572 research outputs found

    African American College Students’ Attitudes Toward Help Seeking for Mental Health Illness

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    Past research has shown that African Americans are less likely to seek treatment for mental health illness compared to individuals in other ethnic groups. Research has also revealed that African American college students’ attitudes, perceptions, and stigmas against mental illness impacts their willingness to seek treatment for mental illness. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental, correlational study was to investigate the predictive relationships between ethnic identity, perceptions of mental illness, stigma and attitudes toward seeking professional help for mental illness among African American college students attending Historically Black colleges and universities. The research question addressed the predictive relationships between ethnic identity, perceptions of mental illness, stigmas against mental illness, and attitudes towards seeking professional help for mental health issues among African American college students after controlling for gender. The modified labeling theory was used to guide this research. Data were collected from 85 students using surveys administered through SurveyMonkey. Findings from a linear multiple regression analysis revealed that ethnic identity, stigma of mental illness, and perceptions of mental illness were not significant predictors of African American college students’ attitudes toward seeking professional help for mental illness. However, a post hoc analysis revealed that gender was a significant predictor of attitudes toward help-seeking behavior for African American college students. Findings from this study have implications for individuals developing campus-based campaigns and engaging in advocacy efforts to raise mental health awareness among African American college students. Implications include the importance of focusing on gender-based advocacy opportunities on campuses

    Encephalopathic Presentation of West Nile Virus Neuroinvasive Disease Confounded by Concomitant History of Acute Alcohol Withdrawal

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    West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND) is a rare and severe manifestation of West Nile virus (WNV) infection that occurs in less than 1% of infected persons. It should be considered in patients who present with fever, neurological symptoms, and a history of recent outdoor activity where mosquitoes were active. This article highlights a case of a 55-year-old man whose history and symptoms of WNND were confounded with an alternate diagnosis, acute alcohol withdrawal. An overview of WNV infections, and important historical clues and objective findings characteristic of neuroinvasive disease, is discussed to increase readers\u27 knowledge of WNV and awareness of when to consider WNND in the diagnostic differential

    Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antifungals in children and their clinical implications

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    Invasive fungal infections are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Successful management of these systemic infections requires identification of the causative pathogen, appropriate antifungal selection, and optimisation of its pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties to maximise its antifungal activity and minimise toxicity and the emergence of resistance. This review highlights salient scientific advancements in paediatric antifungal pharmacotherapies and focuses on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies that underpin current clinical decision making. Four classes of drugs are widely used in the treatment of invasive fungal infections in children, including the polyenes, triazoles, pyrimidine analogues and echinocandins. Several lipidic formulations of the polyene amphotericin B have substantially reduced the toxicity associated with the traditional amphotericin B formulation. Monotherapy with the pyrimidine analogue flucytosine rapidly promotes the emergence of resistance and cannot be recommended. However, when used in combination with other antifungal agents, therapeutic drug monitoring of flucytosine has been shown to reduce high peak flucytosine concentrations, which are strongly associated with toxicity. The triazoles feature large inter-individual pharmacokinetic variability, although this pattern is less pronounced with fluconazole. In clinical trials, posaconazole was associated with fewer adverse effects than other members of the triazole family, though both posaconazole and itraconazole display erratic absorption that is influenced by gastric pH and the gastric emptying rate. Limited data suggest that the clinical response to therapy may be improved with higher plasma posaconazole and itraconazole concentrations. For voriconazole, pharmacokinetic studies among children have revealed that children require twice the recommended adult dose to achieve comparable blood concentrations. Voriconazole clearance is also affected by the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C19 genotype and hepatic impairment. Therapeutic drug monitoring is recommended as voriconazole pharmacokinetics are highly variable and small dose increases can result in marked changes in plasma concentrations. For the echinocandins, the primary source of pharmacokinetic variability stems from an age-dependent decrease in clearance with increasing age. Consequently, young children require larger doses per kilogram of body weight than older children and adults. Routine therapeutic drug monitoring for the echinocandins is not recommended. The effectiveness of many systemic antifungal agents has been correlated with pharmacodynamic targets in in vitro and in murine models of invasive candidiasis and aspergillosis. Further study is needed to translate these findings into optimal dosing regimens for children and to understand how these agents interact when multiple antifungal agents are used in combination

    Isolation and synthesis of N-(2-methyl-3-oxodec-8-enoyl)-2-pyrroline and 2-(hept-5-enyl)-3-methyl-4-oxo-6,7,8,8a-tetrahydro-4H-pyrrolo(2,1-b)-3-oxazine, two new fungal metabolites with in vivo antijuvenile hormone and insecticidal activity

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    [EN] Two new natural products, N-(2-methyl-3-oxodec-8-enoyl)-2-pyrroline (2) and 2-(hept-5-enyl)-3-methyl-4-oxo-6,7,8,8a-tetrahydro-4H-pyrrolo[2,1-b]-1,3-oxazine (3), have been isolated from Penicillium brevicompactum Dierckx. Compound 2 has shown an important in vivo anti-juvenile-hormone (anti-JH) activity while compound 3 has exhibited insecticidal activity against Oncopeltus fasciatus Dallas. Both products have been synthesized starting from 1,4-hexadiene, by means of a sequence of reactions which includes the preparation of 6-octenoic acid and its transformation into the corresponding acid chloride, in order to acylate Meldrum's acid. Subsequent aminolysis with pyrrolidine, followed by methylation at the activated position of the ß-oxo amide with iodomethane, introduction of a methoxy group at the pyrrolidine ring by anodic oxidation and final elimination of methanol on SiO2 led to 2 and 3. The fact that both metabolites can be prepared by the same sequence indicates that they must be biogenetically related. Based on structural similarities, compounds 2 and 3 are also closely related to the recently discovered brevioximeCantin Sanz, A.; Moya Sanz, MDP.; Castillo López, MÁ.; Primo Millo, J.; Miranda Alonso, MÁ.; Primo Yufera, E. (1999). Isolation and synthesis of N-(2-methyl-3-oxodec-8-enoyl)-2-pyrroline and 2-(hept-5-enyl)-3-methyl-4-oxo-6,7,8,8a-tetrahydro-4H-pyrrolo(2,1-b)-3-oxazine, two new fungal metabolites with in vivo antijuvenile hormone and insecticidal activity. European Journal of Organic Chemistry. 1:221-226. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0690(199901)1999:13.0.CO;2-YS221226

    Enantioselective construction of biaryl part in the synthesis of stegane related compounds

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    A Pd-mediated intramolecular aryl-aryl coupling reaction of phenyl benzoate derivatives were examined to form benzo[c]chromen-6-ones, and then enantioselective lactone-opening reaction with a borane-oxazaborolidine combination was carried out. The resulting biphenyl was transformed into a key intermediate for the stegane related compounds. The absolute configuration of the biphenyl is also discussed. Stegane and related compounds are important because of their interesting biological activities such as antileukemic properties.1 One of the most outstanding features of their chemical structures is an unsymmetrical 2,2’-disubstituted biphenyl moiety with an axial chirality (Figure 1). For the formation of such a biphenyl part in the syntheses of the stegane families, several approaches have been attempted such as photocyclization,2 Suzuki coupling,3 oxidative biaryl coupling,4 the SNAr reaction,5 Ullmann coupling,6 and the [2+2+2] three-component cyclization reaction.7</p
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