Supporting adult unpaid carers via an online dancing intervention: A feasibility/acceptability study.

Unpaid carers often experience poor mental and physical health linked to their caring role. Engagement in physical activity has been shown to alleviate these negative health outcomes, but it is harder for carers to find the time, energy and space to exercise. This qualitative study, based in the UK, explored the feasibility of an online, dance-based physical activity intervention with six female unpaid carers.

Relationship between hair cortisol concentrations and cognitive functioning in adolescents with ADHD.

Our study aimed to explore whether the hair cortisol concentration (HCC), a measure of long-term cortisol output, is associated with poorer cognitive functioning in adolescents with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We further aimed to test the potential moderating effects of sex and childhood maltreatment. In this cross-sectional study, fifty-three adolescents with ADHD were studied.

activity of novel apramycin-dextran nanoparticles and free apramycin against selected Dutch and Pakistani isolates.

are bacteria associated with respiratory tract infections and are increasingly becoming resistant to antibiotics, including carbapenems. Apramycin is a veterinary antibiotic that may have the potential to be re-purposed for use in human health, for example, for the treatment of respiratory tract infections after coupling to inhalable nanoparticles. In the present study, the antibiotic apramycin was formulated with single chain polymeric nanoparticles and tested in free and formulated forms against a set of 13 isolates (from the Netherlands and Pakistan) expressing different aminoglycoside resistance phenotypes.

Cysteines 1078 and 2991 cross-linking plays a critical role in redox regulation of cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR).

The most common cardiac pathologies, such as myocardial infarction and heart failure, are associated with oxidative stress. Oxidation of the cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2) Ca channel causes spontaneous oscillations of intracellular Ca, resulting in contractile dysfunction and arrhythmias. RyR2 oxidation promotes the formation of disulfide bonds between two cysteines on neighboring RyR2 subunits, known as intersubunit cross-linking.

Design and fabrication of a microfluidic system with embedded circular channels for rotary cell culture.

The development of functional blood vessels is today a fundamental pillar in the evaluation of new therapies and diagnostic agents. This article describes the manufacture and subsequent functionalization, by means of cell culture, of a microfluidic device with a circular section. Its purpose is to simulate a blood vessel in order to test new treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Serum lipid mediator profiles in COVID-19 patients and lung disease severity: a pilot study.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection is highly heterogeneous, ranging from asymptomatic to severe and fatal cases. COVID-19 has been characterized by an increase of serum pro-inflammatory cytokine levels which seems to be associated with fatal cases. By contrast, the role of pro-resolving lipid mediators (SPMs), involved in the attenuation of inflammatory responses, has been scarcely investigated, so further studies are needed to understand SPMs metabolism in COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

Feasibility of a brief mindfulness-based program for burnout in pain healthcare professionals.

Introduction: Stress inherent to health care, which is characterized by work overload and shortage of specialized staff, is associated with decreased quality of life and suboptimal patient care. Mindfulness-based programs have proved to be effective in reducing stress in healthcare providers. This study aims to assess the feasibility of an 8-week mindfulness program to reduce the burnout levels of the staff of a pain clinic in a tertiary public hospital.

Neutralization of ionic interactions by dextran-based single-chain nanoparticles improves tobramycin diffusion into a mature biofilm.

The extracellular matrix protects biofilm cells by reducing diffusion of antimicrobials. Tobramycin is an antibiotic used extensively to treat P. aeruginosa biofilms, but it is sequestered in the biofilm periphery by the extracellular negative charge matrix and loses its efficacy significantly.

Stress-related biomarkers and cognitive functioning in adolescents with ADHD: Effect of childhood maltreatment.

Our study aimed to explore whether stress-related hormones (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis hormones and prolactin) are associated with poorer cognitive functioning in adolescents with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to test the potential moderating effect of childhood maltreatment. Seventy-six adolescents with ADHD were studied. The ADHD rating scale (ADHD-RS) and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) were administered.

Planning for the assistance of critically ill patients in a Pandemic Situation: The experience of Vall d'Hebron University Hospital.

Introduction: In the context of community transmission of the virus, the impact of the pandemic on health-care systems, mainly on intensive care units (ICU), was expected to be devastating. Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (HUVH) implemented an unprecedented critical patient-care planning and management of resources.

Methods: We describe a cohort of critically ill patients during the first two months of the pandemic (from March 3, 2020, to May 2, 2020) in HUVH, Barcelona.

COVID 19 and high pregnancy and perinatal complications in Panama.

Objectives: To report the maternal and neonatal results of patients infected with COVID-19 in Panama.

Methods: The study is based on the analysis of pregnant women with COVID-19, in five hospitals in the Republic of Panama. The inclusion criteria were: patients with or without symptoms, positive RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 in the period from March 23 to 6 months after, whose births were attended in one of those five hospitals and who signed the consent.

Spontaneously Reported Adverse Drug Reactions and Their Description in Hospital Discharge Reports: A Retrospective Study.

