Int J Med Sci
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To characterize the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clones present in Istanbul, 102 MRSA isolates collected during a 5-year period at the Istanbul Medical Faculty Hospital were characterized using microarray analysis and phenotypic resistance profiles. ⋯ This work highlighted both the high prevalence of ST239-MRSA-III clone and the large diversity of the other MRSA clones detected in a university hospital in Istanbul.
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To investigate the expression and correlation of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the relationship with clinicopathological features and prognosis. ⋯ The expression of TGF-β1 and FGFR4 could make synergy on the occurrence and progression of HCC, and may be used as prognosis indicators for HCC patients.
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Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common form of developmental anomaly and is the leading non-infectious cause of infant mortality. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that genetic risk factors are involved in the pathogenesis of CHD. However, CHD is a genetically heterogeneous disease and the genetic determinants for CHD in most patients remain unclear. ⋯ The variations were absent in 400 control chromosomes and the affected amino acids were completely conserved evolutionarily. The two variants were both predicted to be disease-causing by MutationTaster and PolyPhen-2, and the functional analysis revealed that the PITX2c mutants were consistently associated with significantly reduced transcriptional activity compared with their wild-type counterpart. These findings firstly link PITX2c loss-of-function mutations to atrial septal defects in humans, which provide novel insight into the molecular mechanism responsible for CHD, suggesting potential implications for the early prophylaxis and allele-specific treatment of CHD.
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Duloxetine hydrochloride is approved for the treatment or management of major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain, and fibromyalgia in the United States. These conditions affect millions of women, including those of childbearing potential. In pregnancy, pharmacological treatment is justified only if the potential benefits outweigh potential risks to mother and fetus, neonate or infant. There are no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women treated with duloxetine. Post-marketing surveillance is an important tool for the assessment of drug safety in pregnancy in a naturalistic setting. ⋯ While limitations of these data are recognized, the information available to date from these two data sources suggest that the frequency of abnormal outcomes reported in duloxetine pregnancy cases is generally consistent with the historic control rates in the general population.
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To investigate the feasibility of direct magnetic resonance portal vein thrombosis (PVT) visualization with T2*-weighted imaging (T2*WI) without contrast agent. ⋯ Our results suggest T2*WI can characterize PVT accurately with high quality without the use of intravenous contrast agents.