Liver disease, heart failure, and 13-year mortality among Mexican American older adults: Nativity differences.

Purpose: To examine nativity differences of co-occurring liver disease (LD) and heart failure (HF) on 13-year mortality among Mexican American older adults.

Methods: Prospective cohort study of 1601 Mexican Americans aged ≥ 75 years from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (2004/05-2016). Participants were grouped into four groups: no LD and no HF (n = 1138), LD only (n = 53), HF only (n = 382), and both LD and HF (n = 28).

Sweet syndrome and erythema nodosum in a young patient with ulcerative colitis.

Sweet syndrome (SS) or acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis is a rare inflammatory skin condition presenting as an abrupt onset of painful erythematous plaques or nodules, fever, and neutrophilia with histopathology showing a dense neutrophilic infiltrate. Systemic corticosteroids are the gold standard treatment for SS. We describe a case of a 26-year-old with a past medical history of ulcerative colitis on chronic prednisone presenting to the hospital with a 3-week ulcerative colitis flare with concomitant erythema nodosum and SS.

Guided graded exercise self-help plus specialist medical care versus specialist medical care alone for chronic fatigue syndrome (GETSET): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Background: Graded exercise therapy is an effective and safe treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome, but it is therapist intensive and availability is limited. We aimed to test the efficacy and safety of graded exercise delivered as guided self-help.

Methods: In this pragmatic randomised controlled trial, we recruited adult patients (18 years and older) who met the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome from two secondary-care clinics in the UK.

Epidemiology and clinical features of imported malaria in East London.

Background: Malaria is the most common imported tropical disease in the United Kingdom (UK). The overall mortality is low but inter-regional differences have been observed.

Methods: We conducted a 2-year retrospective review of clinical and laboratory records of patients with malaria attending three acute hospitals in East London from 1 April 2013 through 31 March 2015.

Rab1A is an mTORC1 activator and a colorectal oncogene.

Amino acid (AA) is a potent mitogen that controls growth and metabolism. Here we describe the identification of Rab1 as a conserved regulator of AA signaling to mTORC1. AA stimulates Rab1A GTP binding and interaction with mTORC1 and Rheb-mTORC1 interaction in the Golgi.

Superoxide dismutase 1 acts as a nuclear transcription factor to regulate oxidative stress resistance.

Superoxide dismutase 1 (Sod1) has been known for nearly half a century for catalysis of superoxide to hydrogen peroxide. Here we report a new Sod1 function in oxidative signalling: in response to elevated endogenous and exogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS), Sod1 rapidly relocates into the nucleus, which is important for maintaining genomic stability. Interestingly, H2O2 is sufficient to promote Sod1 nuclear localization, indicating that it is responding to general ROS rather than Sod1 substrate superoxide.

Vaccinia virus leads to ATG12–ATG3 conjugation and deficiency in autophagosome formation.

The interactions between viruses and cellular autophagy have been widely reported. On the one hand, autophagy is an important innate immune response against viral infection. On the other hand, some viruses exploit the autophagy pathway for their survival and proliferation in host cells.

A sensitive coupled HPLC/electrospray mass spectrometry assay for SPM-1 metallo-beta-lactamase inhibitors.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria continue to threaten human health through multiple mechanisms, including hydrolytic inactivation of beta-lactam antibiotics by metallo-beta-lactamases (MBLs). The SPM-1 enzyme, originally identified from a Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolate, is a Class B beta-lactamase responsible for resistance in bacteria against antibiotics such as penicillins, cephalosporins, and carbapenems. Unlike Class A, C, and D beta-lactamases, which employ a serine residue in their active site, Class B enzymes possess one or two Zn atoms in the active site that play both a structural and catalytic role.

The prognosis of different fatigue diagnostic labels: a longitudinal survey.

Background: Several different diagnostic labels exist for the fatigue syndromes, including chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and postviral fatigue syndrome (PVFS). An allied condition is fibromyalgia. No study has examined prognostic differences across these different labels.

Acute panmyelosis with myelofibrosis: an entity distinct from acute megakaryoblastic leukemia.

The WHO criteria for diagnosing acute panmyelosis with myelofibrosis are somewhat distinct from those for acute megakaryoblastic leukemia. However, clinical and hematopathologic findings partially overlap. This has raised questions as to whether these are indeed separate, definable entities.

Incidence of fatigue symptoms and diagnoses presenting in UK primary care from 1990 to 2001.

Little is known about whether the incidence of symptoms of fatigue presented in primary care, and the consequent diagnoses made, change over time. The UK General Practice Research Database was used to investigate the annual incidence of both fatigue symptoms and diagnoses recorded in UK primary care from 1990 to 2001. The overall incidence of all fatigue diagnoses decreased from 87 per 100 000 patients in 1990 to 49 in 2001, a reduction of 44%, while postviral fatigue syndromes decreased from 81% of all fatigue diagnoses in 1990 to 60% in 2001.

Are false negative direct immnufluorescence assays caused by varicella zoster virus gE mutant strains?

Strains of Varicella zoster virus (VZV) have been described recently in which a single base mutation in the gE epitope abrogates binding of the 3B3 monoclonal antibody, which is widely used for virus detection in diagnostic laboratories. These strains, named VZV-MSP, are associated with a distinct phenotype in both in vitro culture and in SCID-hu mice. We investigated the possibility that negative direct immunofluorescence results, using the 3B3 antibody, where the presence of virus was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or tissue culture are due in some cases to the MSP strain of VZV.

Treating impulsivity, irritability, and aggression of antisocial personality disorder with quetiapine.

There are few effective treatments of antisocial personality disorder (APD). Preliminary work suggests that the atypical antipsychotic quetiapine can decrease irritability, impulsivity, and aggressiveness. Data were collected from 4 patients with APD who were referred to a maximum-security inpatient psychiatric facility for pretrial evaluation and were treated with quetiapine.

Ethnicity and discordance in plasma HIV-1 RNA viral load and CD4+ lymphocyte count in a cohort of HIV-1-infected individuals.

Background: Guidelines for commencing therapy for HIV infection have been based upon HIV-1 RNA and CD4 lymphocyte thresholds. The influence of confounding factors such as gender, ethnicity and co-infections is unproven.

Objectives: To analyse ethnic discordance in plasma HIV-1 viral load (VL) and CD4+ count and its potential clinical significance in Black and Caucasian groups.