3,188 results match your criteria: "University of Massachusetts-Boston[Affiliation]"

In preparation for leveraging extracellular vesicles (EVs) for disease diagnostics and therapeutics, fundamental research is being done to understand EV biological, chemical, and physical properties. Most published studies have investigated nanoscale EVs and focused on EV biochemical content. There is much less understanding of large microscale EV characteristics and EV mechanical properties.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In coastal salinized groundwater systems, contamination from various nitrate (NO) inputs combined with complex hydrogeochemical processes make it difficult to distinguish NO sources and identify potential NO transformtation processes. Effective field-based NO studies in coastal areas are needed to improve the understanding of NO contamination dynamics in groundwater of such complex coastal systems. This study focuses on a typical Mediterranean coastal agricultural area, located in Tunisia, experiencing substantial NO contamination from multiple anthropogenic sources.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite the widely-acknowledged potential of housing with services for improving the lives of low-income older adults, ensuring their financial sustainability has been challenging. This study aimed to address this issue, drawing on 31 key informant interviews and three focus groups with payers, housing providers, and community partners involved in the Boston-area Right Care, Right Place, Right Time Program, which enrolled about 400 older adults. Transcripts were qualitatively analyzed using thematic coding.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sex differences in resting cerebral hemodynamics decline with aging. Given that acute resistance exercise (RE) is a hypertensive challenge, it may reveal sex-dependent abnormalities in cerebral hemodynamics. Thus, we hypothesized that cerebral blood velocity and pulsatility responses to RE would be sex-dependent in older adults.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Excimeric systems (i.e., excited dimers) have well served as model compounds for the study of the delocalization of electronic energy over weakly interacting chromophores.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Homelessness among older individuals is increasing and women experiencing homelessness have been previously shown to have poorer health outcomes than their male counterparts. To address these concerns, the Bridges to Elders (BTE) program was developed to improve health and social outcomes for older women experiencing or at risk for homelessness. BTE consisted of a nurse practitioner (NP) and community health worker (CHW) dyad who provided intensive case management services for women 55+ with housing instability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Community-based organizations (CBOs) are important equity-promoting delivery channels for evidence-based interventions (EBIs). However, CBO practitioners often cannot access needed support to build EBI skills. Additionally, the capacity-building literature is hindered by inconsistent definitions, limited use of validated measures, and an emphasis on the perspectives of EBI developers versus implementers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Home and community-based services (HCBSs) such as home care and adult day centers are vital to supporting adults with dementia in community settings. We investigated whether HCBS use (use of both home care and adult day, use of one service, and use of neither service) varied between adults receiving care from three types of health-care teams with case management from social workers and nurses, and by comorbidity level, using 2019 data of 143,281 patients with dementia in the Veterans Health Administration. We compared HCBS use by patients' type of case-managed team (Home-Based Primary Care, geriatrics-based primary care, and dementia-focused specialty care) to patients in none of these teams, stratified by patients' non-dementia comorbidities (<4 or ≥4).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pan-cancer analysis of post-translational modifications reveals shared patterns of protein regulation.

Cell

August 2023

Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Cancer Center and Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Post-translational modifications (PTMs) significantly influence cell signaling and physiology in both healthy and cancerous cells, with recent advancements in mass spectrometry allowing for precise analysis of these modifications.* -
  • This study utilizes the largest dataset of proteogenomics from 1,110 cancer patients to uncover widespread patterns of protein changes, particularly focusing on acetylation and phosphorylation across 11 cancer types.* -
  • Findings show that specific cancer types exhibit unique PTM-related alterations linked to processes like DNA repair, immune response, kinase activity, and histone regulation, suggesting new potential therapeutic targets.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Physical activity (PA) and body fat percentage (%BF) are independently associated with arterial stiffness, but it has not been explored if there is an associative pathway among these variables. This study examined whether %BF mediates the relationship between PA or sedentary behavior levels with arterial stiffness.

Methods: Fifty adults (1:1 men:women; age 28 ± 11 year) had carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CF-PWV) measured by applanation tonometry, %BF by bioelectrical impedance, and PA levels by accelerometry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The COVID-19 pandemic may have increased interpersonal and intimate violence, harmful use of alcohol and other drugs (AODs), and mental health problems. This study uses a valid path model to describe relationships between these conditions of young Mexicans during the second year of the pandemic. A sample of 7420 Mexicans ages 18 to 24-two-thirds of whom are women-completed the Life Events Checklist, the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test, the Major Depressive Episode Checklist, the Generalized Anxiety Scale, and the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rising ocean temperatures are threatening marine species and populations worldwide, and ectothermic taxa are particularly vulnerable. Echinoderms are an ecologically important phylum of marine ectotherms and shifts in their population dynamics can have profound impacts on the marine environment. The effects of warming on echinoderms are highly variable across controlled laboratory-based studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Becoming a Phronimos: Evidence-Based Medicine, Clinical Decision Making, and the Role of Practical Wisdom in Primary Care.

J Am Board Fam Med

August 2023

From the Department of Counseling and School Psychology, University of Massachusetts-Boston (LC); Department of Family Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA (AFS).

