BACKGROUND Standardized patient surveys are widely used for assessing quality of healthcare from the patient perspective. An important purpose of such surveys is to identify disparities in care among different patient groups. The purpose of this study was to 1.) evaluate aspects of the validity of the adapted Swedish version of the Picker Patient Care Experience -15 (PPE-15) survey and 2.) exam...

The asymmetrical tripodal tetraamine ligand N[(CH2)3NH2]2[(CH2)2NH2] (ppe) was condensed with 2-acetylpyridine in the presence of nickel(II) ion. In ethanolwater solution the reaction stops after the first stage of condensation, and a new nickel(II) complex of an acyclic pentadentate (N5) mono Schiff base ligand was obtained. X-ray structure analysis of the resulting complex, [Ni(ppe-py)(H2O)](...

Cluster of differentiation 69 (CD69), known as an early activation marker of lymphocytes, has been demonstrated to regulate inflammatory events in various disease models. Although the increased number of CD69-expressed T lymphocytes in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been reported, a functional role of CD69 in the pathogenesis of COPD remains unknown....

Pixel-per-processing element (PPE) ratio – the amount of image data directly mapped to each processing element, has a significant impact on the area and energy efficiency of embedded SIMD architectures for image processing applications. This paper quantitatively evaluates the impact of PPE ratio on system performance and efficiency for focal-plane SIMD image processing architectures by comparin...

Several species of the family Bromeliaceae are characterized by the production of proteases in unusual amounts, especially in fruits. Bromelain, an extract rich in cysteine endopeptidases obtained from Ananas comosus L., and a few other proteases have been used as anti-inflammatory agents for some years, but bromelain is still mainly being used as alternative and/or complementary therapy to the...

Enlargement of the respiratory air spaces is associated with the breakdown and reorganization of the connective tissue fiber network during the development of pulmonary emphysema. In this study, a mouse (C57BL/6) model of emphysema was developed by direct instillation of 1.2 IU of porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) and compared with control mice treated with saline. The PPE treatment caused 95% ...

BACKGROUND In 2014, the world witnessed the worst Ebola outbreak on record, with widespread disease in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone—infecting more than 28,000 people and killing more than 11,300 in the span of 2 years. It was the first Ebola outbreak to reach large city centers, where it spread rapidly. The disease particularly impacted health care workers bec...

PURPOSE The present study investigated the possible synergistic inhibitory effect of a novel combination of polyphenon E (PPE, a standardized green tea polyphenol preparation) and atorvastatin (trade name Lipitor) in a mouse tumorigenesis model and in human lung cancer H1299 and H460 cell lines. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Female A/J mice were given two weekly i.p. injections of 4-(methylnitrosaminao...

Epidemiological and experimental evidence support health risks associated with the exposure to airborne particulate matter with a diameter of <10 μM (PM10). PM10 stimulates the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammatory mediators. Thus, we assumed that natural antioxidants might provide health benefits attenuating hazardous effects of PM10. In the present study, we examined th...

Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety medical devices is mandated for healthcare workers to reduce the risk of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) from exposure to patients' blood. Research has shown that a strong safety climate may promote increased use of PPE. Therefore, the objective of this study was to exam...