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Cureus May 2024With recent technological advances, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has offered new sequences that can evaluate the real-time motion of anatomic structures. This...
BACKGROUND
With recent technological advances, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has offered new sequences that can evaluate the real-time motion of anatomic structures. This study aims to evaluate the interobserver agreement in the diagnosis of diaphragmatic dysfunctions using bi-parametric MRI, in which dynamic sequences for diaphragm movement and static sequences for soft tissue resolution are used together to provide a visualization of the diaphragm.
METHODOLOGY
Twenty-nine cases that underwent a bi-parametric magnetic resonance examination which includes coronal T2 single-shot turbo spin echo and the coronal SENSE single-shot balanced turbo field echo real-time sequences were retrospectively evaluated. The images of the patients were assessed by two independent observers. Cohen's kappa coefficient was calculated to evaluate the interobserver agreement.
RESULTS
The mean age of the patients was 44.86 ± 17.57, ranging from 18 to 80 years. The kappa value was calculated as 0.889, indicating a strong agreement between the interobservers.
CONCLUSIONS
Our experience suggests that bi-parametric MRI is a promising tool in the evaluation of diaphragmatic abnormalities.
PubMed: 38953067
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.61446 -
Biomaterials Research 2024One of the bacterial infections caused by tympanic membrane perforation is otitis media (OM). Middle ear inflammation causes continuous pain and can be accompanied by...
One of the bacterial infections caused by tympanic membrane perforation is otitis media (OM). Middle ear inflammation causes continuous pain and can be accompanied by aftereffects such as facial nerve paralysis if repeated chronically. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an artificial tympanic membrane (TM) that can effectively regenerate the eardrum due to the easy implantation and removal of OM inflammation. In this study, we synthesized hydrogel by mixing gelatin and polyacrylamide. Cefuroxime sodium salt was then incorporated into this hydrogel to both regenerate the TM and treat OM. Cytotoxicity experiments confirmed the biocompatibility of hydrogels equipped with antibiotics, and we conducted drug release and antibacterial experiments to examine continuous drug release. Through experiments, we have verified the excellent biocompatibility, drug release ability, and antibacterial effectiveness of hydrogel. It holds the potential to serve as an effective strategy for treating OM and regenerating TM as a drug delivery substance.
PubMed: 38952716
DOI: 10.34133/bmr.0049 -
Veterinary Medicine and Science Jul 2024Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is a complex clinical syndrome with various aetiologies. If untreated, AFP may lead to death due to failure of respiratory muscles. Tick...
BACKGROUND
Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is a complex clinical syndrome with various aetiologies. If untreated, AFP may lead to death due to failure of respiratory muscles. Tick paralysis, which is a noninfectious neurologic syndrome of AFP, occurs following tick attachment, engorgement, and injection of tick saliva toxins. There is no specific diagnostic test for tick paralysis, and mortality increases as definitive diagnosis is delayed. Although metabolomic investigation of tick saliva was conducted, there is a lack of research on metabolomic evaluation of hosts affected by tick paralysis.
OBJECTIVES
Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate metabolomic changes in serum samples of dogs with tick paralysis due to Rhipicephalus sanguineus using NMR-based metabolomics and to identify potential diagnostic/prognostic markers.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Forty dogs infested with R. sanguineus, with clinical findings compatible with AFP and with a confirmed tick paralysis diagnosis ex juvantibus, constituted the Paralysis Group. Ten healthy dogs, which were admitted either for vaccination and/or check-up purposes, constituted the Control Group. After the confirmation tick paralysis, medical history, vaccination and nutritional status, body surface area and estimated tick numbers of all the dogs were noted. Physical examination included body temperature, heart and respiratory rate, capillary refill time evaluation and Modified Glasgow Coma Scale calculation. Serum samples were extracted from venous blood samples of all the dogs and were prepared for NMR analysis, and NMR-based metabolomics identification and quantification were performed.
RESULTS
NMR-based serum metabolomics of the present study revealed distinct up/down-regulated expressions, presenting a promising avenue. Moreover, it was observed that energy metabolism and especially liver functions were impaired in dogs with tick paralysis, and not only the respiratory system but also the kidneys were affected.
CONCLUSION
It was concluded that the present approach may help to better understand the pathological mechanisms developing in cases of AFP due to tick paralysis.
Topics: Animals; Dogs; Tick Paralysis; Dog Diseases; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Metabolomics; Female; Male; Rhipicephalus sanguineus; Metabolome; Paralysis
PubMed: 38952268
DOI: 10.1002/vms3.1528 -
Nursing Philosophy : An International... Jul 2024Although nursing seems to understand itself and its practice as complex, the literature is less clear about what this actually means. While complexity is discussed as an...
