Measurement of Urinary Gc-Globulin by a Fluorescence ELISA Technique: Method Validation and Clinical Evaluation in Septic Patients-A Pilot Study.

A major complication of sepsis is the development of acute kidney injury (AKI). In case of acute tubular damage, Gc-globulin, a known serum sepsis marker is increasingly filtrated into the urine therefore, urinary Gc-globulin (u-Gc) levels may predict septic AKI. We developed and validated a competitive fluorescence ELISA method for u-Gc measurement.

Serum Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) and TAC/Lymphocyte Ratio as Promising Predictive Markers in COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2 infection might cause a critical disease, and patients' follow-up is based on multiple parameters. Oxidative stress is one of the key factors in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 suggesting that its level could be a prognostic marker. Therefore, we elucidated the predictive value of the serum non-enzymatic total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and that of the newly introduced TAC/lymphocyte ratio in COVID-19.

Presepsin: gelsolin ratio, as a promising marker of sepsis-related organ dysfunction: a prospective observational study.

Introduction: We aimed to facilitate the diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis-related organ dysfunction through analyzing presepsin (PSEP) and gelsolin (GSN) levels along with a novel marker, the presepsin:gelsolin (PSEP:GSN) ratio.

Methods: Blood samples were collected from septic patients at the intensive care unit (ICU) at three time points (T1-3): T1: within 12 h after admission; T2: second day morning; T3: third day morning. Sampling points for non-septic ICU patients were T1 and T3.

Arrested Friendships? Justice Involvement and Interpersonal Exclusion among Rural Youth.

Objectives: We examine the impacts of adolescent arrest on friendship networks. In particular, we extend labeling theory by testing hypotheses for three potential mechanisms of interpersonal exclusion related to the stigma of arrest: rejection, withdrawal, and homophily.

Method: We use longitudinal data on 48 peer networks from PROSPER, a study of rural youth followed through middle and high school.

Normalization of cerebral hemodynamics after hematopoietic stem cell transplant in children with sickle cell disease.

Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) demonstrate cerebral hemodynamic stress and are at high risk of strokes. We hypothesized that curative hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) normalizes cerebral hemodynamics in children with SCD compared with pre-transplant baseline. Whole-brain cerebral blood flow (CBF) and oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) were measured by magnetic resonance imaging 1 to 3 months before and 12 to 24 months after HSCT in 10 children with SCD.

Novel Damage Biomarkers of Sepsis-Related Acute Kidney Injury.

Sepsis-related acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most common complications of sepsis at the intensive care unit (ICU) with more adverse mortality rates. The early diagnosis and reliable monitoring of sepsis-related AKI are essential in achieving a favorable outcome. Novel serum and urinary biomarkers could yield valuable information during this process.

Similarity of friends versus nonfriends in adolescence: Developmental patterns and ecological influences.

This study examines developmental change across adolescence in the similarity of friends versus nonfriends. This differential in similarity is a key aspect of the organization of the peer context of development: The stronger the correlation between friends for an attribute, the more the attribute delineates clustering and divisions of friendships. We investigated change in the correlation between friends across 12 attributes covering demographics, orientations to key institutions (family, school, religion), and problem behavior, and we expected that the link between similarity and friendship would increase during adolescence for most attributes other than gender.

Urinary actin, as a potential marker of sepsis-related acute kidney injury: A pilot study.

Introduction: A major complication of sepsis is the development of acute kidney injury (AKI). Recently, it was shown that intracellular actin released from damaged tissues appears in the urine of patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Our aims were to measure urinary actin (u-actin) concentrations of septic and control patients and to test if u-actin levels could predict AKI and mortality.

Moderators of Friend Selection and Influence in Relation to Adolescent Alcohol Use.

Friendships form an important context in which adolescents initiate and establish alcohol use patterns, but not all adolescents may be equally affected by this context. Therefore, this study tests whether parenting practices (i.e.

Bulk volume susceptibility difference between deoxyhemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin for HbA and HbS: A comparative study.

Purpose: Sickle cell anemia is a blood disorder that alters the morphology and the oxygen affinity of the red blood cells. Cerebral oxygen extraction fraction measurements using quantitative BOLD contrast have been used for assessing inadequate oxygen delivery and the subsequent risk of ischemic stroke in sickle cell anemia. The BOLD signal in MRI studies relies on , the bulk volume susceptibility difference between fully oxygenated and fully deoxygenated blood.

Social Ties Cut Both Ways: Self-Harm and Adolescent Peer Networks.

Peers play an important role in adolescence, a time when self-harm arises as a major health risk, but little is known about the social networks of adolescents who cut. Peer network positions can affect mental distress related to cutting or provide direct social motivations for self-harm. This study uses PROSPER survey data from U.

Hydroxyurea reduces cerebral metabolic stress in patients with sickle cell anemia.

Chronic transfusion therapy (CTT) prevents stroke in selected patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA). We have shown that CTT mitigates signatures of cerebral metabolic stress, reflected by elevated oxygen extraction fraction (OEF), which likely drives stroke risk reduction. The region of highest OEF falls within the border zone, where cerebral blood flow (CBF) nadirs; OEF in this region was reduced after CTT.

Silent infarcts in sickle cell disease occur in the border zone region and are associated with low cerebral blood flow.

Silent cerebral infarcts (SCIs) are associated with cognitive impairment in sickle cell anemia (SCA). SCI risk factors include low hemoglobin and elevated systolic blood pressure; however, mechanisms underlying their development are unclear. Using the largest prospective study evaluating SCIs in pediatric SCA, we identified brain regions with increased SCI density.

