Noncommunicable diseases and social determinants of health in Buddhist monks: An integrative review.

The prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is increasing worldwide. Buddhist monks in Thailand play a critical role in health as community leaders accounting for 0.3% of the population. However, some monks require treatment and hospitalization to alleviate the burden of NCDs due to religious beliefs and practices during ordainment. Risk factors for NCDs among Buddhist monks, and the relationship to social determinants of health (SDH) remain unclear. This integrative review examined the prevalence of NCDs and explored the relationship between SDH and health outcomes among Buddhist monks. Cohort, descriptive, and correlational studies published in both English and Thai languages were identified from the PubMed, Science Direct, CINAHL, and Thai journal databases. Keywords included "Thai Buddhist monks," "non-communicable diseases," and "prevalence". Twenty-two studies were selected. Obesity and hypertension were the most prevalent NCDs. Religious beliefs and practices influence SDH domains and play an important role in the lifestyle and health behaviors among Buddhist monks. Further understanding of the impact of the religious lifestyle is needed, particularly given the role and influence of monks in society

A predictive algorithm to identify genes that discriminate individuals with fibromyalgia syndrome diagnosis from healthy controls

Nada Lukkahatai,1 Brian Walitt,2 Enrique J Deandrés-Galiana,3 Juan Luis Fernández-Martínez,3 Leorey N Saligan2 1Acute and Chronic Care, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA; 2Symptoms Biology Unit, National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), Bethesda, MD, USA; 3Group of Inverse Problems, Optimization and Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain Objectives: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic and often debilitating condition that is characterized by persistent fatigue, pain, bowel abnormalities, and sleep disturbances. Currently, there are no definitive prognostic or diagnostic biomarkers for FMS. This study attempted to utilize a novel predictive algorithm to identify a group of genes whose differential expression discriminated individuals with FMS diagnosis from healthy controls. Methods: Secondary analysis of gene expression data from 28 women with FMS and 19 age- and race-matched healthy women. Expression of discriminatory genes were identified using fold-change differential and Fisher’s ratio (FR). Discriminatory accuracy of the differential expression of these genes was determined using leave-one-out-cross-validation. Functional networks of the discriminating genes were described from the Ingenuity’s Knowledge Base. Results: The small-scale signature contained 57 genes whose expressions were highly discriminatory of the FMS diagnosis. The combination of these high discriminatory genes with FR higher than 1.45 provided a leave-one-out-cross-validation accuracy for the FMS diagnosis of 85.11%. The discriminatory genes were associated with 3 canonical pathways: hepatic stellate cell activation, oxidative phosphorylation, and airway pathology related to COPD. Conclusion: The discriminating genes, especially the 2 with the highest accuracy, are associated with mitochondrial function or oxidative phosphorylation and glutamate signaling. Further validation of the clinical utility of this finding is warranted. Keywords: chronic pain, machine learning, medically unexplained symptoms, microarra

Comparing Genomic Profiles of Women With and Without Fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), a chronic musculoskeletal condition characterized by diffuse pain, fatigue, sleep impairment, and cognitive dysfunction, is associated with significant functional disability. Its underlying biological mechanisms are unknown. This study investigated differentially expressed genes between women with FMS and healthy volunteers

Understanding the association of fatigue with other symptoms of fibromyalgia: Development of a cluster model

To develop a symptoms cluster model that can describe factors of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) associated with fatigue severity as reported by the sample and to explore FMS clinical symptom subclusters based on varying symptom intensities

Symptom Profiles, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Clinical Blood Markers among Korean Community-Dwelling Older Adults Living with Chronic Conditions

Older adults suffer from multiple symptoms, which negatively affects their health-related quality of life. The single-symptom management approach has been less than effective. The data of 2362 Korean community-dwelling older adults aged 70 and above were analyzed in the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study (KFACS) study. A cluster analysis, correlation analysis, and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. We found three symptom clusters: high symptom burden (HSB, n = 1032); pain and fatigue group (PAF, n = 566); and the sleep deprivation group (SDP, n = 764). Participants in the HSB group are more likely to be of old age (OR = 1.1), be female (OR = 2.4), live in a rural area (OR = 1.4), have low physical activity (OR = 0.9), and have multiple chronic conditions (OR = 1.5). The clinical blood markers analysis showed a negative relationship among the physical health, free T4 (r = −0.083, p < 0.01) and insulin (r = −0.084, p < 0.01). The sex-specific blood markers analysis showed differences among three clusters. While free testosterone (male: r = 0.124, female: r = 0.110, p < 0.05) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) (male: r = 0.352 and female: r = 0.134, p < 0.05) were associated with physical health in the HSB group, only free testosterone was associated with mental health (male: r = −0.093, and female: r = −0.116, p < 0.05) in the SDP group. These findings suggest the potential role of the patient’s sex and sex hormones in symptoms of Korean community-dwelling older adults. Understanding the symptom profiles and impact of biopsychosocial factors may enhance precision symptom management

Association of mitochondrial dysfunction and fatigue: A review of the literature

Fatigue is often described by patients as a lack of energy, mental or physical tiredness, diminished endurance, and prolonged recovery after physical activity. Etiologic mechanisms underlying fatigue are not well understood; however, fatigue is a hallmark symptom of mitochondrial disease, making mitochondrial dysfunction a putative biological mechanism for fatigue. Therefore, this review examined studies that investigated the association of markers of mitochondrial dysfunction with fatigue and proposes possible research directions to enhance understanding of the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in fatigue. A thorough search using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases returned 1220 articles. After the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 25 articles meeting eligibility criteria were selected for full review. Dysfunctions in the mitochondrial structure, mitochondrial function (mitochondrial enzymes and oxidative/nitrosative stress), mitochondrial energy metabolism (ATP production and fatty acid metabolism), immune response, and genetics were investigated as potential contributors to fatigue. Carnitine was the most investigated mitochondrial function marker. Dysfunctional levels were reported in all the studies investigating carnitine; however, the specific type of carnitine that was dysfunctional varied. Genetic profiles were the second most studied mitochondrial parameter. Six common pathways were proposed: metabolism, energy production, protein transport, mitochondrial morphology, central nervous system dysfunction and post-viral infection. Coenzyme Q10 was the most commonly investigated mitochondrial enzyme. Low levels of Coenzyme Q10 were consistently associated with fatigue. Potential targets for further investigation were identified as well as gaps in the current literature

Clinical Predictors of Fatigue in Men With Non-Metastatic Prostate Cancer Receiving External Beam Radiation Therapy

The goal of this study is to evaluate clinical predictors of worsening fatigue during external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) in men with non-metastatic prostate cancer