Biochemical markers of bone remodeling - review

Danas je u upotrebi niz biokemijskih biljega pregradnje kostiju, uključujući biljege izgradnje i razgradnje kostiju. Oni pružaju klinički korisne dokaze normalnih i patoloških procesa, koji odražavaju aktivnosti koštanih stanica u skeletu. Biološki biljezi pregradnje kostiju mogu se koristiti za praćenje učinaka terapije kod bolesnika s nekom od bolesti kostiju te za moguće smanjenje potrebe čestog mjerenja gustoće koštane mase (denzitometrije).A number of biochemical markers of bone remodeling which include bone formation and bone resorption markers are currently in use. They provide clinically useful evidence of the normal and pathological processes that reflect bone cell activities in the skeleton. Biomarkers of bone remodeling can be used to document the effects of therapeutic agents in some patients with bone diseases and possibly reduce the need for frequent bone density testing

Family-Focused Treatment for Adolescents and Young Adults at High Risk for Psychosis: Results of a Randomized Trial

Objective: Longitudinal studies have begun to clarify the phenotypic characteristics of adolescents and young adults at clinical high risk for psychosis. This 8-site randomized trial examined whether a 6-month program of family psychoeducation was effective in reducing the severity of attenuated positive and negative psychotic symptoms and enhancing functioning among individuals at high risk. Method: Adolescents and young adults (mean age 17.4 +/- 4.1 years) with attenuated positive psychotic symptoms, brief and intermittent psychosis, or genetic risk with functional deterioration were randomly assigned to 18 sessions of family-focused therapy for individuals at clinical high risk (FFT-CHR) in 6 months or 3 sessions of family psychoeducation (enhanced care [EC]. FFT-CHR included psychoeducation about early signs of psychosis, stress management, communication training, and problem-solving skills training, whereas EC focused on symptom prevention. Independent evaluators assessed participants at baseline and 6 months on positive and negative symptoms and social-role functioning. Results: Of 129 participants, 102 (79.1%) were followed up at 6 months. Participants in FFT-CHR showed greater improvements in attenuated positive symptoms over 6 months than participants in EC (F-1,F-97 = 5.49, p = .02). Negative symptoms improved independently of psychosocial treatments. Changes in psychosocial functioning depended on age: participants more than 19 years of age showed more role improvement in FFT-CHR, whereas participants between 16 and 19 years of age showed more role improvement in EC. The results were independent of concurrent pharmacotherapy. Conclusion: Interventions that focus on improving family relationships may have prophylactic efficacy in individuals at high risk for psychosis. Future studies should examine the specificity of effects of family intervention compared to individual therapy of the same duration and frequency. Clinical trial registration information-Prevention Trial of Family Focused Treatment in Youth at Risk for Psychosis

Medical error in the portuguese press: when patients are part of the news

Esta investigação aborda a qualidade da produção noticiosa sobre o erro médico, como um fator essencial na construção do conhecimento público sobre o tema, com o objetivo de compreender que características definem tal produção e até que ponto poderão ser explicadas pela periodicidade e orientação editorial dos jornais; que conceito de erro médico é veiculado pela produção noticiosa sobre o tema; e quais são os protagonistas no discurso jornalístico sobre o erro médico. Foram analisadas as edições de três jornais portugueses, de 2008 a 2011, resultando num corpus de 266 (4,2%) artigos, que foram classificados de acordo com as seguintes variáveis: as fontes de informação citadas (o seu estatuto e especialidade, no caso dos médicos); os temas que são tratados; as características de enquadramento da informação publicada (tom, género jornalístico; e a presença e número de fontes de informação). Pela análise de conteúdo quantitativa, apurou-se que esse tema está em crescimento, essencialmente com notícias de tom negativo e fontes de informação habitualmente identificadas. Não há evidência para afirmar que a periodicidade e a orientação editorial expliquem as variações dessas características, a não ser relativamente ao número de fontes citadas. Vigoram as notícias centradas nos resultados dos erros (mortes ou lesões), provocados por "erros de omissão" e por "erros de comissão", envolvendo uma diversidade de protagonistas: são, tal como acontece na informação sobre saúde em geral, fontes oficiais e especializadas do campo da saúde. Destacam-se os médicos e os juristas e é dado relevo aos pacientes.This research addresses the quality of news production on medical error, as an essential factor in building public knowledge on the subject, in order to understand which characteristics define the news production of medical error and to what extent can they be explained by the periodicity and editorial orientation of the newspaper; which concept of medical error is transmitted by the news production on the subject; and who are the main actors in the journalistic discourse about medical error. The editions of three Portuguese newspapers were analyzed, from 2008 to 2011, resulting in a corpus of 266 (4.2%) articles, which were classified according to the following variables: the sources of information quoted (their status and specialty, in the case of doctors); the issues covered; and characteristic framework of the published information (tone, journalistic style, and the presence and number of information sources). Through quantitative content analysis, it was found that this topic is growing, essentially with negative news and information sources usually being identified. There is no evidence to support that periodicity and editorial orientation explain the variations in these characteristics, except for the number of cited sources. News focused on the results of errors (death or injury), caused by "errors of omission" and "commission errors", prevail, involving a variety of actors: they are, such as it happens in health information, in general, official sources and experts in health. Doctors and lawyers stand out, and special attention is given to patients

