Background
A high prevalence of thyroid disorders has been reported in patients with autoimmune diseases. The link between hyperthyroidism and systemic sclerosis (SSc) has been relatively overlooked, ...and only a few studies utilizing small samples or case reports have been reported so far.
Objectives
To investigate the association between SSc and hyperthyroidism.
Methods
We designed a case‐control study utilizing the medical database of the Clalit Health Services. Chi‐square and t tests were used for univariate analysis, and a logistic regression model was used for multivariate analysis.
Results
The study included 2,431 SSc patients and 12,710 age‐ and sex‐matched controls. The mean age of the study population was 63.32 ± 18.06 years (median 66 years), and female‐to‐male ratio was 4.5:1. Age (P < .0001, OR 1.03 95% CI 1.02‐1.04), female sex (P = .0015, OR 1.86 95% CI 1.27‐ 2.74) and diagnosis of SSc (P = .0011, OR 1.8195% CI 1.27‐2.58) were all independently associated with hyperthyroidism. Patients with SSc and hyperthyroidism had 1.54‐fold increase of mortality rates during a mean follow‐up of 17 years than SSc patients without hyperthyroidism, even though at the Cox multivariate survival analysis, only age (HR 1.06 95% CI 1.06‐1.07, P < .0001) and diagnosis of SSc (HR 2.35 CI 2.06 to 2.69, P < .0001) resulted associated with a higher risk of mortality.
Conclusions
Hyperthyroidism is highly prevalent among SSc patients and can negatively impact on their survival rates. Therefore, a pre‐emptive screening may be warranted in all SSc patients. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether tight control and optimal treatment for hyperthyroidism may lead to a reduction of all‐cause mortality in patients with SSc.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The liver is known to be a classical immunoprivileged site with a relatively high resistance against immune responses. Here we demonstrate that highly activated liver-specific effector CD8+ T cells ...alone were not sufficient to trigger immune destruction of the liver in mice. Only additional innate immune signals orchestrated by TLR3 provoked liver damage. While TLR3 activation did not directly alter liver-specific CD8+ T cell function, it induced IFN-alpha and TNF-alpha release. These cytokines generated expression of the chemokine CXCL9 in the liver, thereby enhancing CD8+ T cell infiltration and liver disease in mice. Thus, nonspecific activation of innate immunity can drastically enhance susceptibility to immune destruction of a solid organ.
Cancer is the leading cause of nonaccidental death in childhood, with the death of a child representing a devastating loss for families. Peer support offers a valuable way to support parents' ...adjustment in bereavement. The By My Side book provides written peer support by sharing bereaved parents' stories to normalize grief experiences and reduce parents' isolation. It is available free of charge.
This project evaluated the acceptability, relevance, emotional impact, and usefulness of By My Side.
Bereaved parents and health care professionals (HCPs) provided feedback via a questionnaire. We used descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis of open-ended responses to analyze the data.
We mailed a study invitation and evaluation questionnaire to parents and HCPs who ordered a copy of By My Side.
24 bereaved parents and seven HCPs provided feedback. Parents thought the book's length (91.7%) and amount of information (83.3%) was just right. 75% of parents reported that the book made them feel that their reactions to their child's death were normal and/or appropriate. Parents reported positive and negative emotional reactions to the book (e.g., 87.5% felt comforted, 87.5% felt sadness). All parents and HCPs reported that the book provided useful information about grief. About 83.4% of parents and 85.7% of HCPs would recommend it to others.
By My Side was acceptable and useful to bereaved parents and HCPs. Results suggest that peer support in written form may help normalize aspects of grief and comfort parents bereaved by childhood cancer.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
To determine whether cognitive and psychological symptom profiles differentiate clinical diagnostic classifications (eg, history of mild traumatic brain injury mTBI and posttraumatic stress disorder ...PTSD) in military personnel.
US Active-Duty Service Members ( N = 209, 89% male) with a history of mTBI ( n = 56), current PTSD ( n = 23), combined mTBI + PTSD ( n = 70), or orthopedic injury controls ( n = 60) completed a neuropsychological battery assessing cognitive and psychological functioning. Latent profile analysis was performed to determine how neuropsychological outcomes of individuals clustered together. Diagnostic classifications (ie, mTBI, PTSD, mTBI + PTSD, and orthopedic injury controls) within each symptom profile were examined.
