Effectiveness and feasibility of a mobile health self-management intervention in rheumatoid arthritis: study protocol for a pragmatic multicentre randomised controlled trial (AEGORA).

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) considerably impacts patients' lives. Patients' confidence in their ability to manage this impact, or self-efficacy, can be supported with self-management interventions. One approach is to use mobile health (mHealth) applications, which can additionally provide insight into disease impact by remotely monitoring patient-reported outcomes.

Art therapy and social function in palliative care patients: a mixed-method pilot study.

Objectives: To evaluate the influence of art therapy in reducing palliative symptoms, on social availability and on perceptions of aesthetics in hospitalised palliative care patients. The secondary objective was to evaluate its influence on bereaved families.

Methods: A mixed-method quasi-experimental before and after study comprising a follow-up postal survey of bereaved families.

Art therapy among palliative cancer patients: Aesthetic dimensions and impacts on symptoms.

Objective: This study aimed to explore whether aesthetic beauty and the pleasure that results from artistic activity can contribute to a reduction in the symptoms experienced by palliative care patients, and to improve the effectiveness of art therapy sessions.

Method: A self-assessment of six symptoms (pain, anxiety, ill-being, tiredness, sadness, and depression) adapted from the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) was completed by patients before and after a one-hour art therapy session. This assessment was completed after the session with a self-assessment of aesthetic feeling.

Endosymbiont phylogenesis in the dryophthoridae weevils: evidence for bacterial replacement.

Intracellular symbiosis is widespread in the insect world where it plays an important role in evolution and adaptation. The weevil family Dryophthoridae (Curculionoidea) is of particular interest in intracellular symbiosis evolution with regard to the great economical and ecological features of these invasive insects, and the potential for comparative studies across a wide range of host plants and environments. Here, we have analyzed the intracellular symbiotic bacteria of 19 Dryophthoridae species collected worldwide, representing a wide range of plant species and tissues.

Comparative genomics of insect-symbiotic bacteria: influence of host environment on microbial genome composition.

Commensal symbionts, thought to be intermediary amid obligate mutualists and facultative parasites, offer insight into forces driving the evolutionary transition into mutualism. Using macroarrays developed for a close relative, Escherichia coli, we utilized a heterologous array hybridization approach to infer the genomic compositions of a clade of bacteria that have recently established symbiotic associations: Sodalis glossinidius with the tsetse fly (Diptera, Glossina spp.) and Sitophilus oryzae primary endosymbiont (SOPE) with the rice weevil (Coleoptera, Sitophilus oryzae).