Medical research archives最新文献

{"title":"UCP2 Upregulation Increases Fra-1 Expression and S-phase Cell Population without Decreasing Apoptosis during Skin Cell Transformation","authors":"Yunfeng Zhao, Annapoorna Sreedhar, Chunjing Zhang, Noel Jacquet","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i6.3938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i6.3938","url":null,"abstract":"Upregulation of uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is considered a prosurvival mechanism for cancer cells. This prosurvival function is thought to be mediated by UCP2’s uncoupling activity which reduces the production of superoxide in the mitochondria. However, exactly how highly expressed UCP2 regulates cell proliferation, cell cycle, and cell death during the early stage of tumorigenesis has not been studied thoroughly. For this purpose, we generated UCP2 stably overexpressed JB6 Cl-41 cells (a skin cell transformation model) and performed studies to answer the above questions. Our results demonstrated that UCP2 overexpression enhanced cell proliferation, activation of the oncoprotein Fra-1, anchorage-independent growth, 3D spheroids growth, and glucose uptake during skin cell transformation. Next, our results demonstrated that UCP2 overexpression resulted in marked decreases in the proportion of the cells in the G1 phase and an increase of cells in the S phase of the cell cycle, which was accompanied by increased expression of Cyclin E and Cdk2. Lastly, UCP2 overexpression did not enhance or suppress apoptosis during skin cell transformation, as indicated by Annexin V and active caspase 3/7 staining. Taken together, these data suggest that UCP2 upregulation mainly enhances the Fra-1 oncogenic pathway which drives cell proliferation, without inhibiting apoptosis during skin cell transformation.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"27 1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90435527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Review of Factors Influencing Anxiety and Depression in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis during the COVID-19 Pandemic","authors":"Patricia McLaughlin, L. Odom, I. Zagon","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i6.3964","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i6.3964","url":null,"abstract":"Patients with multiple sclerosis have been subjected to extra levels of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic when they were singled out by governmental regulatory agencies as sufficiently immune-compromised persons that should be in the first group to receive the untested, new COVID-19 vaccine. The designation of these persons in such a high-risk group compounded their anxiety and depression. Early in the disease in 2020-2021, little was known about the disease, the vaccine, or whether their disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis were subjecting them to more immunomodulatory suppression. This review is not comprehensive of all articles written on COVID-19 and multiple sclerosis, but selectively looks at research on COVID-19 and use of low-doses of naltrexone as treatment. Specific causes for anxiety and depression are discussed in light of evidence that suggests that the length of disease, rather than age, sex, or therapy leads to more anxiety. Low-dose naltrexone in combination with other disease-modifying therapies, or alone, reduced the perceived levels of anxiety. These data suggest that clinicians may want to prescribe low-dose naltrexone for early-stage multiple sclerosis patients.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"78 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78140490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ependymoma of the Filum Terminale, Technical Operative Note","authors":"Simon Diaz, G. Cossu, Mihailo Obrenović, J. Barges-Coll","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i4.3591","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i4.3591","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Spinal cord tumors represent 2-4% of all CNS tumors. Ependymomas are the most frequent lesions of the spinal cord1. Gross total resection remains the gold standard2. Method: We describe the mini-invasive surgical technique using a fixed tubular retractor performed for the resection of an ependymoma of the filum terminale, along with its advantages and limits. Conclusion: This mini-invasive technique has shown to be safe and effective for the resection of filum terminale ependymoma, with a good impact on postoperative pain and less risks of CSF leak, which is probably secondary to a limited dead space.