagnosis and CT or/and MRI can avoid unnecessary CT and MRI examinations, which is helpful to reduce the waste of medical resources.

Relationship between energy availability, energy conservation and cognitive restraint with performance measures in male endurance athletes

BackgroundLow energy availability in male athletes has gained a lot of attention in recent years, but direct evidence of its effects on health and performance is lacking. The aim of this research was to objectively measure energy availability (EA) in healthy male endurance athletes without pre-existing relative energy deficiency signs during pre-race season.MethodsTwelve trained endurance athletes (performance level 3, 4, and 5) participated in the cross-sectional controlled laboratory study. Fat-free mass, exercise energy expenditure, and energy intake were measured to calculate EA. Resting energy expenditure was measured and estimated to assess energy conservation. Three specific performance tests were used to assess endurance, agility, and explosive strength performance. For psychological evaluation, the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire and a short Well-being questionnaire were completed.ResultsMean EA was 29.5 kcal/kg FFM/day. The majority (66.6%) had EA under the threshold for low EA in females. Critical cognitive restraint (≥13) was reported by 75% of participants. There were no differences in performance, blood values, or psychological evaluation when subjects were divided into two groups divided by EA = 30 kcal/kg FFM/day. Cognitive restraint was negatively associated with measured resting energy expenditure and energy conservation (r = −.578, p = .025 and r = −.549, p = .032, respectively).ConclusionsThe mean EA measured in this study supports the theory that the threshold for low EA in endurance male athletes might be under the threshold for females. In addition, we confirmed cognitive restraint could be useful for early detection of energy conservation. The high cognitive restraint as measured in our sample stressed the need of eating behavior screening in endurance athletes in order to reduce risk of any disordered eating patterns.

Patient vital signs in relation to ICU admission in treatment of acute leukemia: a retrospective chart review

ABSTRACT Objectives The objective of the current study was to investigate the relationship between changes in vital signs and intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Windsor Regional Hospital treats 15–20 new patients a year with acute leukemia. These patients are at increased risk of neutropenic fevers and admission to the ICU following induction chemotherapy. Methods Retrospective review examined the correlation between acute leukemia patient vitals and ICU admission. The analysis included 37 patients: 7 ICU versus 30 controls. Changes were compared to baseline over 24 hours prior to ICU admission or 5 days after the initiation of induction chemotherapy in the following vital signs: heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), temperature (T), respiratory rate (RR), and fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) required to maintain a stable oxygen saturation. Results RR and FiO2 demonstrated significant change over baseline leading up to ICU admission within the ICU group. T, HR and MAP did not demonstrate significant changes over time in either group. RR, FiO2 and HR were significantly higher in the ICU group at time zero compared with the control group. RR was recorded least frequently in the 24 hours leading up to ICU admission. Discussion Changes in RR and FiO2 predicted clinical deterioration requiring ICU admission in acute leukemia patients. This is consistent with the predominant reason for ICU admission which was respiratory failure. Conclusion We present preliminary evidence to support enhanced monitoring of RR and FiO2 in acute leukemia patients following induction chemotherapy with early intervention if identified.

Fusion Sign of Tendon-to-Bone Healing on X-Ray after Rotator Cuff Repair

Purpose: In clinical practice, increased radiolucency at the insertion site of a repaired tendon on the humerus on postoperative radiographs of patients following rotator cuff repair is often observed. Separately, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed tendon-to-bone healing in conjunction with this finding. Thus, we suspected that such radiographic changes are associated with tendon-to-bone healing, a phenomenon we labeled as the “fusion sign.” This study sought to investigate the diagnosis rate of the fusion sign in relation to tendon-to-bone healing after rotator cuff repair. Methods: Patients who underwent open rotator cuff repair (ORCR) or arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (ARCR) at two centers from 2010 to 2018 and who underwent MRI more than 6 months postoperatively were included in this study. The presence of radiolucency of the humeral footprint on a radiograph (the fusion sign) was investigated and checked for the concurrent presence of tendon-to-bone healing on MRI. Results: In total, 187 shoulders after ARCR and 55 shoulders after ORCR were included in this study. Among these, SH repair was performed in 202 shoulders and suture-bridging repair was performed in 40 shoulders. The fusion sign was positive in 67.8% of cases and negative in 32.3%. The positive predictive value (PPV) of the total population was 0.963 and did not differ according to the suture method used, reported as 0.964 in ARCR, 0.962 in ORCR, 0.966 in the surface-holding technique, and 0.938 in the suture-bridging technique. The intraobserver reliability was ĸ = 0.4478 (p ĸ = 0.408 (p Conclusion: Postoperatively, the presence of the fusion sign at the footprint of the humerus strongly suggests that tendon-to-bone healing has occurred.

