Plos One
-
Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) face increased risk of stroke. Whether acupuncture can help to protect TBI patients from stroke has not previously been studied. ⋯ Patients with TBI receiving acupuncture treatment show decreased risk of stroke compared with those without acupuncture treatment. However, this study was limited by lack of information regarding lifestyles, biochemical profiles, TBI severity, and acupuncture points used in treatments.
-
Chronic pain is one of the most prevalent health problems in the world today, yet neurological markers, critical to diagnosis of chronic pain, are still largely unknown. The ability to objectively identify individuals with chronic pain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data is important for the advancement of diagnosis, treatment, and theoretical knowledge of brain processes associated with chronic pain. The purpose of our research is to investigate specific neurological markers that could be used to diagnose individuals experiencing chronic pain by using multivariate pattern analysis with fMRI data. ⋯ This technique demonstrates that differences in the pattern of brain activity to induced pain can be used as a neurological marker to distinguish between individuals with and without chronic pain. Medical, legal and business professionals have recognized the importance of this research topic and of developing objective measures of chronic pain. This method of data analysis was very successful in correctly classifying each of the two groups.
-
Although it is well established that sex is a risk factor in acquiring a traumatic brain injury (TBI) among adolescents, it has not been established whether it also moderates the influence of other TBI psychological health correlates. ⋯ TBI differences in outcomes need to be assessed for potential moderating effects of sex and age. Results have important implications for more tailored injury prevention efforts.
-
Autophagy is the regulated catabolic process for recycling damaged or unnecessary organelles, which plays crucial roles in cell survival during nutrient deficiency, and innate immune defense against pathogenic microorganisms. Autophagy has been also reported to be involved in various conditions including inflammatory diseases. IRGM (human immunity-related GTPase) has an important function in eliminating Mycobacterium tuberculosis from host cells via autophagy. We examined the association between genetic polymorphism and clinical course/outcome in severely septic patients. ⋯ The data suggest that the IRGM(+313), an autophagy-related polymorphic locus, influences outcome in severely septic patients, with the possible involvement of autophagy in sepsis exacerbation.
-
The diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) requires the analysis of ciliary function and ultrastructure. Diagnosis can be complicated by secondary effects on cilia such as damage during sampling, local inflammation or recent infection. To differentiate primary from secondary abnormalities, re-analysis of cilia following culture and re-differentiation of epithelial cells at an air-liquid interface (ALI) aids the diagnosis of PCD. However changes in ciliary beat pattern of cilia following epithelial cell culture has previously been described, which has brought the robustness of this method into question. This is the first systematic study to evaluate ALI culture as an aid to diagnosis of PCD in the light of these concerns. ⋯ The change to ciliary phenotype in PCD samples following cell culture does not affect the diagnosis, and in certain cases can assist the ability to identify PCD cilia.