Investigating the impact of fuel price shocks on bicycle sharing usage in Budapest.

The creation of sustainable urban communities is contingent upon the establishment of a sustainable, efficient, and fast transportation system. Bicycle sharing systems (BSS) are one of the most sustainable and inclusive ways of transportation in cities. An important question is how to increase BSS ridership and whether it can effectively replace cars in cities, hence contributing to achieving the 11th Sustainable Development Goal and creating sustainable urban communities.

Using Single-Photon Emission Computerized Tomography on Patients With Positive Quantitative Electroencephalogram to Evaluate Chronic Mild Traumatic Brain Injury With Persistent Symptoms.

Background: Following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), also known as concussion, many patients with chronic symptoms (>3 months post injury) receive conventional imaging such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, these modalities often do not show changes after mTBI. We studied the benefit of triaging patients with ongoing symptoms >3 months post injury by quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) and then completing a brain single positron emission computed tomography (SPECT) to aid in diagnosis and early detection of brain changes.

Exercise Training Increases Parietal Lobe Cerebral Blood Flow in Chronic Stroke: An Observational Study.

Exercise is increasingly recommended as an essential component of stroke rehabilitation, yet uncertainty remains with respect to its direct effect on the cerebral vasculature. The current study first demonstrated the repeatability of pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in older adults with stroke, and then investigated the change in cerebrovascular function following a 6-month cardiovascular rehabilitation program. In the repeatability study, 12 participants at least 3 months post-stroke underwent two ASL imaging scans 1 month apart.

Maternal DRD2, SLC6A3, and OXTR genotypes as potential moderators of the relation between maternal history of care and maternal cortisol secretion in the context of mother-infant separation.

A mother's cortisol secretion is importantly associated with her own mental health and her infant's cortisol secretion. This study investigated the influences of maternal history of care and maternal DRD2, SLC6A3, and OXTR genotypes on maternal cortisol in the context of infant stress. A community sample of 296 mother-infant dyads completed a maternal separation at infant age 17 months.

Dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2), dopamine transporter solute carrier family C6, member 4 (SLC6A3), and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genes as moderators of the relation between maternal history of maltreatment and infant emotion regulation.

Although infants less than 18 months old are capable of engaging in self-regulatory behavior (e.g., avoidance, withdrawal, and orienting to other aspects of their environment), the use of self-regulatory strategies at this age (as opposed to relying on caregivers) is associated with elevated behavioral and physiological distress.

Unattended Hospital and Home Sleep Apnea Testing Following Cerebrovascular Events.

Background: Home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) is an alternative to polysomnography for the detection of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We assessed the feasibility of HSAT as an unattended screening tool for patients with a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).

Aims: The primary outcome was the feasibility of unattended HSAT, as defined by analyzability of the data.

Identifying obstructive sleep apnea after stroke/TIA: evaluating four simple screening tools.

Objective: Despite its high prevalence and unfavorable clinical consequences, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) often remains underappreciated after cerebrovascular events. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the clinical utility of four simple paper-based screening tools for excluding OSA after stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).

Patients/methods: Sixty-nine inpatients and outpatients with stroke or TIA during the past 180 days completed the 4-Variable screening tool (4V), STOP-BAG questionnaire (ie, STOP-BANG questionnaire without the neck circumference measurement), Berlin questionnaire, and the Sleep Obstructive apnea score optimized for Stroke (SOS).

MATERNAL SELF-REPORTED DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AND MATERNAL CORTISOL LEVELS INTERACT TO PREDICT INFANT CORTISOL LEVELS.

Three basic findings have emerged from research on maternal depressive symptoms and offspring hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal functioning: (a) Mothers' depressive symptoms are positively associated with their offsprings' cortisol stress response, (b) numerous individual and interpersonal maternal characteristics moderate this association, and (c) maternal and infant cortisol levels are highly correlated. In combination, these findings have suggested that maternal cortisol levels may moderate the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and infant cortisol responsivity; the current study assessed this hypothesis. Participants were 297 mother-infant dyads who were recruited from the community.

Summary cortisol reactivity indicators: Interrelations and meaning.

