Do social support and community engagement act as mechanisms in the association between neighbourhood income inequality and the mental health of mothers in Calgary,Canada? A mediation analysis

PurposeAccording to the social determinants of health framework, income inequality is a potential risk factor for adverse mental health. However, few studies have explored the mechanisms suspected to mediate this relationship. The current study addresses this gap through a mediation analysis to determine if social support and community engagement act as mediators linking neighbourhood income inequality to maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms within a cohort of new mothers living in the City of Calgary, Canada.MethodsData collected at three years postpartum from mothers belonging to the All Our Families (AOF) cohort were used in the current study. Maternal data were collected between 2012 and 2015 and linked to neighbourhood socioeconomic data from the 2006 Canadian Census. Income inequality was measured using Gini coefficients derived from 2006 after-tax census data. Generalized structural equation models were used to quantify the associations between income inequality and mental health symptoms, and to assess the potential direct and indirect mediating effects of maternal social support and community engagement.ResultsIncome inequality was not significantly associated with higher depressive symptoms (β = 0.32, 95%CI = −0.067, 0.70), anxiety symptoms (β = 0.11, 95%CI = −0.39, 0.60), or lower social support. Income inequality was not associated with community engagement. For the depression models, higher social support was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms (β = −0.13, 95%CI = −0.15, −0.097), while community engagement was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms (β = 0.059, 95%CI = −0.15, 0.27). Similarly, for the anxiety models, lower anxiety symptoms were significantly associated with higher levels of social support (β = −0.17, 95%CI = −0.20, −0.13) but not with higher levels of community engagement (β = 0.14, 95%CI = −0.14, 0.41).ConclusionThe current study did not find clear evidence for social support or community engagement mediating the relationship between neighbourhood income inequality and maternal mental health. Future investigations should employ a broader longitudinal approach to capture changes in income inequality, potential mediators, and mental health symptomatology over time.     

Contemporary bone loss options: Rebuild,reinforce, and augment

Bone loss is commonly encountered during revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Small defects can be adequately managed with cement filling (with or without screws), modular prosthetic augments, and morselized allograft. For larger defects, cancellous impaction grafting and structural allografts have traditionally been utilized. More recently, highly porous tantalum cones and titanium sleeves have been designed to achieve axial and rotational stability in the metaphysis and subsequent biologic fixation. Sleeves are linked to one type of prosthesis, whereas cones are unlinked and can be used with any implant design. Multiple studies have demonstrated excellent survivorship and radiographic osseointegration at mid-term follow-up. This article provides a review of contemporary methods of bone loss management with a focus on highly porous metals and an emphasis on the authors’ preferred method for managing the severe bone loss in revision TKA.     

Priming sentence comprehension in aphasia: effects of lexically independent and specific structural priming

Background & Aims: Impaired message-structure mapping results in deficits in both sentence production and comprehension in aphasia. Structural priming has been shown to facilitate syntactic production for persons with aphasia (PWA). However, it remains unknown if structural priming is also effective in sentence comprehension. We examined if PWA show preserved and lasting structural priming effects during interpretation of syntactically ambiguous sentences and if the priming effects occur independently of or in conjunction with lexical (verb) information.

Methods & Procedures: Eighteen PWA and 20 healthy older adults (HOA) completed a written sentence-picture matching task involving the interpretation of prepositional phrases (PP; the chef is poking the solider with an umbrella) that were ambiguous between high (verb modifier) and low attachment (object noun modifier). Only one interpretation was possible for prime sentences, while both interpretations were possible for target sentences. In Experiment 1, the target was presented immediately after the prime (0-lag). In Experiment 2, two filler items intervened between the prime and the target (2-lag). Within each experiment, the verb was repeated for half of the prime-target pairs, while different verbs were used for the other half. Participants’ off-line picture matching choices and response times were measured.

Results: After reading a prime sentence with a particular interpretation, HOA and PWA tended to interpret an ambiguous PP in a target sentence in the same way and with faster response times. Importantly, both groups continued to show this priming effect over a lag (Experiment 2), although the effect was not as reliable in response times. However, neither group showed lexical (verb-specific) boost on priming, deviating from robust lexical boost seen in the young adults of prior studies.

