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Rheumatology Advances in Practice 2023SSc is a CTD characterized by excessive fibrosis of the skin and internal organs, along with microvascular damage, and is often associated with typical autoantibodies....
OBJECTIVE
SSc is a CTD characterized by excessive fibrosis of the skin and internal organs, along with microvascular damage, and is often associated with typical autoantibodies. The aim of this study was to analyse the correlation between specific autoantibody profiles, clinical and paraclinical features in Moroccan patients with SSc.
METHODS
We analysed the presence of specific autoantibodies in 46 SSc patients using IIF on HEp-2 cells and immunodot. We then correlated the types of autoantibodies with clinical and laboratory manifestations.
RESULTS
Among our patients, 86.9% were females. The mean age of patients at diagnosis was 50.21 years, with an average delay to diagnosis of 5 years. The main clinical manifestations found were RP (89.2%), sclerodactyly (84.8%), proximal scleroderma (67.4%), gastrointestinal involvement (50%) and interstitial lung disease (30.4%). According to the specific autoantibody profile, 14 patients were anti-topo I positive (30.4%), 8 anti-RNP (68 kDa/A/C) positive (17.4%) and 6 anti-RNA polymerase III positive (13%). We found a significant association of anti-RNA polymerase III with sclerodactyly and pulmonary arterial hypertension (<0.05). We also found an association between anti-topo I and interstitial lung disease in 30.4% of patients. There was no significant association between the positivity for the autoantibodies and other diagnosed clinical manifestations.
CONCLUSION
Some clinical manifestations of SSc might be positively correlated with the presence of specific autoantibodies. Environmental factors, ethnicity and gene interaction might also influence this correlation.
PubMed: 37091295
DOI: 10.1093/rap/rkad036 -
Health Promotion and Chronic Disease... Jul 2023The broaden and build theory of positive emotions maintains that positive emotions serve to broaden individuals' thoughts and behaviours, resulting in the accrual of...
INTRODUCTION
The broaden and build theory of positive emotions maintains that positive emotions serve to broaden individuals' thoughts and behaviours, resulting in the accrual of resources (e.g. resilience) that catalyze upward spirals of well-being. However, there is a relative dearth of research examining the upward spiral hypothesis in the context of adolescence.
METHODS
Adolescents (n = 4064) in participating Canadian high schools were surveyed annually for three years as part of the COMPASS study. Reciprocal associations between positive emotions and resilience were examined as predictors of flourishing.
RESULTS
Adolescents who experienced positive emotions more frequently than usual reported higher levels of resilience one year later. Similarly, adolescents who had higher levels of resilience than usual reported more positive emotions the following year. Higher than usual levels of resilience and positive emotions positively predicted flourishing.
CONCLUSION
Positive emotions result in a cascade of beneficial outcomes including increased resilience and enhanced well-being, catalyzing an upward spiral towards flourishing. Opportunities to enhance positive emotions early on in adolescence may help build resources that can set students on the path towards increased well-being.
Topics: Humans; Adolescent; Emotions; Canada; Schools; Students; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 37466396
DOI: 10.24095/hpcdp.43.7.01 -
Frontiers in Immunology 2023Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) is the most common pathological type in adults with nephrotic syndrome. Many target antigens have been discovered. However, dual...
BACKGROUND
Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) is the most common pathological type in adults with nephrotic syndrome. Many target antigens have been discovered. However, dual antigen-positive IMN patients are very rare, with only a few such cases being briefly described in various studies. There is no specific study on the clinicopathological and prognostic characteristics of dual antigen-positive IMN patients, and the disease characteristics of such patients remain unclear.
METHODS
Immunohistochemical staining of PLA2R, THSD7A, and NELL-1 was conducted on kidney tissue samples obtained from patients diagnosed with IMN. Simultaneously, the presence of corresponding serum antibodies was determined. Patients exhibiting positivity for dual antigens were included in the study, identified either through tissue staining or serum antibody detection. We retrospectively collected their clinical, pathological, and follow-up data and measured their serum antibody levels at multiple time points. Additionally, the same type of dual antigen-positive IMN cases reported in the literature were reviewed to extract clinical, pathological, and prognostic information. We compared the data for all of the above dual antigen-positive and PLA2R single-positive IMN cases at our center.
RESULTS
We identified 6 IMN patients with dual antigen positivity at our center, approximately 0.7% of whole MN series; the previous literature reports 43 IMN patients with dual antigen positivity, the proportion ranged from 0.2% to 2.8%. The IgG1 positivity rate in the renal tissue of the dual antigen-positive patients at our center was significantly lower than that of dual antigen-positive patients previously reported (16.7% vs. 100.0%, p=0.015), but there was no significant difference in clinical or prognostic aspects. Patients with dual antigen positivity reported at our center and in the literature were combined and compared with PLA2R single-positive IMN reported at our center. Compared with PLA2R single-positive IMN patients, dual antigen-positive IMN patients had a higher renal tissue IgG1 positivity rate (58.3% vs. 22.3%, p=0.016), and the time required to achieve remission was longer [13.5 (3.3,35.0) vs. 3.0 (1.0,8.0), p=0.052]. Overall, The changes in urine protein were consistent with the changes in serum PLA2R antibody levels in dual antigen-positive IMN patients.
