Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) is a bone pathology that can be associated with a number of focal or systemic diseases, particularly those affecting the respiratory system. HOA is characterized by proliferative periostosis of the long bones, especially in their distal and periarticular regions. This report presents a probable case of HOA in the skeleton of an elderly Portuguese male from Év...

PURPOSE To compare outcomes in visual acuity, refractive error, higher-order aberrations (HOAs), contrast sensitivity, and dry eye in patients undergoing laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) using wavefront (WF) guided VISX CustomVue and WF optimized WaveLight Allegretto platforms. METHODS In this randomized, prospective, single-masked, fellow eye study, LASIK was performed on 44 eyes (22 pat...

Nervous system function relies on precise synaptic connections. A number of widely-conserved cell adhesion proteins are implicated in cell recognition between synaptic partners, but how these proteins act as a group to specify a complex neural network is poorly understood. Taking advantage of known connectivity in C. elegans, we identified and studied cell adhesion genes expressed in three inte...

OBJECTIVES Sagittal alignment of the lumbosacral spine, and specifically pelvic incidence (PI), has been implicated in the development of spine pathology, but generally ignored with regards to diseases of the hip. We aimed to determine if increased PI is correlated with higher rates of hip osteoarthritis (HOA). The effect of PI on the development of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) was used as a negat...

The biological roles of nitric oxide (NO)-hemoglobin (Hb) derivatives are obscure. It is proposed that NO can function as an allosteric regulator of hemoglobin oxygen-binding properties. We aimed to estimate the effects of NO donors and NO-synthase substrate (L-arginine) on hemoglobin-oxygen affinity (HOA) in experiments in vitro with the various ratios between NO formed and Hb and various oxyg...

Received 1/12/2010; revised 1/29/2010; accepted 2/1/2010. For correspondence and reprints contact: Wan-Yu Lin, M.D., Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital. 160 Section 3, ChungGung Road, Taichung 407, Taiwan. Tel: (886)4-23741349, Fax: (886)4-23741348, E-mail:[email protected] Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) is a rare syndrome and most HOA is related to maligna...

Relative to diets enriched in palmitic acid (PA), diets rich in oleic acid (OA) are associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. To gain insight into mechanisms underlying these observations, we applied comprehensive lipidomic profiling to specimens collected from healthy adults enrolled in a randomized, crossover trial comparing a high-PA diet to a low-PA/high-OA (HOA) diet. Effects on ins...

Two methods are compared that are used in path integral simulations. Both methods aim to achieve faster convergence to the quantum limit than the so-called primitive algorithm (PA). One method, originally proposed by Taka-hashi and Imada, is based on a higher-order approximation (HOA) of the quantum mechanical density operator. The other method is based upon an effective propagator (EPr). This ...

We determined polychlorinated dibenzodioxin (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDF) levels in breast milk of 143 primiparae living around the three most dioxin-contaminated areas of Vietnam. The women sampled lived in the vicinity of former U.S. air bases at Bien Hoa (n=51), Phu Cat (n=23), and Da Nang (n=69), which are known as dioxin hotspots. Breast milk samples from Bien Hoa City, wh...

A 49-year-old man presented with arthralgias and effusion of the knees. His past medical syndrome revealed digital clubbing for 17 years (A) and an idiopathic Raynaud syndrome. Radiographs of the tibias and fibulas showed bilateral, symmetric, extended and multilayered periosteal thickening (B). Thoracic CT and cardiac ultrasound were normal, as well as inflammatory, hepatic and renal tests. In...