Sex Disparities in Risk of Mortality Among Children With ESRD

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The feasibility of the draw-and-write technique in exploring the resilience of children orphaned by AIDS

Worldwide, researchers routinely study children indirectly through adults who act as proxies for such children. The call for researchers to rather study children directly and adopt less intrusive child-friendly methodologies has become louder. The draw-and-write technique is regarded as a less intrusive child-friendly method of collecting data that can be used for this purpose. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study that sought to establish the feasibility of the draw-and-write technique in exploring the resilience of children orphaned by AIDS. This study involved a convenience sample of 23 IsiXhosa-speaking orphaned children aged from 13 to 17. The participants were in grades 6 to 10 and they resided in two child and youth care centres in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. As part of the draw-and-write technique the participants were asked to make drawings of what enabled them to cope with their lives and to write short narratives in which they explained their drawings. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse the data and this process yielded two main themes, namely: personal protective resources and socio-ecological protective resources. The findings show that complex combinations of personal and socio-ecological resilience resources enabled the resilience of the orphaned children. The findings challenge researchers not to be oblivious to alternative child-friendly methods of research such as the draw-and-write technique when young people are the unit of analysis. The findings of this study have implications for research as well as practice in the field of education and psychology.     

Understanding the Influence of Nanocarrier-Mediated Brain Delivery on Therapeutic Performance Through Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Modeling

This study aimed at evaluating how encapsulation in a regular nanocarrier (NC) (providing extended circulation time) or in a brain-targeting NC (providing prolonged circulation time and increased brain uptake) may influence the therapeutic index compared with the unformulated drug and to explore the key parameters affecting therapeutic performance using a model-based approach. Pharmacokinetic (PK) models were built with chosen PK parameters. For a scenario where central effect depends on area under the unbound brain concentration curve and peripheral toxicity relates to peak unbound plasma concentration, dose-effect and drug-side effect curves were constructed, and the therapeutic index was evaluated. Regular NC improved the therapeutic index compared with the unformulated drug due to reduced peripheral toxicity, while brain-targeting NC enhanced the therapeutic index by lowering peripheral toxicity and increasing central effect. Decreasing drug release rate or systemic clearance of NC with drug still encapsulated could increase the therapeutic index. Also, a drug with shorter half-life would therapeutically benefit more from a NC encapsulation. This work provides insights into how a NC for brain delivery should be optimized to maximize the therapeutic performance and is helpful to predict if and to what extent a drug with certain PK properties would obtain therapeutic benefit from nanoencapsulation.     

The relationships among monocyte subsets,miRNAs and inflammatory cytokines in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Background

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) causes irreversible myocardial damage and release of inflammatory mediators, including cytokines, chemokines and miRNAs. We aimed to investigate changes in the levels of cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α and IL-10), miRNAs profiles (miR-146 and miR-155) and distribution of different monocyte subsets (CD14++CD16-, CD14++CD16+, CD14+CD16++) in the acute and post-healing phases of AMI.

幼儿不同跑步着地方式的生物力学特征

文题释义：跑：跑是双脚交替接触地面的周期性运动，但跑有一个双脚都离开地面的腾空期。幼儿在 1 岁多开始学习跑步，最初是走跑结合的移动方式，由于身体发育不完善，下肢力量弱，平衡能力差，容易摔倒；到 2.5岁，幼儿跑步的腾空阶段明显；到 6岁，早期跑步的特点基本消失。 着地方式：指的是人体在跑步着地阶段足部接触地面的方式，一般分为3种方式：分别为足跟着地(fore foot strike)，跟骨先接触地面；全足着地(mid foot strike)，全脚掌着地，即足跟与前足同时接触地面；前足着地(rear foot strike)：前足部首先接触地面。 背景：成年人跑步着地方式一直是国内外学者研究的重点，而幼儿跑步的着地方式也是不容忽视的内容。 目的：运用生物力学方法探究幼儿在跑步过程中，不同着地方式下的运动学和动力学指标的差异，为幼儿正确的跑步着地方式提供科学依据。 方法：在北京市海淀区某公立幼儿园中随机抽取幼儿74名，按年龄分为3岁组、4岁组、5岁组，采用BTS红外动作捕捉系统、Kistler三维测力台和VIXTA录像解析系统同步采集幼儿跑步过程中不同着地方式下的运动学、动力学数据；运用Anybody 5.2仿真建模软件计算下肢肌肉力量指标。试验前向受试者父母详细解释并签署知情同意书，试验方案符合北京师范大学的相关伦理要求。 结果与结论：①3岁组全足着地的比例最高，足跟着地的比例最低，5岁组全足着地的比例最低，足跟着地的比例最高；前足着地者的蹬伸时间大于足跟着地(P < 0.01)和全足着地(P < 0.05)；②着地时刻，踝屈曲角度足跟着地者大于前足着地(P < 0.01)和全足着地者(P < 0.05)，全足着地者大于前足着地(P < 0.05)；前足着地者髋内收-外展角度、最大髋内收-外展角、髋内-收外展的关节变化量及最大膝内收-外展角速度大于足跟着地(P < 0.01)和全足着地者(P < 0.05)；前足着地者的踝屈伸最小值大于足跟着地者(P < 0.05)，而最大髋内收-外展角速度小于足跟着地者(P < 0.05)；③足跟着地和全足着地者的腓骨短肌、腓骨长肌、第三腓骨肌的肌力大于前足着地者(P < 0.05)，前足着地者的股中间肌、股外侧肌下束、股外侧肌上束、股内侧肌下束、股内侧肌上束、股内侧肌中束肌力均大于足跟着地(P < 0.01)和全足着地者(P < 0.05)；④结果提示：在3-6岁阶段，幼儿多采用足跟或全足着地模式进行奔跑，以满足自己在跑步过程的稳定性，随着年龄的增长，逐渐出现前足着地方式的跑步模式；前足着地能够动用更多髋关节和膝关节额状面的运动来维持人体运动中的稳定，足跟着地和全足着地能够动用更多的小腿前侧和后侧的肌力，而前足着地动用更多的大腿前侧肌力。 ORCID: 0000-0002-8337-3931(赵盼超) 中国组织工程研究杂志出版内容重点：组织构建；骨细胞；软骨细胞；细胞培养；成纤维细胞；血管内皮细胞；骨质疏松；组织工程