St Thomas' Hospital

About: St Thomas' Hospital is a healthcare organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Pregnancy. The organization has 12105 authors who have published 15596 publications receiving 624309 citations. The organization is also known as: St Thomas's Hospital & St. Thomas's.

A crucial role for Fgfr2-IIIb signalling in epidermal development and hair follicle patterning

Abstract: To understand the role Fgf signalling in skin and hair follicle development, we analysed the phenotype of mice deficient for Fgfr2-IIIb and its main ligand Fgf10 These studies showed that the severe epidermal hypoplasia found in mice null for Fgfr2-IIIb is caused by a lack of the basal cell proliferation that normally results in a stratified epidermis Although at term the epidermis of Fgfr2-IIIb null mice is only two to three cells thick, it expresses the classical markers of epidermal differentiation and establishes a functional barrier Mice deficient for Fgf10 display a similar but less severe epidermal hypoplasia By contrast, Fgfr2-IIIb –/–, but not Fgf10 –/–, mice produced significantly fewer hair follicles, and their follicles were developmentally retarded Following transplantation onto nude mice, grafts of Fgfr2-IIIb –/– skin showed impaired hair formation, with a decrease in hair density and the production of abnormal pelage hairs Expression of Lef1 , Shh and Bmp4 in the developing hair follicles of Fgfr2-IIIb –/– mice was similar to wild type These results suggest that Fgf signalling positively regulates the number of keratinocytes needed to form a normal stratified epidermis and to initiate hair placode formation In addition, Fgf signals are required for the growth and patterning of pelage hairs

Association between antiphospholipid antibodies and epilepsy in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Abstract: Objective. To determine whether the occurrence of seizures is correlated with the presence of serum antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Methods. The study included 221 unselected patients with SLE. Of these, 21 patients with epileptic seizures not attributed to any cause other than SLE were identified. Epilepsy was diagnosed by clinical history and electroencephalography. Blood samples were tested for the presence of antibodies to cardiolipin (aCL, IgG and IgM isotypes) and lupus anticoagulant (LAC). Results. LAC was detected in 43.8% of the patients with epilepsy and in 20.8% of controls (P = 0.057). A statistically significant association was found between moderate-to-high titers of IgG aCL and the presence of seizures (P = 0.02). Brain computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging scanning was performed in 14 patients. All patients with abnormal features found on these tests had positive aPL (P = 0.03). Nine patients (42.9%) had at least 1 of the classic features associated with the aPL syndrome. Conclusion. We confirmed that epilepsy as a primary neuropsychiatric event is significantly associated with moderate-to-high titers of IgG aCL in SLE patients. Our results suggest that aPL could have a role in the etiopathogenesis of epilepsy in SLE.

Exercise reduces arterial pressure augmentation through vasodilation of muscular arteries in humans

Abstract: Exercise markedly influences pulse wave morphology, but the mechanism is unknown. We investigated whether effects of exercise on the arterial pulse result from alterations in stroke volume or pulse...

Dietary sources of inorganic microparticles and their intake in healthy subjects and patients with Crohn's disease.

Abstract: Dietary microparticles are non-biological, bacterial-sized particles. Endogenous sources are derived from intestinal Ca and phosphate secretion. Exogenous sources are mainly titanium dioxide (TiO2) and mixed silicates (Psil); they are resistant to degradation and accumulate in human Peyer's patch macrophages and there is some evidence that they exacerbate inflammation in Crohn's disease (CD). However, whether their intake differs between those with and without CD has not been studied. We aimed to identify dietary microparticle sources and intakes in subjects with and without CD. Patients with inactive CD and matched general practice-based controls (ninety-one per group) completed 7 d food diaries. Intake data for dietary fibre and sucrose were compared as positive controls. All foods, pharmaceuticals and toothpastes were examined for microparticle content, and intakes of Ca and exogenous microparticles were compared between the two groups. Dietary intakes were significantly different between cases and controls for dietary fibre (12 (SD 5) v. 14 (SD 5) g/d; P=0.001) and sucrose (52 (SD 27) v. 45 (SD 18) g/d; P=0.04) but not for Ca. Estimated median TiO2 and Psil intakes (2.5 and 35 mg/individual per d respectively, totalling 10(12)-10(13) microparticles/individual per d) were broadly similar to per capita estimates and while there was wide variation in intakes between individuals there was no significant difference between subjects with CD and controls. Hence, if exposure to microparticles is associated with the inflammation of CD, then the present study rules out excess intake as the problem. Nonetheless, microparticle-containing foods have now been identified which allows a low-microparticle diet to be further assessed in CD.

Slip at Fluid-Solid Interface

Abstract: The “no-slip” is a fundamental assumption and generally-accepted boundary condition in rheology, tribology, and fluid mechanics with strong experimental support. The violations of this condition, however, are widely recognized in many situations, especially in the flow of non-Newtonian fluids. Wall slip could lead to large errors and flow instabilities, such as sharkskin formation and spurt flow, and hence complicates the analysis of fluid systems and introduces serious practical difficulties. In this article, we discuss slip at fluid-solid interface in an attempt to highlight the main issues related to this diverse complex phenomenon and its implications.