Publications by authors named "Donovan K"

Purpose Of Review: Mobilization in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit (NICU) significantly improves outcomes and functional recovery while preventing immobility-related complications. The heterogeneity of neurologic conditions necessitates tailored, interdisciplinary mobilization strategies. This article reviews recent research on enhancing the feasibility and effectiveness of mobilization interventions in NICU settings.

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Unlabelled: The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program for breast cancer survivors (MBSR [BCs]) is a stress-reducing program designed to increase cognitive functioning through four meditational practices. This randomized clinical trial aimed to determine if improvements in cognitive functioning and perceived cognitive abilities achieved from the MBSR(BC) were mediated through increased mindfulness, decreased rumination, and decreased perceived stress. Breast cancer survivors (BCSs) who met inclusion criteria of stage I, II, or III BC and received either chemotherapy (CT) or both CT and radiation were randomized to either the 6-week MBSR(BC), or Breast Cancer Education Support (BCES) program, or to a usual care (UC) regimen.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Stress is common in today's society and can negatively impact cancer development and progression; the review examines various studies and guidelines on this issue.
  • - It discusses the physiological consequences of stress, including how to assess and manage distress through psychological treatments and lifestyle changes, such as mindfulness, yoga, and exercise.
  • - The review highlights the importance of recognizing and treating distress to enhance quality of life for cancer patients, while also noting the need for further research on how distress management affects cancer outcomes and varies by cancer type.
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Macrophages engulf apoptotic bodies and cellular debris as part of homeostasis, but they can also phagocytose live cells such as aged red blood cells. Pharmacologic reprogramming with the SMAC mimetic LCL161 in combination with T cell-derived cytokines can induce macrophages to phagocytose live cancer cells in mouse models. Here we extend these findings to encompass a wide range of monovalent and bivalent SMAC mimetic compounds, demonstrating that live cell phagocytosis is a class effect of these agents.

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  • CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD) is a rare condition caused by genetic variants in the CDKL5 gene that lead to issues with neuronal development and function, particularly impacting epilepsy.
  • Research using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells aimed to understand how these variants affect neurons, showing that while some aspects like neurite length appeared similar to controls, organoid-derived neurons exhibited increased network activity and excitability.
  • The findings suggest that differences in neuronal behavior and gene expression are specific to excitatory cortical neurons, highlighting the potential for developing targeted therapies for CDD by exploring the molecular mechanisms behind early neuronal hyperexcitability.
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Bifunctional molecules such as targeted protein degraders induce proximity to promote gain-of-function pharmacology. These powerful approaches have gained broad traction across academia and the pharmaceutical industry, leading to an intensive focus on strategies that can accelerate their identification and optimization. We and others have previously used chemical proteomics to map degradable target space, and these datasets have been used to develop and train multiparameter models to extend degradability predictions across the proteome.

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Small molecules promoting protein-protein interactions produce a range of therapeutic outcomes. Molecular glue degraders exemplify this concept due to their compact drug-like structures and ability to engage targets without reliance on existing cognate ligands. While cereblon molecular glue degraders containing glutarimide scaffolds have been approved for treatment of multiple myeloma and acute myeloid leukemia, the design of new therapeutically relevant monovalent degraders remains challenging.

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  • Genetics might play a role in how breast cancer survivors respond to the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR(BC)) program in improving cognitive functioning and reducing symptoms.
  • In a study involving 128 breast cancer survivors, researchers assessed the impact of specific genetic variants on the effectiveness of MBSR(BC) over several weeks, using various cognitive and symptom measurement tools.
  • Key findings revealed that certain genetic markers were linked to better cognitive outcomes from MBSR(BC), suggesting that personalized treatment plans could be developed based on an individual's genetic profile to enhance recovery after cancer treatment.
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  • The study focused on the post-traumatic reactions and overall quality of life in women who underwent pelvic exenteration (PE) for recurrent gynecologic cancer.
  • Out of 21 participants, 30% showed significant signs of post-traumatic stress and 71% had notable depressive symptoms, indicating mental health challenges post-surgery.
  • Comparatively, these women's quality of life was lower than the general population but similar to those with advanced ovarian or cervical cancer, highlighting the need for ongoing support and rehabilitation in their recovery.
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Targeted covalent inhibition (TCI) and targeted protein degradation (TPD) have proven effective in pharmacologically addressing formerly 'undruggable' targets. Integration of both methodologies has resulted in the development of electrophilic degraders where recruitment of a suitable E3 ubiquitin ligase is achieved through formation of a covalent bond with a cysteine nucleophile. Expanding the scope of electrophilic degraders requires the development of electrophiles with tempered reactivity that enable selective ligase recruitment and reduce cross-reactivity with other cellular nucleophiles.

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Article Synopsis
  • Scientists are studying special molecules called bifunctional degraders that can help make drugs more effective by breaking down specific proteins in the body.
  • They created a new way to analyze how these molecules work and discovered that how long these molecules stay attached to the target protein is really important for how well they work.
  • By using clever chemistry techniques, researchers can quickly improve these molecules to help find new drugs faster.
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Targeted protein degradation and induced proximity refer to strategies that leverage the recruitment of proteins to facilitate their modification, regulation or degradation. As prospective design of glues remains challenging, unbiased discovery methods are needed to unveil hidden chemical targets. Here we establish a high throughput affinity purification mass spectrometry workflow in cell lysates for the unbiased identification of molecular glue targets.

