Substance use and motivation: a longitudinal perspective.

Background: Motivation to change substance use behavior is an important component of the recovery process that has usually been studied at entry into treatment. Less studied, but equally important, is the measurement of motivation over time and the role motivation plays in subsequent substance use.

Objectives: The present study sought to examine longitudinal motivation toward sobriety among residents of sober living houses.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B negatively regulates macrophage development through CSF-1 signaling.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP-1B) is a ubiquitously expressed cytosolic phosphatase with the ability to dephosphorylate JAK2 and TYK2, and thereby down-regulate cytokine receptor signaling. Furthermore, PTP-1B levels are up-regulated in certain chronic myelogenous leukemia patients, which points to a potential role for PTP-1B in myeloid development. The results presented here show that the absence of PTP-1B affects murine myelopoiesis by modifying the ratio of monocytes to granulocytes in vivo.

Association between early postoperative coagulation activation and peri-operative myocardial ischaemia in patients undergoing vascular surgery.

We investigated the association of peri-operative myocardial ischaemia with activation of coagulation and endogenous fibrinolysis in patients undergoing vascular surgery. In 50 patients, continuous Holter monitoring was performed to assess peri-operative myocardial ischaemia and 12-lead electrocardiography was recorded preoperatively and 72 h postoperatively to assess myocardial infarction. Serial blood samples were drawn peri-operatively to determine the concentrations of fibrin monomers (for activation of coagulation), D-dimer (for endogenous fibrinolysis) and cardiac troponin T and I.

T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatase deletion results in progressive systemic inflammatory disease.

The deregulation of the immune response is a critical component in inflammatory disease. Recent in vitro data show that T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatase (TC-PTP) is a negative regulator of cytokine signaling. Furthermore, tc-ptp(-/-) mice display immune defects and die within 5 weeks of birth.

Isolated systolic hypertension is associated with adverse outcomes from coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.

Unlabelled: Isolated systolic blood pressure has not been sufficiently studied in the perioperative setting and may contribute to morbidity and mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of isolated systolic hypertension among patients who had CABG surgery and to assess whether isolated systolic hypertension is associated with perioperative and postoperative in-hospital morbidity or mortality. Patients who underwent CABG were selected from a prospective epidemiological study involving 2417 patients in 24 medical centers.