The cortisol awakening response in a 3 month clinical trial of service dogs for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Recent literature suggests that service dogs may be a valuable complementary intervention option for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among military veterans due to the potential influence on stress response dysregulation. The aim of this short-term longitudinal study was to quantify the impact of service dogs in US military veterans with PTSD with particular attention to the cortisol awakening response. A sub aim of the study was to empirically evaluate the physiological effects of PTSD service dogs on veteran partners.

Differential drug response in pulmonary arterial hypertension: The potential for precision medicine.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare, complex, and deadly cardiopulmonary disease. It is characterized by changes in endothelial cell function and smooth muscle cell proliferation in the pulmonary arteries, causing persistent vasoconstriction, resulting in right heart hypertrophy and failure. There are multiple drug classes specific to PAH treatment, but variation between patients may impact treatment response.

Psychiatric service dog placements are associated with better daily psychosocial functioning for military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Objective: Psychiatric service dog placements may benefit psychosocial functioning for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however, these effects have never been examined directly in daily life. This nonrandomized longitudinal clinical trial quantified the efficacy of psychiatric service dogs for daily psychosocial functioning among = 168 veterans with PTSD using ecological momentary assessment (EMA).

Method: EMA data were collected twice daily for 2 weeks at each assessment period (0 and 3 months), totaling 9,408 survey responses (2 Assessments × 14 Days × 2 Prompts × 168 Participants).

spp. aggregate and encyst on contact lens material increasing resistance to disinfection.

Introduction: keratitis is often caused when contaminate contact lenses and infect the cornea. is pervasive in the environment as a motile, foraging trophozoite or biocide-resistant and persistent cyst. As contact lens contamination is a potential first step in infection, we studied behavior and interactions on different contact lens materials.

Survey of international academic centers and institutes focused on human-animal bond: Scope and landscape in 2021.

Routine surveying of academic centers focused on the human-animal bond is critical to understand the trajectory of the field and to create an environment where centers can learn from one another and build collaborations. The purpose of this manuscript was to report the findings of a survey of these human-animal bond centers, to summarize the status of the field, and to identify changes within the field since 2016. Survey questions concentrated on the demographic characteristics, engagement programs, educational opportunities, and research focuses of the centers.

Posttraumatic stress disorder service dogs and the wellbeing of veteran families.

Background: Benefits and challenges associated with service dogs for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may extend beyond veterans to their families.

Objective: The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the impact of veterans' PTSD service dogs on spouses and families in a parallel-group, longitudinal design with assessments at baseline and three months follow-up.

Method: A total of 88 United States military veteran spouses completed a survey composed of multiple standardized measures at baseline and three months later.

Differential Antimicrobial Efficacy of Preservative-Free Contact Lens Disinfection Systems against Common Ocular Pathogens.

Microbial keratitis is a devastating disease that can cause eye damage and blindness and can be the result of infections by several common ocular pathogens. Importantly, some of these pathogens, such as , are particularly unsusceptible to biocides in common contact lens care solutions. Therefore, the disinfection efficacy of preservative-free (PF) disinfection systems against bacteria, fungi, and trophozoites and cysts should be assessed as products with the most potential to be efficacious against resistant organisms.

Elucidation of Cellular Contributions to Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia Using Omic Approaches.

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is an unpredictable, complex, immune-mediated adverse drug reaction associated with a high mortality. Despite decades of research into HIT, fundamental knowledge gaps persist regarding HIT likely due to the complex and unusual nature of the HIT immune response. Such knowledge gaps include the identity of a HIT immunogen, the intrinsic roles of various cell types and their interactions, and the molecular basis that distinguishes pathogenic and non-pathogenic PF4/heparin antibodies.

Continuous Real-Time Motility Analysis of Reveals Sustained Movement in Absence of Nutrients.

keratitis is a serious ocular infection which is challenging to treat and can lead to blindness. While this pathogen is ubiquitous and can contaminate contact lenses after contact with water, its habits remain elusive. Understanding this organism's natural behavior will better inform us on how colonize contact lens care systems.

