289 research outputs found
Mind and body exercises : associations with mental health, antidepressant medication, autonomic functioning and inflammatory biomarkers
Stress, depression and stress-related mental ill-health are common in societies all over the
world, and people tend to use both conventional care within the health care system and
complementary treatment methods to handle the related symptoms. Still, there is sparse
information on whether, how and when to combine these different treatment modalities, in
spite of their relatively widespread use. There is thus a need for increased knowledge on
complementary treatment methods among conventional health care professionals, patients,
policy- and decision makers, and the general public. An example of complementary methods
is so called mind and body exercises (MBE), which include e.g. mindfulness based
interventions (MBIs).
Aims:
The overall aim of this thesis was to map the use of MBE and its associations with
health and markers of disease, i.e. prescriptions of psychotropics, and to study if there are any
robust effects of MBIs on biomarkers of stress. The findings were thus aimed to enable
evidence-based recommendations and personalized treatment strategies. The specific aims
were: To identify differential associations regarding gender, age, socioeconomic status, health
behaviors, perceived stress, self-rated health, and the purchase of prescribed drugs among
people who practice MBE extensively, compared to people who do not practice MBE (study
I); To further investigate the temporal relationship between MBE, depressive symptoms,
purchase of antidepressant drugs and physical exercise, based on the cross-sectional findings
in study I (study II); To evaluate existing data on the effect of standardized mindfulness based
interventions on inflammatory biomarkers and autonomic nervous system functioning
(assessed by measurements of heart rate variability, HRV), through a systematic review and
meta-analysis (study III); To investigate the effects of a Mindfulness Based Childbirth and
Parenting intervention on HRV and serum inflammatory marker levels among pregnant
women, through an RCT study with an active control group comparison (study IV).
Methods:
Studies I and II were based on responses from the Swedish Longitudinal
Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH). Measures regarding MBE practice, health
behaviors, perceived stress, self-rated health and illnesses were drawn from the SLOSH
questionnaire, while data on antidepressant drug purchase for all respondents was obtained
from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. In study III, a literature search was conducted in
collaboration with two experienced university librarians. Literature screening and data
extraction were performed independently by two researchers. The methodological quality of
included studies was assessed independently by two researchers using the Cochrane
Collaborationâs tool for assessing risk of bias. In study IV, first time pregnant women at risk
of perinatal depression were randomized to MBCP or an active control treatment. At baseline
and post-intervention, participants filled out questionnaires and measures on HRV and
inflammatory biomarkers were collected.
Results:
MBE practice was found to have significant cross-sectional associations with high
levels of depressive symptoms and prescribed antidepressant purchases (study I). The
temporal investigations of these relationships revealed a more complex picture, where MBE practice itself was not associated with either subsequent antidepressant medication or with
subsequent depressive symptoms (study II). No significant effect of standardized MBIs on
inflammatory biomarkers or HRV, when compared to active controls, treatment as usual or
wait-list controls, was found â neither in the meta-analysis (study III) nor in the randomized
controlled study (study IV).
Conclusions:
The findings from study I and II demonstrate the use MBE among the general
population as well as in clinical populations like patients suffering from mental ill-health. In
order to gain a deeper understanding of the temporality of these correlations, and to delineate
possible beneficial or harmful combinations of psychotropics, MBE and other treatment
strategies, further research is needed. The findings from study III and IV highlight the
necessity of larger, more rigorously conducted RCTs with standardized MBIs being
compared to various forms of active controls, also including more long-term follow-ups, in
order to provide evidence-based recommendations, both for self-help use and clinical
practices
Expression of 5-lipoxygenase and 15-lipoxygenase in rheumatoid arthritis synovium and effects of intraarticular glucocorticoids
The past years have witnessed tremendous progress in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic debilitating autoimmune disease mainly characterized by joint inflammation with progressive tissue destruction and loss of function. This condition affects 0.5-1% of the population, is associated with important co-morbidities and represents a heavy economical burden. New strategies, employing early and aggressive therapies with classical drugs or new agents, have resulted in impressive improvements in controlling disease activity. In some cases they even lead to clinical remission. Despite potent and efficient biological agents that specifically modulate distinct pathological pathways a large proportion of patients remain unresponsive to these therapies; drug-free remission is also difficult to achieve since attempting discontinuation of treatment usually results in disease flare.
