Background
As the world battles COVID‐19, there is a need to study the perceptions of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) about the effects of the pandemic and associated ...lockdown on their lives. This work explores the perceptions of Spaniards with IDD during the lockdown with respect to four topics: access to information, emotional experiences, effects on living conditions and access to support.
Methods
The topics were explored using a subset of 16 closed‐ended questions from an online survey. In total, 582 participants with IDD completed the survey. The frequencies and percentages of responses to the questions were calculated, and chi‐square tests performed to explore the relationship between participants' sociodemographic characteristics and responses. Given that people differed in the way in which they completed the survey, the relationship between participants' responses and completion method was also analysed.
Results
Participants reported that the pandemic and subsequent lockdown have had a deleterious effect on their emotional well‐being (around 60.0% of participants) and occupations (48.0% of students and 72.7% of workers). Although access to information and support was reportedly good overall, being under the age of 21 years and studying were associated with perceptions reflecting poorer access to information (V = .20 and V = .13, respectively) and well‐being support (V = .15 and V = .13, respectively). Being supported by a third party to complete the survey was consistently related to perceptions of worse outcomes.
Conclusions
The study yielded data on the perceptions of people with IDD regarding the effects that COVID‐19 and the subsequent lockdown have had on their lives. Suggestions on how to overcome the difficulties reported and future lines of research are discussed.
Radiotherapy-induced gut toxicity is among the most prevalent dose-limiting toxicities following radiotherapy. Prevention of radiation enteropathy requires protection of the small intestine. However, ...despite the prevalence and burden of this pathology, there are currently no effective treatments for radiotherapy-induced gut toxicity, and this pathology remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the changes induced in the rat small intestine after external irradiation of the tongue, and to explore the potential radio-protective effects of melatonin gel. Male Wistar rats were subjected to irradiation of their tongues with an X-Ray YXLON Y.Tu 320-D03 irradiator, receiving a dose of 7.5 Gy/day for 5 days. For 21 days post-irradiation, rats were treated with 45 mg/day melatonin gel or vehicle, by local application into their mouths. Our results showed that mitochondrial oxidative stress, bioenergetic impairment, and subsequent NLRP3 inflammasome activation were involved in the development of radiotherapy-induced gut toxicity. Oral treatment with melatonin gel had a protective effect in the small intestine, which was associated with mitochondrial protection and, consequently, with a reduced inflammatory response, blunting the NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome signaling activation. Thus, rats treated with melatonin gel showed reduced intestinal apoptosis, relieving mucosal dysfunction and facilitating intestinal mucosa recovery. Our findings suggest that oral treatment with melatonin gel may be a potential preventive therapy for radiotherapy-induced gut toxicity in cancer patients.
Background People with developmental disabilities are at high risk for a limited participation in leisure activities. The aim of this study was to investigate the participation in, preference for ...and interest in leisure activities of young and adults with developmental disabilities, and to examine the factors associated with leisure activity.
Methods A cross‐sectional design was used with a convenience sample of 237 people aged 17 to 65, living in the community. Leisure participation was assessed with the Spanish version of Leisure Assessment Inventory. Percentages were calculated by types of activity, and repeated measures anovas were used to analyse the differences between types of activities, and mixed anovas to analyse the factors that explain differences in leisure activity participation, preference and interest.
Results Leisure social activities and recreation activities at home were mostly solitary and passive in nature and were identified as those being most commonly engaged in. Respondents expressed preference for more social and physical activity, and they were interested in trying out a large number of physical activities. Age and type of schooling determine participation in leisure activity. The results underscore the differences in leisure activity participation, preference and interest depending on the severity of the disability.
Conclusions The findings reveal interesting patterns of participation in leisure activities from the viewpoint of youngsters and adults with developmental disabilities. Leisure participation among people with developmental disabilities is likely to be more affected by environmental factors than by personal factors.
