Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Mild, Young and Early COPD: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of 5468 Patients.

Early, mild and young COPD concepts are not clearly defined and are often used interchangeably to refer to the onset of the disease. : To describe and compare the characteristics of mild, young and early COPD in a large sample of COPD from primary and secondary care. : Pooled analysis of individual data from four multicenter observational studies of patients with stable COPD (≥40 years, FEV/FVC < 0.

Occupational Exposures, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Tomographic Findings in the Spanish Population.

Self-reported occupational exposure was previously associated with COPD in the Spanish population. This study aimed to analyse the relationship between occupational exposure to various chemical and biological agents, COPD, emphysema, and the bronchial wall area, which was determined by lung computed tomography (CT) in 226 individuals with COPD and 300 individuals without COPD. Lifetime occupational exposures were assessed using the ALOHA(+) job exposure matrix, and CT and spirometry were also performed.

Motivation and Confidence about Physical Activity in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients: Health Benefits Matter to Patients.

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) has shown great benefits in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); however, their PA is below average. Motivational factors associated with PA in COPD have not been widely studied and could be a target for improving adherence to PA. The objective of our study was to identify and understand the different motivational and confidence factors related to low levels of PA in a COPD cohort.

Capsid-mediated control of adeno-associated viral transcription determines host range.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a member of the genus Dependoparvovirus, which infects a wide range of vertebrate species. Here, we observe that, unlike most primate AAV isolates, avian AAV is transcriptionally silenced in human cells. By swapping the VP1 N terminus from primate AAVs (e.

Association between occupational exposure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and respiratory symptoms in the Spanish population.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of occupational exposure on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and respiratory symptoms in the general Spanish population.

Methods: This was a study nested in the Spanish EPISCAN II cross-sectional epidemiological study that included participants who had completed a structured questionnaire on their occupational history, a questionnaire on respiratory symptoms, and forced spirometry. The data were analyzed using Chi-square and Student's t tests and adjusted models of multiple linear regression and logistic regression.

Adolescent Relational Roots of Adult Blood Pressure: A Fourteen-Year Prospective Study.

Intensity in adolescent romantic relationships was examined as a long-term predictor of higher adult blood pressure in a community sample followed from age 17 to 31. Romantic intensity in adolescence--measured via quantity of time spent alone with a partner and duration of the relationship--was predicted by parents' psychologically controlling behavior, and was in turn found to predict higher resting adult systolic and diastolic blood pressure even after accounting for relevant covariates. The prediction to adult blood pressure was partially mediated via conflict in non-romantic adult friendships and intensity in adult romantic relationships.

Adolescent relational roots of adult blood pressure: A 14-year prospective study.

Intensity in adolescent romantic relationships was examined as a long-term predictor of higher adult blood pressure in a community sample followed from age 17 to 31 years. Romantic intensity in adolescence - measured via the amount of time spent alone with a partner and the duration of the relationship - was predicted by parents' psychologically controlling behavior and was in turn found to predict higher resting adult systolic and diastolic blood pressure even after accounting for relevant covariates. The prediction to adult blood pressure was partially mediated via conflict in nonromantic adult friendships and intensity in adult romantic relationships.

Characterizing Emotional Support Development: From Adolescent Best Friendships to Young Adult Romantic Relationships.

This study examined development of emotional support competence within close friendships across adolescence. A sample of 184 adolescents (53% girls, 47% boys; 58% White, 29% Black, 14% other identity groups) participated in seven waves of multimethod assessments with their best friends and romantic partners from age 13 to 24. Latent change score models identified coupled predictions over time from emotional support competence to increasing friendship quality and decreasing support received from friends.

Socioeconomic status in early adolescence predicts blunted stress responses in adulthood.

Individuals who grow up in families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to experience disproportionate rates of chronic stress. The "freeze" response, characterized by blunted cardiovascular reactivity and reduced engagement with the environment, is associated with chronic stress and may be utilized when an individual is unable to escape or overcome environmental stressors. Using a diverse community sample of 184 adolescents followed from the age of 13 to 29 years, along with their friends and romantic partners, this study examined links between family SES and stress responses in adulthood.