In rheumatoid arthritis joints there is a constant activation of complex networks of cytokines and factors mediating immune interactions and inflammation, in which prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and leukotriene B4 (LTB4) are important players and contributors to pathogenesis. Our research aimed to investigate the synovial expression of enzymes controlling prostaglandin E2 synthesis and degradation â cyclooxygenase (COX) 1 and 2, microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase 1 (MPGES1) and 15-prostaglandin dihydrogenase (15-PGDH) as well as enzymes involved in leukotriene synthesis, such as 5-lipoxygenase (LO) and 15-LO. In addition, we evaluated how traditional and new therapies influence these pathways, by analyzing enzyme expression before and after systemic treatment with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists, rituximab or methotrexate, as well as before and after intra-articular treatment with glucocorticoids. We also evaluated the in vitro effects of TNF antagonists and glucocorticoids on synovial fluid cells and that of methotrexate on synovial fibroblasts.
We demonstrated that synovial tissue from RA patients displayed an important expression of enzymes involved in the metabolism of PGE2, as well as 5-LO and 15-LO. MPGES1 and COX-2, the inflammation-inducible enzymes co-localized mainly in fibroblasts and macrophage-like cells and accounted for the local PGE2 production. Intra-articular glucocorticoids significantly reduced all enzymes involved in the PGE2 cascade â COX-1 and COX-2, MPGES1 and 15-PGDH, but also 5-LO, responsible for leukotriene formation. However, they did not influence the expression of 15-LO, an enzyme involved in the formation of both pro-and anti-inflammatory lipid mediators. Regarding the effects of TNF blockers, rituximab or methotrexate, they did not alter the expression profile of enzymes involved in PGE2 metabolism despite showing clinical efficiency in improving disease activity. Although anti-TNF agents reduced the in vitro expression of MPGES1 and COX-2 in synovial fluid cells, the lack of effect ex vivo in biopsies emphasized once again the differences between synovial compartments and possibly the difficulty in mimicking the micro-environment at the site of inflammation in vitro.
In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates that potent anti-rheumatic drugs currently used in the clinic with good efficiency also leave inflammatory pathways un-affected, which may account for subclinical ongoing disease activity. Blocking the PGE2 pathway by using MPGES1 inhibitors as combination therapy may show benefit in dampening ongoing local inflammation
Heralded generation of entangled photon pairs
Entangled photons are a crucial resource for quantum communication and linear
optical quantum computation. Unfortunately, the applicability of many
photon-based schemes is limited due to the stochastic character of the photon
sources. Therefore, a worldwide effort has focused in overcoming the limitation
of probabilistic emission by generating two-photon entangled states conditioned
on the detection of auxiliary photons. Here we present the first heralded
generation of photon states that are maximally entangled in polarization with
linear optics and standard photon detection from spontaneous parametric
down-conversion. We utilize the down-conversion state corresponding to the
generation of three photon pairs, where the coincident detection of four
auxiliary photons unambiguously heralds the successful preparation of the
entangled state. This controlled generation of entangled photon states is a
significant step towards the applicability of a linear optics quantum network,
in particular for entanglement swapping, quantum teleportation, quantum
cryptography and scalable approaches towards photonics-based quantum computing
Modulation of microRNA processing by 5âlipoxygenase
