The adrenal medulla in cardiovascular medicine: an untold story.

Unlike noradrenaline, the sympathetic neurotransmitter which overflows to the circulation, adrenaline (ADR) is a secreted hormone, with a low plasma concentration, and plasma concentration for biological action a log order lower than that of noradrenaline. The venous drainage of the left adrenal medulla into the left renal vein does expose this vein to uniquely high plasma ADR concentrations and possible risk of thrombosis at high rates of ADR secretion. There is typically a different timeframe for adrenal medullary and sympathetic nervous system responses: ADR release is short term in contrast with sympathetic activation persisting for years in heart failure and hypertension.

Global Public Health Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior for People Living With Chronic Conditions: A Call to Action.

Background: In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) released global guidelines on physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior, for the first time providing population-based recommendations for people living with selected chronic conditions. This article briefly presents the guidelines, related processes and evidence, and, importantly, considers how they may be used to support research, practice, and policy.

Methods: A brief overview of the scope, agreed methods, selected chronic conditions (adults living with cancer, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and human immunodeficiency virus), and appraisal of systematic review evidence on PA/sedentary behavior is provided.

Food insecurity and social injustice: The plight of urban poor African immigrants in South Africa during the COVID-19 crisis.

We discuss the plight of urban poor African immigrants from the perspective of the right to food (food availability, accessibility and adequacy) for everyone during the COVID-19 in South Africa. Despite their disrupted sources of livelihood, the majority of the African immigrants are without a social welfare safety net and have little hope of benefiting from the Government relief packages. Consequently, it seems that the increase in the triple burden of food insecurity, poverty and malnutrition compounded with social injustice and income inequality is inevitable for the urban poor African immigrants in South Africa.

Developing the Juramento into an Evidence-Based Brief Intervention: A Brief Report.

Introduction: This brief report recommends how the effectiveness of the , a practice found in Mexican Catholicism, can be enhanced by combining it with Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment. The is a grassroots intervention around a sacred pledge made to Our Lady of Guadalupe to abstain from alcohol from 6 months to 1 year.

Method: The recommendations are made possible from an ongoing qualitative study on the use of the among Mexican immigrant farmworkers in southeastern Pennsylvania.

World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

Objectives: To describe new WHO 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

Methods: The guidelines were developed in accordance with WHO protocols. An expert Guideline Development Group reviewed evidence to assess associations between physical activity and sedentary behaviour for an agreed set of health outcomes and population groups.

Advancing the global physical activity agenda: recommendations for future research by the 2020 WHO physical activity and sedentary behavior guidelines development group.

Background: In July, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) commenced work to update the 2010 Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health and established a Guideline Development Group (GDG) comprising expert public health scientists and practitioners to inform the drafting of the 2020 Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior. The overall task of the GDG was to review the scientific evidence and provide expert advice to the WHO on the amount of physical activity and sedentary behavior associated with optimal health in children and adolescents, adults, older adults (> 64 years), and also specifically in pregnant and postpartum women and people living with chronic conditions or disabilities.

Methods: The GDG reviewed the available evidence specific to each sub-population using systematic protocols and in doing so, identified a number of gaps in the existing literature.

Inequality in physical activity, global trends by income inequality and gender in adults.

Background: Physical inactivity is a global pandemic associated with a high burden of disease and premature mortality. There is also a trend in growing economic inequalities which impacts population health. There is no global analysis of the relationship between income inequality and population levels of physical inactivity.

Bumetanide Oral Liquid Formulation for the Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Design of Two Phase III Studies (SIGN Trials).

There are currently no approved pharmacological treatments to improve social reciprocity and limit repetitive and rigid behaviors in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We describe the design of two Phase III studies evaluating the efficacy/safety of bumetanide oral liquid formulation in ASD. These are international, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in children and adolescents with ASD aged 7 to 17 years (n = 200; study 1), or younger children with ASD aged 2 to 6 years (n = 200; study 2).

The global diet and activity research (GDAR) network: a global public health partnership to address upstream NCD risk factors in urban low and middle-income contexts.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death globally. While upstream approaches to tackle NCD risk factors of poor quality diets and physical inactivity have been trialled in high income countries (HICs), there is little evidence from low and middle-income countries (LMICs) that bear a disproportionate NCD burden. Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are therefore the focus regions for a novel global health partnership to address upstream determinants of NCDs.

High Speed AFM and NanoInfrared Spectroscopy Investigation of Aβ Peptide Variants and Their Interaction With POPC/SM/Chol/GM1 Model Membranes.

Due to an aging population, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) have become a major health issue. In the case of AD, Aβ peptides have been identified as one of the markers of the disease with the formation of senile plaques via their aggregation, and could play a role in memory impairment and other tragic syndromes associated with the disease. Many studies have shown that not only the morphology and structure of Aβ peptide assembly are playing an important role in the formation of amyloid plaques, but also the interactions between Aβ and the cellular membrane are crucial regarding the aggregation processes and toxicity of the amyloid peptides.

Changes in serum PSA after endoscopic enucleation of the prostate are predictive for the future diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Purpose: After Endoscopic Enucleation of the Prostate (EEP) for benign prostatic obstruction (BPO), men remain at risk for prostate cancer (PCa). Significant PSA changes occur after enucleation, which interfere with later screening for PCa. It remains unclear which patients need further diagnostic investigations for PCa after EEP.

A Tumbling Magnetic Microrobot System for Biomedical Applications.

