Ibsenfink8389

Background and Objectives Vector-borne bacterial diseases represent a substantial public health burden and rodents have been recognized as important reservoir hosts for many zoonotic pathogens. This study investigates bacterial pathogens in a small mammal community of the southwestern United States of America. Methods A total of 473 samples from 13 wild rodent and 1 lagomorph species were tested for pathogens of public health significance Bartonella, Brucella, Yersinia, Borrelia, Rickettsia spp., and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Results Three animals were positive for Yersinia pestis, and one Sylvilagus audubonii had a novel Borrelia sp. of the relapsing fever group. No Brucella, Rickettsia, or A. phagocytophilum infections were detected. Bartonella prevalence ranged between 0% and 87.5% by animal species, with 74.3% in the predominant Neotoma micropus and 78% in the second most abundant N. albigula. The mean duration of Bartonella bacteremia in mark-recaptured N. micropus and N. albigula was 4.4 months, ranging from less then 1 to 18 months, and differed among Bartonella genogroups. Phylogenetic analysis of the Bartonella citrate synthase gene (gltA) revealed 9 genogroups and 13 subgroups. Seven genogroups clustered with known or previously reported Bartonella species and strains while two were distant enough to represent new Bartonella species. We report, for the first time, the detection of Bartonella alsatica in North America in Sylvilagus audubonii and expand the known host range of Bartonella washoensis to include Otospermophilus variegatus. Interpretation and Conclusion This work broadens our knowledge of the hosts and geographic range of bacterial pathogens that could guide future surveillance efforts and improves our understanding of the dynamics of Bartonella infection in wild small mammals.Family members of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) experience multidimensional distress. Many clinicians lack an understanding of spiritual health practitioners' role and approaches to providing spiritual support. Through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 10 spiritual health practitioners, we explored how spiritual health practitioners support families of patients in the ICU to better understand their scope of practice and role within an interdisciplinary critical care team. Spiritual health practitioners' work was described through clinical roles (family support, clinician support, bridging family members and clinicians), activities (companioning, counseling, facilitating difficult conversations, addressing individual needs), tensions (within and between roles and activities, navigating between hope and anticipated clinical trajectory, balancing supportive care and workload) and foundational principles (holistic perspective, resilience). A more comprehensive understanding of these roles and skills may enable clinicians to better integrate spiritual health practitioners into the fabric of care for patients, families, and clinicians themselves.Not required for invited commentary.Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important regulators of intracellular signaling pathways in health and disease. It is implicated that ROS may play critical roles in pathogenesis of a number of kidney diseases including diabetic nephropathy. However, due to the lack of tools for in vivo detection of redox status, our knowledge of redox dynamics is still fragmentary. In this study, we present novel zebrafish UAS transgenic lines expressing mitochondrial and cytoplasmic targeted redox fluorescent biosensors, Grx1-roGFP2 and mitoGrx1-roGFP2. As the zebrafish is an ideal animal model for intravital imaging, these transgenic zebrafish provide useful tools to analyze renal redox dynamics in vivo.INTRODUCTION Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is the most common autoimmune disorder. Evidence regarding high prevalence and incidence of thyroid autoimmunity in women, and specially women of reproductive age, is still inconclusive and previous studies have suggested genetic, environmental, and existential factors to play a role in it s pathogenesis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of parity and other reproductive factors on incidence of thyroid autoimmunity within the framework of the Tehran Thyroid Study. MATERIAL AND METHODS The present study was conducted within the framework of the Tehran Thyroid Study (TTS) and 1999 non pregnant euthyroid TPOAb negative women were followed up for an average of 8.3 years. Disufenton chemical Pooled logistic regression model was used to assess the association (odds ratio) between time-dependent covariates parity, menopause and abortion and incidence of TPOAb positivity. RESULTS Total incidence rate of TPOAb positivity were of 8.65(7.35,10.18) per1000 person-year. We found no significant association between changes in the number of parity and risk of developing TPOAb using multiple pooled logistic models both as crude effect and after adjustment for age, BMI and smoking; similarly, there was no association between changes of parity, menopause and abortion status and incidence of TPOAb positivity. CONCLUSION Parity does not seem to have an independent role in triggering thyroid autoimmunity but vast immunological and physiological changes during pregnancy may act as a precipitating factor in context of other genetic and environmental etiologies.Antibody induction test (AIT) is a promising candidate as a refinement of the troublesome National institutes of Health (NIH) test in the sense of animal welfare 3R approach for determination of potency of inactivated rabies vaccines for veterinary and human use. In this study, we initially try to develop AIT as a suitable alternative to NIH test, to achieve a reduction of test duration and diminish animal suffering by omitting intracerebral CVS infection and measuring humoral immunity upon vaccination. Designs of both multi-dose and single-dose AIT were examined. Biological reference preparation, batch 