Plos One
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Little is known about gender differences in plasma biomarker levels in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ⋯ In stable COPD patients with similar airflow obstruction, there are gender differences in plasma biomarker levels and in the association between biomarker levels and important clinical or physiological variables. Further studies should confirm our findings.
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Human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) informs the understanding of the neural basis of mental function and is a key domain of ethical enquiry. It raises questions about the practice and implications of research, and reflexively informs ethics through the empirical investigation of moral judgments. ⋯ We find that this landscape is sparsely populated: despite previous calls for debate, there are few articles that discuss both fMRI and ethical, legal, or social implications (ELSI), and even fewer direct citations between the two literatures. Recognizing that practical barriers exist to integrating ELSI discussion into the research literature, we argue nonetheless that the ethical challenges of fMRI, and controversy over its conceptual and practical implications, make this essential.
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Stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) is the specific decrease in the response to a frequent ('standard') stimulus, which does not generalize, or generalizes only partially, to another, rare stimulus ('deviant'). Stimulus-specific adaptation could result simply from the depression of the responses to the standard. Alternatively, there may be an increase in the responses to the deviant stimulus due to the violation of expectations set by the standard, indicating the presence of true deviance detection. ⋯ On the other hand, when presented within a sequence of narrowly spaced frequencies, the responses to a tone, even when rare, were smaller. A model of SSA that included only adaptation of the responses in narrow frequency channels predicted responses to the deviants that were substantially smaller than the observed ones. Thus, the response to a deviant is at least partially due to the change it represents relative to the regularity set by the standard tone, indicating the presence of true deviance detection in rat auditory cortex.
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Postoperative ventricular dysfunction (VnD) occurs in 9-20% of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgical patients and is associated with increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. Understanding genetic causes of postoperative VnD should enhance patient risk stratification and improve treatment and prevention strategies. We aimed to determine if genetic variants associate with occurrence of in-hospital VnD after CABG surgery. ⋯ No SNPs were consistently associated with strong risk (OR(additive model)>2.1) of developing in-hospital VnD after CABG surgery. However, three genetic loci identified by meta-analysis were more modestly associated with development of postoperative VnD. Studies of larger cohorts to assess these loci as well as to define other genetic mechanisms and related biology that link genetic variants to postoperative ventricular dysfunction are warranted.
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In spite of the significant mortality associated with Plasmodium falciparum infection, the mechanisms underlying severe disease remain poorly understood. We have previously shown evidence of endothelial activation in Ghanaian children with malaria, indicated by elevated plasma levels of both von Willebrand factor (VWF) and its propeptide. In the current prospective study of children in Malawi with retinopathy confirmed cerebral malaria, we compared these markers with uncomplicated malaria, non malarial febrile illness and controls. ⋯ In children with malaria plasma VWF and propeptide levels are markedly elevated in both cerebral and mild paediatric malaria, with levels matching disease severity, and these normalize upon recovery. High levels of both markers also occur in retinopathy-negative 'cerebral malaria' cases, many of whom are thought to be suffering from diseases other than malaria, indicating that further studies of these markers will be required to determine their sensitivity and specificity.