We determined peripheral blood (PB) and biopsy (Bx) RNA expression signatures in a Brazilian and US cohort of kidney transplant patients. Phenotypes assigned by precise histology were: acute rejection (AR), interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy/chronic rejection (CR), excellent functioning transplants (TX), and glomerulonephritis recurrence (GN). Samples were analyzed on microarrays and profiles from each cohort were cross-validated on the other cohort with similar phenotypes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough numerous mental health apps are commercially available, only a few of them have been empirically tested. PsyPills is an interactive and personalized mobile application, based on emotion regulation research and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy principles, that can function as a stand-alone intervention aimed at offering immediate stress relief. In this paper, we describe the newly developed PsyPills app and present data obtained at 6 months after its release regarding its effectiveness for stress management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReduced protein homeostasis leading to increased protein instability is a common molecular feature of aging, but it remains unclear whether this is a cause or consequence of the aging process. In neurodegenerative diseases and other amyloidoses, specific proteins self-assemble into amyloid fibrils and accumulate as pathological aggregates in different tissues. More recently, widespread protein aggregation has been described during normal aging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Preservation of the anterior cerebral arteries (ACAs) is important in the surgical management of frontoethmoidal meningoencephalocele (FEME). This would avoid complications related to the loss of blood supply to the part of the brain supplied by the ACA. Previous reports have identified hydrocephalus, microcephaly, cerebral dysplasias amounting to a 15% to 20% prevalence of brain anomalies in patients with FEME.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this descriptive, qualitative study, we conducted eight focus groups with diverse informal and formal caregivers to explore their experiences/challenges with nursing home (NH) to emergency department (ED) transfers and whether telehealth might be able to mitigate some of those concerns. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Transfers were commonly viewed as being influenced by a perceived lack of trust in NH care/capabilities and driven by four main factors: questioning the quality of NH nurses' assessments, perceptions that physicians were absent from the NH, misunderstandings of the capabilities of NHs and EDs, and perceptions that responses to medical needs were inadequate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is considered the "golden standard" psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) but, at this point, we have little information about differences among various CBT approaches.
Method: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare three CBT protocols for GAD: (a) Cognitive Therapy/Borkovec's treatment package; (b) Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, and (c) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Acceptance-based behavioral therapy. A number of 75 patients diagnosed with GAD, aged between 20 and 51 (m = 27.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an emerging cause of viral hepatitis worldwide. Recently, HEV-7 has been shown to infect camels and humans. We studied HEV seroprevalence in dromedary camels and among Bedouins, Arabs (Muslims, none-Bedouins) and Jews and assessed factors associated with anti-HEV seropositivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study aimed to determine whether there was an association between the organizational culture and the hospital's readiness to benefit from "Just Culture" training.
Methods: The "Just Culture" Assessment Tool and the Competing Values Framework surveys were administered before and 6 weeks after a structured "Just Culture" training session to 172 care providers and administrators on similar units at two community for-profit hospitals of compatible size and offering comparable services in suburban communities. Data were analyzed for significance using IBM SPSS software.
Background: The underlying mechanism involved in dapsone-induced mania remains unknown.
Methods: We report the case of a 54-year-old man with a dapsone-induced mania.
Results: The maximum of manic symptoms was correlated with the maximum of methemoglobinemia and mania decreased concomitantly with the methemoglobinemia level.
Background: Myriad infectious and noninfectious causes of encephalomyelitis (EM) have similar clinical manifestations, presenting serious challenges to diagnosis and treatment. Metabolomics of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was explored as a method of differentiating among neurological diseases causing EM using a single CSF sample.
Methodology/principal Findings: 1H NMR metabolomics was applied to CSF samples from 27 patients with a laboratory-confirmed disease, including Lyme disease or West Nile Virus meningoencephalitis, multiple sclerosis, rabies, or Histoplasma meningitis, and 25 controls.
Mutations in the CTNS gene encoding the lysosomal membrane cystine transporter cystinosin are the cause of cystinosis, an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease. More than 140 CTNS mutations have been reported worldwide. Recent studies have discovered that cystinosin exerts other key cellular functions beyond cystine transport such as regulation of oxidative state, lysosomal dynamics and autophagy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImpaired hippocampal synaptic plasticity contributes to cognitive impairment in Huntington's disease (HD). However, the molecular basis of such synaptic plasticity defects is not fully understood. Combining live-cell nanoparticle tracking and super-resolution imaging, we show that AMPAR surface diffusion, a key player in synaptic plasticity, is disturbed in various rodent models of HD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although the ABC model proposed by cognitive behavioral theory has strong empirical support for a wide range of psychological problems, little is known about the role of irrational beliefs (IBs), a central concept of the ABC model, in the aetiology of paranoid thoughts, one of the most common psychotic symptoms.
Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the impact of IBs on paranoid thoughts and people's perceptions of others.
Method: Eighty-one non-clinical participants (m age = 21.
Estuarine osmoconformes rely on their ability to perform tissue and cell water regulation to cope with daily osmotic challenges that occur in the estuary. In addition, these animals currently must deal with pollutants present in the estuarine environment, which can disturb their capacity of water regulation. We collected the mangrove oyster Crassostrea rhizophorae in two tropical estuaries in the Northeast region of Brazil with different degrees of human interference: the Paraíba Estuary (impacted) and the Mamanguape Estuary (preserved).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPancreatic cancer (PC) patients have poor prognosis and survival rate. Gemcitabine, the drug of choice has a dismal 15% response rate. Earlier, we reported that Garcinol alone and in combination with gemcitabine showed a dose-dependent favorable response on PC cell lines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHere, we report a patient with ring chromosome 6 [r(6)], associated with anterior segment dysgenesis (ASD) and other anomalies. The phenotype was due to a 1880 kb microdeletion at 6p25.3 identified by whole-genome array analysis, and was mainly attributable to a FOXC1 haploinsufficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: The aim of our study was to evaluate the computed tomography (CT) imaging features of splenic artery aneurysm and pseudoaneurysm and to identify the disease conditions related to the same. We also wanted to ascertain any relationship between these associated disease conditions and the imaging features of the aneurysms.
Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included patients diagnosed to have splenic artery aneurysms on contrast-enhanced CT examination between January 2001 and January 2016.
Purpose: Processed acellular nerve allograft (PNA) has been suggested as a convenient tool for overcoming short and medium nerve defects. Although the clinical implications are unclear, animal data suggest that PNA becomes less effective at longer lengths. Although reverse or supercharging end-to-side nerve transfer may improve the neurotrophic potential in chronically denervated nerve tissue, the application of this strategy to long acellular nerve allograft has not been previously investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatient activation-or knowledge, confidence, and skill managing overall health-is associated with improved health behaviors such as exercise; it is unknown whether it is associated with advance care planning (ACP). To determine whether patient activation is associated with ACP. This is a cross-sectional study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe experimentally demonstrate light-flow interaction, in which the angular momentum of circulating light excites micro-vortices. In contrast with the solid-phase of matter, where one has to overcome static friction in order to start motion, liquids have no "static drag." Relevant to almost all optofluidic micro-systems hence, μWatt optical power is sufficient to start flows, even in liquids 50 times more viscous than water.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The guidelines for performing endoscopy in dyspeptic patients based on clinical parameters alone have shown variable performance, and there is a need for better prediction tools.
Aim: We aimed to prospectively develop and validate a simple clinical-cum-laboratory test-based scoring model to identify dyspeptic patients with high risk of upper gastrointestinal malignancy (UGIM).
Methods: Adult patients with dyspeptic symptoms were prospectively recruited over 5 years.