Gentrymarker1974

To compare the frequency of the provision of contraceptive counseling at the time of clinical pregnancy test at family planning clinics to other clinical settings among women who wish to avoid pregnancy for the next 2 years or longer.

This was a secondary data analysis of the 2011-2017 National Survey of Family Growth. It used logistic regression to estimate the relationship between receiving contraceptive counseling with source of care, age, educational attainment, race/ethnicity, poverty status, marital status, insurance status, and pregnancy history among 1790 women aged 15-44 who received in-clinic pregnancy tests and sought to avoid pregnancy for the next two years or longer.

Most clinical pregnancy tests were performed by private practices (52%), community health clinics (20%), and other clinical settings (19%); 8% were performed by family planning clinics. Family planning clinics more frequently provided contraceptive counseling with pregnancy tests than other clinical settings (78% at family plaeling when seeking clinical pregnancy testing.

FUT2 determines the secretor status of ABH antigens. Many lines of evidence suggest an association between secretor status and susceptibility to various clinical conditions. For this kind of study, large-scale genotyping of FUT2 is necessary. Because FUT2 has a pseudogene (SEC1) with high DNA sequence similarity and is rich in population-specific SNPs, we need to pay attention in designing the primers for genotyping FUT2. The se

allele having a 428G>A nonsense SNP (W143X, rs601338) is the predominant non-secretor allele in Europeans, Latin Americans and Africans. On the other hand, se

having the 778C>del frameshift SNP (P260Lfs*16, rs1799761) is almost exclusively found in Africans with frequencies of 1-4%.

We developed high-resolution melting (HRM) analyses using short (69-bp for 428G>A, 65-bp for 778C>del) amplicons for genotyping two SNPs directly and validated the method by analyzing 95 Ghanaians whose FUT2 genotypes were previously determined.

Two sets of assays clearly discriminated three genotypes of 428G>A (G/G, G/A, A/A), and two genotypes of 778C>del (C/C, C/del). In addition, the results obtained for the 95 Ghanaians by HRM analysis were in full agreement with previous ones.

The present HRM analysis reliably genotyped 428G>A. Thus, estimation of secretor status based on se

using the present HRM analysis may be useful for large scale association studies of FUT2. In addition to 428G>A, genotyping of other causal polymorphisms for non-secretors with high frequency, as is the case with 778C>del for Africans, is desirable for more accurate estimation of the secretor status of the target populations.

del for Africans, is desirable for more accurate estimation of the secretor status of the target populations.

Sepsis is the main cause of death from infection. This study aimed to determine whether neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) values better predict mortality in septic patients when combined with inflammation-based prognostic scores.

Forty-four adult patients diagnosed according to the Sepsis-3 definition and who were admitted to the ICU were prospectively examined from June 2018 to November 2018. Urine samples were collected from each patient with a urethral balloon bag to measure NGAL after ICU entry at the following time points immediately after and 2, 3, and 4days after ICU entry. The Glasgow Prognostic Score, the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), the platelet to lymphocyte ratio, the Prognostic Nutritional Index, the Prognostic Index (PI), the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), and quick SOFA were examined immediately after ICU entry. Predictors of mortality were assessed by receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) analysis, log-rank test, and multivariate logistic regr in sepsis patients on day 2 after ICU entry and thereafter, but not on day 1.

NGAL and ΔNGAL were predictors of mortality in sepsis patients on day 2 after ICU entry and thereafter, but not on day 1.

Accurate determination of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) is important for coronary heart disease risk assessment and atherosclerosis. Apart from direct determination of LDL values, models (or equations) are used. A more recent approach is the use of machine learning (ML) algorithms.

ML algorithms were used for LDL determination (regression) from cholesterol, HDL and triglycerides. The methods used were multivariate Linear Regression (LR), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) and Deep Neural Networks (DNN), in both larger and smaller data sets. Selleck AZ20 Also, LDL values were classified according to both NCEP III and European Society of Cardiology guidelines.

The performance of regression was assessed by the Standard Error of the Estimate. ML methods performed better than established equations (Friedewald and Martin). The performance all ML methods was comparable for large data sets and was affected by the divergence of the train and test data sets, as measured by the Jensen-Shannon divergence. Classification accuracy was not satisfactory for any model.

Direct determination of LDL is the most preferred route. When not available, ML methods can be a good substitute. Not only deep neural networks but other, less computationally expensive methods can work as well as deep learning.

