Stress is a major risk factor for the development of depression. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of stress vulnerability in depression are largely uncharacterized. P2X2 receptors (a major receptor for gliotransmitter-ATP) in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were identified by real-time qPCR, western blots and RNAscope hybridization in chronic social defeat stress model (CSDS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Preeclampsia (PE) is associated with abnormal placental vascular structure. However, the volume density of fetoplacental vessels in PE remains unclear. Additionally, manually annotated CT angiography, which is widely used to analyze placental vessels, has issues regarding inaccuracy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWater shortage is a critical global issue that threatens human health, environmental sustainability, and the preservation of Earth's climate. Desalination from seawater and sewage is a promising avenue for alleviating this stress. In this work, we use the hornet nest envelope material to fabricate a biomass-based photothermal absorber as part of a desalination isolation system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn increased susceptibility to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in female rat offspring that experienced prenatal ethanol exposure (PEE) has been previously demonstrated. The present study further investigated the potential mechanism. Based on the results from both fetal and adult studies of offspring rats that experienced PEE (4 g/kg/day), the fetal weight, serum glucose and triglyceride levels decreased significantly and hepatocellular ultra-structure was altered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith 15 drugs currently approved for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) and even more combination regimens with immunotherapy on the horizon, there remains a distinct lack of molecular biomarkers for therapeutic efficacy. Our study reports on real-world clinical outcomes of mRCC patients from a tertiary academic medical center treated with empirically selected standard-of-care therapy. We utilized the Stanford Renal Cell Carcinoma Database (RCCD) to report on various outcome measures, including overall survival (OS) and the median number of lines of targeted therapies received from the time of metastatic diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterventions guiding appropriate telemetry utilization have successfully reduced use at many hospitals, but few studies have examined their possible adverse outcomes. The authors conducted a successful intervention to reduce telemetry use in 2013 on a hospitalist service using educational modules, routine review, and financial incentives. The association of reduced telemetry use with the incidence of rapid response team (RRT) and code activations was assessed in a retrospective cohort study of 210 patients who experienced a total of 233 RRT and code events on the inpatient internal medicine services from January 2012 through March 2015 at a tertiary care center.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Osimertinib is a third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor, initially approved for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with T790M acquired resistance, and now approved in the first-line setting. However, data supporting the use of osimertinib in untreated brain metastases are limited, although it has established central nervous system (CNS) activity. Our study compares the clinical outcomes of patients experiencing progressing brain metastases treated with cranial irradiation and osimertinib with those treated with osimertinib alone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Shared decision-making (SDM) improves patient engagement and may improve outpatient health outcomes. Little is known about inpatient SDM.
Objective: To assess overall quality, provider behaviors, and contextual predictors of SDM during inpatient rounds on medicine and pediatrics hospitalist services.
Violence Against Women
March 2018
Domestic violence (DV) affects over a third of Chinese women in a relationship. Focusing on ethnographic data from six staff members and six DV survivors at a rural, state-affiliated women's center in China in 2010, this article relies on Henrietta Moore's notion of the poststructuralist gendered subject to examine how the staff draw on discourses about gender and social harmony in persuading women to stay in their marriages, rather than on human rights discourses that emphasize survivor safety. It shows that DV survivors are frequently sent back to dangerous homes where their health is placed at risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfection with Scedosporium species is associated with a significant morbidity and mortality and is becoming increasingly common, especially in immunocompromised patients. We describe the presentation and successful management of an immunocompromised patient with Scedosporium apiospermum infection of the upper urinary tract system, a rare disease manifestation. The current literature on urinary tract scedosporiosis is further reviewed with emphasis on treatment options and limitations of current antifungal therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Aberrant methylation of the promoter, P2, and the first exon, E1, regions of the tumor suppressor gene RASSF1A, have been associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), albeit with poor specificity. This study analyzed the methylation profiles of P1, P2 and E1 regions of the gene to identify the region of which methylation most specifically corresponds to HCC and to evaluate the potential of this methylated region as a biomarker in urine for HCC screening.
Methods: Bisulfite DNA sequencing and quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction assays were performed to compare methylation of the 56 CpG sites in regions P1, P2 and E1 in DNA isolated from normal, hepatitic, cirrhotic, adjacent non-HCC, and HCC liver tissue and urine samples for the characterization of hypermethylation of the RASSF1A gene as a biomarker for HCC screening.