Background The changed societal views of persons with disabilities are reflected in the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, what is not specified in ...the Convention is how to operationalise and measure the Articles composing the Convention, and how to use that information to further enhance the human rights of persons with disabilities.
Method The authors analyse the relationships between eight core quality of life domains and the 34 Articles contained in the Convention.
Results There is a close relationship between the core quality of life domains and the 34 Articles contained in the Convention. Furthermore, the current status of these Articles can be evaluated through the assessment of indicators associated with the eight core quality of life domains.
Conclusions Based on the assessment of these quality of life‐related outcomes, three strategies can be used to enhance the human rights of persons with intellectual disability. These three are to employ person‐centred planning, publish provider profiles and implement a system of support.
ABSTRACT—Cardiomyocyte regeneration is limited in adult life. Thus, the identification of a putative source of cardiomyocyte progenitors is of great interest to provide a usable model in vitro and ...new perspective in regenerative therapy. As adipose tissues were recently demonstrated to contain pluripotent stem cells, the emergence of cardiomyocyte phenotype from adipose-derived cells was investigated. We demonstrated that rare beating cells with cardiomyocyte features could be identified after culture of adipose stroma cells without addition of 5-azacytidine. The cardiomyocyte phenotype was first identified by morphological observation, confirmed with expression of specific cardiac markers, immunocytochemistry staining, and ultrastructural analysis, revealing the presence of ventricle- and atrial-like cells. Electrophysiological studies performed on early culture revealed a pacemaker activity of the cells. Finally, functional studies showed that adrenergic agonist stimulated the beating rate whereas cholinergic agonist decreased it. Taken together, this study demonstrated that functional cardiomyocyte-like cells could be directly obtained from adipose tissue. According to the large amount of this tissue in adult mammal, it could represent a useful source of cardiomyocyte progenitors.
It has been proposed that cell-free nucleic acids in the plasma participate in tumorigenesis and the development of metastases via transfection-like uptake of such nucleic acids by susceptible cells. ...This putative phenomenon is tentatively referred to as "genometastasis." In the present study, we examined the effects on cultured cells of plasma from healthy individuals and from patients with colon cancer. Cultures of NIH-3T3 cells and human adipose-derived stem cells (hASC) were supplemented with samples of plasma from patients with K-ras-mutated colorectal tumors or from healthy subjects using two different protocols: direct addition of plasma to cultures in standard plates and addition in the absence of contact between plasma and cells, which were separated by a membrane with 0.4-mum pores. In plasma-treated hASCs, no K-ras-mutated sequences were detected by real-time PCR. In contrast, in most cultures of plasma-treated NIH-3T3 cells (murine cells), the transfer of human DNA occurred, as verified by the detection of human K-ras sequences, p53 sequences, and beta-globin-encoding sequences. Moreover, NIH-3T3 cells that had been cultured with plasma from patients with colon cancer were oncogenically transformed, as shown by the development of carcinomas in nonobese diabetic-severe combined immunodeficient mice after the injection of such cells. Microscopic analysis of membranes that had separated plasma from cultured cells confirmed the complete absence of cells in the plasma. We only observed noncell particles, having diameters of <0.4 mum. Our results indicate that plasma from cancer patients is able to transform cultured cells oncogenically, supporting the previously proposed hypothesis of genometastasis.
It is uncertain whether neurogenesis occurs in humans after stroke. We studied the morphologic changes that occurred in the subventricular zone (SVZ) in patients who died following an acute ischemic ...stroke.
We examined coronal brain slices from patients who died after a first-ever cerebral nonlacunar infarction in the middle cerebral artery territory. We evaluated the morphologic changes in the ipsilateral and contralateral SVZ by light and electron microscopy. Using immunochemistry with Ki-67 and PCNA, we detected cell proliferation. We used Tuj-1 for immature neurons and PSA-NCAM for migrating cells.
The study included 7 patients with a mean age of 82 +/- 5 (mean +/- SD) years; 4 were men. They died a mean of 10 +/- 5 days after the ischemic stroke. Brain samples were obtained a mean of 4 +/- 2 hours after death. In comparison with the contralateral SVZ, the following changes were observed in the ipsilateral SVZ: an increase in the width of the gap and ribbon layers, as well as in the cell density of the ribbon layer, an enlargement of the cytoplasmic volume of astrocytes, and an increase of Ki-67-positive cells. In the ipsilateral SVZ, mitoses and cells that stained for either Tuj-1 or PSA-NCAM markers were observed more frequently than in the contralateral SVZ.
We found unequivocal evidence of active cell proliferation in the ipsilateral subventricular zone following an acute ischemic stroke in our patients.
We carried out a detailed strong lensing analysis of a sub-sample of eight galaxy clusters of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) in the redshift range of zcluster = 0.23 − ...0.59 using extensive spectroscopic information, primarily from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) archival data and complemented with CLASH-VLT redshift measurements. The observed positions of the multiple images of strongly lensed background sources were used to constrain parametric models describing the cluster total mass distributions. Different models were tested in each cluster depending on the complexity of its mass distribution and on the number of detected multiple images. Four clusters show more than five spectroscopically confirmed multiple image families. In this sample, we did not make use of families that are only photometrically identified in order to reduce model degeneracies between the values of the total mass of a cluster source redshifts, in addition to systematics due to the potential misidentifications of multiple images. For the remaining four clusters, we used additional families without any spectroscopic confirmation to increase the number of strong lensing constraints up to the number of free parameters in our parametric models. We present spectroscopic confirmation of 27 multiply lensed sources, with no previous spectroscopic measurements, spanning over the redshift range of zsrc = 0.7 − 6.1. Moreover, we confirm an average of 48 galaxy members in the core of each cluster thanks to the high efficiency and large field of view of MUSE. We used this information to derive precise strong lensing models, projected total mass distributions, and magnification maps. We show that, despite having different properties (i.e. number of mass components, total mass, redshift, etc.), the projected total mass and mass density profiles of all clusters have very similar shapes when rescaled by independent measurements of M200c and R200c. Specifically, we measured the mean value of the projected total mass of our cluster sample within 10 (20)% of R200c to be 0.13 (0.32) of M200c, with a remarkably small scatter of 5 (6)%. Furthermore, the large number of high-z sources and the precise magnification maps derived in this work for four clusters add up to the sample of high-quality gravitational telescopes to be used to study the faint and distant Universe.
The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a monolayer located between the photoreceptors and the choroid, is constantly damaged by oxidative stress, particularly because of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ...As the RPE, because of its physiological functions, is essential for the survival of the retina, any sustained damage may consequently lead to loss of vision. Exosomes are small membranous vesicles released into the extracellular medium by numerous cell types, including RPE cells. Their cargo includes genetic material and proteins, making these vesicles essential for cell‐to‐cell communication. Exosomes may fuse with neighbouring cells influencing their fate. It has been observed that RPE cells release higher amounts of exosomes when they are under oxidative stress. Exosomes derived from cultured RPE cells were isolated by ultracentrifugation and quantified by flow cytometry. VEGF receptors (VEGFR) were analysed by both flow cytometry and Western blot. RT‐PCR and qPCR were conducted to assess mRNA content of VEGFRs in exosomes. Neovascularization assays were performed after applying RPE exosomes into endothelial cell cultures. Our results showed that stressed RPE cells released a higher amount of exosomes than controls, with a higher expression of VEGFR in the membrane, and enclosed an extra cargo of VEGFR mRNA. Angiogenesis assays confirmed that endothelial cells increased their tube formation capacity when exposed to stressed RPE exosomes.
Brain size and limits to adult neurogenesis Paredes, Mercedes F.; Sorrells, Shawn F.; Garcia-Verdugo, Jose M. ...
Journal of comparative neurology,
15 February 2016, Letnik:
524, Številka:
3
Journal Article
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