Regional oxygen extraction predicts border zone vulnerability to stroke in sickle cell disease.

Objective: To determine mechanisms underlying regional vulnerability to infarction in sickle cell disease (SCD) by measuring voxel-wise cerebral blood flow (CBF), oxygen extraction fraction (OEF), and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen utilization (CMRO) in children with SCD.

Methods: Participants underwent brain MRIs to measure voxel-based CBF, OEF, and CMRO. An infarct heat map was created from an independent pediatric SCD cohort with silent infarcts and compared to prospectively obtained OEF maps.

Red cell exchange transfusions lower cerebral blood flow and oxygen extraction fraction in pediatric sickle cell anemia.

Blood transfusions are the mainstay of stroke prevention in pediatric sickle cell anemia (SCA), but the physiology conferring this benefit is unclear. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) are elevated in SCA, likely compensating for reduced arterial oxygen content (CaO). We hypothesized that exchange transfusions would decrease CBF and OEF by increasing CaO, thereby relieving cerebral oxygen metabolic stress.

New Students' Peer Integration and Exposure to Deviant Peers: Spurious Effects of School Moves?

School moves during adolescence predict lower peer integration and higher exposure to delinquent peers. Yet mobility and peer problems have several common correlates, so differences in movers' and non-movers' social adjustment may be due to selection rather than to causal effects of school moves. Drawing on survey and social network data from a sample of 7th and 8th graders, this study compared the structure and behavioral content of new students' friendship networks to those of not only non-movers, but also of students about to move schools; the latter should resemble new students in both observed and unobserved ways.

Large-Vessel Vasculopathy in Children With Sickle Cell Disease: A Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Infarct Topography and Focal Atrophy.

Background: Large-vessel vasculopathy (LVV) increases stroke risk in pediatric sickle cell disease beyond the baseline elevated stroke risk in this vulnerable population. The mechanisms underlying this added risk and its unique impact on the developing brain are not established.

Methods: We analyzed magnetic resonance imaging and angiography scans of 66 children with sickle cell disease and infarcts by infarct density heatmaps and Jacobian determinants, a metric utilized to delineate focal volume change, to investigate if infarct location, volume, frequency, and cerebral atrophy differed among hemispheres with and without LVV.

WHEN ONSET MEETS DESISTANCE: COGNITIVE TRANSFORMATION AND ADOLESCENT MARIJUANA EXPERIMENTATION.

Purpose: Desistance scholars primarily focus on changing social roles, cognitive transformations, and shifting identities to understand the cessation of serious crime and illicit drug use in adulthood. In the current study, we move the spotlight away from adulthood and toward adolescence, the developmental stage when the prevalence of offending and substance use peak and desistance from most of these behaviors begins. Our primary hypothesis is that changes in perceived psychic rewards surrounding initial forays into marijuana use strongly predict adolescents' decisions to cease or persist that behavior.

Peer beliefs and smoking in adolescence: a longitudinal social network analysis.

Background: Peer smoking is one of the strongest predictors of adolescent cigarette use, but less is known about whether other peer characteristics also contribute to this behavior.

Objectives: This study examined the links between adolescent cigarette use and peer beliefs about smoking. It tested whether peer beliefs about smoking are associated with changes in cigarette use, whether this association is a result of changes in individual beliefs about smoking, and how beliefs inform friendship choices.

Abnormal structural connectivity in the brain networks of children with hydrocephalus.

Increased intracranial pressure and ventriculomegaly in children with hydrocephalus are known to have adverse effects on white matter structure. This study seeks to investigate the impact of hydrocephalus on topological features of brain networks in children. The goal was to investigate structural network connectivity, at both global and regional levels, in the brains in children with hydrocephalus using graph theory analysis and diffusion tensor tractography.

Social Networks and the Diffusion of Adolescent Problem Behavior: Reliable Estimates of Selection and Influence from Sixth Through Ninth Grades.

Seeking to reduce problematic peer influence is a prominent theme of programs to prevent adolescent problem behavior. To support the refinement of this aspect of prevention programming, we examined peer influence and selection processes for three problem behaviors (delinquency, alcohol use, and smoking). We assessed not only the overall strengths of these peer processes, but also their consistency versus variability across settings.

Periventricular hyperintensity in children with hydrocephalus.

Background: Magnetic resonance images of children with hydrocephalus often include a rim of hyperintensity in the periventricular white matter (halo).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to decide between the hypothesis that the halo is caused by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow during the cardiac cycle, and the alternate hypothesis that the halo is caused by anatomical changes (stretching and compression of white matter).

Materials And Methods: Participants were selected from a multicenter imaging study of pediatric hydrocephalus.

The accuracy of linear indices of ventricular volume in pediatric hydrocephalus: technical note.

Assessment of ventricular size is essential in clinical management of hydrocephalus and other neurological disorders. At present, ventricular size is assessed using indices derived from the dimensions of the ventricles rather than the actual volumes. In a population of 22 children with congenital hydrocephalus and 22 controls, the authors evaluated the relationship between ventricular volume and linear indices in common use, such as the frontooccipital horn ratio, Evans' index, and the bicaudate index.

Revisiting "What They Think": Adolescent Drinking and the Importance of Peer Beliefs.

The association between delinquent peers and delinquent behavior is among the most consistent findings in the criminological literature, and a number of recent studies have raised the standards for determining the nature and extent of peer influence. Despite these advances, however, key questions about deviant behavior is socially transmitted remain unresolved. In particular, much of the research examining peer influence is limited to peer behavior, despite a rich literature supporting the salience of beliefs, such as expectations and moral approval, in shaping behaviors.