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78362455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Culture of Honor and COVID-19: Regional Mitigation Efforts in the United States During the Pandemic","authors":"Kiersten R. Baughman","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i7.2.4176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i7.2.4176","url":null,"abstract":"As the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, states in the United States (U.S.) varied widely in the arrival of the first case of the virus, the official response of government officials and citizens, and the overall impact of the virus. The Culture of Honor, a reputation-based system more prevalent in the U.S. South and West, is linked with lawlessness or mistrust of the law where it exists, fierce independence, and condones aggressive behaviors, particularly in response to threat. The current project explored the influence of the Culture of Honor on perceptions of the legitimacy of COVID-19 messaging, government actions and citizens responses, and overall impact of the pandemic at the state level. It was predicted that the overall numbers of citizens infected by COVID-19 would be higher in culture of honor states, that any actions taken by government officials would be strict and perceived negatively by citizens residing in culture of honor states, and that citizens would be unlikely to follow any imposed government restrictions. Publicly available data were compiled for each of the U.S. states including total number of COVID-19 cases, total deaths, how the elected officials managed any coordinated response (such as issuing executive orders, any stay-at-home or lockdown orders), and coded evidence of citizens violating any of these orders such as by protesting or showing up at public locations that were currently closed. I am deeply indebted to Luke Conway for providing access to an individual-level dataset collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) that included 978 people from across the U.S. who had responded to items related to these variables of interest. Analyses indicated that individuals in US states identified as Culture of Honor had seen greater impact to their states of the COVID-19 pandemic as of 2020 in several ways, including higher total number of citizens who tested positive and also died from COVID-19, less support for government action to mitigate the spread, and stronger distrust of information shared by their state authorities about the pandemic. These findings indicate that cultural values including the Culture of Honor could impede state-level attempts to thwart the spread of contagious diseases and other measures intended to protect individuals.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78332309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Airway Management for the Critically Ill Patient in the Emergency Department","authors":"Jennifer L. Stahl, J. O'Donnell","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i4.3720","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i4.3720","url":null,"abstract":"Airway management is both a fundamental skill and resuscitative treatment that has taken a prominent role in emergency medicine. In the past few decades there have been many advancements in airway management particularly in critically ill patients. Technology has been developed and adapted to provide improved visualization for endotracheal intubation as well as supportive strategies for oxygenation and optimization of medications. In this review we will discuss the current practices and literature in airway management of critically ill patients including medication optimization and airway visualization techniques for first pass success.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74988586","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of a Hospital-Based Return to Work intervention for Breast Cancer Patients","authors":"Elke Smeers, H. Désiron, A. Rijk, E. Hoof, J. Mebis, L. Godderis","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i1.3448","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i1.3448","url":null,"abstract":"Background: International research indicates that patients’ needs for return-to-work (RTW) support should be addressed and integrated within the curative healthcare process and as early as possible in the treatment process. Using intervention mapping, a hospital based RTW intervention, named BRIDGE (Bridging health care and workspace), was developed with an emphasis on bridging the gap between healthcare and the workplace. The aims of this evaluation were (a) to determine whether BRIDGE contributes to restoring participation and increasing quality of life for BC patients during their RTW process; and (b) to identify the needs and experiences of patients and healthcare professionals during this transmural intervention process. This paper describes the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the intervention. Method: The mixed-method design of this study assessed quantitative outcome measures on patient level (perceived Quality of life), number of days on sick leave, relapse and experience with RTW support; and on healthcare worker level (days of duration of the RTW guided process, perception of satisfaction with RTW support and time spent by the occupational therapist and the multidisciplinary team). Semi structured interviews were used to evaluate qualitative measures on patient level, focus-group discussion was used to collect healthcare providers’ perceptions. Results: Of all eligible patients (n =179), 79 accepted to participate. Randomisation attributed 43 participants to the intervention group (IG) and 36 to the control group (CG). The outcomes showed that patients felt respected and empowered in their choices and actions regarding their professional career and that health care providers perceive the intervention as valuable support for their patients. Conclusions: The BRIDGE intervention is highly appreciated both by HCPs and BC patients. Improvements can be made by elaborating the thoughtful follow-up which enables the BCM to stay in touch, to enable indication of the right moment for each patient to engage in the RTW process. It also would reinforce insights for the BCM to provide the type of service that fits patients’ and all other stakeholders’ needs. On the other hand, HCPs are not comfortable with the content as well as the potential impact. More emphasis on the thoughtful follow-up is needed to motivate HCPs to align with the idea of the BRIDGE intervention.