867 research outputs found
Family functioning, identity commitments, and school value among ethnic minority and ethnic majority adolescents
Ethnic minority youth show worse school adjustment than their ethnic majority peers. Yet, it remains unclear whether this gap can be explained by differences in family functioning and consequent identity commitments. This study examined (1) whether family functioning relates to identity commitments over time and (2) whether identity commitments impact later school value (3) among minority and majority adolescents. Minority (N = 205, Mage = 16.25 years, 31.1% girls) and majority adolescents (N = 480, Mage = 15.73 years, 47.9% girls) participated in this preregistered three-wave longitudinal study (T1: March-April 2012; T2: October 2012; T3: March-April 2013). Dynamic Panel Models revealed that most within-person cross-lagged associations were not significant in the total sample. Yet, multigroup analyses revealed differences between groups: Stronger identity commitments related to lower school value among minority adolescents, but were unrelated to school value among majority adolescents over time. Additionally, higher school value increased identity commitments among minority youth, yet it decreased identity commitments among majority youth over time. The findings highlight the differential interplay between identity commitments and school adjustment for minority and majority adolescents, with important implications for their future life chances
Is premature birth an environmental sensitivity factor? A scoping review protocol
Introduction Globally, around 10% of children are born
preterm and are more at risk of negative developmental
outcomes. However, empirical evidences and theoretical
reasoning also suggest that premature birth can be
a susceptibility factor, increasing sensitivity to the
environment for better and for worse. Because available
findings are controversial, with the current scoping
review we will explore if, based on the available literature,
preterm birth can be seen as an environmental sensitivity
(ES) factor. In doing so, we will consider a series of
moderating variables, including the level of prematurity,
the type of environment and the outcome investigated.
Methodological aspects, as the type of measures used and
study design, will be considered.
Methods and analysis The scoping review will
be conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute
Methodology guidelines. The report will follow the
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist.
We will perform the search between 15 January 2022 and
1 February 2022. Data will be chartered by independent
reviewers.
Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not
required, as primary data will not be collected. This
scoping review will be the first to explore whether
prematurity is associated with an increased ES. This
review can have important implications for tailoring
prevention and intervention programmes. Results will be
published in a peer-reviewed journal
Efficacy of a cultural adaptation of the Identity Project intervention among adolescents attending multiethnic classrooms in Italy: A randomized controlled trial
Prognostic factors in Krukenberg tumor
BACKGROUND:
Krukenberg tumor (KT) is a rare secondary ovarian tumor. Little is known about clinicopathologic factors affecting prognosis in KT.
OBJECTIVE:
To assess the prognostic value of clinicopathologic factors in KT through a systematic review and meta-analysis.
METHODS:
Electronic databases were searched from their inception to February 2019 for studies assessing the association of clinicopathologic factors with overall survival in KT. Pooled hazard ratio (HR) was calculated for each factor; a p value < 0.05 was considered significant.
RESULTS:
Twenty-three studies with 1743 patients were included. A decreased overall survival was significantly associated with peritoneal involvement (HR 1.944; p = 0.003), ascites (HR 2.055; p = 0.034), synchronous presentation (HR 1.679; p = 0.034) and increased serum CEA levels (HR 1.380; p = 0.010), but not with age > 50 (HR 0.946; p = 0.743), menopausal status (HR 1.565; p = 0.204), gastric origin (HR 1.600; p = 0.201), size > 5 cm (HR 1.292; p = 0.119), size > 10 cm (HR 0.925; p = 0.714), bilateral ovarian involvement (HR 1.113; p = 0.347), non-peritoneal extaovarian metastases (HR 1.648; p = 0.237), liver metastases (HR 1.118, p = 0.555), predominant signet ring cell morphology (HR 1.322; p = 0.208) and levels of CA125 (HR 0.933; p = 0.828) and CA19.9 (HR 0.996; p = 0.992).
CONCLUSION:
Peritoneal involvement, synchronous presentation, ascites and increased serum CEA levels appear as unfavorable prognostic factors in KT and might affect the patient management
Cardiovascular Response to Intraneural Right Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Adult Minipig.
Objective: This study explored intraneural stimulation of the right thoracic vagus nerve (VN) in sexually mature male minipigs to modulate safe heart rate and blood pressure response.
