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2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 831
Author(s):  
Jakub Rok ◽  
Zuzanna Rzepka ◽  
Justyna Kowalska ◽  
Klaudia Banach ◽  
Artur Beberok ◽  
...  

Malignant melanoma is still a serious medical problem. Relatively high mortality, a still-growing number of newly diagnosed cases, and insufficiently effective methods of therapy necessitate melanoma research. Tetracyclines are compounds with pleiotropic pharmacological properties. Previously published studies on melanotic melanoma cells ascertained that minocycline and doxycycline exerted an anti-melanoma effect. The purpose of the study was to assess the anti-melanoma potential and mechanisms of action of minocycline and doxycycline using A375 and C32 human amelanotic melanoma cell lines. The obtained results indicate that the tested drugs inhibited proliferation, decreased cell viability, and induced apoptosis in amelanotic melanoma cells. The treatment caused changes in the cell cycle profile and decreased the intracellular level of reduced thiols and mitochondrial membrane potential. The exposure of A375 and C32 cells to minocycline and doxycycline triggered the release of cytochrome c and activated initiator and effector caspases. The anti-melanoma effect of analyzed drugs appeared to be related to the up-regulation of ERK1/2 and MITF. Moreover, it was noticed that minocycline and doxycycline increased the level of LC3A/B, an autophagy marker, in A375 cells. In summary, the study showed the pleiotropic anti-cancer action of minocycline and doxycycline against amelanotic melanoma cells. Considering all results, it could be concluded that doxycycline was a more potent drug than minocycline.


2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiawen Sun ◽  
Yuan-Qin Min ◽  
Yunjie Li ◽  
Xiulian Sun ◽  
Fei Deng ◽  
...  

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), an emerging life-threatening infectious disease caused by SFTS bunyavirus (SFTSV; genus Bandavirus, family Phenuiviridae, order Bunyavirales), has been a significant medical problem. Currently, there are no licensed vaccines or specific therapeutic agents available and the viral pathogenesis remains largely unclear. Developing appropriate animal models capable of recapitulating SFTSV infection in humans is crucial for both the study of the viral pathogenic processes and the development of treatment and prevention strategies. Here, we review the current progress in animal models for SFTSV infection by summarizing susceptibility of various potential animal models to SFTSV challenge and the clinical manifestations and histopathological changes in these models. Together with exemplification of studies on SFTSV molecular mechanisms, vaccine candidates, and antiviral drugs, in which animal infection models are utilized, the strengths and limitations of the existing SFTSV animal models and some important directions for future research are also discussed. Further exploration and optimization of SFTSV animal models and the corresponding experimental methods will be undoubtedly valuable for elucidating the viral infection and pathogenesis and evaluating vaccines and antiviral therapies.


Author(s):  
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Background: Acne vulgaris of infants is a well-recognized medical and cosmetic problem as it may cause severe scarring of the face. Hence medical treatment is essentially needed. Objective: To record all patients with infantile acne vulgaris and to do full demographic and clinical evaluation. Patients and methods:This is case series clinical descriptive study with interventional therapeutic trial that included all patients with infantile acne vulgaris that were seen during the period from Jan 2021 – September 2021 years. All demographic and clinical features were recorded. The clinical scoring of acne severity was done as follow:mild when the rash was mainly comedones,moderate mainly papules and pustules and severe mainly nodules and scarring. Any triggering factors were recorded including hormonal changes. Therapy was started by giving topical 2% clindamycin twice a day and oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole suspension one teaspoonful twice a day for 1-2 months. Results: This study included 28 patients with infantile acne, with 19(67.86%) males and 9(32.14%) females with male to female ratio;2.1. The age of patients ranged from 1-24 months, with a mean 14.6 ±6.1.The duration of rash was ranged from 4-8 weeks. The commonest sites affected were cheeks in 27(96.4%) cases, followed by forehead in 8 (28.6%), then chin in 6 (23.1%), and nose 6 (23.1%) of the cases. Scoring of severity of acne showed moderate in 13(46.4%), followed by mild in 9 (32.1%), and sever in 6 (21.4%). The response to treatment was complete clearance in 15(53.6%) and partial response in 13(46.4%) of the patients while no adverse effects were observed. Conclusions: Infantile acne is not uncommon disease among infants where medical therapy is essentially needed especially in severe cases as to prevent facial scarring. Early diagnosis and treatment with oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole suspension and topical 2% clindamycin lotion is an effective mode of therapy.


Author(s):  
Julia V. Nesterova ◽  
George A. Karkashadze ◽  
Leila S. Namazova-Baranova ◽  
Elena A. Vishneva ◽  
Elena V. Kaytukova ◽  
...  

