Chronic kidney disease impairs prognosis in electrical storm

Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology - The study sought to assess the prognostic impact of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with electrical storm (ES). ES represents a...     

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and urinary 1-hydroxypyrene levels in preschool children

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) contains relatively high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), a metabolite of pyrene, is a good indicator of PAH exposure in occupational studies. In this study, we investigated the relationship between urinary 1-OHP concentration and ETS exposure in preschool children. Forty preschool children, aged 24-76 months, were studied during November and December, 1999. Two spot-urine specimens (one in the morning immediately after the subject woke up and the other at night before the subject went to bed) were collected 1 day after completion of a questionnaire, in order to determine 1-OHP concentrations by fluorescent spectrophotometry. Overall, urinary 1-OHP concentrations were relatively low but detectable (morning: median, 0.021 microg/g creatinine; range, 0.002-1.019 microg/g creatinine; night: median, 0.015 microg/g creatinine; range, 0.002-1.328 microg/g creatinine). Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that the total number of cigarettes smoked by the children's fathers during the 3 days prior to collection of the urine specimens was significantly associated with their urinary 1-OHP concentrations, after adjusting for other confounders. Each cigarette smoked by a child's father resulted in an average 9.6% increase in 1-OHP concentration in the morning urine specimen (95% confidence interval = 1.8-18.1%; p = 0.02). We did not find a significant increase in the 1-OHP concentration in night urine specimens (p = 0.19). Although the sample size was small, these findings indicate that urinary 1-OHP may be a suitable biomarker of ETS carcinogen exposure in children.     

Opioid and neuroHIV Comorbidity – Current and Future Perspectives

Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology - With the current national opioid crisis, it is critical to examine the mechanisms underlying pathophysiologic interactions between human immunodeficiency virus...     

Associations Between Spirituality,Mindfulness, and Psychological Symptoms Among Advanced Lung Cancer Patients and Their Spousal Caregivers

ContextPatients with metastatic lung cancer and their spousal caregivers are at high risk of psychological symptoms. Mindfulness may improve psychological symptoms via spiritual well-being (SW); yet, this mediation model has not been examined in a dyadic context.ObjectivesWe examined the mediating role of two dimensions of SW (meaning/peace and faith) in the mindfulness-symptoms link in Stage IV lung cancer patients and their spousal caregivers.MethodsWe examined the actor-partner interdependence model of mediation using multivariate multilevel modeling with 78 couples. Four actor-partner interdependence model of mediation analyses were conducted to examine one predictor (mindfulness) × two mediators (meaning/peace and faith) × two psychological symptoms (depressive symptoms and cancer distress). We also tested four alternative models in which mindfulness mediates the associations between SW and psychological symptoms.ResultsThe alternative model (SW → mindfulness → psychological symptoms) was preferred than the original model (mindfulness → SW → psychological symptoms). For patients, meaning/peace was directly associated with their own psychological symptoms, whereas faith was only indirectly associated with their own psychological symptoms via mindfulness. For spouses, meaning/peace was both directly and indirectly associated with their own psychological symptoms, whereas faith was only directly associated with their own depressive symptoms (but not cancer distress). Moreover, spouses' faith was indirectly associated with patients' psychological symptoms through patients' mindfulness.ConclusionSW is associated with patients' and spouses' psychological symptoms both directly and indirectly through mindfulness. Thus, interventions that target SW, particularly meaning and peace, along with mindfulness may be beneficial to the psychological management of patients facing a terminal disease and their spousal caregivers.     

Association between OPCRIT dimensions and polymorphisms of HPA axis genes in bipolar disorder

The aim of the study was to investigate the possible association between polymorphisms of HPA axis genes-CRHR₁ (corticotrophin-releasing hormone receptor), NR3C1 (glucocorticoid receptor) and AVPR1B (arginine vasopressin receptor) and dimensions of bipolar disorder assessed by OPCRIT.     

Sequencing and Functional Annotation of Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli Serogroup O78 Strains Reveal the Evolution of E. coli Lineages Pathogenic for Poultry via Distinct Mechanisms

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) causes respiratory and systemic disease in poultry. Sequencing of a multilocus sequence type 95 (ST95) serogroup O1 strain previously indicated that APEC resembles E. coli causing extraintestinal human diseases. We sequenced the genomes of two strains of another dominant APEC lineage (ST23 serogroup O78 strains χ7122 and IMT2125) and compared them to each other and to the reannotated APEC O1 sequence. For comparison, we also sequenced a human enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) strain of the same ST23 serogroup O78 lineage. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the APEC O78 strains were more closely related to human ST23 ETEC than to APEC O1, indicating that separation of pathotypes on the basis of their extraintestinal or diarrheagenic nature is not supported by their phylogeny. The accessory genome of APEC ST23 strains exhibited limited conservation of APEC O1 genomic islands and a distinct repertoire of virulence-associated loci. In light of this diversity, we surveyed the phenotype of 2,185 signature-tagged transposon mutants of χ7122 following intra-air sac inoculation of turkeys. This procedure identified novel APEC ST23 genes that play strain- and tissue-specific roles during infection. For example, genes mediating group 4 capsule synthesis were required for the virulence of χ7122 and were conserved in IMT2125 but absent from APEC O1. Our data reveal the genetic diversity of E. coli strains adapted to cause the same avian disease and indicate that the core genome of the ST23 lineage serves as a chassis for the evolution of E. coli strains adapted to cause avian or human disease via acquisition of distinct virulence genes.