Getting under the skin: long-term links of adolescent peer relationship difficulties to adult vagal tone.

Understanding whether and how the absence of positive relationships may predict longer-term physical health outcomes is central to building a working conceptual model of the interplay of social and physical development across the lifespan. This study sought to examine the extent to which difficulties establishing positive social relationships from adolescence onward serve as long-term predictors of low adult vagal tone, which in turn has been linked to numerous long-term health problems. A diverse community sample of 141 individuals was followed via multiple methods and reporters from age 13 to 29.

Beyond Susceptibility: Openness to Peer Influence is Predicted by Social Relationships.

This study examined the hypothesis, derived from theories highlighting the importance of group harmony and sense of belonging in human relationships, that the adolescents who are most likely to be influenced by their close friends are those who have the quality social relationships. Potential moderators of close friend influence on adolescent substance use were examined in a sample of 157 adolescents followed across a one-year period in mid-adolescence using a combination of observational, sociometric, and self- and peer-report measures. As hypothesized, the degree to which adolescents changed their levels of substance use in accord with a close friend's levels of use at baseline was predicted by multiple, independent markers of higher quality social relationships including: having a higher quality maternal relationship, being identified as a socially desirable companion within the broader peer group, and having a close friend who handled disagreements with warmth and autonomy.

Adolescent peer struggles predict accelerated epigenetic aging in midlife.

This study examined struggles to establish autonomy and relatedness with peers in adolescence and early adulthood as predictors of advanced epigenetic aging assessed at age 30. Participants ( = 154; 67 male and 87 female) were observed repeatedly, along with close friends and romantic partners, from ages 13 through 29. Observed difficulty establishing close friendships characterized by mutual autonomy and relatedness from ages 13 to 18, an interview-assessed attachment state of mind lacking autonomy and valuing of attachment at 24, and self-reported difficulties in social integration across adolescence and adulthood were all linked to greater epigenetic age at 30, after accounting for chronological age, gender, race, and income.

When friendships surpass parental relationships as predictors of long-term outcomes: Adolescent relationship qualities and adult psychosocial functioning.

Perceptions of adolescent-parent and adolescent-peer relationship qualities, and adolescents' attachment states of mind were examined as predictors of adult social and romantic relationship quality, depressive symptoms, and work performance. Adolescents (86 male, 98 female; 58% White, 29% African American, 8% mixed race/ethnicity, 5% other groups) were followed from age 13 to 24 via observational, self-, parent-, and close friend-reports. Adolescent close friendship quality was a significantly better predictor of adult peer and romantic outcomes, work performance, and depressive symptoms than parental reports of the parent-teen relationship; attachment security was also a strong predictor of numerous outcomes.

Association between circulating alpha-1 antitrypsin polymers and lung and liver disease.

Background: Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is considered one of the most common genetic diseases and is characterised by the misfolding and polymerisation of the alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) protein within hepatocytes. The relevance of circulating polymers (CP) of AAT in the pathogenesis of lung and liver disease is not completely understood. Therefore, the main objective of our study was to determine whether there is an association between the levels of CP of AAT and the severity of lung and liver disease.

Here for You: Attachment and the Growth of Empathic Support for Friends in Adolescence.

Attachment was examined as a predictor of teens' empathic support for friends in a multimethod longitudinal study of 184 U.S. adolescents (58% Caucasian, 29% African American, 13% other) followed from ages 14 to 18.

Autonomy and relatedness in early adolescent friendships as predictors of short- and long-term academic success.

This study examined early adolescent autonomy and relatedness during disagreements with friends as key social competencies likely to predict academic achievement during the transition to high school and academic attainment into early adulthood. A sample of 184 adolescents was followed through age 29 to assess predictions to academic success from observed autonomy and relatedness during a disagreement task with a close friend. Observed autonomy and relatedness at age 13 predicted relative increases in grade point average (GPA) from 13 to 15, and greater academic attainment by age 29, after accounting for baseline GPA.