Research on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis has involved a proliferation of cortisol indices. We surveyed recently published HPA-related articles and identified 15 such indices. We sought to clarify their biometric properties, specifically, how they interrelate and what they mean, because such information is rarely offered in the articles themselves.

DRD2 and SLC6A3 moderate impact of maternal depressive symptoms on infant cortisol.

Both maternal depressive symptoms and infants' dopamine-related genetic characteristics have been linked to infants' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) functioning. This study investigated the interactive influence of maternal depressive symptoms and infant DRD2 and SLC6A3 genotypes on infant cortisol reactivity; whether this interaction reflects diathesis-stress or differential susceptibility; and whether this interaction influences the flexibility of the infant cortisol response across challenges known to exert differential effects on infant cortisol reactivity. A community sample of 314 mother-infant dyads participated in toy frustration (age 16 months) and maternal separation (age 17 months) challenges, and salivary cortisol was collected at baseline, +20, and +40min.

Lung ultrasound: a useful tool in diagnosis and management of bronchiolitis.

Background: Clinical assessment is the gold standard for diagnosis of bronchiolitis. To date, only one study found LUS (Lung Ultrasound) to be a valuable tool in the diagnosis of bronchiolitis. Aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of lung ultrasonography in the diagnosis and management of bronchiolitis in infants.

Ethical and Policy Considerations in the Application of Pharmacogenomic Testing for Tardive Dyskinesia: Case Study of the Dopamine D3 Receptor.

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a serious adverse effect often associated with the first generation antipsychotic medications used in the management of mental health disorders such as schizophrenia. Pharmacogenomics is the study of human genomic variation in relation to individual and population variability in medication response and side effects. Neuropsychiatry is one of the clinical domains in which pharmacogenomic approaches have been extensively studied.

Evalutation of mycophenolic acid systemic exposure by limited sampling strategy in kidney transplant recipients receiving enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium (EC-MPS) and cyclosporine.

Background: Enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium (EC-MPS) and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) are prodrugs of mycophenolic acid (MPA). Although many patients still receive MMF as an inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase inhibitor, EC-MPS could be considered a reliable alternative to MMF in the immunosuppressive protocols of kidney transplant recipients. MPA shows high pharmacokinetic variability and consequently a 12-h area under the curve (AUC(0-12)) should be used to guide the therapeutic dosage.

Absence of pharmacokinetic interference of moxifloxacin on cyclosporine and tacrolimus in kidney transplant recipients.

This study investigates the potential pharmacokinetic interactions between an antimicrobial agent, moxifloxacin, and 2 immunosuppressant drugs, cyclosporine and tacrolimus, in kidney transplant recipients. Twenty-two kidney transplant patients needing antibiotic therapy for urinary tract infections are enrolled. Eleven patients are under cyclosporine treatment and the other 11 patients are under tacrolimus treatment.

Oxidative stress in tardive dyskinesia: genetic association study and meta-analysis of NADPH quinine oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and Superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2, MnSOD) genes.

Introduction: Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a potentially irreversible side effect of antipsychotic medication treatment that occurs in approximately 25% of chronically treated schizophrenia patients. Oxidative stress has been one of the proposed mechanisms influencing TD risk. Pae et al.

Movements in brain death: a systematic review.

Brain death is the irreversible lost of function of the brain including the brainstem. The presence of spontaneous or reflex movements constitutes a challenge for the neurological determination of death. We reviewed historical aspects and practical implications of the presence of spontaneous or reflex movements in individuals with brain death and postulated pathophysiological mechanisms.

Immunoassay determination of rapamycin: reliability of the method with respect to liquid chromatography mass spectrometric quantification.

Immunochemical assays represent a promising tool for quantification of immunosuppressants in organ transplanted patients, because they require small sample volumes and minimum sample pre-treatment; nevertheless considerations about method specificity, sensitivity and reproducibility cannot be overlooked. The present paper investigates the reliability of using the immunoparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA) for the quantification of blood rapamycin (RAPA) levels in therapeutic drug monitoring of renal transplanted patients with respect to a validated liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric (LC/ESI-MSMS) method, used as reference. Linearity of MEIA was tested over the range 0.

