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The association between divergent thinking, personality, and listening to classical music
Divergent thinking (DT) enables flexible thinking and the generation of a wider range of original ideas that form the basis of creativity. Although personality traits and music listening have been found to be positively correlated with DT performance, the association remains inconclusive. Furthermore, there is a debate regarding whether originality should be included as an index to measure DT. The present study examines the association between DT, personality, and classical music listening. There were 162 Malaysian adults who participated in this experiment. Participants were randomly allocated to either happy, sad classical music (i.e., listen to a repeated clip of happy or sad music), or silent conditions (i.e., no music was played). DT and personality were assessed with Figural and Realistic DT Tests and 44-item personality model with five broad factors, respectively. Positive intercorrelations were found between fluency, flexibility, originality, and DT total score. A weak positive correlation was revealed between DT total score and openness trait. However, there was no significant difference between happy, sad music, and silent conditions on DT performance. The findings support the notion that fluency, flexibility, and originality are the essential indices in measuring DT performance. The results suggest that open-minded people have better DT performance
Identification and validation of clinical predictors for the risk of neurological involvement in children with hand, foot, and mouth disease in Sarawak
Background: Human enterovirus 71 (HEV71) can cause Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) with neurological
complications, which may rapidly progress to fulminant cardiorespiratory failure, and death. Early recognition of children
at risk is the key to reduce acute mortality and morbidity.
Methods: We examined data collected through a prospective clinical study of HFMD conducted between 2000 and 2006
that included 3 distinct outbreaks of HEV71 to identify risk factors associated with neurological involvement in children
with HFMD.
Results: Total duration of fever ≥ 3 days, peak temperature ≥ 38.5°C and history of lethargy were identified as
independent risk factors for neurological involvement (evident by CSF pleocytosis) in the analysis of 725 children
admitted during the first phase of the study. When they were validated in the second phase of the study, two or more
(≥ 2) risk factors were present in 162 (65%) of 250 children with CSF pleocytosis compared with 56 (30%) of 186 children
with no CSF pleocytosis (OR 4.27, 95% CI2.79–6.56, p < 0.0001). The usefulness of the three risk factors in identifying
children with CSF pleocytosis on hospital admission during the second phase of the study was also tested. Peak
temperature ≥ 38.5°C and history of lethargy had the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative
predictive value (NPV) of 28%(48/174), 89%(125/140), 76%(48/63) and 50%(125/251), respectively in predicting CSF
pleocytosis in children that were seen within the first 2 days of febrile illness. For those presented on the 3rd or later day
of febrile illness, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of ≥ 2 risk factors predictive of CSF pleocytosis were 75%(57/
76), 59%(27/46), 75%(57/76) and 59%(27/46), respectively.
Conclusion: Three readily elicited clinical risk factors were identified to help detect children at risk of neurological
involvement. These risk factors may serve as a guide to clinicians to decide the need for hospitalization and further
investigation, including cerebrospinal fluid examination, and close monitoring for disease progression in children with
HFMD
Use of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents in stable outpatients with coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation. International CLARIFY registry
Rapamycin synergizes cisplatin sensitivity in basal-like breast cancer cells through up-regulation of p73.
Recent gene expression profiling studies have identified five breast cancer subtypes, of which the basal-like subtype is the most aggressive. Basal-like breast cancer poses serious clinical challenges as there are currently no targeted therapies available to treat it. Although there is increasing evidence that these tumors possess specific sensitivity to cisplatin, its success is often compromised due to its dose-limiting nephrotoxicity and the development of drug resistance. To overcome this limitation, our goal was to maximize the benefits associated with cisplatin therapy through drug combination strategies. Using a validated kinase inhibitor library, we showed that inhibition of the mTOR, TGFβRI, NFκB, PI3K/AKT, and MAPK pathways sensitized basal-like MDA-MB-468 cells to cisplatin treatment. Further analysis demonstrated that the combination of the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin and cisplatin generated significant drug synergism in basal-like MDA-MB-468, MDA-MB-231, and HCC1937 cells but not in luminal-like T47D or MCF-7 cells. We further showed that the synergistic effect of rapamycin plus cisplatin on basal-like breast cancer cells was mediated through the induction of p73. Depletion of endogenous p73 in basal-like cells abolished these synergistic effects. In conclusion, combination therapy with mTOR inhibitors and cisplatin may be a useful therapeutic strategy in the treatment of basal-like breast cancers
Exacerbation of cardiovascular ageing by diabetes mellitus and its associations with acyl-carnitines
10.18632/aging.203144AGING-US131114785-1480