Бездействие в гражданском праве: определение понятия

The article is devoted to the identification of signs of such form of civil law behavior as inaction. Based on these signs the author formulates the definition of inaction in civil law. The need for a definition of this concept is due to the absence of the study of this civil law behavior form, as well as its generally accepted interpretation, in the civil doctrine. The author studies general signs of behavior, allocated in the sciences that study human behavior, the study of signs of legal behavior, allocated in the legal science, attempts to interpret these signs in relation to the concept of inaction in civil law, as well as identifies the specifics of such inaction. It is proved that the opinion generally accepted in the legal doctrine, that inaction is a manifestation of passivity, is not confirmed by psychological characteristics of human behavior, and the absence of observable acts of behavior does not indicate the lack of such behavior activity. The stage character of choosing the form of external manifestation of behavioral model is considered and the stages of the process of formation of inaction mechanism in civil law are determined. Following the results of the study the definition of inaction in civil law has been given.

Концепція етнополітичного сепаратизму, його місце та роль у сучасних політичних процесах

One of the most urgent ethnopolitical problems in our time is the growth in the number of separatist movements in different parts of the world. This phenomenon developed and gained strength in the second half of the 20th century simultaneously with the anti-colonial and national liberation movements. Moreover, it is worth noting that the movements that set as their main goal the separation of a certain part of the multinational state and the creation of an independent national-state entity in this territory, have intensified not only in the third world countries, where the colonial legacy has left a significant number of disputed borders, but also in the oldest western democracies&nbsp;– Great Britain, USA, Spain, Italy, France and a number of other states. The impulse to gain political independence through the proclamation of a separatist ideology is a clear sign of modern international relations. The wave of separatist aspirations of ethnic groups now and then manifests itself, and sometimes even increases in scale practically on all continents. However, until now ethnopolitical separatism remains one of the least studied and least understood political phenomena. In the most general sense, ethnopolitical separatism (otlat. Separatus&nbsp;– separated) is the striving of an ethnic group to isolate, separate and achieve autonomy or political independence by a certain area of the state. The complexity of the interpretation of this phenomenon is caused not only by the multi-factoriality of separatism itself, but also by the absence of established theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of separatist tendencies in political life. At the same time, the very forms of minimizing violence in the course of implementing the ideology of ethnopolitical separatism are studied within the framework of such an interdisciplinary direction as the "paradigm of conflict". Despite the fact that the conflict paradigm is often used to analyze ethnopolitical separatism, it cannot claim to be the only methodological approach to the study of this phenomenon.

The dervan upper limb dermatome syndrome pilot study of high incidence of cervical disc disease in patients presenting with primary shoulder pain &amp; restriction of movements

Introduction: Shoulder pain is among the most common complaints in the orthopedic outpatient department. It can be due to local pathology or a referred pain from cervical disc degeneration. Frequently, neck and shoulder pathologies may co-exist causing a dilemma regarding treatment approach. Although there are many studies published in literature, we think ours is the first published Indian study to make the observation of concomitant cervical disc degeneration in patients with ipsilateral shoulder pain.Materials & Methods: 39 patients with shoulder pain without any history of trauma, attended the OPD of Walawalkar hospital, Dervan. Of the 3 patients 32 agreed to be part of this pilot study. They underwent x rays & MRI of the shoulder as well as cervical spine.Results: All patients who presented in the orthopaedicopd with complaints of atraumatic shoulder pain, showed varying degrees of cervical disc disease. The commonest affected cervical spine pathological segment was C5-C6 i.e 92 % with two patients having C6-C7 disc disease i.e 8 %.Grading of disc disease was 78.1 % grade 28, 6 patients had grade 3 disc disease, 18.75 %, and only 1 patient had a grade 1 disease with typical signs of chemical radiculopathy with shoulder pain & restriction.X Ray of shoulder showed normal acromiohumeral distance of more than 7 mm in more than 70 % of patients and less than 2 mm in only 1 patient who also incidentally had grade 3 disc disease.MRI of shoulder showed 78 % patients with grade 2 or less of Goutallier grading [9] and all patients of Grade 3 disc disease having grade 3 Goutallier grading and a positive Tangent sign [10]. (18.75 %)This may open another vista in investigation of degenerative rotator cuff disease mimicking grading and severity of cervical disc disease although that is not the primary objective of this paper. We aimed to bring to light the concomitant cervical spine pathology in patients presenting with shoulder pain in this original research. Conclusion: This study found an unusually high rate of coexistent shoulder and cervical spine pathologies. Almost all patients had some form of cervical disc disease and on deeper questioning related signs and symptoms of cervical spondylosis concurrently or a few weeks ago. It undermines the need for investigating this important contributor, the cervical spine, to clinically diagnose the enigma of shoulder pain.

