Effects of long-term statin-treatment on coronary atherosclerosis in patients with inflammatory joint diseases.

Background: The effect of statins over time on coronary atherosclerosis in patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) is unknown. Our aim was to evaluate the change in coronary plaque morphology and volume in long-term statin-treated patients with IJD.

Methods: Sixty-eight patients with IJD and carotid artery plaque(s) underwent coronary computed tomography angiography before and after a mean of 4.

Associations between certolizumab pegol serum levels, anti-drug antibodies and treatment response in patients with inflammatory joint diseases: data from the NOR-DMARD study.

Objectives: To identify a therapeutic target interval for certolizumab pegol drug levels and examine the influence of anti-drug antibodies in patients with inflammatory joint diseases.

Methods: Certolizumab pegol and anti-drug antibody levels were measured in serum samples collected after 3 months of certolizumab pegol treatment in 268 patients with inflammatory joint diseases (116 axial spondyloarthritis, 91 rheumatoid arthritis and 61 psoriatic arthritis) in the NOR-DMARD study. Treatment response was defined by Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score Clinically important improvement in axial spondyloarthritis, European League Against Rheumatism good/moderate response in rheumatoid arthritis, and improvement in 28-joint Disease Activity Score of ≥ 0.

Associations Between a New Disruptive Behaviors Scale and Teamwork, Patient Safety, Work-Life Balance, Burnout, and Depression.

Background: Disruptive and unprofessional behaviors occur frequently in health care and adversely affect patient care and health care worker job satisfaction. These behaviors have rarely been evaluated at a work setting level, nor do we fully understand how disruptive behaviors (DBs) are associated with important metrics such as teamwork and safety climate, work-life balance, burnout, and depression.

Objectives: Using a cross-sectional survey of all health care workers in a large US health system, this study aimed to introduce a brief scale for evaluating DBs at a work setting level, evaluate the scale's psychometric properties and provide benchmarking prevalence data from the health care system, and investigate associations between DBs and other validated measures of safety culture and well-being.

The focal adhesion scaffold protein Hic-5 regulates vimentin organization in fibroblasts.

Focal adhesion (FA)-stimulated reorganization of the F-actin cytoskeleton regulates cellular size, shape, and mechanical properties. However, FA cross-talk with the intermediate filament cytoskeleton is poorly understood. Genetic ablation of the FA-associated scaffold protein Hic-5 in mouse cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) promoted a dramatic collapse of the vimentin network, which was rescued following EGFP-Hic-5 expression.

Safety climate, safety climate strength, and length of stay in the NICU.

Background: Safety climate is an important marker of patient safety attitudes within health care units, but the significance of intra-unit variation of safety climate perceptions (safety climate strength) is poorly understood. This study sought to examine the standard safety climate measure (percent positive response (PPR)) and safety climate strength in relation to length of stay (LOS) of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants within California neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

Methods: Observational study of safety climate from 2073 health care providers in 44 NICUs.

Evidence Relating Health Care Provider Burnout and Quality of Care: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Whether health care provider burnout contributes to lower quality of patient care is unclear.

Purpose: To estimate the overall relationship between burnout and quality of care and to evaluate whether published studies provide exaggerated estimates of this relationship.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Health and Psychosocial Instruments (EBSCO), Mental Measurements Yearbook (EBSCO), EMBASE (Elsevier), and Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics), with no language restrictions, from inception through 28 May 2019.

Peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) activity in early rheumatoid arthritis.

: Peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs) are a family of calcium-dependent enzymes catalysing the conversion of arginine residues to citrulline, which may constitute a risk factor in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis. We investigated PAD activation by serum (PAD) in early RA, and the associations between PAD activation and disease characteristics, treatment response, and progression of radiographic damage.: Sera from disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD)-naïve early RA patients (n = 225), classified according to the 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria, and healthy controls (n = 63) were analysed for PAD4 activating capacity at 0, 3, 12, and 24 months using a high-performance liquid chromatography fluorometric method.

