Plos One
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Up to now, fiber tractography in the clinical routine is mostly based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). However, there are known drawbacks in the resolution of crossing or kissing fibers and in the vicinity of a tumor or edema. These restrictions can be overcome by tractography based on High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) which in turn requires larger numbers of gradients resulting in longer acquisition times. Using compressed sensing (CS) techniques, HARDI signals can be obtained by using less non-collinear diffusion gradients, thus enabling the use of HARDI-based fiber tractography in the clinical routine. ⋯ Overcoming the problem of long acquisition times, HARDI+CS seems to be a promising basis for fiber tractography of the OR in regions of disturbed diffusion, areas of high interest in glioma surgery.
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To investigate the risk factors involved in radial-femoral artery pressure gradient after cardiac surgery. ⋯ Detecting the exact central artery pressure is most important when patients have artery pressure gradients after cardiac surgery. Use inotropic agents to improve cardiac output, avoiding excessive vasoconstriction might reduce artery pressure gradient.
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Previous cohort studies have shown that persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) have a higher risk of hip fractures but recent data from large representative cohorts is scarce. ⋯ Findings from our nationwide study are in line with previous studies showing that persons with AD, regardless of sex or age, have higher risk of hip fracture in comparison to general population. Although there was some suggestion of effect modification by age or sex, AD was consistently associated with doubling of the risk of incident hip fracture.
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Back pain impacts on a significant proportion of the Australian population over the life course and has high prevalence rates among women, particularly in older age. Back pain care is characterised by multiple practitioner and self-prescribed treatment options, and the out-of-pocket costs associated with consultations and self-prescribed treatments have not been examined to date. ⋯ Multiple provider usage for various but distinct purposes (i.e. pain/mobility versus anxiety/stress) points to the need for further research into patient motivations and experiences of back pain care in order to improve and enhance access to and continuity of care. Our results suggest that the cost of back pain care represents a significant burden, and may ultimately limit women's access to multiple providers. We extrapolate that for Australian working-age women, total out-of-pocket expenditure on back pain care per annum is in excess of AU$1.4 billion, thus indicating the prominence of back pain as a major economic, social and health burden.
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Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis is a lethal fibrotic disease characterized by the unrelenting proliferation and persistence of fibroblasts in a type I collagen-rich matrix that result in an expanding reticular network of fibrotic tissue. However, the underlying mechanism responsible for the persistence of myofibroblasts in IPF remains unclear. During normal tissue repair, unwanted fibroblasts are eliminated during collagen-matrix contraction by a mechanism whereby high PTEN activity suppresses Akt. ⋯ We have found that the expression of caveolin-1, Fas and cleaved caspase-3 proteins in fibroblasts within the fibroblastic foci of IPF patient specimens is low. Our data indicate that the pathologically altered PTEN/Akt axis inactivates FoxO3a down-regulating cav-1 and Fas expression. This confers IPF fibroblasts with an apoptosis-resistant phenotype and may be responsible for IPF progression.