"Empowering Us": A community-led survey of real-world perspectives of adults with type 1 diabetes using insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring to manage their glucose levels.

Objective: To conduct an Australian community-led survey of adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D), identifying priorities for, and barriers to, optimal use of advanced glucose management technologies.

Research Design And Methods: A 30-question online survey of current or past users of insulin pump therapy (IPT), real-time continuous glucose monitoring (RT-CGM), or intermittently scanned CGM (isCGM) explored perceptions regarding device design, access, education, outcomes, and support.

Results: Between November 2021 and January 2022, surveys were completed by 3,380 participants (age [mean ± SD] 45 ± 16 years; 62% female; 20 ± 14 years diabetes), with 55%, 82%, and 55% reporting experience with IPT, RT-CGM, and isCGM, respectively.

Low-Intensity mental health Support via a Telehealth Enabled Network for adults with diabetes (LISTEN): protocol for a hybrid type 1 effectiveness implementation trial.

Background: Mental health problems are common among people with diabetes. However, evidence-based strategies for the prevention and early intervention of emotional problems in people with diabetes are lacking. Our aim is to assess the real-world effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and implementation of a Low-Intensity mental health Support via a Telehealth Enabled Network (LISTEN), facilitated by diabetes health professionals (HPs).

Applying sport psychology in health professions education: A systematic review of performance mental skills training.

Introduction: Health professionals are expected to consistently perform to a high standard during a variety of challenging clinical situations, which can provoke stress and impair their performance. There is increasing interest in applying sport psychology training using performance mental skills (PMS) immediately before and during performance.

Methods: A systematic review of the main relevant databases was conducted with the aim to identify how PMS training (PMST) has been applied in health professions education and its outcomes.

Calcineurin Aβ-Specific Anchoring Confers Isoform-Specific Compartmentation and Function in Pathological Cardiac Myocyte Hypertrophy.

Background: The Ca/calmodulin-dependent phosphatase calcineurin is a key regulator of cardiac myocyte hypertrophy in disease. An unexplained paradox is how the β isoform of the calcineurin catalytic A-subunit (CaNAβ) is required for induction of pathological myocyte hypertrophy, despite calcineurin Aα expression in the same cells. It is unclear how the pleiotropic second messenger Ca drives excitation-contraction coupling while not stimulating hypertrophy by calcineurin in the normal heart.

Vertebral body versus iliac crest bone marrow as a source of multipotential stromal cells: Comparison of processing techniques, tri-lineage differentiation and application on a scaffold for spine fusion.

The potential use of bone progenitors, multipotential stromal cells (MSCs) helping spine fusion is increasing, but convenient MSC sources and effective processing methods are critical factors yet to be optimised. The aim of this study was to test the effect of bone marrow processing on the MSC abundance and to compare the differentiation capabilities of vertebral body-bone marrow (VB-BM) MSCs versus iliac crest-bone marrow (IC-BM) MSCs. We assessed the effect of the red blood cell lysis (ammonium chloride, AC) and density-gradient centrifugation (Lymphoprep™, LMP), on the extracted VB-BM and IC-BM MSC numbers.

Mesenchymal Stem Cell physiology can be affected by antibiotics: An in vitro study.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of antibiotics used in clinical practice on Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) potential to proliferate and differentiate towards an osteogenic lineage. Trabecular bone was obtained from 10 patients (mean age of 36 years, range 18-72) suffering from long bone fractures. Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) were isolated and functional assays on their proliferation (CFU-F and XTT) and osteogenic differentiation (alkaline phosphatase activity and total calcium production) were performed.

Release of growth factors and the effect of age, sex, and severity of injury after long bone fracture. A preliminary report.

Background And Purpose: The systemic response after fracture is regulated by a complex mechanism involving numerous growth factors. In this study, we analyzed the kinetics of key growth factors following lower-limb long bone fracture.

Materials And Methods: Human serum was isolated from 15 patients suffering from lower-limb long bone fracture (tibia/femur) requiring surgical fixation.

