eHealth interventions for people with chronic kidney disease

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: This review aims to look at the benefits and harms of using eHealth interventions in the CKD population

Interventions for improving health literacy in people with chronic kidney disease

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: This review aims to look at the benefits and harms of interventions for improving health literacy in patients with CKD

Extragalactic Magnetic Field and the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays

The strength and spectrum of the extragalactic magnetic field are still unknown. Its measurement would help answer the question of whether galactic fields are purely a primordial relic or were dynamically enhanced from a much smaller cosmological seed field. In this letter, we show that the composition, spectrum, and directional distribution of extragalactic ultrahigh energy cosmic rays with energies above \simeq 10^{18}\ev can probe the large scale component of the extragalactic magnetic field below the present observational upper limit of $10^{-9}$ Gauss. Cosmic ray detectors under construction or currently in the proposal stage should be able to test the existence of the extragalactic magnetic fields on scales of a few to tens of Mpc and strengths in the range $\simeq 10^{-10} - 10^{-9}$ Gauss.Comment: 11 pages with 3 postscript figures; LaTeX with AASTeX macros; uuencoded 3 .eps figures; submitted to the ApJL; a postscript version of the paper also available at http://astro.uchicago.edu/home/web/sjlee/pub.htm

Outcome reporting in therapeutic mammaplasty: a systematic review

Background Therapeutic mammaplasty (TM) is an oncological procedure which combines tumour resection with breast reduction and mastopexy techniques. Previous systematic reviews have demonstrated the oncological safety of TM but reporting of critically important outcomes such as quality of life, aesthetic and functional outcomes are limited, piecemeal or inconsistent. This systematic review aims to identify all outcomes reported in clinical studies of TM to facilitate development of a Core Outcome Set. Methods Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and Web of Science were searched from inception to 5 August 2020. Included studies reported clinical outcomes following TM for adult women. Two authors independently screened articles for eligibility. Data was extracted regarding the outcome definition and classification type (e.g., oncologic, quality of life, etc), time of outcome reporting and measurement tools. Results Of 5709 de-duplicated records, 148 were included in the narrative synthesis. The majority of studies (n=102, 68.9 per cent) reported measures of survival and/or recurrence; approximately three-quarters (n=75, 73.5 per cent) had less than 5 years follow-up. Aesthetic outcome was reported in half of studies (n=75, 50.7 per cent) using mainly subjective, non-validated measurement tools. The time-point at which aesthetic assessment was conducted was highly variable, and only defined in 48 (64.0 per cent) studies and none included a pre-operative baseline for comparison. Few studies reported quality of life (n=30, 20.3 per cent), functional outcomes (n=5, 3.4 per cent) or resource use (n=28, 18.9 per cent). Conclusions Given the oncological equivalence of TM and mastectomy, treatment decisions are often driven by aesthetic and functional outcomes, which are infrequently and inconsistently reported with non-validated measurement tools. PROSPERO: CRD4202020036

Thermoregulatory and Orthostatic Responses to Wearing the Advanced Crew Escape Suit

Current NASA flight rules limit the maximum cabin temperature (23.9 C) during re-entry and landing to protect crewmembers from heat stress while wearing the Advanced Crew Escape Suit (ACES) and Liquid Cooling Garment (LCG). The primary purpose of this ground-based project was to determine whether the LCG could provide adequate cooling if ambient temperature reached 26.7 "C. The secondary objective was to determine whether there would be a graded effect of ambient temperature profiles with maximum temperatures of 23.9 (LO), 26.7 (MPD), and 29.4 C (HI). METHODS: Eight subjects underwent a 5-h temperature profile (22.8,26.7 C) in an environmental chamber while wearing the ACES and LCG. Subjects controlled the amount of cooling provided by the LCG. Core (T(sub core)),skin temperatures (T(sub sk)) and heart rate (HR) were measured every 15-min. A 10-minute stand test was administered pre- and post-chamber. Additionally, 4 subjects underwent the three 5-h temperature profiles (LO, MID, and HI) with the same measurements. RESULTS: In the 8 subjects completing the MID profile, T(sub core), and T(sub sk) decreased from the start' to the end of the chamber stay. Subjects completed the stand test without signs of orthostatic intolerance. In the 4 subjects who underwent all 3 profiles, there was no discernible pattern in T(sub core), T(sub sk), and HR responses across the temperature profiles. CONCLUSIONS: In the range of temperatures tested, subjects were able to sufficiently utilize the self-selected cooling to avoid any potential deleterious effects of wearing the ACES. However, these subjects were not microgravity exposed, which has been suggested to impair thermoregulation

Acetarsol Suppositories: Effective Treatment for Refractory Proctitis in a Cohort of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

