Publications by authors named "Andres E"

The elucidation of the functional neuroanatomy of human fear, or threat, extinction has started in the 2000s by a series of enthusiastically greeted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that were able to translate findings from rodent research about an involvement of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the hippocampus in fear extinction into human models. Enthusiasm has been painfully dampened by a meta-analysis of human fMRI studies by Fullana and colleagues in 2018 who showed that activation in these areas is inconsistent, sending shock waves through the extinction research community. The present review guides readers from the field (as well as non-specialist readers desiring safe knowledge about human extinction mechanisms) during a series of exposures with corrective information.

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Introduction: Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis is a pathology increasingly encountered in all hospital departments, including internal medicine. The aim of our study is to describe the characteristics and care pathway of patients with transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis in internal medicine and to show that the number of patients diagnosed is increasing.

Methods: Descriptive, retrospective, non-interventional, single-center study at Strasbourg University Hospitals (HUS).

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Unlabelled: Type 2 diabetes is a public health problem in which general practitioners are in the front line, acting on all fronts, from screening to management.

Methods: Single-centre, quantitative, retrospective and descriptive study aimed at characterising the profile of patients referred to hospital by general practitioners in an internal medicine department in Strasbourg for rebalancing of their type 2 diabetes during the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022.

Results: 167 files were analysed, resulting in the inclusion of 72 patients with an average age of 61.

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Background: Tube feeding is discouraged among older adults with advanced dementia; nevertheless, caregivers often find feeding decisions challenging to navigate.

Aim: This study aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of tube feeding among community-dwelling older adults with advanced dementia in Singapore and its relationship to older adult quality of life (QoL) and caregiver psychological distress.

Methods: We use a convergent mixed-methods design, synthesising analysis of qualitative caregiver interviews (n = 25) and two-year prospective, longitudinal cohort survey data (n = 215, 1018 observations).

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Introduction: Despite the influence of caregivers' prognostic understanding (PU) on the end-of-life care for persons with dementia (PwDs), the literature on PU of caregivers of PwDs is sparse. We conducted a scoping review to understand the variation in existing definitions and measurement of caregivers' PU for PwDs. We also aimed to synthesize the prevalence of caregivers' correct PU and the factors (caregiver, PwD and healthcare related) associated with it.

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Contrasting to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD) has virtually no psychoactive effects and thus presents a minor risk for abuse. Furthermore, emerging preclinical and clinical evidence indicates that CBD exerts several beneficial pharmacological effects, including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Even though fever is one of the responses associated with systemic inflammation, no previous study assessed the putative impact of CBD on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced fever.

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Background: Although digital health is essential for improving health care, its adoption remains slow due to the lack of literacy in this area. Therefore, it is crucial for health professionals to acquire digital skills and for a digital competence assessment and accreditation model to be implemented to make advances in this field.

Objective: This study had two objectives: (1) to create a specific map of digital competences for health professionals and (2) to define and test a digital competence assessment and accreditation model for health professionals.

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Article Synopsis
  • Sarcopenia, or low muscle strength, is a significant comorbidity in patients with acute heart failure (AHF), potentially worsening their prognosis, leading researchers to study its impact on these patients.
  • The study analyzed 377 AHF patients and found that 82.23% had low muscle strength, which was associated with older age, cognitive impairment, and poorer functional status.
  • Results indicated that patients with low muscle strength had higher rates of readmission and mortality, reinforcing the link between low muscle strength and worse outcomes in AHF.
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Objectives: Family caregivers of older adults with severe dementia often experience anticipatory grief. We aimed to investigate the temporal association of caregiving stressors (older adults' behavioral symptoms, and caregiver-older adult co-residence and emotional closeness) and caregivers' anticipatory grief, and its mediation by positive and negative caregiving experiences.

Design: Prospective cohort.

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Screening for frailty syndrome, a marker of mortality risk, dependence, and institutionalization, is currently recommended in primary care to prevent its consequences effectively. Elderly diabetic individuals represent a significant and growing proportion of general practitioners' patient population, but their frailty status compared to the non-diabetic population is poorly understood. To study the relationship between diabetes and frailty in individuals aged 75 and older in general medicine.