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The UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are small, often remote territories with historical and territorial links to the UK. They range from densely populated areas (Cayman, Bermuda, Gibraltar) to land with no permanent inhabitants (British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia). However, they are linked by ecosystem instability (the permacrisis) including antimicrobial resistance (AMR), climate change and biodiversity disruption.

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  • The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program for breast cancer survivors (BCS) was evaluated in a randomized clinical trial to see if it improves cognitive performance compared to Breast Cancer Education Support (BCES) and Usual Care (UC).
  • While all groups showed improvements in cognitive performance and symptom reductions, there were no significant differences in cognitive outcomes between the groups.
  • The MBSR group experienced the highest reduction in fatigue, suggesting that while cognitive performance may not have significantly differed, the program was beneficial for overall well-being among participants.
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Targeted protein degradation has been widely adopted as a new approach to eliminate both established and previously recalcitrant therapeutic targets. Here, it is reported that the development of small molecule degraders of the envelope (E) protein of dengue virus. Two classes of bivalent E-degraders are developed by linking two previously reported E-binding small molecules, GNF-2, and CVM-2-12-2, to a glutarimide-based recruiter of the CRL4 ligase to effect proteosome-mediated degradation of the E protein.

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Background: Young adults with cancer diagnosed between the ages of 18 to 39 are recognized as a vulnerable group with unique emotional, social, and practical needs that put them at risk of poor psychosocial outcomes and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This study describes the protocol of a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of Bright IDEAS-Young Adults (Bright IDEAS-YA), a problem-solving skills training intervention, on psychosocial outcomes of young adults newly diagnosed with cancer.

Methods: Bright IDEAS-YA is a two-arm, parallel, randomized controlled trial.

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Molecular glues are proximity-inducing small molecules that have emerged as an attractive therapeutic approach. However, developing molecular glues remains challenging, requiring innovative mechanistic strategies to stabilize neoprotein interfaces and expedite discovery. Here we unveil a trans-labeling covalent molecular glue mechanism, termed 'template-assisted covalent modification'.

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Obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are risk factors for fragility fractures. It is unknown whether this elevated risk is due to a diet favoring obesity or the diabetes that often occurs with obesity. Therefore, we hypothesized that the fracture resistance of bone is lower in mice fed with a high fat diet (45% kcal; HFD) than in mice that fed on a similar, control diet (10% kcal; LFD), regardless of whether the mice developed overt T2D.

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BCL6, an oncogenic transcription factor (TF), forms polymers in the presence of a small-molecule molecular glue that stabilizes a complementary interface between homodimers of BCL6's broad-complex, tramtrack, and bric-à-brac (BTB) domain. The BTB domains of other proteins, including a large class of TFs, have similar architectures and symmetries, raising the possibility that additional BTB proteins self-assemble into higher-order structures. Here, we surveyed 189 human BTB proteins with a cellular fluorescent reporter assay and identified 18 ZBTB TFs that show evidence of polymerization.

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Article Synopsis
  • Developing antiviral treatments is tough because of the genetic diversity of viruses, particularly dengue.
  • Researchers created proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) that effectively inhibit the dengue virus by blocking its entry and production through targeting its envelope protein.
  • These PROTACs have better effectiveness against various flaviviruses, even in the presence of mutations that typically reduce the effectiveness of existing inhibitors, suggesting that targeted protein degradation could be a promising approach for creating broad-spectrum antivirals.
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  • The study aims to assess the impact of transanal total mesorectal excision (taTME) on fecal incontinence and various functional outcomes (defecatory, urinary, and sexual) in patients with rectal cancer.
  • It was found that while initial outcomes post-surgery showed a decline in fecal continence and defecatory function, patient outcomes improved significantly by 12 months after ileostomy closure, though they did not fully recover to preoperative levels.
  • Urinary function remained stable throughout the study, but both female and male sexual functions declined without signs of recovery in the follow-up period.
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Targeted protein degradation has been widely adopted as a new approach to eliminate both established and previously recalcitrant therapeutic targets. Here we report the development of small molecule degraders of the envelope (E) protein of dengue virus. We developed two classes of bivalent E-degraders, linking two previously reported E-binding small molecules, GNF-2 and CVM-2-12-2, to a glutarimide-based recruiter of the CRL4 ligase to effect proteosome-mediated degradation of the E protein.

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Objective: Acute exercise elicits various biobehavioral and psychological responses, but results are mixed with regard to the magnitude of exercise-induced affective reactions. This meta-analysis examines the magnitude of general mood state, anxiety, and depressive symptom responses to acute exercise while exploring exercise protocol characteristics and background health behaviors that may play a role in the affective response.

Methods: A total of 2770 articles were identified from a MEDLINE/PubMed search and an additional 133 articles from reviews of reference sections.

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Pulmonary Embolism Triage: When to Do What.

Methodist Debakey Cardiovasc J

May 2024

Anticoagulation has been the standard therapy for treating pulmonary embolism. However, newly developed pharmacological and interventional treatment options have been shown to provide benefit for certain patient populations, depending on how they present. This column highlights the use of massive pulmonary embolism risk stratification in determining the presence of cor pulmonale and offers several key points to remember when caring for patients with a pulmonary embolism.

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