Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting approximately 1% of the population and is characterized by cartilage and bone destruction ultimately leading to loss of joint function. Early detection and intervention of disease provides the best hope for successful treatment and preservation of joint mobility and function. Reliable and non-invasive techniques that accurately me...

BACKGROUND The clinical evaluation, as one of the most important elements in medical education, must measure students' competencies and abilities. The implementation of any assessment tool is basically dependent on the acceptance of students. This study tried to assess midwifery students' satisfaction with Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) and current clinical evaluation methods. ...

Electrophysiological studies using reserpine-treated cats were carried out to elucidate the effects of L-threo-3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine (L-threo-DOPS) on the noradrenergic pathway from the locus coeruleus (LC) to the caudate nucleus (CN) neurons, which were activated by iontophoretically applied bromocriptine, a dopamine D-2 receptor agonist. In the CN neurons, glutamate-induced firing was inh...

background and purpose:  student assessment is an important issue in medical education. it is necessary to use objective, valid and reliable assessment methods that are appropriate to the learning objectives and domain.the objectives of this study were 1- development of the dops test (direct observation procedural skills) and identification of its validity, reliability and acceptability. 2- eva...

BACKGROUND The use of Workplace-Based Assessment (WBA) has increased in recent years. AIMS To create a modified version of Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) adapted to the Chilean context and establish its psychometric properties. METHODS The content validity of DOPS was established through interviews and consensus survey. To be included in the new version, the respective domai...

In this work, discrete dynamic optimization problems (DOPs) are theoretically analysed according to the modifications produced in the fitness landscape during the optimization process. Using the proposed analysis framework, the following DOPs are analysed: problems generated by the XOR DOP generator, three versions of the dynamic 0–1 knapsack problem, one problem involving evolutionary robots i...

BACKGROUND In patients with neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (NOH), the availability of the sympathetic neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) in the synaptic cleft is insufficient to maintain blood pressure while in the standing posture. METHODS AND RESULTS We determined the effect of oral administration of the synthetic amino acid L-threo-3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine (L-DOPS), which is decarbo...

The present investigation was conducted to document a role of L-threo-3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine (L-DOPS), precursor of L-norepinephrine (NE), in the functional recovery from beam-walking performance deficits in rats after unilateral sensorimotor cortex ablation. L-DOPS was administered simultaneously with benserazide (BSZ; a peripheral aromatic amino acid decarboxylase inhibitor), and the regio...

SapC-DOPS is a novel nanotherapeutic that has been shown to target and induce cell death in a variety of cancers, including glioblastoma (GBM). GBM is a primary brain tumor known to frequently demonstrate resistance to apoptosis-inducing therapeutics. Here we explore the mode of action for SapC-DOPS in GBM, a treatment being developed by Bexion Pharmaceuticals for clinical testing in patients. ...

We investigated the phase separation of dioleoylphosphatidylserine (DOPS) and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) in giant unilamellar vesicles a hypotonic solution using fluorescence confocal laser scanning microscopy. Although charged lipid membranes is generally suppressed by electrostatic repulsion between headgroups, osmotic stress can promote formation domains. Interestingly, we observe...