Trends in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with incident rheumatoid arthritis: a 20-year follow-up matched case-cohort study.

Objectives: To examine all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in consecutive cohorts of patients with incident RA, compared with population comparators.

Methods: The Oslo RA register inclusion criteria were diagnosis of RA (1987 ACR criteria) and residency in Oslo. Patients with disease onset 1994-2008 and 10 matched comparators for each case were linked to the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry.

Evidence for adaptive responses to historic drought across a native plant species range.

As climatic conditions change, species will be forced to move or adapt to avoid extinction. Exacerbated by ongoing climate change, California recently experienced a severe and exceptional drought from 2011 to 2017. To investigate whether an adaptive response occurred during this event, we conducted a "resurrection" study of the cutleaf monkeyflower (), an annual plant, by comparing trait means and variances of ancestral seed collections ("pre-drought") with contemporary descendant collections ("drought").

Top-Down Enrichment Guides in Formation of Synthetic Microbial Consortia for Biomass Degradation.

Consortium-based approaches are a promising avenue toward efficient bioprocessing. However, many complex microbial interactions dictate community dynamics and stability that must be replicated in synthetic systems. The rumen and/or hindguts of large mammalian herbivores harbor complex communities of biomass-degrading fungi and bacteria, as well as archaea and protozoa that work collectively to degrade lignocellulose, yet the microbial interactions responsible for stability, resilience, and activity of the community remain largely uncharacterized.

Ecological effects of fear: How spatiotemporal heterogeneity in predation risk influences mule deer access to forage in a sky-island system.

Forage availability and predation risk interact to affect habitat use of ungulates across many biomes. Within sky-island habitats of the Mojave Desert, increased availability of diverse forage and cover may provide ungulates with unique opportunities to extend nutrient uptake and/or to mitigate predation risk. We addressed whether habitat use and foraging patterns of female mule deer () responded to normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), NDVI rate of change (green-up), or the occurrence of cougars ().

Four-year follow-up of inflammatory arthropathy patients treated with golimumab: Data from the observational multicentre NOR-DMARD study.

Objective: To compare (1) golimumab drug survival and efficacy in bDMARD naïve compared with non-naïve rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA) patients, (2) golimumab drug survival in RA and PsA patients treated with/without concomitant csDMARDs, (3) predictors of golimumab drug discontinuation.

Methods: Patients starting golimumab were included from the prospective observational multicenter Norwegian DMARD study. Drug survival was explored by Kaplan-Meier analyses with log rank test.

Communicating Structure and Function in Synthetic Biology Diagrams.

Biological engineers often find it useful to communicate using diagrams. These diagrams can include information both about the structure of the nucleic acid sequences they are engineering and about the functional relationships between features of these sequences and/or other molecular species. A number of conventions and practices have begun to emerge within synthetic biology for creating such diagrams, and the Synthetic Biology Open Language Visual (SBOL Visual) has been developed as a standard to organize, systematize, and extend such conventions in order to produce a coherent visual language.

Assessing synovitis in the hands in patients with rheumatoid arthritis by ultrasound: an agreement study exploring the most inflammatory active side from two Norwegian trials.

Objective: To assess if the right hand, the dominant hand, or the hand with more clinically swollen joints (SwJ) is per se the most inflamed and exhibits the greatest change during treatment and hence preferred for unilateral scoring of synovitis by ultrasound in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

Methods: Using data from two previously published Norwegian RA patient cohorts initiating treatment, bilateral metacarpophalangeal joint 1-5, proximal phalangeal joint 2+3, and wrists were evaluated by ultrasound. Using a 0-3 scoring system a grey-scale (GS), power Doppler (PD) and global synovitis score (GLOESS) was calculated for each hand (0-30).

Dynamic modulation of the Fermi energy in suspended graphene backgated devices.