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75230867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Clinical and Social Economic Profile of Patients Diagnosed with COVID-19 at Likuni Mission Hospital, Malawi.","authors":"Adriano Lubanga, Alfred Lipenga, V. Mwapasa, Gift Kanyinji, Darlington Ndlovu, Tuntufye Sichinga, George Mwenye-Phiri, Louis Ng’oma, Elled Mwenyekonde, Donghyun Jeon, Seok Han, Kaylin Choe, J. Seung, Justin Kong, T. Nyirenda","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i5.3696","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i5.3696","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused devastating effects on the world since its discovery in the city of Wuhan in 2019. It has claimed millions of lives and has significantly affected the economies of the world. However, the characteristics of affected populations in poorest settings in Africa are not clearly known. Aims and Objectives: The study was undertaken to evaluate common clinical presentations of patients diagnosed with COVID-19, asses the socio-economic and demographic profiles and analyze the clinical course, and comorbidities of COVID-19 positive patients at Likuni mission hospital, central region of Malawi. Methods: This was a cross sectional study, however we looked at retrospective data from for all patients diagnosed from January 2021 to January 2022. Results: Patients were predominantly female (65%), less than 40 years, without any known comorbidity and had at least 3 symptoms before being diagnosed. The most common symptoms were fever, cough, chest pains, headache, shortness of breath, and general body weakness. A significantly higher population were from low social economic status (p<0.05). Over 95% of the population suffered minor ailment and did not need hospitalization and advanced life support. All patients that required hospitalization were above the age of 60 and the results were statistically significant (p<0.05). More than 90% of the cases were locally spread and did not have traceable positive contact. Conclusion: The diversity of clinical and epidemiological characteristic of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 across gender, socio-economic status, age group and occupation is extremely important. Our results provides an understanding of the characteristics of patients in a poor setting like Malawi and will inform policy makers at local hospitals and district levels including researchers and the ministry of health.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"324 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76302273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sauna Bathing as an Alternative Adjunct Therapy in the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Health Conditions Including Cardiovascular Disease, Neurodegenerative Disease, Metabolic Disease, and Mental Health Disorders","authors":"M. Reeder, Tyler B. Anderson, Brent Alumbaugh, Steven Murray","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i6.3965","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i6.3965","url":null,"abstract":"Sauna bathing is a time-efficient, cost-effective health modality that has the potential to mimic the heat thermogenesis and cardiovascular effects of exercise. In recent years, researchers have been able to measure the benefits of sauna on human performance, endurance, and cardiovascular health. While many studies have investigated sauna use and its effect on athletic performance, fewer studies have investigated the use of sauna as a medical treatment for chronic health conditions. This review compiles the proven effects of sauna on human physiology and investigates its applications in the treatment of patients with chronic disease. Sauna use appears to be safe in most patient populations and is shown to be both tolerable and effective in patient populations with cardiovascular disease and late stages of congestive heart failure. Multiple cardiovascular benefits were demonstrated in the review including improved perfusion in peripheral arterial disease, decreased ventricular arrhythmias, 51% reduced annual cardiovascular mortality and 47% reduced annual risk of developing hypertension in men using the sauna 4-7 times per week. Finnish cohort studies have additionally exhibited reductions in lifetime annual risk of dementia by 66% in men using the sauna 4-7 times per week. It is suggested that increased heat shock protein expression through heat exposure may be responsible for the neuroprotective benefits of lifetime sauna use. Sauna has also displayed benefits in metabolic disease by reducing hemoglobin A1C and aiding heat acclimation in diabetics through improved thermoregulation. In mental health research, sauna use has shown potential in the treatment of depression by improving objective depression scores. Another study exhibited that sauna use was able to increase appetite in patients with severe depression and coexisting appetite suppression. Additionally, in cohort studies sauna is shown to be correlated to reduced annual risk of developing psychosis across the lifespan. By compiling and reviewing the current research on sauna bathing, education and guidance are provided to medical providers regarding the potential use of sauna as a treatment adjunct for patients with various conditions including cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disease, metabolic disease, and mental health disorders.