Medical hypotheses
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Modic changes are bone marrow and endplate lesions visible in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They are regarded as a part of degenerative disc disease and associated with low back pain. And severe disc degeneration was occurred more in the patients with Modic changes. But there is still no study to analyze the relationship between Modic changes and intervertebral disc degeneration. We hypothesize that Modic changes are the possible causes and promotion of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration. And there are three possible mechanisms for this hypothesis: a structural cause: Modic changes make cartilaginous material easier in extruded disc herniations, to destroy the structure of intervertebral disc and inhibit the absorption of the disc. A biomechanical cause: Modic changes alter the mechanical loading distribution on disc, to initiate a series of disc disruption and inhibit the self-recovery of the disc. A nutritional cause: Modic changes destroy the vascular architecture in vertebral endplate and block the most important metabolism pathway between vertebrae and disc. ⋯ (1) Find out procedures to cure Modic changes may be an important breakthrough for disc degenerative disease. (2) Treatment of Modic changes may be a critical step of biotherapy for disc degeneration disease.
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Synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 KD (SNAP-25) is a protein that participates in synaptic vesicle exocytosis through the formation of a SNARE complex; SNAP-25 also plays a pivotal role in modulating calcium homeostasis through negative regulation of voltage-gated calcium channels. SNAP-25 has been involved in different neuropsychiatric disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. There are well known physiological gender differences in many neuropsychological skills, and there are even more striking gender differences in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorders. We hypothesize that these differences are the result of a mechanism involving SNAP-25 polymorphisms and its differential expression in specific brain areas.
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Use of body positioning to improve oxygenation in mechanically ventilated patients with acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been well documented. However, neither prone position ventilation nor side lying ventilation has been reported to improve the survival. ⋯ According to the existing physiologic and pathophysiologic data of upright position investigation, we suppose that improvement of V/Q matching, increased functional residual capacity, alveolar recruitment, accelerated diaphragm recovery, early gastric emptying and enteric feeding may be a potential protect mechanism of upright position ventilation. Whether this can be translated into improvement in patient outcome should be further tested in clinical trial.
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Editorial
Are you an honest scientist? Truthfulness in science should be an iron law, not a vague aspiration.
Anyone who has been a scientist for more than a couple of decades will realize that there has been a progressive and pervasive decline in the honesty of scientific communications. Yet real science simply must be an arena where truth is the rule; or else the activity simply stops being science and becomes something else: Zombie science. Although all humans ought to be truthful at all times; science is the one area of social functioning in which truth is the primary value, and truthfulness the core evaluation. ⋯ The most realistic prospect is that some sub-specialties of science might self-identify as being engaged primarily in the pursuit of truth, might form invisible colleges, and (supported by strong ethical systems to which their participants subscribe) impose on their members a stricter and more honest standard of behaviour. From such seeds of truth, real science might again re-grow. However, at present, I can detect no sign of any such thing as a principled adherence to perfect truthfulness among our complacent, arrogant and ever-more-powerful scientific leadership - and that is the group of which a Great Awakening would need to take-hold even if the movement were originated elsewhere.
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Tourette syndrome is a chronic, idiopathic, childhood onset neuropsychiatric disorder with both motor and vocal tics. Tourette syndrome occurs worldwide and the clinical features are similar irrespective of the country of origin, with genetic causes suspected, but to date not proven. A link between red hair colour and Tourette syndrome has been hypothesised as a result of an observation that red hair is over represented in this condition. ⋯ Many Tourette syndrome patients had multiple red haired relatives, since 90 patients yielded a total of 181 relatives with red hair. If this hypothesis is correct the MCIR gene, through a neurological effect, or a gene for Tourette syndrome, located on chromosome 16 in the vicinity of MC1R, could be on the causal pathway. As these figures demonstrate, the hypothesis that there is an association between red hair and Tourette syndrome needs further evaluation.