Introduction: The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), used to assess the severity of social anxiety disorder (SAD), requires considerable effort and time to complete. The aims of this study were: 1) to investigate whether a visual analogue scale (VAS) could be linear with the LSAS and substitute for the LSAS, 2) to relate such a VAS instrument to patient demographics. Methods: Fifty SAD pati...

Within a neonatal vitamin A supplementation (VAS) trial, we investigated the effect of VAS on TNF-α, IL-10, IL-5 and IL-13 production after lipopolysaccharide, purified protein derivative (PPD) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and phytohaemagglutinin stimulation using a whole blood culture protocol. We found that VAS recipients had lower unstimulated TNF-α concentrations than placebo recipients. I...

Fractures of the proximal pole of the scaphoid with associated avascular necrosis and nonunion are well known to be problematic. Many techniques for fixation and reconstruction of the proximal pole of the scaphoid have been reported, often with poor results. One of the newer modalities of treatment for these difficult cases is excision of the proximal pole and replacement with a pyrocarbon impl...

To form the proximal-distal axis of the C. elegans gonad, two somatic gonadal precursor cells, Z1 and Z4, divide asymmetrically to generate one daughter with a proximal fate and one with a distal fate. Genes governing this process include the lin-17 frizzled receptor, wrm-1/beta-catenin, the pop-1/TCF transcription factor, lit-1/nemo-like kinase, and the sys-1 gene. Normally, all of these regul...

Two isoforms of vasa mRNA and protein are present in a teleost fish, tilapia. One (vas-s) lacks a part of the N-terminal region found in the other isoform (vas). Both isoforms are expressed in oocytes through the embryonic stage when primordial germ cells (PGCs) localize in the lateral plate mesoderm. After PGC localization in the gonadal anlagen, vas-s expression increased and vas expression b...

BACKGROUND Idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) can be rarely ablated from the noncoronary cusp (NCC) of the aorta. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and the clinical, electrocardiographic, and electrophysiologic characteristics of idiopathic NCC VAs. METHODS We studied 90 consecutive patients who underwent successful catheter ablation of idiopathic a...

Tacrolimus (FK506) is one of the principal immunosuppressive agents used after solid organ transplantations to prevent allograft rejection. Chronic renal injury induced by tacrolimus is characterized by linear fibrosis in the medullary rays; however, the early morphologic findings of acute tacrolimus nephrotoxicity are not well characterized. Kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) is a specific injur...

BACKGROUND Idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) can originate from the left ventricular papillary muscles (PAMs). This study investigated the electrophysiological characteristics of these VAs and their relevance for the results of catheter ablation. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 19 patients who underwent successful catheter ablation of idiopathic VAs originating from the anterior (n=7) a...