Publications by authors named "N P Blair"

Background: Prolonged Grief Disorder is a multidimensional condition with adverse health consequences. We hypothesized that enhanced negative emotional bias characterizes this disorder and underlies its key clinical symptoms.

Methods: In a cross-sectional design, chronically grieving older adults (61.

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Calcium (Ca) dysregulation is a hallmark feature of cardiovascular disease. Intracellular Ca regulation is essential for proper heart function and is controlled by the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca ATPase (SERCA2a). Another-regulin (ALN) is a newly discovered cardiomyocyte-expressed SERCA2a inhibitor, suggesting cardiomyocyte Ca-handling is more complex than previously appreciated.

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Sarcopenia burdens the older population through loss of muscle energy and mass, yet treatments to functionally rescue both parameters are lacking. The glucocorticoid prednisone remodels muscle metabolism on the basis of frequency of intake, but its mechanisms in sarcopenia are unknown. We found that once-weekly intermittent prednisone administration rescued muscle quality in aged 24-month-old mice to a level comparable to that seen in young 4-month-old mice.

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The predominant use of intravenous catheters as primary access type in the pediatric hemodialysis population is associated with an increased risk of catheter related blood stream infections. While strict adherence to catheter placement and long-term care guidelines have helped to decrease the incidence of these infections, blood stream infections remain an infection burden in pediatric patients with long term hemodialysis catheters. The formation of biofilms on the surfaces of these catheters has been shown to be a source of microbes causing blood stream infections.

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Article Synopsis
  • Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) affects cognitive functions, especially in older adults experiencing early grief, but the specific neuropsychological impacts are not well understood.
  • A study compared neuropsychological performance among older bereaved adults (with high and low grief symptoms) and non-bereaved individuals, revealing that those with high grief experienced greater impairments in executive functioning, attention, and processing speed.
  • Findings suggest that poorer cognitive performance correlates with higher grief intensity, particularly within the first six months after a loss, indicating that early grief may hinder cognitive functioning and could potentially affect the development of integrated grief or PGD.
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