A 5-profile model had the best fit. The profiles differentiated subgroups with high (34.0%) or normal (21.5%) cognitive and psychological functioning, cognitive symptoms (19.1%), psychological symptoms (15.3%), and combined cognitive and psychological symptoms (10.0%). The symptom profiles differentiated participants as would generally be expected. Participants with PTSD were mainly represented in the psychological symptom subgroup, while orthopedic injury controls were mainly represented in the high-functioning subgroup. Further, approximately 79% of participants with comorbid mTBI and PTSD were represented in a symptomatic group (∼24% = cognitive symptoms, ∼29% = psychological symptoms, and 26% = combined cognitive/psychological symptoms). Our results also showed that approximately 70% of military personnel with a history of mTBI were represented in the high- and normal-functioning groups.
These results demonstrate both overlapping and heterogeneous symptom and performance profiles in military personnel with a history of mTBI, PTSD, and/or mTBI + PTSD. The overlapping profiles may underscore why these diagnoses are often difficult to diagnose and treat, but suggest that advanced statistical models may aid in identifying profiles representing symptom and cognitive performance impairments within patient groups and enable identification of more effective treatment targets.
Camel milk consists of an essential macro/micronutrient for human nutrition in the arid and urban regions. This review study aimed to use meta‐analysis statistical techniques for assessment and ...correction of publication bias, exploration of heterogeneity between studies, and detailed assessment of the effect of a comprehensive set of moderators including breed, season, country, year of publication, and the interaction between composition elements. This could provide a single synthesis of the camel milk composition to warrant strong generalizability of results, examine variability between available studies, and analyze differences in camel milk composition among different exposures. Such a finding will aid future researchers and health professionals in acquiring a more precise understanding of camel milk composition and drawing more clinical implications. Six searching databases and bibliographic were used including PubMed/MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Springer, EBSCOhost, Scopus, and Web of Science from January 1980 to December 2021. The DerSimonian–Laird estimator was used to create the current random‐effects meta‐analysis. This systematic review and meta‐analysis included a total of 7298 camel milk samples from 23 countries. This review comprises 79 studies published in the English language on or after 1980, including a subgroup of 117 analyses consisting of seasons, sub‐breeds, and countries. The contents of macro/micronutrients in camel milk were identified as follows: protein, 3.17%; fat, 3.47%; lactose, 4.28%; ash, 0.78%; and total solids, 11.31%; calcium, 112.93 mg/100 g; iron, 0.45 mg/100 g; potassium, 116.13 mg/100 g; magnesium, 9.65 mg/100 g; sodium, 53.10 mg/100 g; zinc, 1.68 mg/100 g; vitamin C, 5.38 mg/100 g; vitamin A, 0.36 mg/100 g; vitamin B1,0.05 mg/100 g; vitamin B2, 0.13 mg/100 g; vitamin B3, 0.51 mg/100 g; vitamin B6, 0.09 mg/100 g; and vitamin B12, 0.0039 mg/100 g. Our meta‐regression analysis found that fat and total solids were statistically significant moderators of protein; moreover, total solids content is a statistically significant moderator of fat. Discrepancies observed in camel milk profiles are dependent upon several factors, including number of included studies, number of samples, different analytical techniques, feeding patterns, camel's breeds, geographical locations, and seasonal variations.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
New high-resolution image data obtained from the Hebrides Terrace Seamount and analysed by ourselves and Henry and Roberts (Henry, L-A., and Roberts, J. M. Recommendations for best practice in ...deep-sea habitat classification: Bullimore et al. as a case study. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71: 895–898.), suggested that we may have misidentified Solenosmilia variabilis as either Lophelia pertusa or Madrepora oculata in a previously analysed dataset from the Anton Dohrn Seamount (published in Bullimore et al., 2013). Therefore, we undertook a reanalysis of our entire image data holdings from multiple sample sites and identified possible records of S. variabilis from four sites previously sampled: Anton Dohrn Seamount, Rockall Bank, George Bligh Bank and the Hatton-Rockall Basin. The reanalysis of our image data holdings together with historic data from the wider literature suggests that, in the Northeast Atlantic region, S. variabilis is distributed from 888–2803 m (mean ∼1500 m) with reef habitat present only on Anton Dohrn Seamount. In this paper we discuss the use of video and imagery as a survey and monitoring too and make recommendations of best practice in data acquisition and analysis. We highlight the need for the development of training materials for deep-sea field identification in order to achieve reliable, replicable and comparable datasets among observers, and suggest possible quality assurance procedures.
Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs), the storage organelles of endothelial cells, are essential to normal haemostatic and inflammatory responses. Their major constituent protein is von Willebrand factor ...(VWF) which, following stimulation with secretagogues, is released into the blood vessel lumen as large platelet-catching strings. This exocytosis changes the protein composition of the cell surface and also results in a net increase in the amount of plasma membrane. Compensatory endocytosis is thought to limit changes in cell size and retrieve fusion machinery and other misplaced integral membrane proteins following exocytosis; however, little is known about the extent, timing, mechanism and precise function of compensatory endocytosis in endothelial cells. Using biochemical assays, live-cell imaging and correlative spinning-disk microscopy and transmission electron microscopy assays we provide the first in-depth high-resolution characterisation of this process. We provide a model of compensatory endocytosis based on rapid clathrin- and dynamin-mediated retrieval. Inhibition of this process results in a change of exocytic mode: WPBs then fuse with previously fused WPBs rather than the plasma membrane, leading, in turn, to the formation of structurally impaired tangled VWF strings.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first authors of the paper.
Helicobacter pylori infects the human gastric mucosa causing a chronic infection that is the primary risk factor for gastric cancer development. Recent studies demonstrate that H. pylori promotes ...tolerogenic dendritic cell (DC) development indicating that this bacterium evades the host immune response. However, the signaling pathways involved in modulating DC activation during infection remain unclear. Here, we report that H. pylori infection activated the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway in murine bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) and splenic DCs isolated ex vivo. Isogenic cagA-, cagE-, vacA- and urease-mutants exhibited levels of phosphoSTAT3 that were comparable to in the wild-type (WT) parent strain. H. pylori-infected BMDCs produced increased immunosuppressive IL-10, which activated STAT3 in an autocrine/paracrine fashion. Neutralization of IL-10 prevented H. pylori-mediated STAT3 activation in both BMDCs and splenic DCs. In addition, anti-IL-10 treatment of infected H. pylori-BMDCs was associated with increased CD86 and MHC II expression and enhanced proinflammatory IL-1β cytokine secretion. Finally, increased CD86 and MHC II expression was detected in H. pylori-infected STAT3 knockout DCs when compared to WT controls. Together, these results demonstrate that H. pylori infection induces IL-10 secretion in DCs, which activates STAT3, thereby modulating DC maturation and reducing IL-1β secretion. These findings identify a host molecular mechanism by which H. pylori can manipulate the innate immune response to potentially favor chronic infection and promote carcinogenesis.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Objective
To better understand the epidemiology of preterm birth among Pacific Islanders in the United States and the US‐Affiliated Pacific Islands.
Methods
Systematic searches of MEDLINE, Embase, ...CINAHL, PsycINFO, two nonindexed regional journals, and gray literature were conducted and finalized in September 2021. Observational studies published since January 2010 that documented preterm birth outcomes among Pacific Islanders in the United States and the US‐Affiliated Pacific Islands were eligible for inclusion. Outcomes of interest included preterm birth prevalence, risk compared with white women, and risk factors for preterm birth among Pacific Islanders.
Results
Fourteen of the 3183 screened articles were included in meta‐analyses. Random‐effects models were used for pooled estimates with 95% confidence intervals. The pooled prevalence of preterm birth among Pacific Islanders was 11.2%, 95% CI: 9.3%‐13.6%. Marshallese women had the highest pooled prevalence (20.7%, 95% CI 18.6%‐23.0%) among Pacific Islander subgroups. Compared with white women, Pacific Islander women had higher odds of experiencing preterm birth (OR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.28‐1.53). Four risk factors for preterm birth could be explored with the data available: hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and pre‐pregnancy body mass index; hypertension and diabetes significantly increased the odds of preterm birth.
Conclusions
Existing literature suggests that United States Pacific Islanders were more likely to experience preterm birth than white women, although the pooled prevalence varied by Pacific Islander subgroup. Data support the need for disaggregation of Pacific Islanders in future research and argue for examination of subgroup‐specific outcomes to address perinatal health disparities.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
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