Social problem solving in chronic pain:An integrative model of coping predicts mental health in chronic pain patients

Despite several models of coping have been proposed in chronic pain, research is not integrative and has not yet identified a reliable set of beneficial coping strategies. We intend to offer a comprehensive view of coping using the social problem-solving model. Participants were 369 chronic pain patients (63.78% women; mean age 58.89 years; standard deviation = 15.12 years). Correlation analyses and the structural equation model for mental health revealed potentially beneficial and harmful problem-solving components. This integrative perspective on general coping could be used to promote changes in the way patients deal with stressful conditions other than pain

Epigenetic Silencing of Tumor Suppressor miR-124 Directly Supports STAT3 Activation in Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma

Increasing evidence supports a potential role for STAT3 as a tumor driver in cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL). The mechanisms leading to STAT3 activation are not fully understood; however, we recently found that miR-124, a known STAT3 regulator, is robustly silenced in MF tumor-stage and CTCL cells. OBJECTIVE: We studied here whether deregulation of miR-124 contributes to STAT3 pathway activation in CTCL. METHODS: We measured the effect of ectopic mir-124 expression in active phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3) levels and evaluated the transcriptional impact of miR-124-dependent STAT3 pathway regulation by expression microarray analysis. RESULTS: We found that ectopic expression of miR-124 results in massive downregulation of activated STAT3 in different CTCL lines, which resulted in a significant alteration of genetic signatures related with gene transcription and proliferation such as MYC and E2F. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the importance of the miR-124/STAT3 axis in CTCL and demonstrates that the STAT3 pathway is regulated through epigenetic mechanisms in these cells. Since deregulated STAT3 signaling has a major impact on CTCL initiation and progression, a better understanding of the molecular basis of the miR-124/STAT3 axis may provide useful information for future personalized therapies

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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Thermal and Optical Characterization of Undoped and Neodymium-Doped Y3ScAl4O12 Ceramics

Y3–3xNd3xSc1Al4O12 (x = 0, 0.01, and 0.02) ceramics were fabricated by sintering at high temperature under vacuum. Unit cell parameter refinement and chemical analysis have been performed. The morphological characterization shows micrograins with no visible defects. The thermal analysis of these ceramics is presented, by measuring the specific heat in the temperature range from 300 to 500 K. Their values at room temperature are in the range 0.81–0.90 J g1–K–1. The thermal conductivity has been determined by two methods: by the experimental measurement of the thermal diffusivity by the photopyroelectric method, and by spectroscopy, evaluating the thermal load. The thermal conductivities are in the range 9.7–6.5 W K–1 m–1 in the temperature interval from 300 to 500 K. The thermooptic coefficients were measured at 632 nm by the dark mode method using a prism coupler, and the obtained values are in the range 12.8–13.3 × 10–6 K–1. The nonlinear refractive index values at 795 nm have been evaluated to calibrate the nonlinear optical response of these materials.This work is supported by the Spanish Government under projects MAT2011-29255-C02-01-02, MAT2013-47395-C4-4-R, and the Catalan Government under project 2014SGR1358. It was also funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme, project Cleanspace, FP7-SPACE-2010-1-GA No. 263044

Happiness around the world: A combined etic-emic approach across 63 countries

What does it mean to be happy? The vast majority of cross-cultural studies on happiness have employed a Western-origin, or "WEIRD" measure of happiness that conceptualizes it as a self-centered (or "independent"), high-arousal emotion. However, research from Eastern cultures, particularly Japan, conceptualizes happiness as including an interpersonal aspect emphasizing harmony and connectedness to others. Following a combined emicetic approach (Cheung, van de Vijver & Leong, 2011), we assessed the cross-cultural applicability of a measure of independent happiness developed in the US (Subjective Happiness Scale; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) and a measure of interdependent happiness developed in Japan (Interdependent Happiness Scale; Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015), with data from 63 countries representing 7 sociocultural regions. Results indicate that the schema of independent happiness was more coherent in more WEIRD countries. In contrast, the coherence of interdependent happiness was unrelated to a country's "WEIRD-ness." Reliabilities of both happiness measures were lowest in African and Middle Eastern countries, suggesting these two conceptualizations of happiness may not be globally comprehensive. Overall, while the two measures had many similar correlates and properties, the self-focused concept of independent happiness is "WEIRD-er" than interdependent happiness, suggesting cross-cultural researchers should attend to both conceptualizations

The World at 7:00: Comparing the Experience of Situations Across 20 Countries

The purpose of this research is to quantitatively compare everyday situational experience around the world. Local collaborators recruited 5,447 members of college communities in 20 countries, who provided data via a Web site in 14 languages. Using the 89 items of the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ), participants described the situation they experienced the previous evening at 7:00 p.m. Correlations among the average situational profiles of each country ranged from r =.73 to r =.95; the typical situation was described as largely pleasant. Most similar were the United States/Canada; least similar were South Korea/Denmark. Japan had the most homogenous situational experience; South Korea, the least. The 15 RSQ items varying the most across countries described relatively negative aspects of situational experience; the 15 least varying items were more positive. Further analyses correlated RSQ items with national scores on six value dimensions, the Big Five traits, economic output, and population. Individualism, Neuroticism, Openness, and Gross Domestic Product yielded more significant correlations than expected by chance. Psychological research traditionally has paid more attention to the assessment of persons than of situations, a discrepancy that extends to cross-cultural psychology. The present study demonstrates how cultures vary in situational experience in psychologically meaningful ways. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background: Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods: The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results: A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion: Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)

The Biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: Estimates, Patterns, and Threats

The Mediterranean Sea is a marine biodiversity hot spot. Here we combined an extensive literature analysis with expert opinions to update publicly available estimates of major taxa in this marine ecosystem and to revise and update several species lists. We also assessed overall spatial and temporal patterns of species diversity and identified major changes and threats. Our results listed approximately 17,000 marine species occurring in the Mediterranean Sea. However, our estimates of marine diversity are still incomplete as yet—undescribed species will be added in the future. Diversity for microbes is substantially underestimated, and the deep-sea areas and portions of the southern and eastern region are still poorly known. In addition, the invasion of alien species is a crucial factor that will continue to change the biodiversity of the Mediterranean, mainly in its eastern basin that can spread rapidly northwards and westwards due to the warming of the Mediterranean Sea. Spatial patterns showed a general decrease in biodiversity from northwestern to southeastern regions following a gradient of production, with some exceptions and caution due to gaps in our knowledge of the biota along the southern and eastern rims. Biodiversity was also generally higher in coastal areas and continental shelves, and decreases with depth. Temporal trends indicated that overexploitation and habitat loss have been the main human drivers of historical changes in biodiversity. At present, habitat loss and degradation, followed by fishing impacts, pollution, climate change, eutrophication, and the establishment of alien species are the most important threats and affect the greatest number of taxonomic groups. All these impacts are expected to grow in importance in the future, especially climate change and habitat degradation. The spatial identification of hot spots highlighted the ecological importance of most of the western Mediterranean shelves (and in particular, the Strait of Gibraltar and the adjacent Alboran Sea), western African coast, the Adriatic, and the Aegean Sea, which show high concentrations of endangered, threatened, or vulnerable species. The Levantine Basin, severely impacted by the invasion of species, is endangered as well

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research