Speech disorders have the leading position among cognitive disorders and represent the urgent medical problem. The modern approach to the treatment of cognitive and behavioral disorders in children consists of the integrity of pharmacotherapeutic, correctional and psychotherapeutic, as well as non-invasive instrumental methods of brain neurostimulation. This article provides the overview of the currently available data on transcranial magnetic stimulation method as noninvasive treatment of various neuropsychiatric disorders in children and its difference from physiotherapeutic methods used in traditional Russian practice.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Ekaterina A. Mordovina ◽  
Valentina O. Plastun ◽  
Arkady S. Abdurashitov ◽  
Pavel I. Proshin ◽  
Svetlana V. Raikova ◽  
...  

Bacterial infections are a severe medical problem, especially in traumatology, orthopedics, and surgery. The local use of antibiotics-elution materials has made it possible to increase the effectiveness of acute infections treatment. However, the infection prevention problem remains unresolved. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of polylactic acid (PLA) “smart” films with microchamber arrays. These microchambers contain ceftriaxone as a payload in concentrations ranging from 12 ± 1 μg/cm2 to 38 ± 8 μg/cm2, depending on the patterned film thickness formed by the different PLA concentrations in chloroform. In addition, the release profile of the antibiotic can be prolonged up to 72 h in saline. At the same time, on the surface of agar plates, the antibiotic release time increases up to 96 h, which has been confirmed by the growth suppression of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The efficient loading and optimal release rate are obtained for patterned films formed by the 1.5 wt % PLA in chloroform. The films produced from 1.5 and 2 wt % PLA solutions (thickness—0.42 ± 0.12 and 0.68 ± 0.16 µm, respectively) show an accelerated ceftriaxone release upon the trigger of the therapeutic ultrasound, which impacted as an expansion of the bacterial growth inhibition zone around the samples. Combining prolonged drug elution with the on-demand release ability of large cargo amount opens up new approaches for personalized and custom-tunable antibacterial therapy.


Author(s):  
Alvaro Vannucci

Introduction: The role played by minimum quantities, generating large scale effects, and even of catastrophic consequence, is very commonly observed in many areas of science. In Physics, for example, the doping of impurities in materials like silicon (as low as one atom per billion) results in spectacular semiconductor properties. In Biology, the effects of pheromones produced by insects and other animals are so dramatic that females of the emperor moth can attract mating males from kilometers away. And, concerning human health, severe body reactions may occur following the ingestion of very diminutive quantity of some allergic food. In this paper, the question of how Nature provides mechanisms for developing such dramatic and many times unexpected results, from very faint stimulus, will be proposed and discussed. In particular, a model for the controversial issue of how homeopathic remedies can influence and impose organic responses will also be addressed. This model particularly rely on the here named infotrans mechanism, which is based on a type of resonant property that may induce living organisms to promptly over-react after a pseudo environmental aggression. Finally, arguments will be provided to demonstrate that water, mainly due to its very high dielectric constant, can be considered a very good mediator for the infotrans. The Role of Water in Important Biological Mechanisms: Assuming that water molecules can indeed rearrange themselves to form larger clusters, it is reasonable to accept that different external excitations might induce these structures to assemble in distinctive ways. As matter of fact, experimental evidences already exist in literature showing that ultra-high dilutions of different substances, when compared to pure water, do exhibit relevant physico-chemical differences. More recently, investigations have shown that water plays a crucial role in biological systems such as the protein folding process or the twisting of DNA helixes. Thus, it is reasonable to accept that water, having the possibly of structuring itself in an almost endless variety of ways, it will impact in a unique and own peculiar way the individual cells and even entire organs. That is, the codified information related to the specific architecture of the water cluster, in result to previous stimulus (infotrans), will be passed on to the living organism through the nervous system and induce, in consequence, a prompt reaction. The specific type of response commanded by the mind, after detecting a particular infotrans, will depend on the array of experiences the living being had previously undergone. In some circumstances, however, the mind may mistake the information received from the nervous system, treating a harmless organic process as a dangerous attack. In this situation the overall body reaction can be very dramatic, as the reported cases of children that had to be hospitalized in serious health conditions (even with some fatal occurrences) after the ingestion of only residual amounts of allergic foods like peanut, wheat and milk. The Transfer of Information (InfoTrans) and the Placebo Effect: Interestingly, the mechanism of infotrans is much more extensive and does not restrict itself to transference of information by material means. All our five senses are channels that bring information to the mind and which might cause global body reactions. The picture of a grotesque insect, for example, may induce a sensitive (entomophobic) person to sweat, feel dizzy and, sometimes, even trigger severe emotional reactions like panic and terror. Moreover, different persons that listen to a playing music are observed to react in different ways. Of course, it is not the music being played that causes, by itself, these reactions. What happens is that each individual’s mind will process the same stimulus (the music) differently, based on the various situations experienced throughout the person’s existences, and which had been stored in his sub-conscience. To finalize, it is not difficult to conclude, from the discussion above, that the ‘placebo effect’ can be easily understood in terms of the here proposed infotrans mechanism. By accepting the suggestion from any health personnel, and/or truly believing that a prescribed healing procedure will be effective, the mind eventually triggers many sorts of organic reactions that turn out to be efficient enough to resolve a person’s medical problem. Conclusions: In this work the mechanism of infotrans (transferred information) is proposed as an explanation of how homeopathic remedies are very successful in restoring people’s health. It is based on the innumerous experiences a person has undergone throughout his lives and which have been imprinted in his sub-conscience. After receiving the information from an homeopathic preparation (codified by the way the water clusters structured themselves), if the corresponding infotrans does resonate with some archetypal experience the patient has stored in his sub-conscience (related to an ancient case in which he had suffered a type of illness which has caused the same kind of symptoms he is now experiencing), his defensive immune system will automatically receive from the mind a command to counterattack the (hypothetical) aggression by strongly intensifying the defensive measurements already on course and/or initiating new ones.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-77
Author(s):  
Normalisa

Breast cancer is an important medical problem, especially for women, computer-aided medical diagnosis is very important in terms of prevention and early detection. This paper presents early detection of breast cancer using two methods, namely genetic algorithm and fuzzy inference system which will be used for early detection of breast cancer which will be used by doctors with computer assistance to obtain medical diagnosis of breast cancer in Indonesia. Our research shows that the diagnosis of breast cancer using these two methods has a high level of accuracy.


Author(s):  
E. A. Ignat’eva

Introduction. Sarcoidosis is a significant social and medical problem. Diagnosis is based on consistency of the clinical picture, histological evidence of granulomatous inflammation, exclusion of alternative diseases, and evidence of systemic involvement. There is no “gold” diagnostic standard for sarcoidosis. Aim. Review of the latest world literature data on the possibilities of modern radiation diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Materials and methods. The review summarizes data from literature published mainly over the past five years in PubMed and eLibrary. Earlier publications were also included as necessary. Results. In the literature review, modern medical imaging methods used to diagnose sarcoidosis, which in some cases can avoid biopsy, are considered. First of all, these are X-ray methods. Today, high-resolution multispiral computed tomography with three-dimensional imaging, as the method with the highest sensitivity, plays a decisive role in the diagnosis and monitoring of sarcoidosis. The use of magnetic resonance imaging and low-dose computed tomography is not well understood in patients with sarcoidosis. Quantitative computed tomography and radiomics techniques have only been partially tested in sarcoidosis. Conclusion. The imaging of sarcoidosis is the subject of a large number of publications that provide detailed descriptions of X-ray and computed tomography techniques. Nevertheless, despite the introduction of new computerized tools for the analysis of chest imaging, traditional X-ray techniques still remain an important role in both the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of changes characteristic of sarcoidosis


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amal Shehadeh Sheeny ◽  
Hadass Goldblatt ◽  
Orna Baron-Epel

Abstract Background: The use of medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differs globally, depending on ethnic group. In Israel, the prevalence of stimulant prescriptions for ADHD among Jewish children is four times higher than among Arab children. Ethnical differences may affect parents’ perceptions and attitudes towards diagnosing and treating ADHD. Therefore, it is important to identify differences in attitudes and beliefs towards diagnosis and treatment of ADHD among Arab and Jewish mothers and teachers, in order to understand what affects the mothers’ decision whether to medicate their child diagnosed with ADHD.Methods: A qualitative study including 23 in-depth interviews with mothers of children diagnosed with ADHD and 12 teachers (Arabs and Jews) from elementary schools in Northern Israel. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.Results: Data analysis revealed four themes, emphasizing the way mothers and teachers perceive ADHD differently in the two ethnic groups: (1) The degree of ADHD medicalization differed between the ethnic groups. Jewish mothers and teachers tended to perceive ADHD more as a medical problem, while Arab mothers and teachers perceived it more as a childhood social behavior; (2) Arab mothers reported guilt feelings in relation to ADHD diagnosis and treatment, whereas Jewish mothers felt sympathy and understanding towards their child; (3) Among Arab mothers, the social environment is a stronger influence than among Jewish mothers; and (4) Stigmatization was reported only by Arab mothers. Conclusions: Our study suggests that there are ethnical differences in the perception of ADHD that may explain the differences in its prevalence and treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 11970
Author(s):  
Angel Ayala ◽  
Tomás Ortiz Figueroa ◽  
Bruno Fernandes ◽  
Francisco Cruz

Diabetes is a disease that occurs when the body presents an uncontrolled level of glucose that is capable of damaging the retina, leading to permanent damage of the eyes or vision loss. When diabetes affects the eyes, it is known as diabetic retinopathy, which became a global medical problem among elderly people. The fundus oculi technique involves observing the eyeball to diagnose or check the pathology evolution. In this work, we implement a convolutional neural network model to process a fundus oculi image to recognize the eyeball structure and determine the presence of diabetic retinopathy. The model’s parameters are optimized using the transfer-learning methodology for mapping an image with the corresponding label. The model training and testing are performed with a dataset of medical fundus oculi images and a pathology severity scale present in the eyeball as labels. The severity scale separates the images into five classes, from a healthy eyeball to a proliferative diabetic retinopathy presence. The latter is probably a blind patient. Our proposal presented an accuracy of 97.78%, allowing for the confident prediction of diabetic retinopathy in fundus oculi images.


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