Ethnicity is associated with alterations in oxytocin relationships to pain sensitivity in women

It is well established that African Americans (AA) experience greater pain associated with a variety of clinical conditions, and greater pain sensitivity to experimental pain tasks relative to non-Hispanic Whites (W). Notably, African Americans do not show the same relationships involving endogenous pain regulatory mechanisms and pain sensitivity documented in Caucasians, including positive associations between blood pressure, norepinephrine, cortisol and greater pain tolerance

Effects of Androgen Receptor and Androgen on Gene Expression in Prostate Stromal Fibroblasts and Paracrine Signaling to Prostate Cancer Cells

The androgen receptor (AR) is expressed in a subset of prostate stromal cells and functional stromal cell AR is required for normal prostate developmental and influences the growth of prostate tumors. Although we are broadly aware of the specifics of the genomic actions of AR in prostate cancer cells, relatively little is known regarding the gene targets of functional AR in prostate stromal cells. Here, we describe a novel human prostate stromal cell model that enabled us to study the effects of AR on gene expression in these cells. The model involves a genetically manipulated variant of immortalized human WPMY-1 prostate stromal cells that overexpresses wildtype AR (WPMY-AR) at a level comparable to LNCaP cells and is responsive to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) stimulation. Use of WPMY-AR cells for gene expression profiling showed that the presence of AR, even in the absence of DHT, significantly altered the gene expression pattern of the cells compared to control (WPMY-Vec) cells. Treatment of WPMY-AR cells, but not WPMY-Vec control cells, with DHT resulted in further changes that affected the expression of 141 genes by 2-fold or greater compared to vehicle treated WPMY-AR cells. Remarkably, DHT significantly downregulated more genes than were upregulated but many of these changes reversed the initial effects of AR overexpression alone on individual genes. The genes most highly effected by DHT treatment were categorized based upon their role in cancer pathways or in cell signaling pathways (transforming growth factor-β, Wnt, Hedgehog and MAP Kinase) thought to be involved in stromal-epithelial crosstalk during prostate or prostate cancer development. DHT treatment of WPMY-AR cells was also sufficient to alter their paracrine potential for prostate cancer cells as conditioned medium from DHT-treated WPMY-AR significantly increased growth of LNCaP cells compared to DHT-treated WPMY-Vec cell conditioned medium

Neurological manifestations of COVID-19 in adults and children

Different neurological manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults and children and their impact have not been well characterized. We aimed to determine the prevalence of neurological manifestations and in-hospital complications among hospitalized COVID-19 patients and ascertain differences between adults and children. We conducted a prospective multicentre observational study using the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) cohort across 1507 sites worldwide from 30 January 2020 to 25 May 2021. Analyses of neurological manifestations and neurological complications considered unadjusted prevalence estimates for predefined patient subgroups, and adjusted estimates as a function of patient age and time of hospitalization using generalized linear models. Overall, 161 239 patients (158 267 adults; 2972 children) hospitalized with COVID-19 and assessed for neurological manifestations and complications were included. In adults and children, the most frequent neurological manifestations at admission were fatigue (adults: 37.4%; children: 20.4%), altered consciousness (20.9%; 6.8%), myalgia (16.9%; 7.6%), dysgeusia (7.4%; 1.9%), anosmia (6.0%; 2.2%) and seizure (1.1%; 5.2%). In adults, the most frequent in-hospital neurological complications were stroke (1.5%), seizure (1%) and CNS infection (0.2%). Each occurred more frequently in intensive care unit (ICU) than in non-ICU patients. In children, seizure was the only neurological complication to occur more frequently in ICU versus non-ICU (7.1% versus 2.3%, P < 0.001). Stroke prevalence increased with increasing age, while CNS infection and seizure steadily decreased with age. There was a dramatic decrease in stroke over time during the pandemic. Hypertension, chronic neurological disease and the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation were associated with increased risk of stroke. Altered consciousness was associated with CNS infection, seizure and stroke. All in-hospital neurological complications were associated with increased odds of death. The likelihood of death rose with increasing age, especially after 25 years of age. In conclusion, adults and children have different neurological manifestations and in-hospital complications associated with COVID-19. Stroke risk increased with increasing age, while CNS infection and seizure risk decreased with age

Monosodium urate deposition in the lumbosacral spine of patients with gout compared with non-gout controls: A dual-energy CT study.

Gout is the most common cause of inflammatory arthritis in adults. Gout predominantly affects the peripheral joints, but an increasing number of published cases report gout affecting the spine. We used dual-energy CT (DECT) to assess the prevalence of monosodium urate (MSU) deposition in the spine of gout patients compared to controls, and to investigate whether gout or spinal MSU deposition is associated with low back pain. 25 controls and 50 gout subjects (non-tophaceous and tophaceous) were enrolled. Demographics, gout history, Aberdeen back pain score, serum urate (sU), ESR and CRP were ascertained. Subjects underwent DECT of the lumbosacral spine, which was analyzed using manufacturer's default post-processing algorithm for MSU deposition as well as a maximally-specific algorithm to exclude potential artifact. 72 subjects were analyzed (25 control, 47 gout). Gout subjects had greater BMI, serum creatinine, sU, CRP, and ESR versus controls. Using the default algorithm, MSU-coded volumes in the lumbosacral spines were significantly higher among the gout subjects vs controls (p = 0.018). 34% of gout subjects vs 4% of controls had spinal MSU-coded deposition (p = 0.0036). Applying the maximally-specific DECT post-processing algorithm, 18% of gout patients vs 0% of controls continued to demonstrate spinal MSU-coded deposition (p = 0.04). Non-tophaceous and tophaceous subjects did not differ in spinal MSU-coded deposition or sU. Gout patients had more back pain than controls. A significant subpopulation of gout patients have spinal MSU-coded lesions. Default and maximally-specific MSU post-processing algorithms yielded different absolute MSU-coded volumes, but similar patterns of results. Gout patients had more back pain than controls. Spinal MSU deposition in gout patients may have implications for clinical picture and treatment