Incorporating Relative Position Information in Transformer-Based Sign Language Recognition and Translation

Recent advancements in machine translation tasks, with the advent of attention mechanisms and Transformer networks, have accelerated the research in Sign Language Translation (SLT), a spatio-temporal vision translation task. Fundamentally, Transformers are unaware of the sequential orderings in input, and therefore position-information should be explicitly fed into them. The sequence learning capability of Transformers is heavily dependent on this ordering information. Compared to the existing Transformer models for SLT that use baseline version with sinusoidal position embedding, this work focuses on incorporating a new positioning scheme into the Transformer networks, in the context of SLT. This is the first work in SLT that explores the positioning scheme of Transformers for optimizing translation scores. The study proposes Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU)-Relative Sign Transformer (RST) for jointly learning Continuous Sign Language Recognition (CSLR) and translation. This model significantly improves the video translation quality. In this approach, GRU acts as the relative position encoder and RST is the Transformer model with relative position incorporated in the Multi-Head Attention (MHA). The evaluation was done on the RWTH-PHOENIX-2014T benchmark dataset. This study reports state-of-the-art Bilingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU-4) score of 22.4 and Recall-Oriented Understudy for Gisting Evaluation (ROUGE) score of 48.55 for SLT, with GRU-RST. The best Word Error Rate (WER) obtained with this approach is 23.5. A detailed study of the position encoding schemes of Transformers is presented. Further, we analyze the translation performance under various combinations of the positioning schemes.

Kultura od simulacije do simulakruma i nazad - televizijski rijaliti kao simptom

Reality show or Reality TV programme is a symptom of the new pairing of the metaphysic of the "two worlds" and the contemporary technology. To analyse it as a symptom - i.e. a set of related signs - we need to use semiology of the media, separating the key codes as sets of rules and protocols for signifying practices that produce such TV programmes. In the analysis, these codes, taken here in their minimal but most important numbers, are shown as also the codes which produce everyday circulation of our representations and discourses, and open up a series of new questions. For example, to what extent is the reality show an image of everyday life, is it a simulation (imitation, mimesis) of it, or is it a simulacrum, as a structure of signs, which is beyond the old opposition of a model and a copy? Or perhaps, what we witness is a turn in communication where everyday picture of the world becomes a simulation of this simulacrum, that is an imitation of a reality programme as a pairing of metaphysics and technology?

Mothers, Mountain Devils, and Pointing to Eternity: The "Horns" Handshape in Australian Indigenous Sign Languages

Australian Indigenous sign languages are predominantly used by hearing people as a replacement for speech in certain cultural contexts. In some circumstances sign is used alongside speech, and in others it may replace speech altogether. This article provides a window on some of the articulatory dimensions of these sign languages by examining the distribution of the "horns" handshape in repertoires of sign from a range of communities in Central and Northern Australia. The horns handshape is notable as it is one of the more common handshapes found, at least in some of the sign languages used in Australian Indigenous communities. This contrasts with the apparent infrequency of this handshape in some other sign languages of the world. By implementing a methodology that takes the interconnections between sign and speech into account, the article explores loose networks of semantic association in signs that employ this handshape and assesses evidence of semantic motivation for its use in sets of related signs.

Phonological priming in German Sign Language

AbstractA number of studies provide evidence for a phonological priming effect in the recognition of single signs based on phonological parameters and that the specific phonological parameters modulated in the priming effect can influence the robustness of this effect. This eye tracking study on German Sign Language examined phonological priming effects at the sentence level, while varying the phonological relationship between prime-target sign pairs. We recorded participants’ eye movements while presenting videos of sentences containing either related or unrelated prime-target sign pairs, and pictures of the target and an unrelated distractor. We observed a phonological priming effect for sign pairs sharing handshape and movement while differing in location parameter. Taken together, the data suggest a difference in the contribution of sign parameters to sign recognition and that sub-lexical features influence sign language processing.