There has been much discussion about the overmedicalization of human experience and the problems incurred by overzealous action-oriented medical care. In this paper we describe the Aristotelean virtue of phronesis, or practical wisdom, and discuss how it can be developed by interested clinicians. We argue that becoming a phronimos requires conscious attention to one's practice by using feedback to continually improve.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In order to access gender-affirming care, transgender individuals were historically required by international guidelines to undergo mental health provider assessment (Coleman et al., 2012). This requirement for universal mental health provider involvement, initially formulated via professional expert opinion, has not been retained in the most recent World Professional Association for Transgender Health Standards of Care (WPATH SOC 8; Coleman et al.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Adolescence is a vulnerable developmental period, characterized by high rates of mental health concerns, yet few adolescents receive treatment. Public libraries support adolescents by providing them with access to teen programming, technological resources, and have recently been providing mental health services. Digital mental health (DMH) services may help libraries provide scalable mental health solutions for their adolescent patrons and could be well positioned to address the mental health needs of historically underrepresented racial and ethnic (HURE) adolescents; however, little research has been conducted on the compatibility of DMH services with adolescent patron mental health needs or resource needs of library workers supporting them.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The double stranded RNA binding protein Adad1 (adenosine deaminase domain containing 1) is a member of the adenosine deaminase acting on RNAs (Adar) protein family with germ cell-specific expression. In mice, Adad1 is necessary for sperm differentiation, however its function outside of mammals has not been investigated. Here, through an N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) based forward genetic screen, we identified an adad1 mutant zebrafish line that develops as sterile males.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sensory impairment and depressive symptoms among older adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aging Ment Health

January 2024

Department of Gerontology, John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA.

Objectives: This study examined the associations between sensory impairment (SI), lack of social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic, and depressive symptoms among Americans aged 50 and above.

Methods: We employed data from the 2018 and 2020 Health and Retirement Study ( = 13,460) to examine four SI groups: no SI, visual impairment (VI) only, hearing impairment (HI) only, and dual sensory impairment (DSI). First, multilevel models were employed to estimate the associations between SI and depressive symptoms before and during the pandemic using the full dataset ( = 13,460).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dysregulation of histone lysine methyltransferases and demethylases is one of the major mechanisms driving the epigenetic reprogramming of transcriptional networks in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). In addition to their canonical histone targets, some of these factors can modify critical transcription factors, further impacting oncogenic transcription programs. Our recent report demonstrated that LSD1 can demethylate the lysine 270 of FOXA1 in prostate cancer (PCa) cells, leading to the stabilization of FOXA1 chromatin binding.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This article summarizes data collected from key informants in Iowa, Maryland, and Oklahoma regarding efforts to support integrated employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). We highlight features that contribute to the effectiveness of collaborative structures that have resulted in each state's success in achieving integrated employment outcomes for individuals with IDD across three state systems: IDD, vocational rehabilitation, and education. We present these features using the seven elements of the High-Performing States Employment Model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Measure of Caregiver Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Knowledge Is Responsive to Decision Aid on Treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Acad Pediatr

April 2024

Department of General Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (KD Valentine, H Vo, MJ Barry, B Mancini, and K Sepucha), Boston; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School (KD Valentine, MJ Barry, and K Sepucha), Boston, Mass.

Objective: Adapt and test a measure of knowledge for caregivers of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and evaluate the impact of the information component of a decision aid (DA) on participant knowledge.

Methods: A set of seven knowledge items were created based on prior knowledge measures and clinical guidelines. As part of a larger cross-sectional survey study of caregivers of children diagnosed with ADHD, caregivers were randomized to one of two arms: 1) a DA arm, where participants reviewed the information component of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital's DA, and 2) a control arm, where participants were not shown a DA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) face several barriers to healthcare, making them less likely to receive numerous routine preventive health screenings. Preventive healthcare is a critical aspect to maintaining health and wellness, particularly for people with complex health needs. This study examines individual and state-level factors associated with mammogram and colonoscopy screenings in mid- and later-life foradults with IDD receiving state services.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Evidence suggests that hurricanes can influence the evolution of organisms, with phenotypic traits involved in adhesion, such as the toepads of arboreal lizards, being particularly susceptible to natural selection imposed by hurricanes. To investigate this idea, we quantified trait variation before and after Hurricanes Irma and Maria (2017) in forest and urban populations of the Puerto Rican lizard . We found that the hurricanes affected toe morphology differently between forest and urban sites.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Organizational Characteristics of Senior Centers and Engagement in Dementia-Friendly Communities.

Innov Aging

June 2023

Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging, Gerontology Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Background And Objectives: Dementia-friendly communities (DFCs) are systematic and collaborative efforts to make local communities more supportive and inclusive of persons living with dementia and their care partners. This study explores how the organizational characteristics of senior centers influence their engagement in DFCs.

Research Design And Methods: We used a partially mixed, concurrent, equal status design, drawing on qualitative interviews with staff from 13 senior centers leading DFC initiatives as part of a statewide dementia-friendly network in Massachusetts, as well as quantitative data from 342 senior centers collected as part of a statewide survey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The primary aim of this study was to examine the relationships between smoking status and health-related physical fitness and balance ability in older males residing in Taiwan. This investigation adopted a cross-sectional design, utilizing data from 7688 older males who took part in the 2014-2015 wave of the National Physical Fitness Survey of Taiwan. Various data sources, including a standardized structured questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, health-related physical fitness assessments, and balance ability tests, were analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF