Plos One
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The efficacy of a brief app-based mindfulness intervention on psychosocial outcomes in healthy adults: A pilot randomised controlled trial.
Previous evidence suggests that mindfulness training may improve aspects of psychosocial well-being. Whilst mindfulness is traditionally taught in person, consumers are increasingly turning to mindfulness-based smartphone apps as an alternative delivery medium for training. Despite this growing trend, few studies have explored whether mindfulness delivered via a smartphone app can enhance psychosocial well-being within the general public. ⋯ This pilot randomised controlled trial shows that self-reported improvements in psychosocial outcomes can be achieved at low cost through short-term engagement with a mindfulness-based smartphone app, and should be followed up with more substantive studies.
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Involvement of palliative care experts improves the quality of life and satisfaction with care of patients who are in the last stage of life. However, little is known about the relation between palliative care expert involvement and quality of dying (QOD) in the hospital. We studied the association between palliative care team (PCT) consultation and QOD in the hospital as experienced by relatives. ⋯ For patients dying in the hospital, palliative care consultation is associated with a favorable QOD.
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Clinical Trial
Quality of life of the Indonesian general population: Test-retest reliability and population norms of the EQ-5D-5L and WHOQOL-BREF.
The objective of this study is to obtain population norms and to assess test-retest reliability of EQ-5D-5L and WHOQOL-BREF for the Indonesian population. ⋯ This study provides representative estimates of self-reported health status and quality of life for the general Indonesian population as assessed by the EQ-5D-5L and WHOQOL-BREF instruments. The descriptive system of the EQ-5D-5L and the WHOQOL-BREF have high test-retest reliability while the EQ-VAS and the index score of EQ-5D-5L show poor agreement between the two tests. Our results can be useful to researchers and clinicians who can compare their findings with respect to these concepts with those of the Indonesian general population.
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Flavored e-cigarettes are enticing to new users and established cigarette smokers using e-cigarettes to quit smoking due to the wide variety of flavor options. However, specific flavor combinations that are popular among e-cigarette users are understudied. Recently, the Deeming rule extended the US Food and Drug Administration's authority over all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. ⋯ This study identified predominant flavor categories among past 30-day youth and adult e-cigarette users. Findings indicate that the wide variety of flavors available and the freedom to "mix-and-match" flavors may maintain use of e-cigarettes among youth and adults, and future research should focus on the composition of the ENDS liquid/vapor to disentangle the contributions of sweeteners and flavorants.
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Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic and progressive lung disease characterized by epithelial cell activation, expansion of the fibroblast population and excessive extracellular matrix accumulation. The mechanisms are incompletely understood but evidence indicates that the deregulation of several proteases contributes to its pathogenesis. Transmembrane protease serine 4 (TMPRSS4) is a novel type II transmembrane serine protease that may promote migration and facilitate epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), two critical processes in the pathogenesis of IPF. ⋯ By morphology, a significant reduction of the fibrotic index was observed in KO and heterozygous mice which was confirmed by measurement of collagen content (hydroxyproline: WT: 164±21.1 μg/lung versus TMPRSS4 haploinsufficient: 110.2±14.3 μg/lung and TMPRSS4 deficient mice: 114.1±24.2 μg/lung (p<0.01). As in IPF, TMPRSS4 was also expressed in epithelial and mast cells. These findings indicate that TMPRSS4 is upregulated in IPF lungs and that may have a profibrotic role.