B cell biomarkers of rituximab responses in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: Rituximab appears to be effective in many studies of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with variable initial clinical response and time to relapse. However, results of a randomized controlled trial of rituximab were negative. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of rituximab in SLE, using highly sensitive flow cytometry (HSFC), which can define B cell numbers 50-100 times lower than conventional techniques and predicts responses in rheumatoid arthritis.

Effects of antithrombotic drugs fondaparinux and tinzaparin on in vitro proliferation and osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation of bone-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

An unexpected side effect of some classes of anticoagulants has been osteoporosis which may be, at least in part, related to deranged mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) function. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of fondaparinux (FDP), a novel antithrombotic with a traditional widely used low molecular weight heparin, tinzaparin (TZP) on MSC proliferation and differentiation. MSCs were isolated from trabecular bone of 14 trauma patients by a collagenase-based digestion procedure and expanded in standard conditions until passage 3.

Reduced-dose rituximab in rheumatoid arthritis: efficacy depends on degree of B cell depletion.

Objective: Studies comparing 500 mg rituximab and 1,000 mg rituximab doses in rheumatoid arthritis have yielded conflicting data on clinical outcomes, but in all of these studies a subgroup of patients has had excellent responses at the lower dose. Historically, it was considered that rituximab uniformly depleted B cells at both doses. Using highly sensitive assays, we have shown that B cell depletion is variable and predictive of clinical response.

The effect of bone morphogenetic protein-2, bone morphogenetic protein-7, parathyroid hormone, and platelet-derived growth factor on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from osteoporotic bone.

Introduction: It has been previously shown that in patients with osteoporosis, mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) growth rate and osteogenic potential is decreased contributing to inferior fracture consolidation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), BMP-7, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) on proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of MSCs derived from patients with osteoporosis.

Materials And Methods: Trabecular bone was obtained from 10 patients (four males, mean age 76 years) with lower extremity osteoporotic fractures.

Management of nonresponse to rituximab in rheumatoid arthritis: predictors and outcome of re-treatment.

Objective: A proportion of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have disease that fails to respond to an initial cycle of rituximab. Using highly sensitive flow cytometry (HSFC), it has been shown that most patients who do not exhibit a response, as measured using the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria, have persistent circulating B cell levels at week 2 after initial treatment with rituximab. This study was undertaken to examine whether an additional cycle of rituximab would improve B cell depletion and clinical response in patients whose disease did not respond to the initial cycle.

Highly sensitive B cell analysis predicts response to rituximab therapy in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), B cell depletion occurs in all patients treated with rituximab, but the clinical responses to rituximab are variable. A highly sensitive assay was used to test the hypothesis that B cell depletion is variable, and that incomplete depletion leads to a poorer outcome.

Methods: Sixty patients with active RA unresponsive to anti-tumor necrosis factor agents received two 1-gram infusions of rituximab.

The value of synovial cytokine expression in predicting the clinical response to TNF antagonist therapy (infliximab).

Objectives: Clinical response to TNF-alpha blockade in the treatment of RA is heterogeneous. The study aims were to determine whether pre-treatment synovial cytokine expression predicted infliximab response and whether synovial changes after therapy correlated with response.

Methods: Fifty-one patients had arthroscopic biopsies of the knee joint prior to infliximab (3 mg/kg) treatment.

Synovial fluid mesenchymal stem cells in health and early osteoarthritis: detection and functional evaluation at the single-cell level.

Objective: Arthritic synovial fluid (SF) contains mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which could simply reflect their shedding from diseased joint structures. This study used the bovine model to explore SF MSCs in health and enumerated them at the earliest stages of human osteoarthritis (OA) in radiographically normal joints.

Methods: Clonogenicity and multipotentiality of normal bovine SF MSCs were compared with donor-matched bone marrow (BM) MSCs at the single-cell level.

Antioxidant vitamin and mineral supplements for preventing age-related macular degeneration.

