BACKGROUND Gc protein-derived macrophage-activating factor (GcMAF) occurs naturally in the human body. It has various functions, such as macrophage activation and antitumor activities. Recently, immunotherapy has become an attractive new strategy in the treatment of cancer. GcMAF-based immunotherapy can be combined with many other therapies. Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) using low-intensity ultraso...

AIM To explore factors that influence postpartum weight self-management behaviours. Transitions Theory and the Integrated Theory of Health Behaviour Change guided selection of variables. Transition conditions, level of patient activation and social facilitation were examined for association with postpartum weight self-management behaviours. BACKGROUND Retention of pregnancy weight increases r...

It is now well established that psychosocial factors can adversely impact the outcome of spine surgery. This article discusses in detail one such recently-identified "risk" factor: demoralization. Several studies conducted by the author indicate that demoralization, an emotional construct distinct from depression, is associated with poorer pain reduction, less functional improvement and decreas...

BACKGROUND The Internet provides a platform to access health information and support self-management by consumers with chronic health conditions. Despite recognized barriers to accessing Web-based health information, there is a lack of research quantitatively exploring whether consumers report difficulty finding desired health information on the Internet and whether these consumers would like a...

Measures of the patient care experience are now routinely used in public reports and increasingly influence health provider payment. We examined data from 5,002 patients of forty-nine primary care providers to explore the relationship between patient activation-a term referring to the knowledge, skills, and confidence a patient has for managing his or her health care-and the patient care experi...

Central ossifying fibroma is a benign, slow-growing tumor of mesenchymal origin with a predilection for the mandibular premolar and molar areas. The immunophenotype of T cells involved in the antitumor response against this benign tumor is unknown. In this case report, we described a case of a 48-year-old woman presenting with a very large recurrent ossifying fibroma in the mandible, which was ...

the purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (icsi) and piezo-assisted sperm injection after pretreatment with calcium ionophore (cai) on the mouse embryo development. methods: in this study, the conventional icsi and piezo-icsi procedures were used. the efficacy of the methods was examined after mouse matured oocytes were fertilized with or witho...

energy and mass transfer investigations in thermal processing of fruits serve as a breakthrough in the design and scale up of drying systems. diffusivity characteristics and specific energy consumption for drying of fig fruit in a laboratory scale microwave dryer were assessed. several intervals for microwave power intensity including 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 w g-1, and 6 levels of power on-off ...

jujube (zizyphus jujube mill), a valuable medicinal plant, is consumed either as fresh fruit or dried product in iran. drying jujube guarantees a longer shelf time while preserving its quality to be used in medical and pharmaceutical industries. in this research paper, the influence of several drying conditions on the effective moisture diffusivity, activation energy, energy consumption and req...

gamma-scintigraphy is applied extensively in the development and evaluation of pharmaceutical delivery systems, particularly for monitoring formulations in the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. the radiolabelling is generally achieved by the incorporation of an appropriate radionuclide such as technetium-99m or indium-111 into the formulation or by addition of a non-radioactive isotope s...