Although nursing seems to understand itself and its practice as complex, the literature is less clear about what this actually means. While complexity is discussed as an attribute of nursing, it is also suggested that complexity in nursing remains misunderstood and poorly articulated, is devalued, is not considered as a measure of health outcomes and remains invisible. Despite the overarching lack of a definition, some nurse scholars have conceptualized complexity as a complex intervention. For these authors, complexity becomes a complex intervention defined as that which is composed of component parts interacting in a variety of ways that influence the delivery of and outcomes of health-related interventions for populations. Conceptualizing complexity as a complex intervention forces nursing to embrace and adopt a received interpretation of complexity as expressed through complexity theory and complexity science. While complexity theory may afford us some tools for thinking about complexity, when we deconstruct nursing complexity to explicitly determinate and quantifiable tasks, this artificially narrowed orientation to complexity reveals an oversimplified explanation of the complexities associated with nursing and serves to blind us to its real qualities. Through a consideration of complexity from a Western philosophical tradition, I demonstrate that when nursing adopts the received interpretation of complexity as a complex intervention, this perspective on complexity contains nursing epistemologically and ontologically. I offer an extended conceptualization of complexity framed upon the consideration that nurses assume complexity and do not reduce it; that nurses have the capacity to not be paralysed by complexity and have developed logics to mobilize it in productive ways. Mobilizing complexity through navigating paradox and contradiction shapes an orientation to complexity that embraces an extended epistemology. This extended epistemology is characterized by a 'yes/and' mindset that expresses the dynamic and generative relationship between forms of knowledge which reflects complexity that characterizes nursing.
Topics: Humans; Concept Formation; Nursing
PubMed: 38952204
DOI: 10.1111/nup.12487 -
Zhonghua Nei Ke Za Zhi Jul 2024
Topics: Humans; Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Pedigree; Male; Adult; Female; Mutation; Insulin
PubMed: 38951094
DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.cn112138-20231019-00230 -
Life Sciences Jun 2024To detect the therapeutic efficacy of CelTrac1000-labeled hair follicle epidermal neural crest stem cells (EPI-NCSCs) on repairing facial nerve defects by second...
Predicting in vivo therapeutic efficacy of CelTrac1000-labeled hair follicle epidermal neural crest stem cells in models of repairing rat facial nerve defects via second near-infrared fluorescence imaging.
AIMS
To detect the therapeutic efficacy of CelTrac1000-labeled hair follicle epidermal neural crest stem cells (EPI-NCSCs) on repairing facial nerve defects by second near-infrared (NIR-II) fluorescence imaging.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Firstly, CelTrac1000-labeled EPI-NCSCs were microinjected into the acellular nerve allografts (ANAs) to bridge a 10-mm-long gap in the buccal branch of facial nerve in adult rats. Then, Celtrac1000-labeled EPI-NCSCs were detected by NIR-II fluorescence imaging system to visualize the behavior of the transplanted cells in vivo. Additionally, the effect of the transplanted EPI-NCSCs on repairing facial nerve defect was examined.
KEY FINDINGS
Through 14 weeks of dynamic observation, the transplanted EPI-NCSCs survived in the ANAs in vivo after surgery. Meanwhile, the region of the NIR-II fluorescence signals was gradually limited to be consistent with the direction of the regenerative nerve segment. Furthermore, the results of functional and morphological analysis showed that the transplanted EPI-NCSCs could promote the recovery of facial paralysis and neural regeneration after injury.
SIGNIFICANCE
Our research provides a novel way to track the transplanted cells in preclinical studies of cell therapy for facial paralysis, and demonstrates the therapeutic potential of EPI-NCSCs combined with ANAs in bridging rat facial nerve defects.
PubMed: 38950644
DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2024.122869 -
Facial Plastic Surgery & Aesthetic... Jul 2024A common sequela of peripheral nerve injury is aberrant regeneration and recovery. Aberrant regeneration of injured motor nerves can affect all aspects of the nerve...
A common sequela of peripheral nerve injury is aberrant regeneration and recovery. Aberrant regeneration of injured motor nerves can affect all aspects of the nerve circuit from the motor cortex to the target muscle. A more comprehensive term for the symptoms that develop after aberrant motor neuromuscular reinnervation is aberrant reinnervation syndrome (ARS). Injury to the facial nerve followed by aberrant reinnervation results in a spectrum of symptoms that has been called many things in the literature. The authors support that this commonly encountered sequela of facial nerve injury be called facial aberrant reinnervation syndrome (FARS), a term that is more descriptive of the underlying pathophysiology and more inclusive of the clinical symptoms: facial synkinesis, facial muscle hypertonicity, and facial muscle spasm/twitching, which occur following facial nerve injury and recovery. In the following article, we present the clinical manifestations and sequelae of facial nerve injury and recovery and briefly discuss our evolving understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of FARS.