Romantic Relationship Churn in Early Adolescence Predicts Hostility, Abuse, and Avoidance in Relationships Into Early Adulthood.

This study examined early adolescent romantic "churning," defined here as having a large number of boyfriends/girlfriends by age 13, as a problematic marker likely to predict hostility, abuse, and avoidance during conflict in later relationships. A sample of 184 adolescents was followed through age 24 to assess predictions of hostility, abuse, and avoidance during conflict from early romantic churning. Controlling for gender and family income, romantic churning at age 13 predicted relative decreases in peer preference and relative increases in conflict and betrayal in close friendships from ages 13-16, as well as higher observable hostility and self and partner-reported abuse in romantic relationships by age 18 and greater avoidance during conflict with romantic partners by age 24.

The Experience of COPD Patients in Lockdown Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: On March 16, 2020, the Spanish government declared a state of alarm due to the rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were restricted to remain confined at home, and medical visits were cancelled for 3 months. The impact of this lockdown on the manifestations of COPD and the quality-of-life of these patients has not been explored.

With(out) a little help from my friends: insecure attachment in adolescence, support-seeking, and adult negativity and hostility.

Attachment theory suggests that insecurely attached individuals will have more difficulty seeking and receiving support from others. Such struggles in adolescence may reinforce negative expectations of others and contribute to relationship difficulties into adulthood. Using a diverse community sample of 184 adolescents followed from age 13 to 27, along with friends and romantic partners, this study found that more insecure states of mind regarding attachment at age 14 predicted relative decreases in teens' abilities to seek and receive support from close friends from ages 14-18.

Different factors predict adolescent substance use versus adult substance abuse: Lessons from a social-developmental approach.

This 17-year prospective study applied a social-developmental lens to the challenge of distinguishing predictors of adolescent-era substance use from predictors of longer term adult substance use problems. A diverse community sample of 168 individuals was repeatedly assessed from age 13 to age 30 using test, self-, parent-, and peer-report methods. As hypothesized, substance use within adolescence was linked to a range of likely transient social and developmental factors that are particularly salient during the adolescent era, including popularity with peers, peer substance use, parent-adolescent conflict, and broader patterns of deviant behavior.

Perceived Psychological Control in Early Adolescence Predicts Lower Levels of Adaptation into Mid-Adulthood.

This study examined perceived parental psychological control in early adolescence as a critical stressor likely to be associated with lower levels of adaptation into mid-adulthood. A diverse sample of 184 adolescents was followed from age 13 through 32 to assess predictions to adult adaptation. Perceived parental psychological control at age 13 predicted relative decreases in observed support, lower likelihood of being in a romantic relationship, and lower academic attainment (after accounting for grade point average at baseline) by age 32.

Nitric Oxide Synthase activity in major depressive episodes before and after antidepressant treatment: Results of a large case-control treatment study.

Background: Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity, an enzyme potentially involved in the major depressive episodes (MDE), could be indirectly measured by the L-Citrulline/L-Arginine ratio (L-Cit/L-Arg). The aim of this study was: (1) to compare the NOS activity of patients with a MDE to that of healthy controls (HC); (2) to assess its change after antidepressant treatment.

Methods: A total of 460 patients with a current MDE in a context of major depressive disorder (MDD) were compared to 895 HC for NOS activity (L-Cit/L-Arg plasma ratio).

Evaluation of cold-weather wastewater nitrification technology for removal of polar chemicals of emerging concern from rural Manitoba wastewaters.

Aerated lagoons, typically used by small communities, often provide limited removal of wastewater nutrients. Given increasingly stringent wastewater standards, it is imperative that effective, but economical and easy-to-operate, treatment technologies be developed. The Submerged Attached Growth Reactor (SAGR®) is a treatment process developed to perform nitrification near freezing temperatures.