Open Access DOI:10.23937/ijcb-2017/1710004

Self-Esteem as the Mediating Factor between Parenting Styles and Creativity

Huong TM Pham and Betsy Ng

Article Type: Review Article | First Published: June 03, 2019

Creativity is increasingly valued as a skill for the future workplaces. Educators and employers are paying more and more attention to creativity training, the effectiveness of which relies on an understanding of creativity influencing factors. Yet, the seed for creativity might be sawn early in life and nurtured through years in family and school. Links between parenting styles and creativity have been reported in literature. However, parenting styles only explain for a small variation in creati...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2469-5807/1510091

Atypical Levels of Heavy Metals, Creatinine, Haptoglobin, and Ferritin Found in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Outpatients vs. Healthy Controls: Possible Utility as a Diagnostic Biomarker

David A Steenblock and Taruna Ikrar

Article Type: Research Article | First Published: May 31, 2019

Heavy metal toxicity has been conjectured as a possible risk factor for and player in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative disorders. To test for a correlational relationship or linkage, we conducted a retrospective study of 54 sALS and 26 healthy volunteers who agreed to serve as controls, all of whom were seen at the Personalized Regenerative Medicine Clinic (San Clemente, California USA) between 2011 and 2016....

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2474-3658/1510080

Hepatitis B Core Antibody Prevalence among Voluntary Blood Donors in Thailand

Kriangsak Chaiwong, Wilawan Saekram, Panya Thunnok, Sineenart Oota, Sonu Bhatnagar and Ubonwon Charoonruangrit

Article Type: Brief Report | First Published: June 03, 2019

Hepatitis B core (anti-HBc) antibody is an effective marker for occult Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and is an integral part of blood donor screening in many countries. This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of anti-HBc antibodies among voluntary blood donors in Thailand and its significance to reduce the risk of transfusion transmitted HBV infection. A total of 3,197 voluntary blood donor samples that were pre-screened non-reactive for HBs-Ag serology and HBV ID-NAT were tested for...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-2951/1410145

Molecular Basis of Pulmonary Hypertension

Ambrin Farizah Babu

Article Type: Review Article | First Published: May 31, 2019

Pulmonary hypertension is a life threatening incurable disorder. The advances in physiology, genetics, and molecular biology have greatly improved our understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the disorder. In this review, the recent progresses in the understanding of molecular mechanism are presented. Many studies show that pulmonary hypertension is caused due to mitochondrial dysfunction, endothelin-1, prostacyclin and serotonin. These findings and their exploitation wi...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2643-3966/1710018

Variable Left Ventricular Dyssynergy in Recurrent Stress Induced Cardiomyopathy

Timothy E Paterick MD, JD, MBA

Article Type: Case Report | First Published: May 31, 2019

Recurrent stress-induced cardiomyopathy with variable regional location of left ventricular dyssynergy is an unusual clinical presentation and may allow potential insights into the pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying the development of the variable subtypes of stress induced cardiomyopathy. This case report reveals a patient with reverse Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and apical Takotsubo cardiomyopathy within a three-week period. The discussion explores the potential pathophysiologic mechanisms re...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3656/1410269

General Surgery Approach to Neurofibromatosis Cases

Ethem Bilgic and Eyup Murat Yilmaz

Article Type: Mini Review | First Published: May 31, 2019

Neurofibromatosis is one of the most common autosomal dominant tumor syndromes with 1: 3000 birth incidence and 1: 4000 prevalence. Neurofibromatosis has three main forms, clinical and genetic. Von Recklinghausen disease or Neurofibromatosis is the most common known as type 1 (NF-1). Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF-2) and Schwannomatosis are two other forms....

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3516/1410109

Seric Markers and Cell Profile in Blood and Sputum in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbations (AECOPD)

Juliana Gjerazi, Eritjan Tashi, Irma Tashi and Jul Bushati

Article Type: Research Article | First Published: June 01, 2019

AECOPD have major implications on the quality of life, morbidity and mortality of COPD patients. In addition to their assessment on clinical presentation, which can be variable and difficult to predict, a large number of biomarkers are used. Inflammation increases during exacerbations of COPD and there are changes in systemic markers like CRP, IL 6 and PARC/CC18, as well as the cell structure in sputum and blood. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic value of pla...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3656/1410268

Diagnosing Genitourinary Tuberculosis: A Case Report

Chitsimran Mann, Gina Maki, DO, Marcus Zervos, MD and Nidhi Ravishankar

Article Type: Case Report | First Published: May 30, 2019

Genitourinary Tuberculosis (GUTB) is a common manifestation of tuberculosis and usually results from the reactivation of old, dormant tuberculous diseases by pathogens of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Most often, GUTB has a varied presentation ranging from irritative voiding symptoms to renal failure. Due to this varied presentation, diagnosis of GUTB is often very difficult. We present a case of a reproductive-age female with asymptomatic infertility. Many diagnostic measures failed t...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3516/1410108

Simulation Training on Mechanical Ventilation Using a High-Fidelity Ventilator Mannequin for Residents and Respiratory Therapists

Yasmin Leigh, Christian de Elia, Murali Krishna, La Tanya Taylor, Rachel Morales, Beth Kellogg and Frank Salvatore

Article Type: Research Article | First Published: June 01, 2019

Simulation-based education is thought to be more effective than traditional teaching and recent studies have described its benefits on physician performance in several clinical areas. Despite this, not many studies have researched the benefits of simulation training in teaching mechanical ventilation. With that said, this study was composed to assess the approach of mannequin simulation- based training as a method to provide an interactive learning experience for residents and respiratory therap...

 Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-2951/1410144

Current Endocarditis Prophylaxis Guidelines and Incidence of Infection

Nikita Carvalho

Article Type: Review Article | First Published: May 30, 2019

Infective endocarditis (IE) defined as an infection caused by bacteria that enter the bloodstream and settle in the endocardium, a heart valve or a blood vessel, has maintained a high prevalence, morbidity and mortality over the past few decades. The most obvious changes over time have been in terms of factors that lead to IE. For e.g. A larger elderly population, decrease in Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) cases, Increased use of prosthetic heart valves, increased intravenous drug abuse, and incr...