Several unmet needs have been identified in allergic rhinitis: identification of the time of onset of the pollen season, optimal control of rhinitis and comorbidities, patient stratification, multidisciplinary team for integrated care pathways, innovation in clinical trials and above all patient empowerment. MASK-rhinitis (MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel NetworK for allergic rhinitis) is a simple system cent

GOALS:: To compare the clinical outcomes of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients treated with an implemented new structured pathway (NSP) or according to existing local clinical practices [old clinical pathway (OCP)]. BACKGROUND:: GERD is a major challenge at the primary care level. STUDY:: Primary care centers (n=24) were cluster randomized to handle patients suffering from symptoms su

Nonhematopoietic bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are of central importance for bone marrow stroma and the hematopoietic environment. However, the exact phenotype and anatomical distribution of specified MSC populations in the marrow are unknown. We characterized the phenotype of primary human BM-MSCs and found that all assayable colony-forming units-fibroblast (CFU-Fs) were highly and

The aim of the present work is to introduce an innovative framework for employing 3D-GIS as an exploratory platform to perform visual analysis. Such a methodology is aimed at detecting patterns of visibility to simulate the past human perception of specific categories of artifacts placed inside a virtually reconstructed three-dimensional space. As a case study, the house of Caecilius Iucundus in P

We report ultrasensitive Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman spectra of 1,2-benzenedithiol monolayer on Ag film with home-made high-vacuum tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (HV-TERS) system. Raman peaks that were orginally very weak were observed experimentally and assigned theoretically. The local temperature was obtained based on the observed Stokes and anti-Stokes HV-TERS spectra.

A wideband direct-conversion receiver front-end featuring a new harmonic rejection technique is demonstrated in 65-nm CMOS. The circuit consists of a two-stage low-noise amplifier, the first stage with capacitive feedback, a harmonic rejection mixer using 25% and 50% duty cycle local oscillator signals, and a third-order channel-select filter with configurable bandwidth. The receiver front-end is

The current study reports a flow cytometry-based protocol for the prospective purification of human BM populations representing six successive stages of terminal neutrophil differentiation, including early promyelocytes and late promyelocytes, myelocytes, metamyelocytes, band cells, and PMN neutrophilic granulocytes. Validation experiments revealed a high purity of each bone marrow population and

The Vel antigen is present on red blood cells (RBCs) from all humans except rare Vel-negative individuals who can form antibodies to Vel in response to transfusion or pregnancy. These antibodies may cause severe hemolytic reactions in blood recipients. We combined SNP profiling and transcriptional network modeling to link the Vel-negative phenotype to SMIM1, located in a 97-kb haplotype block on c

Large market-driven software companies continuously receive large numbers of requirements and change requests from multiple sources. The task of analyzing those requests against each other and against already analyzed or implemented functionality then recording similarities between them, also called the requirements consolidation task, may be challenging and time consuming. This paper presents a r

Objectives: To assess outcomes after a pain rehabilitation programme in terms of occupational performance and satisfaction with occupational performance, and to investigate whether socio-demographic factors and pain-related factors were associated with outcomes at follow-up. Methods: A pre- and post-test study of 555 participants with musculoskeletal pain who completed a pain rehabilitation progra

The story of Ya Mo is that of a great Thai heroine honoured with a grand monument: (the Suranari memorial) in the centre of Khorat, a city in the northeast of Thailand. The monument is a sacred shrine embedding Ya Mo's guardian spirit which protects the people of the city. She is a grantor of protection, auspiciousness and good luck, and can fulfil wishes, needs and requests. Her spirit can be ben

We tackle an important although rarely addressed question of accounting for a variety of asymmetries frequently observed in stochastic temporal/spatial records. First, we review some measures intending to capture such asymmetries that have been introduced on various occasions in the past and then propose a family of measures that is motivated by Rice's formula for crossing level distributions of t

Previous work implicated the complement system in adult neurogenesis as well as elimination of synapses in the developing and injured CNS. In the present study, we used mice lacking the third complement component (C3) to elucidate the role the complement system plays in hippocampus-dependent learning and synaptic function. We found that the constitutive absence of C3 is associated with enhanced pl

OBJECTIVE: Bone mineral density (BMD) in survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) seems to vary with time, type of treatments and GH status. We aimed to evaluate BMD in ALL patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD), with and without GH therapy. DESIGN: Case-control study. METHODS: 44 (21 women) GHD patients (median 25 years), treated with cranial radiotherapy (18-24 Gy) and chemotherap

Cyclodextrins (CDs) can form inclusion complexes with a wide variety of molecules making them very attractive in different areas, such as pharmaceutics, biochemistry, food chemistry and textile. In this communication we will report on the physico-chemical characterization of cellulose modified with CDs by means of infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), cross polarization magic angle spinning solid state n

There is a great interest in searching for new environmentally sustainable techniques to enhance the use of agricultural byproducts. In this work, a response surface methodology was used to study the influence of the two independent variables, temperature (25-200 degrees C) and extraction time (3-17 min), in the extraction of antioxidants by pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE) from industrial

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of separate and simultaneous dietary intake of atorvastatin (ATO) and the soluble fiber oat bran on serum and hepatic lipid levels and the degree of atherosclerosis. Ninety female LDL-receptor-deficient (LDLr-/-) mice were fed a Western-type diet containing either low dose (0.0025%), high dose (0.01%) or no ATO, with or without oat bran (27%) (n =

Biotin synthase was the first example of what is now regarded as a distinctive enzyme class within the radical S-adenosylmethionine superfamily, the members of which use Fe/S Clusters as the sulphur source in radical sulphur insertion reactions. The crystal structure showed that this enzyme contains a [2Fe-2S] cluster with a highly unusual arginine ligand, besides three normal cysteine ligands. Ho

The wood moisture content influences the service life of wood structures since wood is susceptible to decay by rot fungi if it is exposed to high moisture contents during long periods of time. In rain exposed structures, the moisture content close to end grain surfaces and joints can be significantly higher than the average moisture content, but moisture content determinations at such locations re