Діагностична цінність клініко-лабораторних параметрів у діагностиці неспецифічного виразкового коліту

The etiology of ulcerative colitis is still unknown. The number of works dealing with a comprehensive assessment of the role of clinical, laboratory, endoscopic, as well as immunological and genetic factors in the formation of unfavorable forms of ulcerative colitis is extremely small, and their results seem ambiguous. The purpose of the study was to determine the diagnostic value of clinical and laboratory signs in relation to verification of the depth of endoscopic lesion in patients with ulcerative colitis. Material and methods. 68 patients with ulcerative colitis (36 men and 32 women) were examined. The average age was 38.0±4.5 years. All patients were inspected with colonoscopy. Clinical, laboratory, immunological research, as well as computed tomography were carried out. Disease activity was determined according to the Truelove-Witts classification. Results and discussion. The obtained results showed that all intestinal symptoms (stool frequency more than 4 times a day, abdominal pain, tenesmus, hematochezia) had a reliable diagnostic value (р&lt;0.05) in the presence of contact vulnerability and ulceration of the intestinal mucosa. The greatest sensitivity was characteristic of abdominal pain (94.1 [84.1-96.3]). It was found that the diagnostic sensitivity of tachycardia and uveitis is unreliable. Among the clinical indicators, the greatest diagnostic value was established for anemic syndrome (p&lt;0.05), among additional signs was for sclerosing cholangitis (p&lt;0.05). With regard to laboratory parameters, the diagnostic value was proven for hemoglobin levels &lt;90 g/l (p&lt;0.05) and hypoproteinemia (p&lt;0.05). The diagnostic concentration of C-reactive protein for predicting a mucosal defect was determined at a level of more than 10 mg/L in terms of sensitivity and specificity (p&lt;0.05). The level of fecal calprotectin more than 200 μg/g (p&lt;0.05) was highly sensitive and highly specific. Conclusion. The study showed the possibilities of computed tomography for verifying of ulcerative defects. The method is highly sensitive in ulcerative colitis (sensitivity is 95.6 [85.9-97.1], specificity is (96.7 [83.3-99.4]), with a low probability of false-negative and false-positive results (p&lt;0.05)

Distribution of enterovirus genotypes detected in clinical samples in Hungary, 2010-2018.

This report provides the findings of a retrospective surveillance study on the emergence and circulation of enteroviruses with their associated clinical symptoms over a nine-year period detected at the National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory in Hungary between 2010-2018.Enterovirus (EV) detection and genotyping were performed directly from clinical samples. From 4,080 clinical specimens 25 EV types were identified with a median age of patients of 5 years and 68% of all cases affected children aged 10 years or younger, although infections occurred in all age-groups. In 130 cases neurological symptoms were recorded, in 123 cases the infection presented in skin related signs including hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), herpangina and rash. In 2010 EV-A71 was found to cause the majority of diagnosed EV infections while in 2011 and from 2014-2018, Coxsackievirus (CV)-A6 was identified most often. Echovirus E6 accounted for the most cases in 2012 and Echovirus 30 dominated in 2013. EV-D68 was identified only in 2010 and 2013.Widespread circulation of several EV-A and EV-B viruses with occasional occurrence of EV-C and EV-D was detected. The ability of EVs to cause severe infections in sporadic cases and regular outbreaks highlight the importance of continued monitoring of circulating EV types.

Strip Meniscometry Correlates With Ocular Surface Tests and Symptoms.

