OBJECTIVE: To compare the incidence of MEB during hyperbaric oxygen therapy using two different chamber compression protocols.
DESIGN: Double-blinded, randomized controlled trial.
SETTING: Hyperbaric Medicine Unit, The Townsville Hospital, Queensland, Australia, September 2012 to December 2014.
PATIENTS: 100 participants undergoing their first hyperbaric oxygen therapy session.
INTERVENTION: Random assignment to a staged (n=50) or a linear (n=50) compression protocols. Photographs of tympanic membranes were taken pre- and post-treatment and then graded. Middle ear barotrauma was defined as an increase of at least one grade on a modified TEED scale.
RESULTS: The observed MEB incidence under the staged protocol was 48% compared to 62% using the linear protocol (P=0.12, exact one-sided binomial test), and thus the staged protocol did not show a significant improvement in MEB. However, the staged protocol resulted in significantly less severe deteriorations in MEB grades when compared to the linear protocol (P=0.028, exact one-sided Mann-Whitney type test).
CONCLUSION: The use of the assessed staged compression protocol for the first hyperbaric oxygen treatment showed no significant effect on the overall incidence of MEB when compared to the gold standard linear protocol but resulted in a significant improvement in the severity of the experienced MEBs. Further studies are needed to elucidate an optimal compression protocol to minimize middle ear barotrauma.
METHODS: Adrenal medulla from male Sprague Dawley rats at the age of 3-months (n=12) and 24-months (n=12) were further divided into two groups: 1) treatment group with 2DG to create glucoprivation condition and 2) the vehicle group which received normal saline as control.
RESULTS: The results showed that the level of glucose, adrenaline and noradrenaline were increased in response to acute glucoprivation conditions in both young and old rats. No age-related differences were found in the basal gene expression of the enzymes that involved in the catecholamines biosynthesis pathway. Interestingly the expressions of TH and DBH protein as well as the level of TH phosphorylation at Ser40, PKA, PKC and ERK1/2 substrates were higher in basal condition of the aged rats. However, contradicted findings were obtained in glucoprivic condition, which the protein expressions of DBH, pERK1/2 and substrates for pPKC were increased in young rats. Only substrate for pCDK was highly expressed in the old rats in the glucoprivic condition, while pPKC and pERK1/2 were decreased significantly. The results demonstrate that adrenal medulla of young and old rats are responsive to glucose deficit and capable to restore the blood glucose level by increasing the levels of blood catecholamines.
CONCLUSION: The present findings also suggest that, at least in rats, aging alters the protein expression of the biosynthetic catecholamine enzymes as well as protein kinase substrates that may attenuate the response to glucoprivation.
AIM: To evaluate the feasibility of a Dot-EIA method for Ig-class specific salivary antibody detection for diagnosis of typhoid fever.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Paired saliva and serum samples were collected in the year 2010 from patients and normal volunteers in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia, which is endemic for typhoid fever. A total of 11 culture-confirmed typhoid fever patients, 43 non-typhoid fever patients and 53 normal human control subjects were evaluated for antibodies against a 50 kDa antigen specific for Salmonella Typhi using Dot-EIA.
RESULTS: Ig class-specific screening of the test samples showed a higher sensitivity for IgA (90.9%) compared to either IgG (72.7%) or IgM (72.7%) antibodies in saliva, but for serum, IgG (90.9%) had a higher degree of sensitivity compared to IgA (36.4%) and IgM (63.6%). Combining all isotypes (IgA, IgG or IgM), serum showed a higher sensitivity (100.0%) compared to saliva (90.9%). Also, the specificity for serum (100.0%) was much higher than saliva (85.4%).
CONCLUSION: Salivary IgA anti-50kDa antibody was found to be more suitable biomarker for routine screening, whereas serum IgG was more suitable for confirmatory test as it has higher specificity. Nevertheless, salivary IgA Dot-EIA is a convenient method for rapid testing, such as for Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POCD) and field epidemiological studies, due to its non-invasive nature and ease of use.
METHODS: Seven single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IKZF1, three SNPs in DDC, two SNPs in CDKN2A, two SNPs in CEBPE, and three SNPs in LMO1 were genotyped in 289 Yemeni children (136 cases and 153 controls), using the nanofluidic Dynamic Array (Fluidigm 192.24 Dynamic Array). Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate ALL risk, and the strength of association was expressed as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals.
RESULTS: We found that the IKZF1 SNP rs10235796 C allele (p = 0.002), the IKZF1 rs6964969 A>G polymorphism (p = 0.048, GG vs. AA), the CDKN2A rs3731246 G>C polymorphism (p = 0.047, GC+CC vs. GG), and the CDKN2A SNP rs3731246 C allele (p = 0.007) were significantly associated with ALL in Yemenis of Arab-Asian descent. In addition, a borderline association was found between IKZF1 rs4132601 T>G variant and ALL risk. No associations were found between the IKZF1 SNPs (rs11978267; rs7789635), DDC SNPs (rs3779084; rs880028; rs7809758), CDKN2A SNP (rs3731217), the CEBPE SNPs (rs2239633; rs12434881) and LMO1 SNPs (rs442264; rs3794012; rs4237770) with ALL in Yemeni children.
CONCLUSION: The IKZF1 SNPs, rs10235796 and rs6964969, and the CDKN2A SNP rs3731246 (previously unreported) could serve as risk markers for ALL susceptibility in Yemeni children.