Inpatient detoxification for alcohol and other drug use: qualitative study of patients' accounts of their relationships with staff.

Background: The therapeutic alliance is an important predictor of treatment outcomes but people who use alcohol and other drugs report mixed views of treatment providers. We analysed patients' accounts of inpatient detoxification staff to ascertain whether, and if so how, relationships with them, and thus the therapeutic alliance, might be improved.

Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted (in 2022/2023) with 20 people (14 males; 6 females) who had just completed inpatient detoxification in sixteen different facilities.

β-adrenergic receptor activation decreases the mechanical sensitivity of rat masticatory muscle afferent fibres.

Background: Activation of β adrenergic receptors reduces cutaneous mechanical pain thresholds in rats. While β adrenergic receptor activation may contribute to mechanisms that underlie temporomandibular joint pain, its effect on masticatory muscle pain sensitivity is uncertain.

Objectives: The current study sought to determine the extent to which β adrenergic receptors are expressed by masticatory muscle afferent fibres, and to assess the effect of local activation of these receptors on the mechanical sensitivity of masticatory muscle afferent fibres in rats.

MRGPRX2-mediated mast cell activation by substance P from overloaded human tenocytes induces inflammatory and degenerative responses in tendons.

Mast cells are immune cells minimally present in normal tendon tissue. The increased abundance of mast cells in tendinopathy biopsies and at the sites of tendon injury suggests an unexplored role of this cell population in overuse tendon injuries. Mast cells are particularly present in tendon biopsies from patients with more chronic symptom duration and a history of intensive mechanical loading.

An evaluation of the "Obesity Paradox" in isolated blunt abdominal trauma in the United States.

Background: The obesity paradox theorizes a survival benefit in trauma patients secondary to the cushioning effect of adiposity. We aim to evaluate the impact of body mass index (BMI) on abdominal injury severity, morbidity, and mortality in adults with isolated, blunt abdominal trauma in the United States.

Methods: We reviewed the National Trauma Data Bank (2013-2021) for adults sustaining isolated, blunt abdominal trauma stratified by BMI.

Oct4 redox sensitivity potentiates reprogramming and differentiation.

The transcription factor Oct4/Pou5f1 is a component of the regulatory circuitry governing pluripotency and is widely used to induce pluripotency from somatic cells. Here we used domain swapping and mutagenesis to study Oct4's reprogramming ability, identifying a redox-sensitive DNA binding domain, cysteine residue (Cys48), as a key determinant of reprogramming and differentiation. Oct4 Cys48 sensitizes the protein to oxidative inhibition of DNA binding activity and promotes oxidation-mediated protein ubiquitylation.