INTRODUCTION Cardiovascular pre-participation screening (PPS) is recommended for the identification of athletes at risk for sudden cardiac death. However, there is currently no universally accepted screening protocol. METHODS Two distinct PPS strategies were studied in a large cohort of Greek athletes (5 to 39 years old): PPS I, with routine 12-lead ECG and echo, in addition to personal and f...

BACKGROUND The Government of India declared TB as a notifiable disease in 2012. There is a paucity of information on the government's mandatory TB notification order from the perspective of private medical practitioners (PPs). OBJECTIVE To understand the awareness, perception and barriers on TB notification among PPs in Chennai, India. METHODS Total of 190 PPs were approached in their clini...

Dear Editors We read with interest the manuscript published by Viana et al.. These authors observed in a small cohort of paralytic poliomyelitis (PP) and postpolio syndrome (PPS) patients a significant circadian fatigue in both forms. The authors also evaluated polysomnographic variables lacking correlations between PSG data and fatigue. In PP, an acute disease resulting in flaccid paralysis, i...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis is prevailing in both urban and rural areas of Pakistan. Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of private practitioners (PPs) regarding tuberculosis management have been reported only in urban areas of Pakistan. This survey was conducted for the first time in a rural area of Sindh, Pakistan. METHODS This survey was conducted in January 2007 at Thatta, a rural district...

Principal curves and surfaces are nonlinear generalizations of principal components and subspaces, respectively. They can provide insightful summary of high-dimensional data not typically attainable by classical linear methods. Solutions to several problems, such as proof of existence and convergence, faced by the original principal curve formulation have been proposed in the past few years. Ne...

Peripersonal space (PPS) is the space surrounding us within which we interact with objects. PPS may be modulated by actions (e.g. when using tools) or sense of ownership (e.g. over a rubber hand). Indeed, intense and/or prolonged use of a tool may induce a sense of ownership over it. Conversely, inducing ownership over a rubber hand may activate brain regions involved in motor control. However,...

BACKGROUND There is growing interest in probiotics such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB), not only for treatment of T helper type (Th) 1-mediated diseases but also for Th2-mediated diseases, including allergic diseases, since lactic acid bacteria may be able to modulate the Th1/Th2 balance, in addition to having an immunomodulative effect through induction of Th1 bias. METHODS The effect of oral...

The post-pericardiotomy syndrome (PPS) is a common complication after cardiac surgery, occuring in 10-40% of patients. PPS may prolong hospitalization, and even serious complications like tamponade and constrictive pericarditis may occur. Early diagnosis and treatment may reduce morbidity. In 50 patients transferred to our hospital after cardiac surgery we found an increase in pro-inflammatory ...

Methods The Baecke questionnaire for the evaluation of habitual physical activity (HPA), assessment of quality of life (WHOQOL-Bref), and the Fatigue Severity Scale were administered to patients with PPS, poliomyelitis sequelae (PS) and to a control group (CG). Participated in the study 116 individuals (PPS=52,PS= 28,CG=36). Results Patients with PPS tended to increase their HPA from 10 to 20...

UNLABELLED Identification of promoters in DNA sequence using computational techniques is a significant research area because of its direct association in transcription regulation. A wide range of algorithms are available for promoter prediction. Most of them are polymerase dependent and cannot handle eukaryotes and prokaryotes alike. This study proposes a polymerase independent algorithm, which...