The role of parental investments for cognitive and noncognitive skill formation : evidence for the first 11 years of life

This paper examines the impact of parental investments on the development of cognitive, mental and emotional skills during childhood using data from a longitudinal study, the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, starting at birth. Our work offers three important innovations. First, we use reliable measures of the child’s cognitive, mental and emotional skills as well as accurate measures of parental investment. Second, we estimate latent factor models to account for unobserved characteristics of children. Third, we examine the skill development for girls and boys separately, as well as for children who were born with either organic or psychosocial risk. We find a decreasing impact of parental investments on cognitive and mental skills, while emotional skills seem to be unaffected by parental investment throughout childhood. Thus, initial inequality persists during childhood. Since families are the main sources of education during the first years of life, our results have important implications for the quality of the parent-child relationship

Consumer Bankruptcy Update

Materials from the Consumer Bankruptcy Update presentations held by UK/CLE in December 2000

Evaluation of the Physicochemical, Spectral, Thermal and Behavioral Properties of Sodium Selenate: Influence of the Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment

Sodium selenate is an inorganic nutraceutical/pharmaceutical compound used for the prevention and treatment of several diseases. The current research article was aimed to explore the effect of The Trivedi Effect® - Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment on the physicochemical, spectral, thermal, and behavioral properties of sodium selenate using PXRD, PSD, FT-IR, UV-vis, TGA, and DSC analysis. Sodium selenate was divided into two parts – one part was control, while another part was The Trivedi Effect® Treated sample which was received The Trivedi Effect® remotely by twenty renowned Biofield Energy Healers. A significant alteration of the crystallite size of the treated sample was observed in the range of -42.87% to 39.99% compared to the control sample. Consequently, the average crystallite size was significantly enhanced in the treated sample by 5.07% compared with the control sample. The particle size distribution of the treated sample at d10, d50, and d90 values were significantly reduced by 7.68%, 9.49%, and 4.08%, respectively compared with the control sample. Subsequently, the surface area of the treated sample was significantly increased by 8.16% compared with the control sample. The control and treated FT-IR spectra exhibited the sharp and strong vibration bands at 889 cm-1 and 888 cm-1, respectively for Se=O stretching. The control and treated samples displayed the maximum absorbance at 204.9 nm and 204.5 nm, respectively. A significant reduction of total weight loss by 6.11% in the treated sample indicated the improvement of the thermal stability of the treated sample compared with the control sample. The vaporization temperature of the treated sample (95.68°C) was higher with a significant reduced latent heat of vaporization by 60.80% compared to the control sample (95.29°C). Thus, The Trivedi Effect® - Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment might produce a new polymorphic form of sodium selenate which would be more soluble, dissolution rate, bioavailable, and thermally stable compared with the untreated sample. The Trivedi Effect® treated sodium selenate would be very suitable to design improved nutraceutical and pharmaceutical formulations that might provide better therapeutic response against several diseases such as stress, aging, inflammatory diseases, immunological disorders, infectious diseases, cancer, etc. Source: https://www.trivedieffect.com/science/evaluation-of-the-physicochemical-spectral-thermal-and-behavioral-properties-of-sodium-selenate-influence-of-the-energy-of-consciousness-healing-treatment http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=398&doi=10.11648/j.ajqcms.20170101.1

LC-MS and NMR Based Structural Characterization and Isotopic Abundance Ratio Analysis of Magnesium Gluconate Treated with the Consciousness Energy Healing