5 with assigned titer of 10 IU/vial, was taken as both standard and test vaccine. Six consecutive AITs were performed and eight pools of sera in each AIT were tested in triplicate by rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test. We estimated the upper detection limit and calculated test variability for individual dilutions. For multi-dose AIT, we estimated the dose-response function and performed calculations of final test results and statistical validity parameters for both linear and sigmoidal model using CombiStats program. Sigmoidal 4-parameter dose-response model was found optimal. Presented design of multi-dose AIT showed a satisfactory detection limit for testing of inactivated rabies vaccines for both veterinary and human use. However, due to nonconformity of obtained results with statistical validity criteria, we concluded that the presented model of multi-dose AIT was unsuitable for introduction in routine practice. However, we concluded that there was a realistic option for introduction of two versions of single-dose AIT. The first version would be with two standard vaccine controls and could be introduced immediately, while the second version would include testing of the sample only and rely on comparison of the induced rabies antibody level with absolute cut-off limits set in advance.Background Patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) have increased endogenous synthesis of cholesterol, together with lower level of intestinal cholesterol absorption. However, less is known about how individual metabolic disturbances linked to MetS correlate with dysregulated cholesterol homeostasis. Methods We consecutively examined 178 probands (91 women/87 men) characterized by the presence of one or two components of MetS (group with an increased cardiometabolic risk [CMR]) and 42 healthy controls (24 men/18 women) of similar age, as well. In all probands, the surrogate markers for cholesterol biosynthesis (lathosterol) and absorption (campesterol and β-sitosterol) were measured by capillary gas chromatography. In CMR group, we performed multivariate regression analysis to assess the dependence of the parameters of cholesterol biosynthesis/absorption on components of MetS including serum uric acid (SUA), apolipoprotein B (apoB), and age. Results In CMR group, higher lathosterol to total plasma cholesterol (TC) ratio (LCR) was influenced by gender (P = 0.05, analysis of covariance [ANCOVA] for age), whereas ratios of campesterol (β-sitosterol, respectively) to TC were lower in CMR group (P  less then  0.001 and P = 0.002, ANCOVA for age). In men, LCR was positively associated with SUA, apoB, and hypertension (all P  less then  0.05). Lathosterol to campesterol or β-sitosterol ratios were highly dependent on SUA (both P  less then  0.01), the former being dependent also on apoB (P  less then  0.01). In women, these parameters were only weakly dependent on SUA. Conclusions These results show that the concentration of SUA in men of CMR group is associated with the indices of de novo cholesterol biosynthesis. This association is probably influenced by interaction of arterial hypertension and apoB levels with cholesterol homeostasis.Background Lymphedema is a complication of breast cancer therapy associated with substantial anxiety. We designed a prospective, randomized study to assess the psychosocial impact of different surveillance methods for lymphedema. Methods and Results In this open-label study of 38 women undergoing breast cancer surgery, we screened for lymphedema using traditional volumetric measurements (circumferential readings from the wrist to the axilla) versus bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) using electric current. The primary outcome measure was total anxiety measured by the Beck Anxiety Inventory, a 21-item questionnaire administered at preoperative, 6-week, 3-month, and 6-month postoperative visits (range 0-63 points). Outcome metrics were compared after adjustment for baseline anxiety. There were no differences in clinical characteristics or cancer therapies between groups, except for more reoperation for positive surgical margins in the BIS patients (5% vs. 32%, p = 0.036). Baseline anxiety, depression, and associated medical therapies were similar as well. Only one woman in each group developed lymphedema during the study. Anxiety was higher in the BIS group at baseline (mean Beck score 12.2 vs. 7.2, p  less then  0.001), but anxiety levels gradually declined by the end of the 6-month study in both groups, with no differences in adjusted anxiety scores between the two groups at any time point during follow-up (all p = NS). Conclusions In this pilot study of women scheduled for breast cancer surgery, most subjects reported mild anxiety at baseline, and anxiety levels fell during continued lymphedema surveillance visits. There was no difference in patient-reported anxiety when surveillance was performed using standard volumetric versus BIS measurements.The main objective of this study was to compare in vitro activities of a novel fluoroquinolone (FQ), UB-8902, with ofloxacin (OFX), levofloxacin (LFX), and moxifloxacin (MOX) against Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates. Eleven OFX-resistant and 11 drug-susceptible clinical isolates were studied. Individual minimum inhibitory concentrations of OFX, LFX, MOX, and UB-8902 were determined using Middlebrook 7H11 agar. The concentrations studied ranged from 0.125 to 128 μg/mL in twofold dilutions. UB-8902 was more active than LFX and similar to MOX for OFX-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates. In addition, UB-8902 and MOX showed equal activity against drug-susceptible isolates, both being more active than OFX and LFX. In conclusion, the new FQ, UB-8902, showed good activity against OFX-resistant isolates. Moreover, it showed better activity than OFX and LFX and was equivalent to MOX against FQ-susceptible clinical isolates. UB-8902 can be considered as a drug with potential antituberculous activity, similar to MOX.