PubMed: 38949952
DOI: 10.1089/fpsam.2023.0351 -
JPMA. the Journal of the Pakistan... Jun 2024Functional neurological disorder is a condition in which a person experiences physical symptoms that cannot be fully explained by a medical condition. In Pakistan,... (Review)
Review
Functional neurological disorder is a condition in which a person experiences physical symptoms that cannot be fully explained by a medical condition. In Pakistan, domestic violence as well as emotional, physical and sexual abuse in children are prevalent. Despite legal and social support for victims, stigmatisation regarding seeking psychological help complicates the challenge. Some of the research culminated that patients with neurological disorder reported high level of sexual abuse and trauma. The symptomatology of functional neurological disorder is being ignored in Asian countries due to indigenous factors like poverty, lack of information on reporting abuse, poor law-enforcement and victim blaming. Functional neurological disorder can be manifested in various ways in the human body, such as blindness, paralysis, dystonia, swallowing difficulties, difficulty walking, motor symptoms affecting limbs, voice production, problems in sensory functions, problems in cognitive function, psychogenic non-epileptic seizures and even dementia, whereas differential diagnosis is established after screening for organicity. The common risk factors of functional neurological disorder may include psychosocial stressors, family history of functional neurological disorder, and significant life changes. It is critical to understand the disorder in reference to predisposing risk factors, cultural context, comorbidities and gender specification to diagnose and treat functional neurological disorder in time so that better intervention protocols could be devised to treat it efficiently.
Topics: Humans; Pakistan; Child; Conversion Disorder; Nervous System Diseases; Child Abuse; Risk Factors
PubMed: 38948985
DOI: 10.47391/JPMA.10083 -
Radiology Case Reports Aug 2024Priapism is defined as a form of erectile dysfunction characterized by a prolonged and involuntary penile erection, either partial or complete, occurring without sexual...
Priapism is defined as a form of erectile dysfunction characterized by a prolonged and involuntary penile erection, either partial or complete, occurring without sexual stimulation and lasting for more than 4 hours. Its incidence is estimated to be 0.5-0.9 cases per 100,000 people per year. The most frequent form is ischemic priapism, results from paralysis of the cavernous smooth muscles, which are unable to contract, leading to the stagnation of hypoxic blood within the sinusoidal spaces. Characterized by a painful rigid and sustainable erection. Non-ischemic priapism constitutes a rare entity, unlike the former, this type is typically painless. It is caused by an excessive influx of blood into the penis without a concomitant increase in outgoing blood flow. Blunt trauma is the most commonly reported etiology. And finally, recurrent priapism is characterized by recurrent episodes of prolonged erection and can be challenging to treat, often requiring long-term management to prevent recurrences. We report a case of high-flow priapism in a 10-year old child, secondary to a cavernous arterial fistula following a straddle injury during sports activity. It was suspected clinically and confirmed by ultrasound-Doppler, then successfully treated radiologically with highly selective embolization, with very satisfactory postoperative outcomes.
PubMed: 38948900
DOI: 10.1016/j.radcr.2024.05.022 -
BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Jun 2024Spinal circuitry produces the rhythm and patterning of locomotion. However, both descending and sensory inputs are required to initiate and adapt locomotion to the...
Spinal circuitry produces the rhythm and patterning of locomotion. However, both descending and sensory inputs are required to initiate and adapt locomotion to the environment. Spinal cord injury (SCI) disrupts descending controls of the spinal cord, producing paralysis. Epidural stimulation (ES) is a promising clinical therapy for motor control recovery and is capable of reactivating the lumbar spinal locomotor networks, yet little is known about the effects of ES on locomotor neurons. Previously, we found that both sensory afferent pathways and serotonin exert mixed excitatory and inhibitory actions on lumbar interneurons involved in the generation of the locomotor rhythm, identified by the transcription factor Shox2. However, after chronic complete SCI, sensory afferent inputs to Shox2 interneurons become almost exclusively excitatory and Shox2 interneurons are supersensitive to serotonin. Here, we investigated the effects of ES on these SCI-induced changes. Inhibitory input from sensory pathways to Shox2 interneurons was maintained and serotonin supersensitivity was not observed in SCI mice that received daily sub-motor threshold ES. Interestingly, the effects of ES were maintained for at least three weeks after the ES was discontinued. In contrast, the effects of ES were not observed in Shox2 interneurons from mice that received ES after the establishment of the SCI-induced changes. Our results demonstrate mechanistic actions of ES at the level of identified spinal locomotor circuit neurons and the effectiveness of early treatment with ES on preservation of spinal locomotor circuitry after SCI, suggesting possible therapeutic benefits prior to the onset of motor rehabilitation.
PubMed: 38948733
DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.18.599598