Conclusions: PWA demonstrate abstract (lexically-independent) structural priming in the absence of a lexically-specific boost. Abstract priming is preserved in aphasia, effectively facilitating not only immediate but also longer-lasting structure-message mapping during sentence comprehension.     

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.

Load-induced proteoglycan orientation in bone tissuein vivo andin vitro

Summary Previous studies of Alcian blue-induced birefringence in adult avian cortical bone showed that a short period of intermittent loading rapidly produces an increased level of orientation of proteoglycans within the bone tissue. In the absence of further loading, this persists for over 24 hours. We have proposed that this phenomenon could provide a means for “capturing” the effects of transient strains, and so provide a persistent, constantly updated strain-related influence on osteocyte populations related to the bones' averaged recent strain history, in effect, a “strain memory” in bone tissue. In our present study, we use the Alcian blue-induced birefringence technique to demonstrate that proteoglycan orientation also occurs after intermittent loading of both cortical and cancellous mammalian bonein vivo andin vitro. We also show that the change in birefringence is proportional to the magnitude of the applied strain, and that the reorientation occurs rapidly, reaching a maximal value after only 50 loading cycles. Examination of electron micrographs of bone tissue after staining with cupromeronic blue allows direct visualization and quantification of the change in proteoglycan orientation produced by loading. This shows that intermittent loading is associated with a realignment of the proteoglycan protein cores, bringing them some 5 degrees closer to the direction of collagen fibrils in the bone matrix.     

Microvasculature of bone

The three dimensional vascular microarchitecture of mercox resin on the lateral surface of parietal bone in Wistar strain adult male rats (b. w. 260–350 g.) was studied in relation to bone formation by SEM observation of corrosion casts. The microarchitecture was a single layer of network composed of precapillary artery, capillary and postcapillary vein, which were serpigious, sometimes joined with the vein from the vascular foramen of bone. The meshes of this network, which were irregular and varied in size, existed apart from the bone surface. According to the report of Iwaku and Ozawa (1986), it was reported that the vascular microarchitecture of the bone surface was very changable during the process of bone remodeling and this network, which was shown on the flat bone surface in this study, was very similar to one in the resting phase and/or the period in which the bone formation further advanced. From these facts and the morphological features of the bone surface observed here by SEM, it is suggested that this vascular network was closely related with the resting stage and/or the period in which bone formation further advanced in bone remodeling.     

左心室巨大室壁瘤不同左心室成形方法的对比研究

目的研究左心室巨大室壁瘤的左心室成形方法,对改进的左心室心内膜环缩技术和传统的线性缝合技术进行近、远期疗效对比。方法自1992年1月至2004年12月,对148例左心室巨大室壁瘤患者进行手术治疗,按照手术中左心室成形方法不同分为两组,传统术式组:89例,采用传统的线性缝合成形技术;改良术式组:59例,采用改良的心内膜环缩成形技术,旷置梗死的心肌组织,再缝合环缩后的切口。采用多次信访、电话随访和门诊复查相结合的方法对两组患者术后的近、远期疗效进行对比观察。结果手术死亡5例(3.4%),其中传统术式组4例,改良术式组1例(P=0.320)。术后主要并发症为低心排血量和心室颤动。随访134例(93.7%),随访时间51.4±27.0月。远期死亡21例,术后早期心功能Ⅲ级以上是影响远期死亡的危险因素(P=0.000)。改良术式组5年和8年生存率明显优于传统术式组(91.6%vs.76.3%,P=0.040;91.6%vs.61.4%,P=0.000)。两组心功能分级(NYHA)和左心室射血分数(LVEF)术后早期和随访期间较术前改善和升高(P<0.05),改良术式组改善更明显。两组左心室舒张期末内径(LVEDD)术后早期与术前比较明显减小(P=0.000),但随访30个月时有重新增大的趋势(P=0.046)。传统术式组随访30个月时LVEDD扩大比率明显高于改良术式组(38.8%vs.16.7%,P=0.030)。结论左心室巨大室壁瘤的手术近、远期疗效满意,保持适当的左心室形态和容积是手术的关键。心内膜环缩法进行左心室成形是一种简单有效的手段,其远期结果优于线性缝合法。