Freestanding (suspended) graphene films, with high electron mobility (up to ~200,000 cmVs), good mechanical and electronic properties, could resolve many of the current issues that are hampering the upscaling of graphene technology. Thus far, attempts at reliably fabricating suspended graphene devices comprising metal contacts, have often been hampered by difficulties in exceeding sizes of 1 µm in diameter, if using UV lithography. In this work, area of suspended graphene large enough to be utilized in microelectronic devices, have been obtained by suspending a CVD graphene film over cavities, with top contacts defined through UV lithography with both wet and dry etching.

Synthetic Biology Open Language Visual (SBOL Visual) Version 2.1.

People who are engineering biological organisms often find it useful to communicate in diagrams, both about the structure of the nucleic acid sequences that they are engineering and about the functional relationships between sequence features and other molecular species . Some typical practices and conventions have begun to emerge for such diagrams. The Synthetic Biology Open Language Visual (SBOL Visual) has been developed as a standard for organizing and systematizing such conventions in order to produce a coherent language for expressing the structure and function of genetic designs.

Swollen, but not tender joints, are independently associated with ultrasound synovitis: results from a longitudinal observational study of patients with established rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: Joint swelling and tenderness are considered a proxy for inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). With ultrasound-detected inflammation as reference, our objectives were to explore on patient and joint level the associations between ultrasound synovitis and joint swelling, tenderness and patient-reported joint pain (PRJP).

Methods: 209 patients with established RA were examined six times during 12 months with assessment of 32 joints in upper/lower extremities for joint swelling/tenderness and Grey scale (GS)/power Doppler (PD) synovitis.

Development of a Short Form for the Levels of Personality Functioning Questionnaire.

The (5th ed. []; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) introduced the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD). Criterion A of the AMPD conceptualizes level of personality functioning (LOPF) in terms of self- and interpersonal functioning.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity and Utility of the DSM-5 Levels of Personality Functioning Questionnaire (DLOPFQ): Associations with Medical Health Care Provider Ratings and Measures of Physical Health.

The ability to evaluate patients' level of personality functioning in assessing personality disorders has become increasingly important since the DSM-5 Section III hybrid system of personality disorder assessment was released. One measure developed to assess this criterion is the DSM-5 Levels of Personality Functioning Questionnaire (DLOPFQ; Huprich et al., 2017 ), which assesses individuals' self and other representations in four domains-self-direction, identity, empathy, and intimacy-across two contexts-work or school and relationships.

Expanding the Role of Levels of Personality Functioning in Personality Disorder Taxonomy: Commentary on "Criterion A of the AMPD in HiTOP".

The Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) construes personality disorder diagnosis in terms of levels of personality functioning (LPF) as well as dimensions of pathological personality traits. The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), which offers a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing psychopathology, integrates pathological personality traits into a model for understanding different disorders, deficits, and personality problems. Widiger et al.

Teaching patient safety in global health: lessons from the Duke Global Health Patient Safety Fellowship.

Health systems in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) have a high burden of medical errors and complications, and the training of local experts in patient safety is critical to improve the quality of global healthcare. This analysis explores our experience with the Duke Global Health Patient Safety Fellowship, which is designed to train clinicians from LMICs in patient safety, quality improvement and infection control. This intensive fellowship of 3-4 weeks includes (1) didactic training in patient safety and quality improvement, (2) experiential training in patient safety operations, and (3) mentorship of fellows in their home institution as they lead local safety programmes.

Forty-five good things: a prospective pilot study of the Three Good Things well-being intervention in the USA for healthcare worker emotional exhaustion, depression, work-life balance and happiness.

Objectives: High rates of healthcare worker (HCW) burn-out have led many to label it an 'epidemic' urgently requiring interventions. This prospective pilot study examined the efficacy, feasibility and evaluation of the 'Three Good Things' (3GT) intervention for HCWs, and added burn-out and work-life balance to the set of well-being metrics.

Methods: 228 HCWs participated in a prospective, repeated measures study of a web-based 15-day long 3GT intervention.