Plos One
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Multicenter Study
Elevated plasma angiopoietin-2 levels and primary graft dysfunction after lung transplantation.
Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) is a significant contributor to early morbidity and mortality after lung transplantation. Increased vascular permeability in the allograft has been identified as a possible mechanism leading to PGD. Angiopoietin-2 serves as a partial antagonist to the Tie-2 receptor and induces increased endothelial permeability. We hypothesized that elevated Ang2 levels would be associated with development of PGD. ⋯ Angiopoietin-2 levels were significantly associated with the development of PGD after lung transplantation. Further studies examining the regulation of endothelial cell permeability in the pathogenesis of PGD are indicated.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effective group training for patients with unexplained physical symptoms: a randomized controlled trial with a non-randomized one-year follow-up.
Although cognitive-behavioral therapy for Unexplained Physical Symptoms (UPS) is effective in secondary care, studies done in primary care produced implementation problems and conflicting results. We evaluated the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral group training tailored to primary care patients and provided by a secondary community mental-health service reaching out into primary care. ⋯ The cognitive-behavioral group training tailored for UPS in primary care and provided by an outreaching secondary mental-health service appears to be effective and to broaden the accessibility of treatment for UPS.
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Asthma is a heterogeneous disease with variability among patients in characteristics such as lung function, symptoms and control, body weight, markers of inflammation, and responsiveness to glucocorticoids (GC). Cluster analysis of well-characterized cohorts can advance understanding of disease subgroups in asthma and point to unsuspected disease mechanisms. We utilized an hypothesis-free cluster analytical approach to define the contribution of obesity and related variables to asthma phenotype. ⋯ Obesity is an important determinant of asthma phenotype in adults. There is heterogeneity in expression of clinical and inflammatory biomarkers of asthma across obese individuals. Reduced expression of the dominant functional isoform of the GCR may mediate GC insensitivity in obese asthmatics.
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Comparative Study
Regional brain differences in cortical thickness, surface area and subcortical volume in individuals with Williams syndrome.
Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by increased non-social anxiety, sensitivity to sounds and hypersociability. Previous studies have reported contradictory findings with regard to regional brain variation in WS, relying on only one type of morphological measure (usually volume) in each study. The present study aims to contribute to this body of literature and perhaps elucidate some of these discrepancies by examining concurrent measures of cortical thickness, surface area and subcortical volume between WS subjects and typically-developing (TD) controls. ⋯ Our results were consistent with previous reports showing structural alterations in regions supporting the socio-affective and visuospatial impairments in WS. However, we also were able to effectively capture novel and complex patterns of cortical differences using both surface area and thickness. In addition, correlation results implicate specific brain regions in levels of anxiety in WS, consistent with previous reports investigating general anxiety disorders in the general population.
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The incidence and correlates of breast milk HIV-1 RNA detection were determined in intensively sampled women receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission. ⋯ The majority of women on HAART had episodic detection of breast milk HIV-1 RNA. Breast milk HIV-1 RNA detection was associated with systemic viral burden rather than breast milk HIV-1 DNA.