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Genes May 2022"The story of cancer is the story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception" (Siddhartha Mukherjee). The... (Review)
Review
"The story of cancer is the story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception" (Siddhartha Mukherjee). The present review discusses the evolution of early breast cancer (BC) treatment philosophy in the last 50 years and the shift from an emphasis on local therapy to an emphasis on systemic precision treatment options.
Topics: Breast Neoplasms; Female; Humans; Immunotherapy
PubMed: 35741721
DOI: 10.3390/genes13060960 -
Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) Nov 2019: This paper addresses psychological resilience, a multidisciplinary theoretical construct with important practical implications for health sciences. Although many... (Review)
Review
: This paper addresses psychological resilience, a multidisciplinary theoretical construct with important practical implications for health sciences. Although many definitions have been proposed in several contexts, an essential understanding of the concept is still lacking up to now. This negatively affects comparisons among research results and makes objective measurement difficult. The aim of this review is to identify shared elements in defining the construct of resilience across the literature examined in order to move toward a conceptual unification of the term. : A literature review was performed using the electronic databases 'PubMed' and 'PsycINFO'. Scientific studies written in English between 2002 and May 2019 were included according to the following key terms: 'Psychological', 'resilience', and 'definition'. The review identifies five macro-categories that summarize what has been reported in the recent literature concerning the resilience phenomenon. They serve as a preliminary and necessary step toward a conceptual clarification of the construct. We propose a definition of psychological resilience as the ability to maintain the persistence of one's orientation towards existential purposes. It constitutes a transversal attitude that can be understood as the ability to overcome the difficulties experienced in the different areas of one's life with perseverance, as well as good awareness of oneself and one's own internal coherence by activating a personal growth project. The conceptual clarification proposed will contribute to improving the accuracy of research on this topic by suggesting future paths of investigation aimed at deeply exploring the issues surrounding the promotion of resilience resources.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Humans; Resilience, Psychological
PubMed: 31744109
DOI: 10.3390/medicina55110745 -
Nature Mar 2024Astrocytes are heterogeneous glial cells of the central nervous system. However, the physiological relevance of astrocyte diversity for neural circuits and behaviour...
Astrocytes are heterogeneous glial cells of the central nervous system. However, the physiological relevance of astrocyte diversity for neural circuits and behaviour remains unclear. Here we show that a specific population of astrocytes in the central striatum expresses μ-crystallin (encoded by Crym in mice and CRYM in humans) that is associated with several human diseases, including neuropsychiatric disorders. In adult mice, reducing the levels of μ-crystallin in striatal astrocytes through CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockout of Crym resulted in perseverative behaviours, increased fast synaptic excitation in medium spiny neurons and dysfunctional excitatory-inhibitory synaptic balance. Increased perseveration stemmed from the loss of astrocyte-gated control of neurotransmitter release from presynaptic terminals of orbitofrontal cortex-striatum projections. We found that perseveration could be remedied using presynaptic inhibitory chemogenetics, and that this treatment also corrected the synaptic deficits. Together, our findings reveal converging molecular, synaptic, circuit and behavioural mechanisms by which a molecularly defined and allocated population of striatal astrocytes gates perseveration phenotypes that accompany neuropsychiatric disorders. Our data show that Crym-positive striatal astrocytes have key biological functions within the central nervous system, and uncover astrocyte-neuron interaction mechanisms that could be targeted in treatments for perseveration.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Mice; Astrocytes; Corpus Striatum; Gene Editing; Gene Knockout Techniques; mu-Crystallins; Rumination, Cognitive; Synaptic Transmission; CRISPR-Cas Systems; Medium Spiny Neurons; Synapses; Prefrontal Cortex; Presynaptic Terminals; Neural Inhibition
PubMed: 38418885
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07138-0 -
HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine 2023Description As healthcare workers, invested in the wellbeing of our patients while also hoping to grow as individuals, we sometimes tend to view our jobs as a rigid...
Description As healthcare workers, invested in the wellbeing of our patients while also hoping to grow as individuals, we sometimes tend to view our jobs as a rigid duality-we are either "in love" with our practice and persevere flawlessly through all hardship, or we are "burnt out," coldhearted, and defeated by the heavy workload and expectations of medicine. In reality, we all sit somewhere in the middle of a blurry spectrum, balancing out physical, mental, and emotional pain with the immense honor of saving and cherishing human life, while simultaneously struggling to reconcile our altruistic goals with realistic but necessary human incentives. I want this open-ended work to acknowledge these challenging but critical "and yet" moments, and I hope anyone who is reading it can connect to the words personally and find new insight, regardless of where they are in life.