Background: Some observational studies have suggested that people who eat a diet rich in antioxidant vitamins (carotenoids, vitamins C and E) or minerals (selenium and zinc) may be less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Objectives: The aim of this review was to examine the evidence as to whether or not taking vitamin or mineral supplements prevents the development of AMD.

Search Strategy: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group Trials Register) in The Cochrane Library (2007, Issue 3), MEDLINE (1966 to August 2007), SIGLE (1980 to 2005/03), EMBASE (1980 to August 2007), National Research Register (2007, Issue 3), AMED (1985 to January 2006) and PubMed (on 24 January 2006 covering last 60 days), reference lists of identified reports and the Science Citation Index.

A comparative assessment of cartilage and joint fat pad as a potential source of cells for autologous therapy development in knee osteoarthritis.

Objectives: The utility of autologous chondrocytes for cartilage repair strategies in older subjects with osteoarthritis (OA) may be limited by both age-related and disease-associated decline in chondrogenesis. The aim of this work was to assess OA Hoffa's fat pad as an alternative source of autologous chondroprogenitor cells and to compare it with OA chondrocytes derived from different areas of cartilage.

Methods: Cartilage and fat pad tissue digests were obtained from 26 subjects with knee OA and compared with normal bone marrow (BM) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with respect to their in vitro colony-forming potential, growth kinetics, multipotentiality and clonogenicity.

Photodynamic therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Background: In neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) new vessels grow under the retina distorting vision and leading to scarring. This is exacerbated if the blood vessels leak. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been investigated as a way to treat the neovascular membranes without affecting the retina.

Photodynamic therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Background: In neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) new vessels grow under the retina distorting vision and leading to scarring. This is exacerbated if the blood vessels leak. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been investigated as a way to treat the neovascular membranes without affecting the retina.

Topical treatments for seasonal allergic conjunctivitis: systematic review and meta-analysis of efficacy and effectiveness.

Background: Evidence for the effectiveness of topical treatments, in providing symptomatic relief from ocular allergy, remains uncertain.

Aims: To assess the effectiveness and relative efficacy of topical treatments for the management of seasonal allergic conjunctivitis.

Design Of Study: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Enumeration and phenotypic characterization of synovial fluid multipotential mesenchymal progenitor cells in inflammatory and degenerative arthritis.

Objective: To evaluate synovial fluid (SF) for the presence of mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs), to compare SF MPCs with bone marrow (BM) MPCs, and to enumerate these cells in both inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: SF from 100 patients with arthritis (53 rheumatoid arthritis [RA], 20 OA, and 27 other arthropathies) was evaluated. To establish multipotentiality, polyclonal and single cell-derived cultures of SF fibroblasts were examined by standard and quantitative differentiation assays.

Overexpression of transcripts containing LINE-1 in the synovia of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To identify novel diagnostic markers by comparing gene expression in rheumatoid (RA) and reactive arthritis (ReA) synovium.

Methods: Synovial biopsy specimens were obtained by needle arthroscopy from the knees of 10 patients with either RA or ReA. RNA was isolated from the biopsy specimens and cDNA synthesised for analysis using a customised cDNA macroarray.

Photodynamic therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Background: In neovascular age-related macular degeneration, new vessels grow under the retina, distorting vision and leading to scarring. This is further exacerbated if the blood vessels leak. Photodynamic therapy, originally used in cancer treatment, has been investigated as a way to treat the neovascular membranes without affecting the retina.

Histological assessment of the early enthesitis lesion in spondyloarthropathy.

Objectives: To describe the histological changes in acute enthesopathy in early spondyloarthropathies (SpA).

Methods: Clinically evident acute enthesopathy was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography in four cases of plantar fasciitis and one case of patellar tendon enthesitis. Ultrasound guided biopsy of insertional points was carried out with a Jamshedi needle.

Photodynamic therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Background: In neovascular age-related macular degeneration, new vessels grow under the retina, distorting vision and leading to scarring. This is further exacerbated if the blood vessels leak. Photodynamic therapy, originally used in cancer treatment, has been investigated as a way to treat the neovascular membranes without affecting the retina.