BACKGROUND: Management of proctitis refractory to conventional therapies presents a common clinical problem. The use of acetarsol suppositories, which are derived from organic arsenic, was first described in 1965. Data concerning clinical efficacy and tolerability are very limited. AIM: To examine the efficacy of acetarsol suppositories for the treatment of refractory proctitis. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on patients with inflammatory bowel disease treated with acetarsol suppositories between 2008 and 2014 at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Clinical response was defined as resolution of symptoms back to baseline at the time of next clinic review. RESULTS: Thirty-nine patients were prescribed acetarsol suppositories between March 2008 and July 2014 (29 patients with ulcerative colitis, nine with Crohn's disease, and one with indeterminate colitis). Thirty-eight were included for analysis. The standard dose of acetarsol was 250 mg twice daily per rectum for 4 weeks. Clinical response was observed in 26 patients (68%). Of the 11 patients who had endoscopic assessment before and after treatment, nine (82%) showed endoscopic improvement and five (45%) were in complete remission (Wilcoxon signed-rank test p = 0.006). One patient developed a macular skin rash 1 week after commencing acetarsol, which resolved within 4 weeks of drug cessation. CONCLUSION: Acetarsol was effective for two out of every three patients with refractory proctitis. This cohort had failed a broad range of topical and systemic treatments, including anti-TNFα therapy. Clinical efficacy was reflected in significant endoscopic improvement. Adverse effects of acetarsol were rare

TRAF2 Is Essential for JNK but Not NF-κB Activation and Regulates Lymphocyte Proliferation and Survival

AbstractTRAF2 is believed to mediate the activation of NF-κB and JNK induced by the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily, which elicits pleiotropic responses in lymphocytes. We have investigated the physiological roles of TRAF2 in these processes by expressing a lymphocyte-specific dominant negative form of TRAF2, thereby blocking this protein's effector function. We find that the TNFR superfamily signals require TRAF2 for activation of JNK but not NF-κB. In addition, we show that TRAF2 induces NF-κB–independent antiapoptotic pathways during TNF-induced apoptosis. Inhibition of TRAF2 leads to splenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, and an increased number of B cells. These findings indicate that TRAF2 is involved in the regulation of lymphocyte function and growth in vivo

Examining the cross-cultural validity of the positive affect and negative affect schedule between an Asian (Singaporean) sample and a Western (American) sample

The positive affect and negative affect schedule (PANAS ) is a popular measure of positive (PA ) and negative affectivity (NA ). Developed and validated in Western contexts, the 20‐item scale has been frequently administered on respondents from Asian countries with the assumption of cross‐cultural measurement invariance. We examine this assumption via a rigorous multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, which allows us to assess between‐group differences in both strength of scale item‐to‐latent factor relationship (metric invariance test) and mean of each scale item (scalar invariance test), on a large sample of 1,065 respondents recruited from Singapore (Asian sample) and the United States (Western sample). We found that two items assessing PA ("excited" and "proud") and three items assessing NA ("guilty," "hostile," and "ashamed") exhibited metric noninvariance whereas 11 of the remaining metric invariant items exhibited scalar noninvariance, suggesting that the PA and NA constructs differ from what the PANAS is expected to measure for Asian respondents. Our findings serve as a cautionary note to researchers who intend to administer the PANAS in future studies as well as to researchers interpreting the results of past studies involving respondents from Asian countries

Chemical Beam Epitaxy of Compound Semiconductors

Contains reports on three research projects.3M Company Faculty Development GrantAT&T Research Foundation Special Purpose GrantJoint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-89-C-0001National Science Foundation Grant ECS 88-46919National Science Foundation Grant ECS 89-05909Purdue University Subcontract No. 530-0716-07U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-88-K-056

Measurement of low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in primary and secondary prevention patients: Insights from the PALM registry

Background The 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults recommended testing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( LDL -C) to identify untreated patients with LDL -C ≥190 mg/dL, assess lipid-lowering therapy adherence, and consider nonstatin therapy. We sought to determine whether clinician lipid testing practices were consistent with these guidelines. Methods and Results The PALM (Patient and Provider Assessment of Lipid Management) registry enrolled primary and secondary prevention patients from 140 US cardiology, endocrinology, and primary care offices in 2015 and captured demographic data, lipid treatment history, and the highest LDL -C level in the past 2 years. Core laboratory lipid levels were drawn at enrollment. Among 7627 patients, 2787 (36.5%) had no LDL -C levels measured in the 2 years before enrollment. Patients without chart-documented LDL -C levels were more often women, nonwhite, uninsured, and non-college graduates (all P\u3c0.01). Patients without prior lipid testing were less likely to receive statin treatment (72.6% versus 76.0%; P=0.0034), a high-intensity statin (21.5% versus 24.3%; P=0.016), nonstatin lipid-lowering therapy (24.8% versus 27.3%; P=0.037), and had higher core laboratory LDL -C levels at enrollment (median 97 versus 92 mg/dL; P\u3c0.0001) than patients with prior LDL -C testing. Of 166 individuals with core laboratory LDL -C levels ≥190 mg/dL, 36.1% had no LDL -C measurement in the prior 2 years, and 57.2% were not on a statin at the time of enrollment. Conclusions In routine clinical practice, LDL -C testing is associated with higher-intensity lipid-lowering treatment and lower achieved LDL -C level