PubMed: 37753413
DOI: 10.36518/2689-0216.1507 -
BMC Pediatrics Mar 2021Attention problems and decreased quality of life are frequently accompanied in Cerebral Palsy (CP), which can negatively affect rehabilitation of physical disability.... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of equine-assisted activities on attention and quality of life in children with cerebral palsy in a randomized trial: examining the comorbidity with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
BACKGROUND
Attention problems and decreased quality of life are frequently accompanied in Cerebral Palsy (CP), which can negatively affect rehabilitation of physical disability. However, the majority of affected children remain untreated in the aspects of attention or psychosocial factors. Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAAT) use horse as a therapeutic modality including grooming as well as mounted riding activities in which patients exercise and experience mounted stimulation. It is known to help improve attention in children with ADHD, so that it can be an exercise therapy that is expected to improvement of attention as well as rehabilitating effects in CP patients. EAA may be a promising strategy to address the unmet need for CP patients. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of EAA for children with CP, those with both CP and ADHD and confirm the comorbidity between CP and ADHD.
METHODS
Forty-six children with cerebral palsy participated in this study. For the exercise group, they participated in a 40-min session twice a week for a 16-week period, while the control group engaged in daily life without any special treatments. Each children individually were assessed on attention and psychological wellbeing at baseline and post-treatment. Comorbidity were identified based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder 5th edition (DSM-5) and confirmed by Korean Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL).
RESULTS
Perseveration rated using the Conner's Performance Test (CPT) showed a significant decrease only in the exercise group (p < .024). However, no significant improvement in children's quality of life was observed after EAA program compared with control group. Among the total participants, fifteen children (31.91%) were diagnosed with ADHD. When conducting an additional analysis with the subsample of CP patients diagnosed with ADHD, the d', commission error and perseveration showed a significant decrease only in the exercise group. Children with CP and ADHD reported an improvement in quality of life both in exercise and control group, but only in the exercise group social functioning exhibited a significant difference.
CONCLUSION
The positive effects of the EAA on attention and quality of life were confirmed. Children with CP in the exercise group were more capable to sustain their attention longer. Those with CP and ADHD showed an increase in attention and perceived to have better social skills after receiving 16 weeks of EAA compared to those in the control group. Considering high comorbidity of CP and ADHD, it seems that the EAA program could be the better alternative treatment for CP with attentional problem. The results of this study will contribute to growing evidence for the efficacy of EAA in children especially with CP and ADHD.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
This trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT03870893 ). Registered 26 July 2017.
Topics: Animals; Attention; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Cerebral Palsy; Child; Comorbidity; Horses; Humans; Quality of Life
PubMed: 33740922
DOI: 10.1186/s12887-021-02597-0 -
Cureus Oct 2022The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it many hardships to the world as a whole. Mass infection and casualties due to disease state were rampant, which affected many...
The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it many hardships to the world as a whole. Mass infection and casualties due to disease state were rampant, which affected many families. Lockdown drove up the incidence of depression and isolated people from their loved ones. The toll on the general population was high, as was the toll on the medical community, a subset of the general population. It was a time of death and devastation, with supply chain issues creating personal protective equipment shortages and staffing being affected by illness, fear, age, and expertise. Despite the constraints, many places were able to rally staff together to provide adequate staffing for healthcare delivery purposes to serve our communities. Cross-specialty collaboration in the outpatient and inpatient setting as well as the use of technology aided our service to our community to help persevere through the many surges of the pandemic and come out with lessons learned as well as reflections.
PubMed: 36426308
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.30620 -
The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology... 2020Everyone who is successful in their career and in life has a story. While the storylines may differ from individual to individual, there is almost always something more...
Everyone who is successful in their career and in life has a story. While the storylines may differ from individual to individual, there is almost always something more to the plot than innate talents and skills. Obstacles, failures, and setbacks are common to everyone, but the successful somehow find a way to rebound, recover, and persevere. This editorial describes one such story of passion and grit of an award-winning pediatric pharmacist.
PubMed: 33214776
DOI: 10.5863/1551-6776-25.8.661 -
ELife Oct 2019After acknowledging that power differentials exist, can scientists find inspiration to persevere anyway?
After acknowledging that power differentials exist, can scientists find inspiration to persevere anyway?
Topics: Power, Psychological; Research Personnel; Sex Factors
PubMed: 31573511
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.52232 -
Fertility and Sterility Aug 2021
PubMed: 34246468
DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2021.06.003 -
HSS Journal : the Musculoskeletal... Feb 2020
PubMed: 32015733
DOI: 10.1007/s11420-019-09743-6