The inclusion of spontaneously reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in hospital discharge reports was examined, in addition to the factors associated with their inclusion, the resulting therapeutic decisions, and any recommendations made upon patient discharge regarding the suspected offending drugs. ADRs that were spontaneously reported during 2017 and 2018 to the pharmacovigilance program were retrospectively analyzed. Information regarding patient characteristics, drug treatments, and ADRs was collected from the ADR notifications and from patient electronic medical records.

Interfacial activity of modified dextran polysaccharide to produce enzyme-responsive oil-in-water nanoemulsions.

Herein, we report the evaluation of dextran (DXT) derivatives bearing hydrophobic or hydrophilic functional groups as stabilisers of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. All investigated modifications conferred interfacial activity to produce stable O/W emulsions, methacrylate(MA)-functionalised DXT being the most promising stabiliser. A minimum amount of MA was required to obtain stable O/W nanoemulsions, which could be degraded in the presence of lipases.

Five-year results of accelerated partial breast irradiation: A single-institution retrospective review of 289 cases.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to describe our institutional experience with accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) using multicatheter brachytherapy with high-dose-rate. We report 5-year survival outcomes, cosmesis, and treatment-related toxicity.

Methods And Materials: This included a retrospective review of patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery followed by APBI at our institution from 2004 to 2017.

A study of patients' quality of life more than 5 years after trauma: a prospective follow-up.

Background: The long-term fate of severely injured patients in terms of their quality of life is not well known. Our aim was to assess the quality of life of patients who have suffered moderate to severe trauma and to identify primary factors of long-term quality of life impairment.

Methods: A prospective monocentric study conducted on a number of patients who were victims of moderate to severe injuries during the year 2012.

Automatic generation of minimum dataset and quality indicators from data collected routinely by the clinical information system in an intensive care unit.

Background: Quality indicators (QIs) are being increasingly used in medicine to compare and improve the quality of care delivered. The feasibility of data collection is an important prerequisite for QIs. Information technology can improve efforts to measure processes and outcomes.

Planning for the assistance of critically ill patients in a Pandemic Situation: The experience of Vall d'Hebron University Hospital.

Introduction: In the context of community transmission of the virus, the impact of the pandemic on health-care systems, mainly on intensive care units (ICU), was expected to be devastating. Vall d́Hebron University Hospital (HUVH) implemented an unprecedented critical patient-care planning and management of resources.

Methods: We describe a cohort of critically ill patients during the first two months of the pandemic (from March 3, 2020, to May 2, 2020) in HUVH, Barcelona.

A case series of confusional states and other neurotoxic effects caused by ertapenem.

Ten cases of ertapenem neurotoxicity, mainly confusional states, are described, some of them with fatal outcomes. The majority of patients (90%) had a creatinine clearance (CrCl) < 50 mL/min/1.73m at some point during treatment and hypoalbuminaemia was always present when ertapenem treatment was started.

Barriers and facilitators to adherence to walking group exercise in older people living with dementia in the community: a systematic review.

Background & Aims: Evidence suggests that targeted exercise is important for people living with dementia. The aim of this review was to collect and synthesize evidence on the known barriers and facilitators to adherence to walking group exercise of older people living with dementia in the community.

Methods: We have searched appropriate electronic databases between January 1990 until September 2019, in any language.

Evaluation of Nisin and LL-37 Antimicrobial Peptides as Tool to Preserve Articular Cartilage Healing in a Septic Environment.

Cartilage repair still represents a challenge for clinicians and only few effective therapies are nowadays available. In fact, surgery is limited by the tissue poor self-healing capacity while the autologous transplantation is often forsaken due to the poor expansion capacity of chondrocytes. Biomaterials science offers a unique alternative based on the replacement of the injured tissue with an artificial tissue-mimicking scaffold.

Therapeutic Efficacy of Novel Antimicrobial Peptide AA139-Nanomedicines in a Multidrug-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae Pneumonia-Septicemia Model in Rats.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have seen limited clinical use as antimicrobial agents, largely due to issues relating to toxicity, short biological half-life, and lack of efficacy against Gram-negative bacteria. However, the development of novel AMP-nanomedicines, i.e.

Antimicrobial Peptide-Loaded Nanoparticles as Inhalation Therapy for Infections.

Introduction: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria kill 25,000 people every year in the EU. Patients subject to recurrent lung infections are the most vulnerable to severe or even lethal infections. For these patients, pulmonary delivery of antibiotics would be advantageous, since inhalation can achieve higher concentration in the lungs than iv administration and can provide a faster onset of action.

In vitro inhalation cytotoxicity testing of therapeutic nanosystems for pulmonary infection.

Due to the increasing need of new treatment options against bacterial lung infections, novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are under development. Local bioavailability and less systemic exposure lead to the inhalation route of administration. Combining AMPs with nanocarriers (NCs) into nanosystems (NSs) might be a technique for improved results.