MAIN METHODS: Neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y was treated with β-amyloid (Aβ) to induce AD-like pathological changes, which serves as Alzheimer's disease model. Tβ4 was overexpressed in SH-SY5Y cells by lentivirus infection, and downregulated by siRNA transfection. Apoptosis of transfected SH-SY5Y cells after Aβ-treatment was examined by western blot and flow cytometry. Apoptotic proteins and Tβ4-related signaling pathways were also investigated by western blot.
KEY FINDINGS: We found that Tβ4 overexpression increased viability and suppressed apoptosis of Aβ-treated SH-SY5Y cells. Tβ4 ameliorated oxidative damage and suppressed reactive oxygen species production in Aβ-treated SH-SY5Y cells. Consistently, Tβ4 overexpression down-regulated the expression levels of pro-apoptotic markers such as Caspase-3, Caspase-8, and Bax, while up-regulated the expression level of anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 in Aβ-stimulated SH-SY5Y cells. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that Tβ4 dampened ERK/p38 MAPK signaling and enhanced 5-HTR1A expression in Aβ-treated SH-SY5Y cells. Moreover, we revealed that Tβ4 inhibited the activation of ERK pathway through up-regulating 5-HTR1A in Aβ-treated SH-SY5Y cells.
SIGNIFICANCE: Taken together, our findings provide evidences to support the neuroprotective role of Tβ4 and might open up new therapeutic applications of Tβ4 in AD treatment.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study which included a questionnaire-based study and information of allergic rhinitis from patient's clinic records. Patients with AR who attended the ORL-HNS department in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia and Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Malaysia were enrolled after consented, on a first-come first-serve basis as convenience sampling from July 2020 until February 2021. A pre-tested self-administered, 16-item questionnaire in Malay language was distributed to the participants. The questionnaire consists of a set of 16 questions with subsets to enquire about the sociodemographic data and pattern of usage of CAM and its effectiveness.
RESULTS: 372 patients were enrolled in this study consisting of 217 (58.3%) female and 155 (41.7%) male patients. 231 (62.1%) participants had used CAM for AR in the past 10 years. A higher proportion of females (p = 0.015) and those with higher income (p = 0.004) had used CAM. Among the users, 87.9% found CAM to be effective. No differences were found in terms of age (p = 0.888) and education level (p = 0.057) for CAM usage.
CONCLUSION: CAM is widely used in Malaysia to alleviate AR symptoms, with a large proportion of users think it is effective. Therefore, more researches should be conducted to provide evidence and guidance to integrate CAM into AR management.
Objective: We sought to develop a Pan-Asian consensus on CaHA use in skin biostimulation, contouring, and combination treatments for face and body indications.
Methods: A survey on CaHA usage for contouring and biostimulation indications in Asian patients was conducted, followed by discussions to establish consensus statements and topics for examination.
Results: Several aspects of facial shaping and contouring or skin biostimulation with CaHA were agreed on, including that dilution is not a key consideration, that microfocused ultrasound with visualisation precedes CaHA in same day or session treatments, and that cannulas should be used. Among the many agreements on interventions in specific facial and body areas, there were also disagreements due to the diverse Asian patient presentations, requests, and access to tools or products; for example, CaHA should be placed in the interfascial layer for temple contouring, CaHA should not be injected directly into the infraorbital area for safety, and diluted CaHA should be injected subdermally for nonfacial or whole-face biostimulation and contouring.
Conclusion: Our disagreements highlight the diversity of Asian facial morphotypes and desired aesthetic outcomes and underscore the need for customized aesthetic strategies to accommodate the heterogeneity of Asian anatomies, cultural preferences, and aesthetic ideals. Establishing consensus statements on critical aspects of Asian patient considerations, efficacy and safety, is crucial. This document provides strategic guidance on the use of classic, diluted CaHA for biostimulation or undiluted Radiesse®(+) (Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaA, Frankfurt, Germany) for lifting and contouring to ensure consistent CaHA delivery for successful patient outcomes.
Case presentation: A 56-year-old lady presented to us with progressive abdominal distension and right hypochondriac pain for two months. She was anemic with elevated liver enzymes. Urgent computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen and pelvis showed a huge right supra renal mass. She subsequently developed respiratory failure due to splinting of diaphragm, of which successfully underwent an emergency exploratory laparotomy. Subsequent endocrine and histopathological work up showed an adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC).
