Mindfulness and yoga therapy for acute pain in sickle cell disease.

There is a paucity of data regarding the use of non-pharmacologic therapies for pain in sickle cell disease. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the acceptability and feasibility of video-guided mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga, in addition to standard of care, during admission for painful vaso-occlusive crisis. Feasibility was demonstrated by the enrollment rate of > 90% and high level of participant engagement in the intervention.

The Importance of Melanocortin Receptors and Their Agonists in Pulmonary Disease.

Melanocortin agonists are ancient neuropeptides that have steroidogenesis and anti-inflammatory properties. They activate melanocortin receptors (MCR), a family of five seven-transmembrane G-protein coupled receptors. MC1R and MC3R are mainly involved in immunomodulatory effects.

Notch1-WISP-1 axis determines the regulatory role of mesenchymal stem cell-derived stromal fibroblasts in melanoma metastasis.

Mesenchymal stem cells-derived fibroblasts (MSC-DF) constitute a significant portion of stromal fibroblasts in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and are key modulators of tumor progression. However, the molecular mechanisms that determine their tumor-regulatory function are poorly understood. Here, we uncover the Notch1 pathway as a molecular determinant that selectively controls the regulatory role of MSC-DF in melanoma metastasis.

Notch signaling drives stemness and tumorigenicity of esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Esophageal adenocarcinoma ranks sixth in cancer mortality in the world and its incidence has risen dramatically in the Western population over the last decades. Data presented herein strongly suggest that Notch signaling is critical for esophageal adenocarcinoma and underlies resistance to chemotherapy. We present evidence that Notch signaling drives a cancer stem cell phenotype by regulating genes that establish stemness.

Lessons learned from the analysis of gender effect on risk factors and procedural outcomes of lower extremity arterial disease.

Introduction: Despite overall improvement, there is still a gender-related disparity in the outcomes of lower extremities peripheral arterial disease (PAD). We analyzed sex-related variability among factors that are known to influence outcomes.

Methods: Data on PAD inpatient hospitalizations from New York, New Jersey, and Florida state hospital discharge databases (1998-2007) were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.