Immunogenicity generated by mRNA vaccine encoding VZV gE antigen is comparable to adjuvanted subunit vaccine and better than live attenuated vaccine in nonhuman primates.

Shingles is a painful, blistering rash caused by reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and most frequently occurs in elderly and immunocompromised individuals. Currently, two approved vaccines for the prevention of shingles are on the market, a live attenuated virus vaccine ZOSTAVAX® (Merck & Co., Inc.

The Impact of Case Management on Reducing Readmission for Patients Diagnosed With Heart Failure and Diabetes.

Purpose Of The Study: To determine the impact of integrated case management services versus treatment as usual (TAU) for patients diagnosed with diabetes and concomitant heart failure.

Primary Setting: This medical chart review was conducted at a single-site facility. The retrospective study design can be implemented at other facilities with a similar landscape.

MD-Miner: a network-based approach for personalized drug repositioning.

Background: Due to advances in next generation sequencing technologies and corresponding reductions in cost, it is now attainable to investigate genome-wide gene expression and variants at a patient-level, so as to better understand and anticipate heterogeneous responses to therapy. Consequently, it is feasible to inform personalized drug treatment decisions using personal genomics data. However, these efforts are limited due to a lack of reliable computational approaches for predicting effective drugs for individual patients.

Second harmonic generation microscopy as a tool for the early detection of crystallization in spray dried dispersions.

Various techniques have been used to detect crystallization in amorphous solid dispersions (ASD). However, most of these techniques do not enable the detection of very low levels of crystallinity (<1%). The aim of the current study was to compare the sensitivity of second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy with powder X-ray diffraction (XRPD) in detecting the presence of crystals in low drug loading amorphous solid dispersions.

Double-read of skeletal surveys in suspected non-accidental trauma: what we learned.

Background: Missing a fracture in a child on skeletal surveys for suspected non-accidental trauma can have devastating results. Double-read has the potential to improve fracture detection. However the yield of double-read is unknown.

Project TENDR: Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks The TENDR Consensus Statement.

Children in America today are at an unacceptably high risk of developing neurodevelopmental disorders that affect the brain and nervous system including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disabilities, and other learning and behavioral disabilities. These are complex disorders with multiple causes—genetic, social, and environmental. The contribution of toxic chemicals to these disorders can be prevented.

Dave Eggers's a heartbreaking work of staggering genius: memoir as a "pain-relief device".

Dave Eggers's memoir is an important addition to the tradition of autobiography in America, and offers significant contributions to our understanding of creativity, sublimation, and the psychology of the memoir-writing process. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is really two books--an autobiographical narrative about unbearable suffering, and a book of psychoanalytic commentary on the challenges of writing a memoir about catastrophic loss and trauma. The main narrative suggests the psychological resilience it takes to contain unbearable suffering.

Scientific and policy statements on environmental agents associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Given established scientific knowledge, protecting children from neurotoxic exposures from the earliest stages of fetal development is clearly an essential public health measure. By reducing environmental factors that may lead to learning and developmental disorders, we will create a healthier environment in which all children can reach and maintain their full potential. (Gilbert, 2008 ).

Writing about patients: what clinical and literary writers share.

Anyone who seeks publication wants readers, but self-expression, self-assertion, and self-promotion have consequences, especially for those who draw on clinical material and who must honor publication standards of integrity and reliability, as well as ethical codes governing confidentiality, consent, disguise, and collaboration. This paper employs tools of literary analysis, principles of moral philosophy, and psychoanalytic theories about writing to show that writers of fiction and autobiography also struggle with these dilemmas. They worry about their responsibilities to the sources of their stories, and wonder if changing names and dates will prevent friends and family, whose lives get used as material, from feeling embarrassed, betrayed, or exploited.

The new tapestry of risk assessment.

Neurotoxicology is entering a new phase in how it views and practices risk assessment. Perhaps more than any of the other disciplines that comprise the science of toxicology, it has been compelled to consider a daunting array of factors other than those directly coupled to chemical and dose, and the age and sex of the subject population. In epidemiological investigations, researchers are increasingly cognizant of the problems introduced by allegedly controlling for variables classified as confounders or covariates.