Changes in patient-reported outcomes during admission to a South African psychiatric facility.

Background: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are used as part of clinical practice to determine the impact of the condition and treatment interventions on a patient's health and quality of life. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is a self-administered diagnostic tool that has been widely adopted for the detection and monitoring of depression.

Aim: This analysis reports the change in PHQ-9 scores from admission to discharge in patients admitted for depression to a South African acute psychiatric facility and aims to quantify the treatment effect of the admission using the PHQ-9 as the measurement tool.

Rac1 and RhoA differentially regulate angiotensinogen gene expression in stretched cardiac fibroblasts.

Aims: Angiotensin II (Ang II) stimulates cardiac remodelling and fibrosis in the mechanically overloaded myocardium. Although Rho GTPases regulate several cellular processes, including myocardial remodelling, involvement in mediating mechanical stretch-induced regulation of angiotensinogen (Ao), the precursor to Ang II, remains to be determined. We, therefore, examined the role and associated signalling mechanisms of Rho GTPases (Rac1 and RhoA) in regulation of Ao gene expression in a stretch model of neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts (CFs).

Exercise prevents cardiometabolic alterations induced by chronic use of glucocorticoids.

Background: Chronically, glucocorticoids induce adverse cardiometabolic alterations including insulin resistance, diabetes, dyslipidemia, liver steatosis and arterial hypertension.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of regular practice of aerobic exercise on cardiometabolic alterations induced by chronic administration of dexamethasone (Dex - 0.5 mg/kg/day ip) in rats.

Stretch-induced regulation of angiotensinogen gene expression in cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts: opposing roles of JNK1/2 and p38alpha MAP kinases.

The cardiac renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has been implicated in mediating myocyte hypertrophy, remodeling, and fibroblast proliferation in the hemodynamically overloaded heart. However, the intracellular signaling mechanisms responsible for regulation of angiotensinogen (Ao), a substrate of the RAS system, are largely unknown. Here we report the identification of JNK1/2 as a negative, and p38alpha as a major positive regulator of Ao gene expression.

Integrins: novel therapeutic targets for cardiovascular diseases.

Integrins are the principle mediators of molecular dialog between a cell and its extracellular matrix environment. The unique combinations of integrin subunits determine which extracellular matrix molecules are recognized by a cell. Recent studies have demonstrated that remodeling in heart and vasculature is linked to alterations in extracellular matrix and integrin expression.

Activation of protein kinase A by atrial natriuretic peptide in neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts: role in regulation of the local renin-angiotensin system.

There is an inverse relationship between renin and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) levels in the plasma. Since both the ANP and renin-angiotensin system (RAS) are upregulated in development and cardiac hypertrophy, we tested whether ANP differentially regulates RAS in cardiac cells. Cardiac fibroblasts isolated from neonatal rats were treated with ANP(1-28), a biologically active fragment of ANP.