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  • * Certain populations, like newborns, pregnant women, and the elderly, are more susceptible to deficiencies, especially those with digestive or chronic health issues.
  • * Symptoms of deficiencies can lead to specific health problems; treatment involves vitamin supplementation and addressing dietary or health-related causes.
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  • - A 50-year-old patient with limited cutaneous scleroderma experienced worsening joint pain and stiffness, leading to treatment with anti-inflammatory medications that provided only partial relief.
  • - As symptoms progressed, including increased stiffness and functional limitations, an F-FDG-PET scan was conducted to investigate the possibility of polymyalgia rheumatica, which showed compatibility.
  • - The patient responded exceptionally well to corticosteroid treatment after one week, highlighting the importance of considering polymyalgia rheumatica even in younger patients and the role of F-FDG-PET in diagnosis.
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We assessed which coping strategies (problem-focused, emotion-focused, dysfunctional) mediate the association between caregivers' understanding of dementia as terminal and their distress. A total of 215 caregivers of community-dwelling persons with severe dementia were surveyed every 4 months over 3 years. A generalized structural equation model was used to test mediation.

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Context: Most cancer-associated pain is experienced in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to inequitable access to opioids.

Objective: To determine opioid access as estimated by both patients and providers and to understand patient and facility-level factors influencing access among patients with advanced cancer in LMICs in Asia using the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use.

Methods: The APPROACH cross-sectional study was conducted in seven LMICs in Asia, involving in-depth surveys with providers and advanced cancer patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • Heart failure (HF) is a common and serious condition, especially in older adults, leading to many hospital admissions, with acute heart failure (AHF) as a primary diagnosis.
  • Sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) can enhance survival and quality of life for HF patients, and this study aimed to evaluate their effects on readmission and mortality rates.
  • In a study involving 750 patients, only 28% were treated with SGLT2is; those who received the medication were generally younger and had lower left ventricular ejection fractions, and they experienced lower mortality during their hospital admission.
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Introduction: The primary aim of the study was to validate the Zulfiqar Frailty Scale (ZFS) and examine its concordance with the modified Short Emergency Geriatric Assessment (mSEGA) scale, Part A.

Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in Guadeloupe (France) over a two-month duration (from 20 February to 20 April 2024), involving elderly individuals aged 65 and older, deemed self-sufficient with an ADL (Activities of Daily Living) score exceeding four out of six.

Results: Within this community cohort of 98 individuals, averaging 75 years in age, frailty according to the modified SEGA criteria was prevalent in 29%.

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Objectives: To examine heart failure patients' and caregivers' prognostic understanding (PU) over time, and patient and caregiver factors associated with their own and each other's PU.

Methods: We used longitudinal dyadic data from Singapore, involving surveys with 95 heart failure patient-caregiver dyads every 4 months for up to 4 years. We assessed the association of PU with patient health status, caregiver psychological distress and caregiving hours using random effects multinomial logistic models, controlling for patient and caregiver characteristics.

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In the last few decades, there has been an ongoing transformation of our healthcare system with larger use of sensors for remote care and artificial intelligence (AI) tools. In particular, sensors improved by new algorithms with learning capabilities have proven their value for better patient care. Sensors and AI systems are no longer only non-autonomous devices such as the ones used in radiology or surgical robots; there are novel tools with a certain degree of autonomy aiming to largely modulate the medical decision.

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In July 2020, Hong Kong extended statutory paid maternity leave from ten weeks to fourteen weeks to align with International Labour Organization standards. We used the policy enactment as an observational natural experiment to assess the mental health implications of this policy change on probable postnatal depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scores of 10 or higher) and postpartum emotional well-being. Using an opportunistic observational study design, we recruited 1,414 survey respondents with births before (August 1-December 10, 2020) and after (December 11, 2020-July 18, 2022) policy implementation.

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Background: Nailfold Videocapillaroscopy (NVC) is a valuable tool in the differential diagnosis of Raynaud's phenomenon (RP), present in certain Rheumatic diseases (RD). Knowing that many people have cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF), the main objective was to demonstrate that CVRF and carotid plaques produce NVC alterations.

Methods: Cross-sectional unicentric study carried out from 2020 to 2023.

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A molecular clock network is crucial for daily physiology and maintaining organismal health. We examined the interactions and importance of intratissue clock networks in muscle tissue maintenance. In arrhythmic mice showing premature aging, we created a basic clock module involving a central and a peripheral (muscle) clock.

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: Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause variable symptoms, which may be irreversible if not diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. We aimed to develop a widely accepted expert consensus to guide the practice of diagnosing and treating B12 deficiency. : We conducted a scoping review of the literature published in PubMed since January 2003.

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Muscle atrophy and functional decline (sarcopenia) are common manifestations of frailty and are critical contributors to morbidity and mortality in older people. Deciphering the molecular mechanisms underlying sarcopenia has major implications for understanding human ageing. Yet, progress has been slow, partly due to the difficulties of characterizing skeletal muscle niche heterogeneity (whereby myofibres are the most abundant) and obtaining well-characterized human samples.

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