PurposeThe aim of this study was to investigate the association of dry eye disease (DED)–related signs and symptoms with two tear function tests.MethodsThis was a clinic-based, cross-sectional study with recruitment of consecutive participants. Schirmer test (ST), tear strip meniscometry (SM), and fluorescein tear breakup time were measured and corneal staining score was examined in outpatients at three clinics. Seven subjective symptoms were assessed by interview, including dryness, irritation, pain, lacrimation, fatigue, blurring, and photophobia. Statistical analyses included regression analysis and comparison tests.ResultsThe mean age of the 210 participants was 61.2 ± 15.2 years (range, 12–91 years), with 135 women (64.3%) in the cohort. The mean ST value was 12.9 ± 9.3 (0–35) mm, and SM was 2.5 ± 1.6 (0–10) mm, with no difference between women and men. SM values were lower in the presence of irritation (P = 0.046) and photophobia (P = 0.011). Regression analysis revealed ST and SM values were strongly correlated (β = 0.255, P < 0.001). SM was significantly correlated with breakup time (β = 0.149, P = 0.032), whereas there was no correlation between ST and DED-related signs and symptoms.ConclusionsSM was correlated with DED-related symptoms and breakup time, whereas ST was not. A low SM value could be an alternative clinical parameter to determine tear film–oriented therapy.Translational RelevanceTear strip meniscometry could be a useful tear function examination on a routine clinical basis since it is a 5-second noninvasive procedure and associated with subjective symptoms and the value of the conventional Schirmer test.

Comparison of blood pressure levels across the spectrum of hypertension related signs and symptoms in out patients.

Objectives: To compare the blood pressure levels across the categories of hypertension related signs and symptoms among outpatients aged up to 45 years. Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: Sindh Government Urban Health Centre Karachi. Period: July 2017 to February 2018. Material &amp; Methods: A cross-sectional survey was organized in the outpatient department of a secondary care hospital of Karachi. Patients aged up to 45 years with self-reported history of hypertension and taking anti-hypertensive medication were included in the study. All patient related data was recorded by interviewing using the study questionnaire whereas the blood pressure levels were measured through a sphygmomanometer with stethoscope. Data were analyzed on SPSS version 20. Results: The study results showed that systolic blood pressure level was significantly different across categories of headache history (p=0.045), sleep apnea (p=0.043) and palpitation (p=0.03) where for headache history patients without whereas for sleep apnea and palpitation patients with these signs and symptoms had higher mean rank of systolic blood pressure levels. Moreover, the diastolic blood pressure level was not significantly different across categories of any of the sign and symptom of hypertension. Conclusion: Blood pressure levels were found to be significantly different across categories of a number of clinical manifestations of hypertension. Moreover, the observed differences differed among patients with different durations of hypertension.

Trichoscopic signs of tinea capitis: a guide for selection of appropriate antifungal.

Tinea capitis is the most common pediatric dermatophyte infection. Optimal treatment regimen differs according to the type of the dermatophyte involved. The aim of this work was to study the trichoscopic signs in relation to isolated organism in a sample of Egyptian patients with tinea capitis and the possibility of using them as a guide for selection of appropriate antifungal. This study was carried out on 60 subjects with tinea capitis. Patients were mycologically examined, both direct microscopy with KOH preparation and culture of the scraped hair materials on Sabouraud dextrose agar. Culture mounts were used for identification of the organism. Trichoscopic examination of all patients was performed using the Dermlite DLIII dermoscope. There was significant higher prevalence of both comma and corkscrew hair in endothrix infection and T. violaceum-infected cases. On the other hand, there was significant higher prevalence of zigzag, barcode hairs, and white sheaths in ectothrix infection and M. canis-infected cases. While some trichoscopic findings are nonspecific, others were found to be more specific. Finding zigzag hairs and barcode hairs points to ectothrix infection (M. canis), and it is recommended to start treatment with griseofulvin. On the other hand, finding comma hairs and corkscrew hairs without zigzag hairs and barcode hairs points to endothrix infection (T. violaceum), and it is recommended to start treatment with terbinafine in the usual dose.

Quadrupole deformation of Xe130 measured in a Coulomb-excitation experiment

Low-lying states in the isotope Xe130 were populated in a Coulomb-excitation experiment performed at CERN's HIE-ISOLDE facility. The magnitudes and relative signs of seven E2 matrix elements and one M1 matrix element coupling five low-lying states in Xe130 were determined using the semiclassical coupled-channel Coulomb-excitation least-squares search code gosia. The diagonal E2 matrix elements of both the 21+ and 41+ states were extracted for the first time. The reduced transition strengths are in line with those obtained from previous measurements. Experimental results were compared with the general Bohr Hamiltonian with the microscopic input from mean-field theory utilizing universal nuclear energy density functional (UNEDF0), shell-model calculations using the GCN50:82 and SN100PN interactions, and simple phenomenological models (Davydov-Filippov and γ-soft). The extracted shape parameters indicate triaxial-prolate deformation in the ground-state band. In general, good agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental values was found, while neither phenomenological model was found to provide an adequate description of Xe130. (Less)