A microrobot system comprising an untethered tumbling magnetic microrobot, a two-degree-of-freedom rotating permanent magnet, and an ultrasound imaging system has been developed for in vitro and in vivo biomedical applications. The microrobot tumbles end-over-end in a net forward motion due to applied magnetic torque from the rotating magnet. By turning the rotational axis of the magnet, two-dimensional directional control is possible and the microrobot was steered along various trajectories, including a circular path and P-shaped path.

Transitions in frequency of hookah smoking among youth and adults: findings from waves 1 and 2 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, 2013-15.

Background And Aims: The prevalence of hookah smoking has increased in the United States since at least 2010, especially among youth and young adults. This study assessed self-reported reasons for hookah smoking cessation and transition to or maintenance of high-frequency hookah smoking among current hookah smokers.

Design: Separately analyzed data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, a longitudinal cohort study.

Implications of COVID-19 control measures for diet and physical activity, and lessons for addressing other pandemics facing rapidly urbanising countries.

At the time of writing, it is unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic will play out in rapidly urbanising regions of the world. In these regions, the realities of large overcrowded informal settlements, a high burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases, as well as malnutrition and precarity of livelihoods, have raised added concerns about the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in these contexts. COVID-19 infection control measures have been shown to have some effects in slowing down the progress of the pandemic, effectively buying time to prepare the healthcare system.

Does moxonidine reduce Achilles tendon or musculoskeletal pain in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome? A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Sympathetic activity and insulin resistance have recently been linked with chronic tendon and musculoskeletal pain. Polycystic ovarian syndrome is linked with insulin resistance and increased sympathetic drive and was therefore an appropriate condition to study the effects of modulating sympathetic activity on Achilles tendon and musculoskeletal symptoms.

Methods: A secondary analysis of a double-blinded, randomised controlled trial on women with polycystic ovarian syndrome was conducted.

Grassroots interventions for alcohol use disorders in the Mexican immigrant community: A narrative literature review.

This narrative literature review addresses grassroots interventions for alcohol use disorders as practiced in Mexican immigrant communities. These organic efforts are 24-hour AA groups, or , fourth and fifth step AA groups, , and . Literature was identified using PubMed and CINAHL and limited to works published from 2000 to 2018.

The Association of Organizational Justice with Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment among Nigerian Correctional Staff.

Correctional staff are a necessary and valuable resource for correctional institutions, in both Western and Nonwestern nations; however, studies of correctional staff in Nonwestern nations, particularly those in Africa, are lacking. Improving the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of these staff are imperative, as both of these job attitudes have been linked to many salient beneficial outcomes. Most of the existing empirical research on correctional staff organizational justice explores only the effects of procedural and distributive justice and ignores interpersonal justice.

Predictive validity of the adult tobacco dependence index: Findings from waves 1 and 2 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study.

Background And Aims: Building on published work establishing concurrent validity of a self-report tobacco dependence (TD) index among users of different tobacco products in Wave 1 (W1) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, the current study examines prospective relationships with tobacco use behaviors to establish predictive validity of the TD index. Hypotheses suggested high levels of W1 TD would be associated with persistent tobacco use at Wave 2 (W2).

Participants: A U.

Rhythm in the blood: The influence of rhythm skills on literacy development in third graders.

Several studies have shown the influence of rhythm skills on the processing of written language, especially at the beginning of literacy development. The first objective of this study was to determine the persistence of this link at an advanced grade level. The second objective was to better understand the factors underlying this relationship and, more specifically, to examine the hypothesis of mediation by phonological and/or motor skills.

A novel mechanism in wound healing: Laminin 332 drives MMP9/14 activity by recruiting syndecan-1 and CD44.

Re-epithelialization describes the resurfacing of a skin wound with new epithelium. In response to various stimuli including that of growth factors, cytokines and extracellular matrix (ECM), wound edge epidermal keratinocytes undergo cytoskeleton rearrangements compatible with their motile behavior and develop protrusive adhesion contacts. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) expression is crucial for proper cell movement and ECM remodeling; however, their deposition mechanism is unknown in keratinocytes.

Food purchasing behaviour of shoppers from different South African socio-economic communities: results from grocery receipts, intercept surveys and in-supermarkets audits.

Objective: To identify factors associated with food purchasing decisions and expenditure of South African supermarket shoppers across income levels.

Design: Intercept surveys were conducted, grocery receipts collated and expenditure coded into categories, with each category calculated as percentage of the total expenditure. In-supermarket food quality audit and shelf space measurements of foods such as fruits and vegetables (F&V) (healthy foods), snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) (unhealthy foods) were also assessed.

Comparison of Endoscopic and Ultrasonographic Measurements of the Subglottic Airway in Children.

Objective: To compare measurements of the pediatric subglottis obtained by surgeon-performed ultrasound and endoscopy.

Study Design: Prospective observational comparison-of-methods study.

Setting: Tertiary care pediatric hospital.

Active School Transport among Children from Canada, Colombia, Finland, South Africa, and the United States: A Tale of Two Journeys.

Walking and biking to school represent a source of regular daily physical activity (PA). The objectives of this paper are to determine the associations of distance to school, crime safety, and socioeconomic variables with active school transport (AST) among children from five culturally and socioeconomically different country sites and to describe the main policies related to AST in those country sites. The analytical sample included 2845 children aged 9-11 years from the International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment.

Uncovering Distinct Primary Vaccination-Dependent Profiles in Human Specific CD4+ T-Cell Responses Using a Novel Whole Blood Assay.

To advance research and development of improved pertussis vaccines, new immunoassays are needed to qualify the outcome of (Bp) specific CD4+ T-cell differentiation. Here, we applied a recently developed whole blood assay to evaluate Bp specific CD4+ T-cell responses. The assay is based on intracellular cytokine detection after overnight Bp antigen stimulation of diluted whole blood.