Protocol for the ROSE sustainment (ROSES) study, a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial to determine the minimum necessary intervention to maintain a postpartum depression prevention program in prenatal clinics serving low-income women.

Background: More research on sustainment of interventions is needed, especially return on investment (ROI) studies to determine cost-benefit trade-offs for effort required to sustain and how much is gained when effective programs are sustained. The ROSE sustainment (ROSES) study uses a sequential multiple assignment randomized (SMART) design to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a stepwise approach to sustainment of the ROSE postpartum depression prevention program in 90 outpatient clinics providing prenatal care to pregnant women on public assistance. Postpartum depression (PPD) is common and can have lasting consequences.

Mast Cells and Innate Lymphoid Cells: Underappreciated Players in CNS Autoimmune Demyelinating Disease.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and its mouse model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, are autoimmune CNS inflammatory diseases. As a result of a breakdown in the relatively impermeable blood-brain barrier (BBB) in affected individuals, myelin-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells gain entry into the immune privileged CNS and initiate myelin, oligodendrocyte, and nerve axon destruction. However, despite the absolute requirement for T cells, there is increasing evidence that innate immune cells also play critical amplifying roles in disease pathogenesis.

Evidence for a neuroprotective microRNA pathway in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) that regulate mRNA stability have been linked to amyloid production, tau phosphorylation, and inflammation in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, whether cerebral miRNA networks are dysregulated during the earliest stages of AD remains underexplored. We performed miRNA expression analysis using frontal cortex tissue harvested from subjects who died with a clinical diagnosis of no cognitive impairment (NCI), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI, a putative prodromal AD stage), or mild AD.

Family-based interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed preadolescents: examining efficacy and potential treatment mechanisms.

Objective: To conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of family-based interpersonal psychotherapy (FB-IPT) for treating depression in preadolescents (aged 7-12 years) as compared to child-centered therapy (CCT), a supportive and nondirective treatment that closely approximates the standard of care for pediatric depression in community mental health.

Method: Preadolescents with depression (N = 42) were randomly assigned FB-IPT or CCT. Pre- and posttreatment assessments included clinician-administered measures of depression, parent- and child-reported depression and anxiety symptoms, and parent-child conflict and interpersonal impairment with peers.

A prospective study of parentally bereaved youth, caregiver depression, and body mass index.

Objective: To examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) in bereaved youth and nonbereaved controls 5 years after a parent's death. The study was conducted from August 9, 2002, through December 31, 2013.

Design: A prospective, longitudinal, controlled study of the effects of sudden parental death on youth.

Iκb-ζ plays an important role in the ERK-dependent dysregulation of malaria parasite GPI-induced IL-12 expression.

Plasmodium falciparum glycosylphosphatidylinositols (GPIs) have been proposed as malaria pathogenic factors based on their ability to induce proinflammatory responses in macrophages and malaria-like symptoms in mice. Parasite GPIs induce the production of inflammatory cytokines by activating the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and NF-κB signaling pathways. Importantly, inhibition of the extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway upregulates a subset of cytokines, including IL-12.

MAPK-activated protein kinase 2 differentially regulates plasmodium falciparum glycosylphosphatidylinositol-induced production of tumor necrosis factor-{alpha} and interleukin-12 in macrophages.

Proinflammatory responses induced by Plasmodium falciparum glycosylphosphatidylinositols (GPIs) are thought to be involved in malaria pathogenesis. In this study, we investigated the role of MAPK-activated protein kinase 2 (MK2) in the regulation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin (IL)-12, two of the major inflammatory cytokines produced by macrophages stimulated with GPIs. We show that MK2 differentially regulates the GPI-induced production of TNF-alpha and IL-12.

Influence of source parameters on large-field electron beam profiles calculated using Monte Carlo methods.

The purpose of this paper was to study the source model for a Monte Carlo simulation of electron beams from a medical linear accelerator. In a prior study, a non-divergent Gaussian source with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 0.15 cm was successful in predicting relative dose distributions for electron beams with applicators.

Comprehensive evaluation of a commercial macro Monte Carlo electron dose calculation implementation using a standard verification data set.

A commercial electron dose calculation software implementation based on the macro Monte Carlo algorithm has recently been introduced. We have evaluated the performance of the system using a standard verification data set comprised of two-dimensional (2D) dose distributions in the transverse plane of a 15 X 15 cm2 field. The standard data set was comprised of measurements performed for combinations of 9-MeV and 20-MeV beam energies and five phantom geometries.

Importance of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A10 (UGT1A10) in the detoxification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: decreased glucuronidative activity of the UGT1A10139Lys isoform.

UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A10 (UGT1A10) is an extrahepatic enzyme expressed in aerodigestive tract tissues that exhibits significant glucuronidation activity against the important procarcinogenic benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) metabolite, BaP-trans-7,8-dihydrodiol (BPD), and the UGT1A10 codon 139 (Glu>Lys) polymorphism was previously implicated in risk for orolaryngeal cancer by Elahi et al. in their 2003 study. To better assess the potential role of UGT1A10 in risk for tobacco-related cancers, the glucuronidation activity of UGT1A10 was compared with that of other known UGT enzymes against selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and the effects of the codon 139 polymorphism on UGT1A10 function were examined in vitro.

Dosimetric uncertainties of three-dimensional dose reconstruction from two-dimensional data in a multi-institutional study.

Inconsistencies in the treatment planning process leading to dosimetric uncertainties may affect conclusions drawn from interinstitutional radiation oncology clinical trials. The purpose of this study was to assess the dosimetric uncertainties resulting from the process of reconstructing three-dimensional dose distributions from two-dimensional treatment plan information provided by participating institutions in a randomized clinical trial. This study was based on American College of Radiology Protocol #427, Locally Advanced Multi-Modality Protocol; a multi-institutional phase II randomized study involving radiation therapy for patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer.