15 research outputs found
Reversal of childhood idiopathic scoliosis in an adult, without surgery: a case report and literature review
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Some patients with mild or moderate thoracic scoliosis (Cobb angle <50-60 degrees) suffer disproportionate impairment of pulmonary function associated with deformities in the sagittal plane and reduced flexibility of the spine and chest cage. Long-term improvement in the clinical signs and symptoms of childhood onset scoliosis in an adult, without surgical intervention, has not been documented previously.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A diagnosis of thoracic scoliosis (Cobb angle 45 degrees) with pectus excavatum and thoracic hypokyphosis in a female patient (DOB 9/17/52) was made in June 1964. Immediate spinal fusion was strongly recommended, but the patient elected a daily home exercise program taught during a 6-week period of training by a physical therapist. This regime was carried out through 1992, with daily aerobic exercise added in 1974. The Cobb angle of the primary thoracic curvature remained unchanged. Ongoing clinical symptoms included dyspnea at rest and recurrent respiratory infections. A period of multimodal treatment with clinical monitoring and treatment by an osteopathic physician was initiated when the patient was 40 years old. This included deep tissue massage (1992-1996); outpatient psychological therapy (1992-1993); a daily home exercise program focused on mobilization of the chest wall (1992-2005); and manipulative medicine (1994-1995, 1999-2000). Progressive improvement in chest wall excursion, increased thoracic kyphosis, and resolution of long-standing respiratory symptoms occurred concomitant with a >10 degree decrease in Cobb angle magnitude of the primary thoracic curvature.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This report documents improved chest wall function and resolution of respiratory symptoms in response to nonsurgical approaches in an adult female, diagnosed at age eleven years with idiopathic scoliosis.</p
Cooperative management and its effects on shade tree diversity, soil properties and ecosystem services of coffee plantations in western El Salvador
We compared how management approaches affected shade tree diversity, soil properties, and provisioning and carbon sequestration ecosystem services in three shade coffee cooperatives. Collectively managed cooperatives utilized less diverse shade, and pruned coffee and shade trees more intensively, than individual farms. Soil properties showed significant differences among the cooperatives, with the following properties contributing to differentiation: N, pH, P, K, and Ca. Higher tree richness was associated with higher soil pH, CEC, Ca, and Mg, and lower K. Higher tree densities were associated with lower N, K, and organic matter. Although we found differences in the incidence of provisioning services (e.g., fruit), all plantations generated products other than coffee. No differences were observed between C-stocks. The history and institutional arrangements of cooperatives can influence management approaches, which affect ecosystem properties and services. Our study corroborates that interdisciplinary investigations are essential to understand the socio-ecological context of tropical shade coffee landscapes
Associations between Maternal Positive Affect and Mother-Child Reminiscing about Happiness
Little is known about how maternal positive affect (PA) relates to maternal patterns of emotion socialization about positive emotions. The current study examined the hypothesis that mothers’ self-reported PA, independent of their negative affect (NA), is associated with increased and more appropriate modeling of verbal and nonverbal expressions of positive emotions in mothers. I examined associations between self-reported maternal PA and behaviors during video-taped discussions of times when the mothers and children were happy in 53 healthy mother-child dyads. These tapes were coded using standard observational coding schemes. Results suggest that mothers with higher ratings of PA, independent of NA, positively predicted levels of observed maternal positive involvement and communication while reminiscing. Maternal PA was unrelated to observed dyadic mutual enjoyment, positive emotion words and teaching during mother-child reminiscing. Results add to the existing literature on positive psychology in important ways. Theoretical implications for understanding positive emotions are discussed
Altered nutrient uptake causes mitochondrial dysfunction in senescent CD8+ EMRA T cells during type 2 diabetes
