The effects of a mindfulness-based family psychoeducation intervention for the caregivers of young adults with first-episode psychosis: A randomized controlled trial

Objective: In this study, we investigated the effects of a mindfulness-based family psychoeducation (MBFPE) program on the mental-health outcomes of both caregivers and young adults with first-episode psychosis with an onset in the past three years through a multi-site randomized controlled trial. We also studied the outcomes of three potential mediating effects of interpersonal mindfulness, expressed emotions, and non-attachment on the program. Method: We randomly assigned 65 caregivers of young adults with psychosis to MBFPE (n = 33) or an ordinary family psychoeducation (FPE) program (n = 32); among them, 18 young adults in recovery also participated in the evaluation of outcomes. Results: Intent-to-treat analyses were conducted. No significant time × group interaction effects of MBFPE and FPE programs were found in any of the caregivers’ outcomes. However, the young adults with psychosis reported higher levels of recovery after the MBFPE program than after the ordinary FPE program (F = 8.268, p = 0.012, d = 1.484). They also reported a larger reduction in over-involvement of their caregivers (F = 4.846, p = 0.044, d = 1.136), showing that MBFPE had a superior effect to FPE in promoting recovery and reducing over-involvement. Conclusions: A brief psychoeducation program may not reduce the burden on or improve the mental-health outcome of caregivers of individuals with recent-onset psychosis. However, integrating mindfulness into a conventional family psychoeducation program may reduce the expressed emotions of caregivers, especially over-involvement. Further studies should explore how psychoeducation programs can reduce the impact of psychosis on family through sustainable effects in terms of reducing their burden and expressed emotions, using a rigorous study and adequate sample size

An Investigation of the Immediate Effect of Static Stretching on the Morphology and Stiffness of Achilles Tendon in Dominant and Non-Dominant Legs.

This study was undertaken to investigate the immediate effect of static stretching on normal Achilles tendon morphology and stiffness, and the different effect on dominant and non-dominant legs; and to evaluate inter-operator and intra-operator reliability of using shear-wave elastography in measuring Achilles tendon stiffness.20 healthy subjects (13 males, 7 females) were included in the study. Thickness, cross-sectional area and stiffness of Achilles tendons in both legs were measured before and after 5-min static stretching using grey-scale ultrasound and shear-wave elastography. Inter-operator and intra-operator reliability of tendon stiffness measurements of six operators were evaluated.Result showed that there was no significant change in the thickness and cross-sectional area of Achilles tendon after static stretching in both dominant and non-dominant legs (p > 0.05). Tendon stiffness showed a significant increase in non-dominant leg (p 0.05). The inter-operator reliability of shear-wave elastography measurements was 0.749 and the intra-operator reliability ranged from 0.751 to 0.941.Shear-wave elastography is a useful and non-invasive imaging tool to assess the immediate stiffness change of Achilles tendon in response to static stretching with high intra-operator and inter-operator reliability

Effects of Music on Patients Undergoing a C-clamp Procedure After Percutaneous Coronary Interventions

Aim: This paper reports a study to determine the effect of music on physiological parameters and level of pain in patients undergoing application of a C-clamp after percutaneous coronary interventions. Background: Most percutaneous coronary interventions are performed through the femoral artery. In order to stop bleeding and achieve homeostasis, a C-clamp is used after percutaneous coronary interventions. However, the experience is painful for patients and they inevitably suffer discomfort. Pain may lead to stress responses and may affect the physical and mental health of patients. One potential beneficial practice is having the patient listen to relaxing music, which might have the effect of reducing situational discomfort and pain. Methods: A randomized controlled study was conducted during the period September 2004 to March 2005. Forty-three people (20 experimental and 23 control) were recruited from the intensive care units of two acute care hospitals in Hong Kong. Physiological and psychological variables were collected at baseline and at 15, 30 and 45 minutes. Results: In the music group, there were statistically significant reductions (P = 0.001) in heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation than the control participants at 45 minutes. In the music group, statistically significant reductions (P = 0.001) in systolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation were found at the four time points, but not in the control group. No statistically significant differences were found at baseline comparison of the two groups, but statistically significant differences in pain scores were found at 45 minutes for participants in the music group compared with the control group (P = 0.003). Participants in the control group showed statistically significant increases in pain at 45 minutes compared with baseline (P \u3c 0.001). Conclusions: The benefits of preventing physiological reactions to pain were demonstrated. Music is a simple, safe and effective method of reducing potentially harmful physiological and psychological responses arising from pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved

Detection of Herba Aristolochia Mollissemae in a patient with unexplained nephropathy

The authors report a case of unexplained nephropathy 2 months after ingestion of Herba Aristolochia Mollissemae in a patient with long-standing Crohn's disease and recently diagnosed carcinoma of the colon. It presented as a relentlessly progressing hypocellular interstitial nephritis 5 months after cessation of an earlier course of mesalazine. The patient finally had end-stage renal failure 12 months after taking herbs and required hemodialysis. Aristolochic acid (AA) was detected in the herbal sample of Herba Aristolochia Mollissemae by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection and electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry. Specific AA-DNA adducts were detected in the renal biopsy by 32P-postlabelling analysis. Transitional cell carcinoma was diagnosed 5 months after herb ingestion. It was found that the originally prescribed nonnephrotoxic herb had been substituted by AA-containing Herba Aristolochia Mollissemae at the wholesaler level. Although AA-associated nephropathy could not be proved conclusively, the current case contributed to the withdrawal of the AA-related herbs by the local health authority in Hong Kong. Physicians should be on the alert for herbal nephrotoxicity by possible replacement of nontoxic herbs by nephrotoxic herbs. © 2004 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Effect of static stretching on Achilles tendon morphology and stiffness.

<p>Effect of static stretching on Achilles tendon morphology and stiffness.</p

A longitudinal shear wave elastogram (upper) and the corresponding grey scale sonogram (lower) show an Achilles tendon on the non-dominant leg of a subject before stretching exercise.

<p>Four Q-boxes with a diameter of 3 mm were placed along the long axis of tendon for the measurement of tendon stiffness. Different stiffness parameters are shown on the right side of the image.</p

A transverse grey scale sonogram of Achilles tendon shows the measurement of the thickness (caliber +) and cross-sectional area (caliber ×) of the tendon.

<p>A transverse grey scale sonogram of Achilles tendon shows the measurement of the thickness (caliber +) and cross-sectional area (caliber ×) of the tendon.</p

A longitudinal shear wave elastogram (upper) and the corresponding grey scale sonogram (lower) show the same Achilles tendon as in Fig 2 of the subject after stretching exercise.

<p>Similar measurement protocol as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0154443#pone.0154443.g002" target="_blank">Fig 2</a> was used to measure the tendon stiffness. Note the stiffness parameters of the tendon were substantially higher after stretching.</p

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Phosphorylation of nucleophosmin at threonine 234/237 is associated with HCC metastasis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is frequently complicated by the occurrence of intrahepatic and extrahepatic metastases, leading to poor prognosis. To improve the prognosis for HCC patients, there is an urgent need to understand the molecular mechanisms of metastasis in HCC. Since protein Serine/Threonine phosphorylation emerges to be an important posttranslational modification critical in signaling process associated with cell proliferation, survival and metastasis, we employed a pair of primary tumor-derived and corresponding lung-metastatic counterparts (PLC/PRF/5-PT and PLC/PRF/5-LM) and aimed to identify these changes using CelluSpotTM Serine/Threonine kinase peptide array. Upon analysis, we found phosphorylated level of nucleophosmin (NPM) at Threonine 234/237 (p-NPM-Thr234/237) had remarkably high level in metastatic HCC cells (PLC-LM) than the corresponding primary HCC cell line (PLC-PT). Similar observation was observed in another match primary and their metastatic counterparts (MHCC-97L and MHCC-97H). By immunohistochemical staining, p-NPM-Thr234/237 was consistently found to be preferentially expressed in metastatic HCCs when compared with primary HCC in 28 HCC cases (p 234/237 expressing cells (Hep3B and Huh7) using a lentiviral based approach, we demonstrated that p-NPM-Thr234/237 is critical in invasion and migration of HCC cells, and this effect was mediated by cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1). Wild-type NPM was found to physically interact with a metastatic gene, ROCK2, and defective in Thr234/237 phosphorylation decreased its binding affinity, resulting in decrease in ROCK2 mediated signaling pathway. Identification of CDK1/p-NPM/ROCK2 signaling pathway provides a novel target for molecular therapy against HCC metastasis