Discussion: Suprarenal masses usually originate from the adrenal glands. They should be investigated to rule out phaeochromocytoma, which originate from the inner adrenal medulla or outer cortex to form ACC. The latter usually occur in women and of poor prognosis. Huge ACC may cause acute respiratory failure by way of splinting of diaphragm. Both anaesthetic and surgical teams should be well trained in handling patients who undergo adrenal surgeries.
Conclusion: A giant hemorrhagic functional ACC is extremely uncommon with very poor prognosis. Such conditions should be investigated to rule out phaeochromocytoma. Its potential neuro-hormonal interactions and anatomical correlations can cause fatal perioperative cardio-respiratory embarrassment. The anaesthetic and surgical teams should be capable in managing the hemodynamic instabilities that may present during surgical manipulation and resection of a large ACC.
Case presentation: A young morbidly obese man with a body mass index (BMI) of 43.3 kg/m2 presented to us with acute symptoms of heart failure. An urgent transthoracic echocardiogram showed a huge pedunculated mass which arise from the left atrium, which occasionally completely occludes the mitral valve during each diastole. He underwent a resection of cardiac myxoma, which was complicated with intraoperative hypotension. Fortunately, it was successfully managed by placing the patient in Trendelenburg position for optimum blood pressure control.
Discussion: Tumours of the heart are very rare. Common histopathological findings are myxomas, followed by uncommon types of rhabdomyosarcomas and angiosarcomas. Pedunculated cardiac tumours can cause partial to complete obstructions which may lead to devastating conditions. Anaesthesia for morbidly obese patients with pedunculated cardiac myxoma are extremely challenging. Cardiac anaesthetists should be vigilant in managing these patients as they posed many life-threatening complications.
Conclusion: Cardiac myxoma are uncommon benign tumor of the heart with higher preponderances on the left atrium. Pedunculated mass can cause obstruction by limiting left ventricular filling, mimicking severe mitral stenosis. Positioning the patient Trendelenburg can transiently reduce intracardiac obstruction, improve cardiac output and venous return to the heart. Optimum patient positioning and management will lead to excellent outcomes.
Methods: 260 candidates were grouped into two separate geographical groups - urban and suburban/rural. Descriptive analysis, skewness and kurtosis were performed for normality assessment, whereas Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, and Greatest lower bound assessed internal consistency. For validity measures, correlations were calculated between scores for separate stations, overall scores, urban and suburban/rural status. Also, exploratory factor analysis was performed on the five stations as validity measures. Difficulty and discrimination indices were calculated as quality measures. Qualitative analysis was performed on "red flag" comments detailing grossly unsuitable candidates.
Results: Roleplayer-driven stations yielded more red flags than examiner-driven stations. The three examiner-driven stations were significantly and moderately correlated (rho between 0.602 and 0.609, p 0.530), whereas the stations were distributed equally in difficulty index.
Conclusion: The UMS MMI has identified specific skillsets that may be in short supply in our incoming medical students. Also, it illustrates the yawning gap between academic knowledge and 'translational' scientific knowledge and communication skills.
OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we investigated the correlation between the brain and facial muscle activities by information-based analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals and electromyogram (EMG) signals using Shannon entropy.
METHOD: The EEG and EMG signals of thirteen subjects were recorded during rest and auditory stimulations using relaxing, pop, and rock music. Accordingly, we calculated the Shannon entropy of these signals.
RESULTS: The results showed that rock music has a greater effect on the information of EEG and EMG signals than pop music, which itself has a greater effect than relaxing music. Furthermore, a strong correlation (r= 0.9980) was found between the variations of the information of EEG and EMG signals.
CONCLUSION: The activities of the facial muscle and brain are correlated in different conditions. This technique can be utilized to investigate the correlation between the activities of different organs versus brain activity in different situations.
MATERIALS & METHODS: The participants included a conveniently selected sample of dentists (N = 126; Males = 65; Females = 61). The participants' anthropometric measurements/blood sample analysis were carried out and they completed a self-administered questionnaire. Data analysis included demographics, gender/age wise comparison using SPSS (p 0.05) were observed for cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL. However, significant difference (p = 0.00) was found for the fasting glucose level (Males = 5.69±1.49; Females = 4.94±0.42). Overall mean scoring (3.00±1.11) for the stress showed that the participants fall into the average/moderate level of stress category (Males = 3.16±1.02; Females = 2.83±1.08). Almost two third (68.26%) of the participant's responded that they were under some kind of stress.
CONCLUSIONS: MS was found to be less frequent among the dentists working in the city of Riyadh. Overall, the dentists were under moderate level of occupational stress, with male dentists being more prone to work related stress.