Does protracted antiviral therapy impact on HCV-related liver cirrhosis progression?

Aim: To study the outcomes of patients with compensated hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis.

Methods: Twenty-four grade A5 and 11 grade A6 of Child-Pugh classification cirrhotic patients with active virus replication, treated for a mean period of 31.3 +/- 5.

A prospective study of acute drug-induced liver injury in patients suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Aim: Liver damage due to facultative hepatotoxins is scarcely foreseeable. We evaluated the prevalence of acute drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in a specific setting, assessing eventual interactions with pre-existing hepatic illnesses.

Methods: The research was carried out in an Italian tertiary care hospital, by analyzing 248 patients with non-advanced liver disease, divided into two well-matched groups: 174 patients (median age 53, 94 females) with hepatitis C virus-related chronic hepatitis; and 74 (median age 55, 39 females) with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

A pharmacokinetic interaction between clarithromycin and sirolimus in kidney transplant recipient.

Bacterial infection is a frequent event in renal transplant recipients and often requires the use of antimicrobial agents. In this paper it is reported an evidence of pharmacokinetic interaction between clarithromycin and sirolimus in a kidney transplanted woman, suffering from pulmonary infection sustained by a bacterial pathogen, in particular Hemophilus Influenzae. In the present case report, the concomitant administration of clarithromycin and sirolimus determined impressive increase of sirolimus trough blood concentrations from 6.

Reliability of total overnight salivary caffeine assessment (TOSCA) for liver function evaluation in compensated cirrhotic patients.

Background And Aims: Systemic caffeine clearance is considered the gold standard for phenotyping cytochrome P450 1A2 in epidemiological studies, and has been recommended for the non-invasive assessment of liver function in chronic liver disease. Our aim was to find a valid, simple and reliable alternative to this method, and therefore focused our attention on the measurement of an unique salivary caffeine concentration, without drug exposure.

Methods: Our evaluation included 36 healthy controls, 47 patients with compensated liver cirrhosis of viral origin, and 48 obese and diabetic patients with cryptogenetic (likely metabolic) cirrhosis.

A birth-season/DRD4 gene interaction predicts weight gain and obesity in women with seasonal affective disorder: A seasonal thrifty phenotype hypothesis.

We have recently described an association between the hypofunctional 7-repeat allele (7R) of the dopamine-4 receptor gene (DRD4), weight gain, and obesity in women with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). In the current study, we examined whether season-of-birth might interact with the 7R allele to influence body weight regulation in SAD. In 182 female probands with SAD, we performed an analysis of covariance predicting maximum lifetime body mass index (BMI) with both the exon-3 variable number of tandem repeat polymorphism of DRD4 and season-of-birth as independent variables, and age as the covariate.

Pharmacokinetic interaction between levofloxacin and ciclosporin or tacrolimus in kidney transplant recipients: ciclosporin, tacrolimus and levofloxacin in renal transplantation.

Background And Objective: Bacterial infections are common complications after organ transplantation. Fluoroquinolones are frequently used for treatment because of their broad spectrum of activity; but some of them, such as ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin, are reported to increase blood concentration of ciclosporin because they are metabolised by the liver through the same enzymatic pathway, the cytochrome P450 system. This study was performed to establish whether levofloxacin, a more recent fluoroquinolone that undergoes limited hepatic metabolism, interferes with metabolism and excretion of either ciclosporin microemulsion or tacrolimus.

A Cys 23-Ser 23 substitution in the 5-HT(2C) receptor gene influences body weight regulation in females with seasonal affective disorder: an Austrian-Canadian collaborative study.

Most females with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) exhibit atypical vegetative symptoms such as overeating, and weight gain when depressed. The serotonin 2C receptor (5-HT(2C)) plays a key role in control of appetite and satiety. A 5-HT(2C) Cys 23 Ser substitution, coded for by a single nucleotide polymorphism (Cys 23 Ser) within the 5-HT(2C) gene, has been shown to influence 5-HT(2C) function.