Magnesium gluconate is widely used pharmaceutical/nutraceutical compound for the prevention and treatment of magnesium deficiency diseases. The present study was designed to explore the effect of The Trivedi Effect® - Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment (Biofield Energy Healing Treatment) on magnesium gluconate for the change in the structural properties and isotopic abundance ratio (PM+1/PM and PM+2/PM) using LC-MS and NMR spectroscopy. Magnesium gluconate was divided into two parts – one part was control, and another part was treated with The Trivedi Effect® - Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment remotely by twenty renowned Biofield Energy Healers and defined as The Trivedi Effect® treated sample. The LC-MS analysis of both the control and Biofield Energy Treated samples indicated the presence of mass of the protonated magnesium gluconate at m/z 415 at the retention time of 1.52 min and fragmentation pattern of both samples were almost identical. The relative peak intensities of the fragment ions were significantly altered in the treated sample compared to the control sample. The proton and carbon signals for CH, CH2 and CO groups in the proton and carbon NMR spectra of the control and treated samples were found same. The percentage change in the isotopic abundance ratio of PM+1/PM (2H/1H or 13C/12C or 17O/16O or 25Mg/24Mg) was significantly decreased in the treated sample by 48.87% compared to the control sample. Subsequently, the isotopic abundance ratio of PM+2/PM (18O/16O or 26Mg/24Mg) in the treated sample was significantly increased by 29.18% compared with the control sample. In summary, 13C, 2H, 17O, and 25Mg contributions from (C12H23MgO14)+ to m/z 416; 18O and 26Mg contributions from (C12H23MgO14)+ to m/z 417 in the treated sample were significantly altered compared with the control sample. Thus, The Trivedi Effect® Treated magnesium gluconate might be helpful to design the novel potent enzyme inhibitors using its kinetic isotope effects. Consequently, The Trivedi Effect® Treated magnesium gluconate would be valuable for designing better pharmaceutical and/or nutraceutical formulations through its altered physicochemical and thermal properties, which might be providing better therapeutic response against various diseases such as diabetes mellitus, allergy, aging, inflammatory diseases, immunological disorders, and other chronic infections. https://www.trivedieffect.com/science/lc-ms-and-nmr-based-structural-characterization-and-isotopic-abundance-ratio-analysis-of-magnesium-gluconate-treated-with-the-consciousness-energy-healing http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=216&paperId=1002165

The miR-155-PU.1 axis acts on Pax5 to enable efficient terminal B cell differentiation.

A single microRNA (miRNA) can regulate the expression of many genes, though the level of repression imparted on any given target is generally low. How then is the selective pressure for a single miRNA/target interaction maintained across long evolutionary distances? We addressed this problem by disrupting in vivo the interaction between miR-155 and PU.1 in mice. Remarkably, this interaction proved to be key to promoting optimal T cell-dependent B cell responses, a previously unrecognized role for PU.1. Mechanistically, miR-155 inhibits PU.1 expression, leading to Pax5 down-regulation and the initiation of the plasma cell differentiation pathway. Additional PU.1 targets include a network of genes whose products are involved in adhesion, with direct links to B-T cell interactions. We conclude that the evolutionary adaptive selection of the miR-155-PU.1 interaction is exercised through the effectiveness of terminal B cell differentiation

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of coenzyme Q10 in Huntington disease

Objective: To test the hypothesis that chronic treatment of early-stage Huntington disease (HD) with high-dose coenzyme Q10 (CoQ) will slow the progressive functional decline of HD. Methods: We performed a multicenter randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Patients with early-stage HD (n = 609) were enrolled at 48 sites in the United States, Canada, and Australia from 2008 to 2012. Patients were randomized to receive either CoQ 2,400 mg/d or matching placebo, then followed for 60 months. The primary outcome variable was the change from baseline to month 60 in Total Functional Capacity score (for patients who survived) combined with time to death (for patients who died) analyzed using a joint-rank analysis approach. Results: An interim analysis for futility revealed a conditional power of <5% for the primary analysis, prompting premature conclusion in July 2014. No statistically significant differences were seen between treatment groups for the primary or secondary outcome measures. CoQ was generally safe and well-tolerated throughout the study. Conclusions: These data do not justify use of CoQ as a treatment to slow functional decline in HD