The miRNA biogenesis is tightly regulated to avoid dysfunction and consequent disease development. Here, we describe modulation of miRNA processing as a novel noncanonical function of the 5âlipoxygenase (5âLO) enzyme in monocytic cells. In differentiated Mono Mac 6 (MM6) cells, we found an in situ interaction of 5âLO with Dicer, a key enzyme in miRNA biogenesis. RNA sequencing of small noncoding RNAs revealed a functional impact, knockout of 5âLO altered the expression profile of several miRNAs. Effects of 5âLO could be observed at two levels. qPCR analyses thus indicated that (a) 5âLO promotes the transcription of the evolutionarily conserved miRâ99b/letâ7e/miRâ125a cluster and (b) the 5âLOâDicer interaction downregulates the processing of preâletâ7e, resulting in an increase in miRâ125a and miRâ99b levels by 5âLO without concomitant changes in letâ7e levels in differentiated MM6 cells. Our observations suggest that 5âLO regulates the miRNA profile by modulating the Dicerâmediated processing of distinct preâmiRNAs. 5âLO inhibits the formation of letâ7e which is a wellâknown inducer of cell differentiation, but promotes the generation of miRâ99b and miRâ125a known to induce cell proliferation and the maintenance of leukemic stem cell functions
Quantum degrees of polarization
We discuss different proposals for the degree of polarization of quantum
fields. The simplest approach, namely making a direct analogy with the
classical description via the Stokes operators, is known to produce
unsatisfactory results. Still, we argue that these operators and their
properties should be basic for any measure of polarization. We compare
alternative quantum degrees and put forth that they order various states
differently. This is to be expected, since, despite being rooted in the Stokes
operators, each of these measures only captures certain characteristics.
Therefore, it is likely that several quantum degrees of polarization will
coexist, each one having its specific domain of usefulness.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. v2: Minor corrections and improvement
Quantum polarization tomography of bright squeezed light
We reconstruct the polarization sector of a bright polarization squeezed beam
starting from a complete set of Stokes measurements. Given the symmetry that
underlies the polarization structure of quantum fields, we use the unique SU(2)
Wigner distribution to represent states. In the limit of localized and bright
states, the Wigner function can be approximated by an inverse three-dimensional
Radon transform. We compare this direct reconstruction with the results of a
maximum likelihood estimation, finding an excellent agreement.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures. Contribution to New Journal of Physics, Focus
Issue on Quantum Tomography. Comments welcom
Pulmonary sarcoidosis is associated with exosomal vitamin D-binding protein and inflammatory molecules
BACKGROUND: Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory granulomatous disorder characterized by accumulation of TH1-type CD4+T cells and immune effector cells within affected organs, most frequently the lungs. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles conveying intercellular communication with possible diagnostic and therapeutic applications.OBJECTIVES: Weaimed to provide an understanding of the proinflammatory role of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) exosomes in patients with sarcoidosis and to find candidates for disease biomarkers.METHODS: Weperformed a mass spectrometric proteomics characterization of BALF exosomes from 15 patients with sarcoidosis and 5 healthy control subjects and verified the most interesting results with flow cytometry, ELISA, and Western blot analyses in an additional 39 patients and 22 control subjects.RESULTS: Morethan 690 proteins were identified in the BALF exosomes, several of which displayed significant upregulation in patients, including inflammation-associated proteins, such as leukotriene A4 hydrolase. Most of the complement-activating factors were upregulated, whereas the complement regulator CD55 was seen less in patients comparedwith healthy control subjects. In addition, for the first time, we detected vitamin D-binding protein in BALF exosomes, which was more abundant in patients. To evaluate exosome-associated vitamin D-binding protein as a biomarker for sarcoidosis, we investigated plasma exosomes from 23 patients and 11 healthy control subjects and found significantlyhigher expression in patients.CONCLUSION: Together,these data contribute to understanding the role of exosomes in lung disease and provide suggestions for highly warranted sarcoidosis biomarkers. Furthermore, the validation of an exosome-associated biomarker in the blood of patients provides novel, and less invasive, opportunities for disease diagnosis.</h4
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