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"71 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75689581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A 15 Year Evolution of Dichloroacetate-Based Metabolic Cancer Therapy: A Review with Case Reports","authors":"Akbar Khan, M. Ghen","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i7.2.4118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i7.2.4118","url":null,"abstract":"Despite Otto Warburg’s discovery of aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells in the 1920’s, the potential for developing therapeutics that targeted cancer cell metabolism was essentially ignored until 2007 when a groundbreaking publication was released from a group of Canadian researchers. Bonnet et al. (who paradoxically were not specialized in oncology) discovered that the generic drug dichloroacetate sodium (“DCA”) could reverse the Warburg phenotype in cancer cells in vitro and in vivo resulting in natural cancer cell suicide and tumour shrinkage in rats. This phenomenon was previously thought to be impossible as it was believed that mitochondria in malignant cells were permanently altered and unable to trigger apoptosis. Despite the fact that no large clinical trial of DCA as a cancer therapy was ever completed, a small number of doctors in North America and Europe rapidly translated this new knowledge into clinical cancer protocols through independent observational research and creative thinking. Since off-label drug use is permitted in most jurisdictions, clinicians initially began to use DCA in patients who had failed all conventional therapies. Over the years, further novel anti-cancer mechanisms of DCA were discovered such as angiogenesis inhibition, immune activation and cancer stem cell targeting. Around 2011, the work of Seyfried (USA) began to illuminate the importance of glutamine inhibition and suggested that a multi-energetic targeted approach was superior to glycolysis inhibition alone. A collaborative effort of the authors incorporating Seyfried’s concepts resulted in the creation of a new metabolic protocol named “MOMENTUM” (Metabolic, Oncologic, Multi-ENergetic Targeted, Universal, Modified). In this protocol, glucose and glutamine metabolism were targeted simultaneously with a combination of multiple natural and pharmacologic agents administered intravenously. Surprising preliminary clinical results in several difficult cancer cases confirmed that metabolic multi-targeted methods are extremely promising, and more so than metabolic monotherapy. Life threatening side effects of this approach to cancer management are virtually non-existent and therapy costs are manageable. A disappointing absence of industry funding for large clinical trials has not curtailed the development of the metabolic approach as a clinically viable methodology, proving that unadulterated medical science can conquer the ongoing push for multibillion-dollar economic reward.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74729877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advocate involvement in Clinical Trials: Lessons from the Patient-centric I-SPY2 Breast Cancer Trial","authors":"J. Perlmutter, S. Brain, T. Brown, D. Collyar, Amy Delson, D. Heditsian, B. Lestage, Bev Parker, Susan Samson, Joan Venticinque, Jeff Matthews","doi":"10.18103/mra.v11i7.2.4085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i7.2.4085","url":null,"abstract":"The innovative I-SPY Breast Trial is presented as an example of an unusually patient-centric clinical trial that has been significantly impacted by extensive advocate involvement. In the introduction we briefly define what we mean by patient-centric trials and describe the overall structure, goals, and evolution of I-SPY. We then describe: 1) the roles and philosophy of advocate involvement; 2) attributes of the trial design that make it especially patient-centric; and 3) educational material and communications approaches aimed at empowering and supporting trial participants. For each section, in addition to describing I-SPY practices, we provide aspirational suggestions that could enhance I-SPY and/or other clinical trials. Embedding advocates into every aspect of clinical trial design and operations, empowering trial participants with excellent patient educational material and incorporating and learning from patient-reported outcomes serves as a model approach to achieve more patient-centric clinical trials.","PeriodicalId":94137,"journal":{"name":"Medical research archives","volume":"62 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74354552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}