Realtime physical simulator for virtual reality sailing by patients with spinal cord injury: an innovative voyage.

Background: The aim of this study was to explore whether sail training using a VSail® simulator would allow people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) to learn to sail in a safe controlled environment and then sail competently on the water in wind of moderate strength (12 knots). A battery of physical tests and questionnaires was used to evaluate possible improvements in health and well-being as a consequence of participation in the trial.

Methods: Twenty participants were recruited with the assistance of their physicians from The International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Trends in Pressure Injury Development in Patients With Lower Motor Neuron and Upper Motor Neuron Lesions: A Retrospective Descriptive Study.

Background: Persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) are at high risk of pressure injury (PrI) development, but there is limited information about the effect of injury patterns (ie, upper motor neuron [UMN] or lower motor neuron [LMN] presentations) on PrI risk.

Purpose: This study was conducted to explore the rate of PrI development in patients with LMN and UMN lesions.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive review of data from patients who were treated at a specialized outpatient SCI rehabilitation center in Baltimore, MD, between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2019.

Effects of drugs on bone metabolism in a cohort of individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury.

Study Design: This study is a retrospective review examining the prevalence of drugs commonly used in the management of spinal cord injury (SCI) which may influence bone health.

Objective: The aim of our study was to examine the role commonly prescribed medications play in post-SCI bone health.

Setting: We included all males 21 years of age and older who were evaluated over a 10-year period at an SCI-specialized center for a trauma-induced SCI.

Activity-Based Restorative Therapy and Skin Tears in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury.

Objectives: To determine the risk factors associated with skin tear development while participating in activity-based restorative therapy (ABRT), describe the possible consequences of skin tears incurred during therapy, and provide risk reduction strategies.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of electronic medical records from 2012 to 2015 in a spinal cord outpatient rehabilitation center; 21 of 54 patients who reported a wound at initial evaluation were diagnosed with skin tears. Nine of the 21 patients acquired skin tears during their course of ABRT.

Allergen homologs in the Euroglyphus maynei draft genome.

Euroglyphus maynei is a house dust mite commonly found in homes worldwide and is the source of allergens that sensitize and induce allergic reactions in humans. It is the source of species-specific allergens as well as allergens that are cross-reactive with the allergens from house dust mites Dermatophagoides farinae and D. pteronyssinus, and the ectoparasitic scabies mite Sarcoptes scabiei.

A review of Sarcoptes scabiei: past, present and future.

The disease scabies is one of the earliest diseases of humans for which the cause was known. It is caused by the mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, that burrows in the epidermis of the skin of humans and many other mammals. This mite was previously known as Acarus scabiei DeGeer, 1778 before the genus Sarcoptes was established (Latreille 1802) and it became S.

Identification of antigenic Sarcoptes scabiei proteins for use in a diagnostic test and of non-antigenic proteins that may be immunomodulatory.

Background: Scabies, caused by the mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, infects millions of humans, and many wild and domestic mammals. Scabies mites burrow in the lower stratum corneum of the epidermis of the skin and are the source of substances that are antigenic or modulate aspects of the protective response of the host. Ordinary scabies is a difficult disease to diagnose.

Sarcoptes scabiei: genomics to proteomics to biology.

Background: The common scabies mite, Sarcoptes scabiei is a cosmopolitan parasite of humans and other mammals. An annotated genome of Sarcoptes scabiei var. canis has been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and VectorBase and a proteomic analysis of proteins in extracts of mite bodies and eggs from this strain has been reported.

A Proteomic Analysis of Sarcoptes scabiei (Acari: Sarcoptidae).

The pruritic skin disease scabies is caused by the burrowing of the itch mite Sarcoptes scabiei (De Geer). It is difficult to diagnose this disease because its symptoms often resemble those of other skin diseases. No reliable blood or molecular diagnostic test is available.

Draft genome of the scabies mite.

Background: The disease scabies, caused by the ectoparasitic mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, causes significant morbidity in humans and other mammals worldwide. However, there is limited data available regarding the molecular basis of host specificity and host-parasite interactions. Therefore, we sought to produce a draft genome for S.

The Potential for a Blood Test for Scabies.

Background: Scabies afflicts millions of people worldwide, but it is very difficult to diagnose by the usual skin scrape test, and a presumptive diagnosis is often made based on clinical signs such as rash and intense itch. A sensitive and specific blood test to detect scabies would allow a physician to quickly make a correct diagnosis.

Objective: Our objective was to profile the mite-specific antibodies present in the sera of patients with ordinary scabies.

Population Growth and Allergen Content of Cultured Euroglyphus maynei House Dust Mites.

Background: The house dust mite, Euroglyphus maynei, occurs in homes worldwide and is an important source of many allergens. Many patients sensitive to Dermatophagoides farinae and D. pteronyssinus are also sensitive to E.

Reproductive biology of Euroglyphus maynei with comparisons to Dermatophagoides farinae and D. pteronyssinus.

The reproductive biology of the house dust mite, Euroglyphus maynei, is not well studied. This mite is usually less common in homes than Dermatophagoides farinae and D. pteronyssinus.

Use of a virtual reality physical ride-on sailing simulator as a rehabilitation tool for recreational sports and community reintegration: a pilot study.

Participation in sailing by people with disabilities, particularly in small sailboats, is widely regarded as having positive outcomes on self-esteem and general health for the participants. However, a major hurdle for people with no previous experience of sailing, even by those without disabilities, is the perception that sailing is elitist, expensive, and dangerous. Real-time "ride-on" sailing simulators have the potential to bridge the gap between dry-land and on-the-water sailing.

Sarcoptes scabiei mites modulate gene expression in human skin equivalents.

The ectoparasitic mite, Sarcoptes scabiei that burrows in the epidermis of mammalian skin has a long co-evolution with its hosts. Phenotypic studies show that the mites have the ability to modulate cytokine secretion and expression of cell adhesion molecules in cells of the skin and other cells of the innate and adaptive immune systems that may assist the mites to survive in the skin. The purpose of this study was to identify genes in keratinocytes and fibroblasts in human skin equivalents (HSEs) that changed expression in response to the burrowing of live scabies mites.

Proteins and endotoxin in house dust mite extracts modulate cytokine secretion and gene expression by dermal fibroblasts.

House dust mite extracts used for diagnostic tests and immunotherapy contain bioreactive molecules including proteins and endotoxin. These extracts can influence the cytokine secretion and adhesion molecule expression by cells in the skin and lung airways. The aim of this study was to determine the role of proteins and endotoxin in mite extracts in modulating gene expression and cytokine secretion by human dermal fibroblasts.

Effect of stored product mite extracts on human dermal microvascular endothelial cells.

Stored product mites commonly occur in agricultural work environments and sometimes in homes in significant numbers. They are a source of allergens that sensitize and induce allergic reactions. This may include atopic dermatitis.

Population growth and allergen accumulation of Dermatophagoides farinae cultured at 20 and 25 °C.

House dust mites are cultured to obtain mite allergen material to produce allergen extracts (vaccines) for diagnostic tests, immunotherapy, and research purposes. Research laboratories and manufacturers have their own culturing protocols to grow these mites and these may vary between manufacturers and between research laboratories. The temperature at which mites are cultured may influence the allergen composition, allergen ratio of Der 1: Der 2 and endotoxin levels in the extracts produced from these cultured mites.

Diet influences growth rates and allergen and endotoxin contents of cultured Dermatophagoides farinae and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus house dust mites.

Background: The house dust mites Dermatophagoides farinae and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus are cultured to obtain material for the production of allergen extracts for research, diagnostic and immunotherapeutic purposes.

Methods: We cultured mites on two different diets that supported thriving populations and determined the population growth rates, dynamics of allergen accumulation, and endotoxin concentrations in extracts made from mites harvested from the cultures.

Results: D.

Immunomodulation of skin cytokine secretion by house dust mite extracts.

Background: Skin contact with house dust mites may contribute to atopic dermatitis and other skin diseases. We sought to determine if molecules from house dust mites could influence the release of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines from epidermal keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts grown in a human skin equivalent (HSE) model.

Methods: HSEs consisting of an epidermis of keratinocytes with stratum corneum over a dermis of fibroblasts in a collagen matrix were challenged with Dermatophagoides farinae, D.

Response of human skin equivalents to Sarcoptes scabiei.

Studies have shown that molecules in an extract made from bodies of the ectoparasitic mite, Sarcoptes scabiei De Geer, modulate cytokine secretion from cultured human keratinocytes and fibroblasts. In vivo, in the parasitized skin, these cells interact with each other by contact and cytokine mediators and with the matrix in which they reside. Therefore, these cell types may function differently together than they do separately.

Population growth and allergen accumulation of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus cultured at 20 and 25 °C.

The house dust mites, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and D. farinae are cultured commercially and in research laboratories and material is harvested from these cultures to make extracts that are used for diagnosis, immunotherapy and research. Temperature and other climatic conditions can influence population growth rates, dynamics of allergen production, and the associated endotoxin, enzyme and protein levels of the mite material harvested from these cultures.

Acaricidal activity of eugenol based compounds against scabies mites.

Background: Human scabies is a debilitating skin disease caused by the "itch mite" Sarcoptes scabiei. Ordinary scabies is commonly treated with topical creams such as permethrin, while crusted scabies is treated with topical creams in combination with oral ivermectin. Recent reports of acaricide tolerance in scabies endemic communities in Northern Australia have prompted efforts to better understand resistance mechanisms and to identify potential new acaricides.

Increased transcription of Glutathione S-transferases in acaricide exposed scabies mites.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis mites collected from scabies endemic communities in northern Australia show increasing tolerance to 5% permethrin and oral ivermectin. Previous findings have implicated detoxification pathways in developing resistance to these acaricides.