Mitochondrial health and cellular metabolism can heavily influence the onset of senescence in T cells. CD8+ EMRA T cells exhibit mitochondrial dysfunction and alterations to oxidative phosphorylation, however, the metabolic properties of senescent CD8+ T cells from people living with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are not known. We show here that mitochondria from T2D CD8+ T cells had a higher oxidative capacity together with increased levels of mitochondrial reactive oxgen species (mtROS), compared to age-matched control cells. While fatty acid uptake was increased, fatty acid oxidation was impaired in T2D CD8+ EMRA T cells, which also showed an accumulation of lipid droplets and decreased AMPK activity. Increasing glucose and fatty acids in healthy CD8+ T cells resulted in increased p-p53 expression and a fragmented mitochondrial morphology, similar to that observed in T2D CD8+ EMRA T cells. The resulting mitochondrial changes are likely to have a profound effect on T cell function. Consequently, a better understanding of these metabolic abnormalities is crucial as metabolic manipulation of these cells may restore correct T cell function and help reduce the impact of T cell dysfunction in T2D
Watershed ‘chemical cocktails’: forming novel elemental combinations in Anthropocene fresh waters
Este artÃculo contiene 25 páginas, 9 figuras.In the Anthropocene, watershed chemical
transport is increasingly dominated by novel combinations
of elements, which are hydrologically linked
together as ‘chemical cocktails.’ Chemical cocktails
are novel because human activities greatly enhance
elemental concentrations and their probability for
biogeochemical interactions and shared transport
along hydrologic flowpaths. A new chemical cocktail
approach advances our ability to: trace contaminant
mixtures in watersheds, develop chemical proxies
with high-resolution sensor data, and manage multiple
water quality problems. We explore the following
questions: (1) Can we classify elemental transport in
watersheds as chemical cocktails using a new
approach? (2) What is the role of climate and land
use in enhancing the formation and transport of
chemical cocktails in watersheds? To address these
questions, we first analyze trends in concentrations of
carbon, nutrients, metals, and salts in fresh waters over
100 years. Next, we explore how climate and land use
enhance the probability of formation of chemical
cocktails of carbon, nutrients, metals, and salts. Ultimately, we classify transport of chemical cocktails
based on solubility, mobility, reactivity, and dominant
phases: (1) sieved chemical cocktails (e.g., particulate
forms of nutrients, metals and organic matter); (2)
filtered chemical cocktails (e.g., dissolved organic
matter and associated metal complexes); (3) chromatographic
chemical cocktails (e.g., ions eluted from
soil exchange sites); and (4) reactive chemical cocktails
(e.g., limiting nutrients and redox sensitive
elements). Typically, contaminants are regulated and
managed one element at a time, even though combinations
of elements interact to influence many water
quality problems such as toxicity to life, eutrophication,
infrastructure corrosion, and water treatment. A
chemical cocktail approach significantly expands
evaluations of water quality signatures and impacts
beyond single elements to mixtures. High-frequency
sensor data (pH, specific conductance, turbidity, etc.)
can serve as proxies for chemical cocktails and
improve real-time analyses of water quality violations,
identify regulatory needs, and track water quality
recovery following storms and extreme climate
events. Ultimately, a watershed chemical cocktail
approach is necessary for effectively co-managing
groups of contaminants and provides a more holistic
approach for studying, monitoring, and managing
water quality in the Anthropocene.This work was funded by USDA (award
# 2016-67019-25280) and NSF-EPSCoR (#1641157) for
supporting collaborations at the AGU Chapman Conference
on Extreme Climate Events. Significant funding for data
collection/analyses in this paper was provided by NSF
EAR1521224, NSF CBET1058502, NSF Coastal
SEES1426844, NSF DEB-0423476 and DEB-1027188, NSF
RI EPSCoR NEWRnet Grant No. IIA-1330406, EPA ORD,
Chesapeake Bay Trust, and Multi-state Regional Hatch Project
S-1063.Peer reviewe
Deconvoluting complex correlates of COVID-19 severity with a multi-omic pandemic tracking strategy
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has differentially impacted populations across race and ethnicity. A multi-omic approach represents a powerful tool to examine risk across multi-ancestry genomes. We leverage a pandemic tracking strategy in which we sequence viral and host genomes and transcriptomes from nasopharyngeal swabs of 1049 individuals (736 SARS-CoV-2 positive and 313 SARS-CoV-2 negative) and integrate them with digital phenotypes from electronic health records from a diverse catchment area in Northern California. Genome-wide association disaggregated by admixture mapping reveals novel COVID-19-severity-associated regions containing previously reported markers of neurologic, pulmonary and viral disease susceptibility. Phylodynamic tracking of consensus viral genomes reveals no association with disease severity or inferred ancestry. Summary data from multiomic investigation reveals metagenomic and HLA associations with severe COVID-19. The wealth of data available from residual nasopharyngeal swabs in combination with clinical data abstracted automatically at scale highlights a powerful strategy for pandemic tracking, and reveals distinct epidemiologic, genetic, and biological associations for those at the highest risk