Selvskadende adfærd på sociale medier

Traditionally non-suicidal self-injury has been seen as shameful behavior and those suffering from it have concealed it from their surrounding environment. There is a tendency that is growing amongst adolescents with non-suicidal self-injury behavior, in particular adolescent girls, who are now sharing graphic pictures of their non-suicidal self-injurieson social media platforms such as Instagram. This article investigates the psychological mechanisms, which lie behind this phenomenon. This is done within a clinical group of adolescents with non-suicidal self-injury behavior. It is suggested that these social media platforms help the adolescents to create a meaningful identity and to enter into meaningfulrelations with other like-minded people. It is therefore considered important to understand the social medias and their impact on the adolescents’ process of building their identity and relations with others, when one is dealing with non-suicidal self-injury

Copper(II) Ions Increase Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Type 1 Dynamics in Key Structural Regions That Govern Stability

© 2016 American Chemical Society. Plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) regulates the fibrinolysis pathway by inhibiting the protease activity of plasminogen activators. PAI-1 works in concert with vitronectin (VN), an extracellular protein that aids in localization of active PAI-1 to tissues. The Peterson laboratory demonstrated that Cu(II) and other transition metals modulate the stability of PAI-1, exhibiting effects that are dependent on the presence or absence of the somatomedin B (SMB) domain of VN. The study presented here dissects the changes in molecular dynamics underlying the destabilizing effects of Cu(II) on PAI-1. We utilize backbone amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange monitored by mass spectrometry to assess PAI-1 dynamics in the presence and absence of Cu(II) ions with and without the SMB domain of VN. We show that Cu(II) produces an increase in dynamics in regions important for the function and overall stability of PAI-1, while the SMB domain elicits virtually the opposite effect. A mutant form of PAI-1 lacking two N-terminal histidine residues at positions 2 and 3 exhibits similar increases in dynamics upon Cu(II) binding compared to that of active wild-type PAI-1, indicating that the observed structural effects are not a result of coordination of Cu(II) to these histidine residues. Finally, addition of Cu(II) results in an acceleration of the local unfolding kinetics of PAI-1 presumed to be on pathway to the latency conversion. The effect of ligands on the dynamics of PAI-1 adds another intriguing dimension to the mechanisms for regulation of PAI-1 stability and function

Biochemical, clinical and genetic characteristics in adults with persistent hypophosphatasaemia; Data from an endocrinological outpatient clinic in Denmark

BACKGROUND: Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is an inborn disease caused by pathogenic variants in ALPL. Low levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) are a biochemical hallmark of the disease. Scarce knowledge about the prevalence of HPP in Scandinavia exists, and the variable clinical presentations make diagnostics challenging. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of ALPL variants as well as the clinical and biochemical features among adults with endocrinological diagnoses and persistent hypophosphatasaemia. METHODS: A biochemical database containing ALP measurements of 26,121 individuals was reviewed to identify adults above 18 years of age with persistently low levels of ALP beneath range (≤ 35 ± 2.7 U/L). ALPL genetic testing, biochemical evaluations and assessment of clinical features by a systematic questionnaire among included patients, were performed. RESULTS: Among 24 participants, thirteen subjects (54.2%) revealed a disease-causing variant in ALPL and reported mild clinical features of HPP, of which musculoskeletal pain was the most frequently reported (n = 9). The variant c. 571G > A; p.(Glu191Lys) was identified in six subjects, and an unreported missense variant (c.1019A > C; p.(His340Pro)) as well as a deletion of exon 2 were detected by genetic screening. Biochemical analyses showed no significant differences in ALP (p = 0.059), the bone specific alkaline phosphatase (BALP) (p = 0.056) and pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP) (p = 0.085) between patients with an ALPL variant and negative genetic screening. Patients with a variant in ALPL had significantly higher PLP levels than healthy controls (p = 0.002). We observed normal ALP activity in some patients classified as mild HPP, and slightly increased levels of PLP in two subjects with normal genetic screening and four healthy controls. Among 51 patients with persistent hypophosphatasaemia, fifteen subjects (29.4%) received antiresorptive treatment. Two patients with unrecognized HPP were treated with bisphosphonates and did not show complications due to the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Pathogenic variants in ALPL are common among patients with endocrinological diagnoses and low ALP. Regarding diagnostics, genetic testing is necessary to identify mild HPP due to fluctuating biochemical findings. Antiresorptive treatment is a frequent reason for hypophosphatasaemia and effects of these agents in adults with a variant in ALPL and osteoporosis remain unclear and require further studies

Optimizing individual benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation including a multifaceted dietary intervention – A single-arm feasibility study

IntroductionFew studies have examined the effectiveness of nutrition interventions in municipal COPD rehabilitation programs. The objectives of this study were to examine the feasibility of implementation in practice (primary) and the feasibility of study methods and potential effectiveness (secondary) of a multidisciplinary dietary intervention offered to patients who start municipal rehabilitations program.MethodsThis study was a single arm intervention study with a pre-post design. Participant were recruited from five different municipal rehabilitation centers and received three individualized dietary counselling's. The primary outcome was retention, compliance to the intervention and complement of data collection. Secondary outcomes included changes in dietary intake, body composition and physical function. Analysis of the primary and secondary outcomes was primarily based on descriptive statistics.ResultsIn total, 111 (77%) of 145 eligible patients from five different municipalities consented to participate. Of them 99 (89%) completed. Before the intervention 67 (63%) of the participants had 75% or more of their requirement of energy covered, and 48 (45%) had 75% or more of their protein requirements covered. At the end of the intervention, 76 (77%) of the participants had 75% or more coverage of energy requirements and 80 (83%) had 75% or more coverage of their protein requirements. In general, the level of completeness was high.ConclusionWe found recruitment to be feasible, a high rate of retention, a high compliance to the intervention and high completeness of the data collection