Direct determination of LDL is the most preferred route. When not available, ML methods can be a good substitute. Not only deep neural networks but other, less computationally expensive methods can work as well as deep learning.Severe asthma accounts for almost half the cost associated with asthma. Severe asthma is driven by heterogeneous molecular mechanisms. Conventional clinical trial design often lacks the power and efficiency to target subgroups with specific pathobiological mechanisms. Furthermore, the validation and approval of new asthma therapies is a lengthy process. A large proportion of that time is taken by clinical trials to validate asthma interventions. The National Institutes of Health Precision Medicine in Severe and/or Exacerbation Prone Asthma (PrecISE) program was established with the goal of designing and executing a trial that uses adaptive design techniques to rapidly evaluate novel interventions in biomarker-defined subgroups of severe asthma, while seeking to refine these biomarker subgroups, and to identify early markers of response to therapy. The novel trial design is an adaptive platform trial conducted under a single master protocol that incorporates precision medicine components. Furthermore, it includes innovative applications of futility analysis, cross-over design with use of shared placebo groups, and early futility analysis to permit more rapid identification of effective interventions. The development and rationale behind the study design are described. The interventions chosen for the initial investigation and the criteria used to identify these interventions are enumerated. The biomarker-based adaptive design and analytic scheme are detailed as well as special considerations involved in the final trial design.

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), which are members of the TGF-β superfamily, regulate bone remodeling by stimulating osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Although the association between osteitis and poor surgical outcomes is well known in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), BMPs have not been fully investigated as potential biomarkers for the prognosis of CRS.

Our aim was to investigate the role of BMPs in osteitis in patients with CRS with nasal polyps (NPs) (CRSwNPs), as well as associations between BMPs and inflammatory markers in sinonasal tissues from patients with CRSwNP.

We investigated the expression of 6 BMPs (BMP-2, BMP-4, BMP-6, BMP-7, BMP-9, and BMP-10) and their cellular origins in NPs of human subjects by using immunohistochemistry and ELISA of NP tissues. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify associations between BMPs and inflammatory markers. Air-liquid interface cell culture of human nasal epithelial cells was performed to evaluate the induction of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition by BMPs.

Of the 6 BMPs studied, BMP-2 and BMP-7 were associated with refractoriness. Only BMP-2 concentrations were higher in patients with severe osteitis and advanced disease extent according to the computed tomography findings. Eosinophils and some macrophages were identified as cellular sources of BMP-2 in immunofluorescence analysis. An invitro experiment revealed that BMP-2 induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition in air-liquid interface-cultured human nasal epithelial cells, particularly in a T

2 milieu.

BMP-2 could reflect the pathophysiology of mucosa and bone remodeling. and may be a novel biomarker for refractory CRSwNP.

BMP-2 could reflect the pathophysiology of mucosa and bone remodeling. and may be a novel biomarker for refractory CRSwNP.

Mastocytosis encompasses a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by accumulation of clonal mast cells (MCs) in the skin and/or internal organs. Patients typically present with a broad variety of recurrent mediator-related clinical symptoms, including severe anaphylaxis. However, not all patients with mastocytosis experience anaphylactic reactions.

We sought to identify disease-specific biomarkers in plasma that could be used to predict patients with mastocytosis with increased risk of anaphylaxis.

Nineteen patients (≥18 years) and 2 control groups (11 subjects with allergic asthma and 13 healthy volunteers without history of atopy) were recruited. In total, 248 plasma proteins were analyzed by Proximity Extension Assay using Olink Proseek Multiplex panels.

We identified 4 novel proteins, in addition to tryptase, E-selectin, adrenomedullin, T-cell immunoglobulin, and mucin domain 1, and CUB domain-containing protein 1/CD138 to be significantly increased in patients with mastocytosis compared with both patients with asthma and healthy controls. Furthermore, we investigated whether we could discriminate between patients with mastocytosis with or without anaphylaxis. In addition to tryptase, we identified 3 novel proteins, that is, allergin-1, pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A, and galectin-3, with significantly different levels in patients with mastocytosis with anaphylaxis compared with those without anaphylaxis.

Newly identified proteomic biomarkers may be used to predict patients with mastocytosis with increased risk of anaphylaxis.

Newly identified proteomic biomarkers may be used to predict patients with mastocytosis with increased risk of anaphylaxis.Air pollution by airborne particles is a serious health problem worldwide. The present study was aimed at investigating the concentrations and composition of total suspended particles (TSPs) and PM2.5 at various industrial/commercial sites of Guangzhou, a megacity of Southern China. Major and trace elements, ions and carbonaceous fraction were determined and main components were calculated. In addition, in order to assess the potential toxic on the respiratory system of these PM, cytotoxicity of size-fractionated particles (PM10-5.6, PM5.6-3.3, PM3.3-1.1, PM1.1-0.43) for a human lung cancer cell line (A549) was also investigated. Correlations between PM constituents and toxicity were assessed. Median levels of TSPs and PM2.5 in industrial/commercial sites were 206 and 57.7 μg/m3, respectively. Nickel, Cu, Mo, Mn, Pb, and Ti were the most abundant metals in TSPs and PM2.5. Industrial activities and coal combustion were the most important sources of carbonaceous particles in the zone. MTT assays showed that PM10-5.