Herrerachaney0560

Background A randomized trial of a pedometer-based intervention with weekly activity goals led to increased walking among dialysis patients. However, the association of participant-expressed motivations and barriers to participation and performance in such an intervention has not been determined. Methods Thirty dialysis patients were randomized to a 12-week pedometer-based intervention with weekly step goals. Participants were asked about motivations and barriers to the increasing activity via weekly semi-scripted telephone interviews. We examined the association of these motivations and barriers with achieving weekly goals, reaching overall targets and increasing steps through multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, dialysis modality and baseline steps. Results The most common motivations were desire to maintain/improve functional ability (30%) and activity (30%). The most common barriers were health-related (33%). Motivation to maintain/improve functional ability was associated with achieving weekly goals 17.9% more often [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7-34.2] and with a greater increase in steps (1524 steps; 95% CI 61-2989) than those lacking this motivation. Experiencing a health-related barrier was not associated with the decreased achievement of weekly goals but was associated with lower odds of reaching overall targets (odds ratio = 0.06; 95% CI 0.01-0.53) and a smaller increase in steps (-1640 steps, 95% CI -3244 to -36). No patients who reported weather/environmental barriers or safety concerns reached overall targets. Conclusions Participants who express a desire to maintain/improve functional ability may be particularly suited for activity interventions. selleck chemicals llc Health-related setbacks should be met with revised goals. Reporting environmental or safety concerns may merit lowering overall targets.Background and aims Long-term nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) treatment can reverse liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B (CHB), but its effect on fibrosis regression remains limited. Biejia-Ruangan (BR) has been approved in China as an anti-fibrotic traditional Chinese medicine drug in patients with chronic liver diseases. A multicenter randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effect of BR on fibrosis regression in CHB patients treated with NAs. Methods CHB patients with histologically confirmed advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis were randomly assigned to receive entecavir (ETV) (0.5mg per day) plus BR (2g three times a day) or placebo for 72 weeks. Liver fibrosis regression was defined as a reduction of ≥1 point by the Ishak Fibrosis Stage (IFS). Results Overall, 500 patients were enrolled in each group as the intention-to-treat population. The rate of fibrosis regression after 72 week treatment was significantly higher in ETV+BR group (40% versus 31.8%, P=0.0069). Among 388 patients with cirrhosis (i.e., IFS ≥5) at baseline, the rate of cirrhosis reversal (i.e., IFS ≤4) was significantly higher in ETV+BR group (41.5% versus 30.7%, P=0.0103). Conclusions Addition of BR to the current standard treatment with NAs in CHB patients with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis can improve liver fibrosis regression.The relation between meal frequency and measures of obesity is inconclusive. Therefore, this systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) set out to compare the isocaloric effects of different meal frequencies on anthropometric outcomes and energy intake (EI). A systematic literature search was conducted in 3 electronic databases (Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science; search date, 11 March 2019). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included with ≥2 wk intervention duration comparing any 2 of the eligible isocaloric meal frequencies (i.e., 1 to ≥8 meals/d). Random-effects NMA was performed for 4 outcomes [body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), fat mass (FM), and EI], and surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) was estimated using a frequentist approach (P-score value is between 0 and 1). Twenty-two RCTs with 647 participants were included. Our results suggest that 2 meals/d probably slightly reduces BW compared with 3 meals/d [mean difference (MD) -1.02 kg; 95% CI -1.70, -0.35 kg) or 6 meals/d (MD -1.29 kg; 95% CI -1.74, -0.84 kg; moderate certainty of evidence). We are uncertain whether 1 or 2 meals/d reduces BW compared with ≥8 meals/d (MD1 meal/d vs. ≥8 meals/d -2.25 kg; 95% CI -5.13, 0.63 kg; MD2 meals/d vs. ≥8 meals/d -1.32 kg; 95% CI -2.19, -0.45 kg) and whether 1 meal/d probably reduces FM compared with 3 meals/d (MD -1.84 kg; 95% CI -3.72, 0.05 kg; very low certainty of evidence). Two meals per day compared with 6 meals/d probably reduce WC (MD -3.77 cm; 95% CI -4.68, -2.86 cm; moderate certainty of evidence). One meal per day was ranked as the best frequency for reducing BW (P-score 0.81), followed by 2 meals/d (P-score 0.74), whereas 2 meals/d performed best for WC (P-score 0.96). EI was not affected by meal frequency. In conclusion, our findings indicate that there is little robust evidence that reducing meal frequency is beneficial.In this issue of Blood, Simon et al evaluated 430 samples from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) for germline and somatic mutations in RUNX family transcription factor 1 (RUNX1). They found that nearly 30% of the identified variants were germline.In this issue of Blood, Dalton et al show that epigenetic therapy with decitabine can upregulate immunogenic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antigens on Burkitt lymphoma (BL) that normally only express the less immunogenic antigen EBV nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1), rendering them sensitive to EBV-specific cells. The authors hypothesized that inducing expression of the more immunogenic latent viral antigens expressed in EBV type II and III latency tumors, such as posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD), on EBV I latency tumors like BL, could improve the activity of virus-directed immunotherapies against these tumors.Absence seizures in children and teenagers are generally considered relatively benign because of their non-convulsive nature and the large incidence of remittance in early adulthood. Recent studies, however, show that 30% of children with absence seizures are pharmaco-resistant and 60% are affected by severe neuropsychiatric comorbid conditions, including impairments in attention, cognition, memory and mood. In particular, attention deficits can be detected before the epilepsy diagnosis, may persist even when seizures are pharmacologically controlled and are aggravated by valproic acid monotherapy. New functional MRI-magnetoencephalography and functional MRI-EEG studies provide conclusive evidence that changes in blood oxygenation level-dependent signal amplitude and frequency in children with absence seizures can be detected in specific cortical networks at least 1 min before the start of a seizure, spike-wave discharges are not generalized at seizure onset and abnormal cortical network states remain during interictal periods.