Material and methods: We employed an intraneural electrode designed for the VN of pigs to perform VN stimulation (VNS). This was delivered using different numbers of contacts on the electrode and different stimulation parameters (amplitude, frequency, and pulse width), identifying the most suitable stimulation configuration. All the parameter ranges had been selected from a computational cardiovascular system model.
Results: Clinically relevant responses were observed when stimulating with low current intensities and relatively low frequencies delivered with a single contact. Selecting a biphasic, charge-balanced square wave for VNS with a current amplitude of 500 μA, frequency of 10 Hz, and pulse width of 200 μs, we obtained heart rate reduction of 7.67 ± 5.19 beats per minute, systolic pressure reduction of 5.75 ± 2.59 mmHg, and diastolic pressure reduction of 3.39 ± 1.44 mmHg.
Conclusion: Heart rate modulation was obtained without inducing any observable adverse effects, underlining the high selectivity of the intraneural approach
Gene silencing of endothelial von Willebrand factor reduces the susceptibility of human endothelial cells to SARS-CoV-2 infection
Mechanisms underlying vascular endothelial susceptibility to infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are not fully understood. Emerging evidence indicates that patients lacking von Willebrand factor (vWF), an endothelial hallmark, are less severely affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection, yet the precise role of endothelial vWF in modulating coronavirus entry into endothelial cells is unknown. In the present study, we demonstrated that effective gene silencing by short interfering RNA (siRNA) for vWF expression in resting human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) significantly reduced by 56% the cellular levels of SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA. Similar reduction of intracellular SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA levels was observed in non-activated HUVECs treated with siRNA targeting angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the cellular gateway to coronavirus. By integrating quantitative information from real-time PCR and high-resolution confocal imaging, we demonstrated that ACE2 gene expression and its plasma membrane localization in HUVECs were both markedly reduced after treatment with siRNA anti-vWF or anti-ACE2. Conversely, siRNA anti-ACE2 did not reduce endothelial vWF gene expression and protein levels. Finally, SARS-CoV-2 infection of viable HUVECs was enhanced by overexpression of vWF, which increased ACE2 levels. Of note, we found a similar increase in interferon-β mRNA levels following transfection with untargeted, anti-vWF or anti-ACE2 siRNA and pcDNA3.1-WT-VWF. We envision that siRNA targeting endothelial vWF will protect against productive endothelial infection by SARS-CoV-2 through downregulation of ACE2 expression and might serve as a novel tool to induce disease resistance by modulating the regulatory role of vWF on ACE2 expression
Diet, Environments, and Gut Microbiota. A Preliminary Investigation in Children Living in Rural and Urban Burkina Faso and Italy.
MicroRNA-222 Regulates Melanoma Plasticity
Melanoma is one of the most aggressive and highly resistant tumors. Cell plasticity in melanoma is one of the main culprits behind its metastatic capabilities. The detailed molecular mechanisms controlling melanoma plasticity are still not completely understood. Here we combine mathematical models of phenotypic switching with experiments on IgR39 human melanoma cells to identify possible key targets to impair phenotypic switching. Our mathematical model shows that a cancer stem cell subpopulation within the tumor prevents phenotypic switching of the other cancer cells. Experiments reveal that hsa-mir-222 is a key factor enabling this process. Our results shed new light on melanoma plasticity, providing a potential target and guidance for therapeutic studies
Improving the Measurement of Environmental Sensitivity in Children and Adolescents: The Highly Sensitive Child Scale-21 Item Version
Children differ in their sensitivity to positive and negative environmental influences, which can be measured with the Highly Sensitive Child (HSC) scale. The present study introduces the HSC-21, an adaptation of the original 12 item scale with new items and factor structure that are meant to be more informative than the original ones. The psychometric properties of the HSC-21 were investigated in 1,088 children across Belgium and the Netherlands, including child and mother reports. Results showed evidence for (a) bifactor model with a general sensitivity factor and two specific factors (i.e., Ease of Excitation–Low Sensory Threshold and Aesthetic Sensitivity); (b) (partial) measurement invariance across gender, developmental stage, country, and informants; (c) moderate child–mother agreement; (d) good reliability; (e) normally distributed item scores; and (f) meaningful associations with personality and temperament across both samples. No evidence was found for HSC-21 as a moderator in the relationship between parenting and problem behaviors
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