Socioemotional Selectivity and Psychological Health in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients and Caregivers: A Longitudinal, Dyadic Analysis

Objective: Socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that as the end of life approaches, goals and resources that provide immediate, hedonic reward become more important than those that provide delayed rewards. This study tested whether these goal domains differentially affected psychological health in the context of marital dyads in which one partner had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a life-limiting disease. Design: ALS patients (N = 102) being treated in three multidisciplinary clinics and their spouses (N = 100) reported their loneliness, financial worry and psychological health every 3 months for up to 18 months. Main Outcome Measure: Psychological health composite. Results: In multilevel dyadic models, patients and spouses had similar levels of financial worry and loneliness. Both patients and spouses had worse psychological health with higher loneliness, but only spouses had worse psychological health with higher financial worry. Significant interactions with age and disease severity indicated that older spouses were more affected by loneliness than were younger spouses, and patients with less severe disease were more affected by financial worry than patients with more severe disease. Conclusion: The results provide good support for socioemotional selectivity theory’s implications for psychological health in a strong test of the theory

Research Weaving: Visualizing the Future of Research Synthesis

We propose a new framework for research synthesis of both evidence and influence, named research weaving. It summarizes and visualizes information content, history, and networks among a collection of documents on any given topic. Research weaving achieves this feat by combining the power of two methods: systematic mapping and bibliometrics. Systematic mapping provides a snapshot of the current state of knowledge, identifying areas needing more research attention and those ready for full synthesis. Bibliometrics enables researchers to see how pieces of evidence are connected, revealing the structure and development of a field. We explain how researchers can use some or all of these tools to gain a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the scientific literature

Descriptive Analysis of Common Functional Limitations Identified by Patients with Shoulder Pain

Context: Recent establishment of G-codes by the US government requires therapists to report function limitations at initial evaluation. Limited information exists specific to the most common limitations in patients with shoulder pain. Objective: To describe the most commonly expressed shoulder limitations with activities and their severity/level of impairment from a patient’s perspective on the initial evaluation. Design: Descriptive. Setting: Patients reporting pain with overhead activity and seeking medical attention from one orthopedic surgeon were recruited as part of a cohort study. Patients: 176 with shoulder superior labral tear from anterior to posterior (SLAP), subacromial impingement, combined SLAP and rotator cuff, and nonspecific (female = 53, age = 41 ± 13 y; male = 123, age = 41 ± 12 y). Interventions: Data were obtained on the initial visit from the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) questionnaire. Three researchers extracted meaningful concepts from the PSFS and linked them to the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) categories according to established ICF linking rules. Results: 176 participants yielded 765 meaningful concepts that were linked to the ICF with a 66% agreement between researchers before consensus. There were no differences between diagnoses. Of all patients, 88% reported functional limitations coded into meaningful concepts as represented by 10 ICF codes; 634 (83%) meaningful concepts were linked to the activities and participation domain while 129 (17%) were linked to the body function domain. Only 2 reported functional limitations that were considered nondefinable (nd). The overall average initial impairment score on the PSFS = 4 ± 2.5 out of 10 points. Conclusion: Meaningful concepts from the activities and participation domain were most commonly identified as functional limitations and were more prevalent than limitations from the body function domain. This information helps identify some of the most common limitations in patients with shoulder pain that therapists can use to efficiently document patient functional impairment

Reliability of an Observational Method Used to Assess Tennis Serve Mechanics in a Group of Novice Raters

Background: Previous research has developed an observational tennis serve analysis (OTSA) tool to assess serve mechanics. The OTSA has displayed substantial agreement between the two health care professionals that developed the tool; however, it is currently unknown if the OTSA is reliable when administered by novice users. Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to determine if reliability for the OTSA could be established in novice users via an interactive classroom training session. Methods: Eight observers underwent a classroom instructional training protocol highlighting the OTSA. Following training, observers participated in two different rating sessions approximately a week apart. Each observer independently viewed 16 non-professional tennis players performing a first serve. All observers were asked to rate the tennis serve using the OTSA. Both intra and inter-observer reliability were determined using Kappa coefficients. Results: Kappa coefficients for intra and inter-observer agreement ranged from 0.09 to 0.83 depending on the body position. A majority of all body positions yeilded moderate agreement and higher. Conclusion: This study suggests that the majority of components associated with the OTSA are reliable and can be taught to novice users via a classroom training session

Clinical Outcomes of Molecular Tumor Boards: A Systematic Review

PURPOSE: We conducted this systematic review to evaluate the clinical outcomes associated with molecular tumor board (MTB) review in patients with cancer. METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed was performed to identify studies reporting clinical outcomes in patients with cancer who were reviewed by an MTB. To be included, studies had to report clinical outcomes, including clinical benefit, response, progression-free survival, or overall survival. Two reviewers independently selected studies and assessed quality with the Quality Assessment Tool for Before-After (Pre-Post) Studies with No Control Group or the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies depending on the type of study being reviewed. RESULTS: Fourteen studies were included with a total of 3,328 patients with cancer. All studies included patients without standard-of-care treatment options and usually with multiple prior lines of therapy. In studies reporting response rates, patients receiving MTB-recommended therapy had overall response rates ranging from 0% to 67%. In the only trial powered on clinical outcome and including a control group, the group receiving MTB-recommended therapy had significantly improved rate of progression-free survival compared with those receiving conventional therapy. CONCLUSION: Although data quality is limited by a lack of prospective randomized controlled trials, MTBs appear to improve clinical outcomes for patients with cancer. Future research should concentrate on prospective trials and standardization of approach and outcomes

Influence of Pregabalin Maintenance on Cannabis Effects and Related Behaviors in Daily Cannabis Users

No medications are approved for cannabis use disorder (CUD), though a small clinical trial demonstrated that the voltage-dependent calcium channel (VDCC) ligand gabapentin reduced cannabis use in treatment seekers. VDCCs are modulated by cannabinoid (CB) ligands, and there are shared effects between CB agonists and VDCC ligands. This overlapping neuropharmacology and the initial clinical results supported the evaluation of pregabalin, a next-generation VDCC ligand, as a CUD medication. Two separate placebo-controlled, double-blind, counterbalanced, within-subjects human laboratory studies tested placebo and 300 (N = 2 females, 11 males; Experiment [EXP] 1) or 450 (N = 3 females, 11 males; EXP 2) mg/day pregabalin in cannabis users who were not seeking treatment or trying to reduce/quit their cannabis use. The protocol consisted of two outpatient maintenance phases (11 days in EXP 1 and 15 days in EXP 2) that concluded with four experimental sessions within each phase. During experimental sessions, maintenance continued, and participants completed two 2-day blocks of sampling and self-administration sessions to determine the reinforcing effects of smoked cannabis (0% and 5.9% delta⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]), as well as subjective, attentional bias, performance, and physiological responses. In addition, naturalistic cannabis use, side effects, sleep quality, craving, and other self-reported substance use were measured during pregabalin maintenance. Cannabis was self-administered and produced prototypical effects, but pregabalin generally did not impact the effects of cannabis or alter naturalistic use. These human laboratory results in cannabis users not trying to reduce/quit their use do not support the efficacy of pregabalin as a stand-alone pharmacotherapy for CUD

Adipose Tissue Mast Cells Promote Human Adipose Beiging in Response to Cold

In a recent study, repeated cold application induced beiging in subcutaneous white adipose tissue (SC WAT) of humans independent of body mass index. To identify factors that promote or inhibit beiging, we performed multiplex analysis of gene expression with the Nanostring nCounter system (the probe set contained genes for specific immune cell markers, cytokines, and chemokines) on the SC WAT from lean subjects. Multiple correlations analysis identified mast cell tryptase and CCL26, a chemokine for mast cells, as genes whose change correlated positively with the change in UCP1 in SC WAT, leading to the hypothesis that mast cells promote SC WAT beiging in response to cold. We quantified mast cell recruitment into SC WAT and degranulation. Mast cells increased in number in SC WAT in lean subjects, and there was an increase in the number of degranulated mast cells in both lean subjects and subjects with obesity. We determined that norepinephrine stimulated mast cell degranulation and histamine release in vitro. In conclusion, cold stimulated adipose tissue mast cell recruitment in lean subjects and mast cell degranulation in SC WAT of all research participants independent of baseline body mass index, suggesting that mast cells promote adipose beiging through the release of histamine or other products

Author correction : a global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

Correction to: Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7, published online 08 January 202

Author correction : a global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

Correction to: Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7, published online 08 January 202