CONCLUSIONS
For patients with primary membranous nephropathy who did not attain remission following prolonged treatment, multiple target antigen staining should still be actively performed, even with positivity for the PLA2R target antigen.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Prognosis; Glomerulonephritis, Membranous; Retrospective Studies; Immunoglobulin G; Nephrotic Syndrome
PubMed: 38250076
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1297107 -
Thoracic Research and Practice Jan 2023It is accepted that the only way to end severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic is through community vaccination. The frequency and clinical features of...
OBJECTIVE
It is accepted that the only way to end severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic is through community vaccination. The frequency and clinical features of infection after vaccination are not known clearly. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency and clinical features of coronavirus disease 2019 seen after either the first or second dose of CoronaVac vaccination in healthcare workers and their relatives.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
This is a cross-sectional retrospective survey study. The study was carried out in 2013 volunteers, including 1903 (94.5%) healthcare workers and 110 (5.5%) relatives of healthcare workers. The frequency and clinical features of coronavirus disease 2019 before and after the first or second dose of CoronaVac vaccination were retrospectively evaluated using an online questionnaire conducted in July 2021.
RESULTS
A total of 2013 people, 1312 women and 701 men, participated in the study. Of these individuals, 245 (12.1%) were polymerase chain reaction positive for coronavirus disease 2019 before vaccination. Of this group, 185 (75.5% of polymerase chain reaction positives and 9.1% of the whole population) received home-based therapy, while 38 (15.5%) received hospital admission. Asymptomatic polymerase chain reaction positivity before vaccination was seen in 22 (9%) individuals. There were 177 (8.8%) participants who developed polymerase chain reaction positivity at any time after vaccination. In 129 (72.8%) of these participants, polymerase chain reaction positivity occurred 21 days after the second dose of vaccine. While the number of patients hospitalized before vaccination was 38 (15.5% of the polymerase chain reaction positivity group and 1.89% of the general population), the number of patients hospitalized after the vaccination was 17 (10.1% of the polymerase chain reaction positivity group and 0.80% of the general population). The decrease in hospitalization proportion was statistically significant (P = .002).
CONCLUSION
The frequency of coronavirus disease 2019, severe illness, and hospitalization rates were found to be lower in postvaccination period. The vaccine is effective in preventing coronavirus disease 2019 and severe disease.
PubMed: 37503596
DOI: 10.5152/ThoracResPract.2022.22045 -
Open Access Rheumatology : Research and... 2023Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, little is known about its prevalence and risk factors among Saudi...
PURPOSE
Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, little is known about its prevalence and risk factors among Saudi patients, specifically. Therefore, this study sought to determine the prevalence and predictors of depression in patients with RA in Saudi Arabia.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted with patients registered at the Saudi Charitable Association for Rheumatic Diseases. Inclusion criteria were that the patients either met the American College of Rheumatology 1987 revised criteria for the classification of RA or the 2010 RA classification criteria. Demographic data and clinical variables were collected, and Beck's 21-item Depression Inventory was used to assess for depression.
RESULTS
Of the 210 participants with RA, 171 were women (81.4%), and 39 were men (18.6%). The prevalence of depression was 68%. There were significant relationships between age, gender, marital status, and having depression. Rheumatoid factor (RF) was positive in 144 participants (68.6%), which positively correlated with the risk of having depression ( value < 0.001). Moreover, depression severity correlated with age, gender, marital status, RF positivity, and prolonged disease duration.
CONCLUSION
Based on the results, depression is highly prevalent in Saudi patients with RA, especially those with positive RF and those who are female, middle-aged, and divorced. Early detection and treatment of depression in patients with RA is highly recommended to improve their quality of life and avoid unfavorable effects on RA clinical progression.
PubMed: 36726480
DOI: 10.2147/OARRR.S397489 -
Heliyon Jul 2023Regularly and scientifically participating in athletics is beneficial for physical and mental health. Mood or emotions are important component of psychology and a major...
BACKGROUND
Regularly and scientifically participating in athletics is beneficial for physical and mental health. Mood or emotions are important component of psychology and a major indicator of physical and mental health. Positive and negative mood or emotions can have a strong impact on physical responsiveness. The aim of the present study was to explore whether mood or emotional state influence performance in athletics.
METHODS
Mood, analyzed by Profile of Mood States, and emotional state, reflected by eye movement (looking at times and length), were used to predict track or field performance in training and competition.
RESULTS
1. The profile of track training (except 3rd week) resembled an iceberg profile (highest vigor scores) and the profile on the 3rd week resembled a "melting" iceberg profile, in which positive mood (vigor and self-esteem) was decreased and negative mood, particularly depression and anger, was significantly increased. The profile of field training almost overlapped, with the exception of depression decreasing markedly on the 3rd and 4th weeks. 2. Positive mood overpowered negative mood, particularly following a track competition; positive emotions exceed negative emotions following track and field competition. 3. The results of the regression analysis showed that an improvement in track performance was negatively correlated with a rise in total mood disturbance (TMD), and field performances were positively correlated with positivity of emotion, as tested by eye movement. 4. Good performance in track events appeared to be associated with decreased vigor and increased fatigue during 3rd and 4th track training; decreased depression and fatigue, and increased vigor as well as low observe length of watching negative emotional pictures (NEPs) before track competition. A good performance in field events appeared to be associated with anger decrease and confusion increase, increased fixation counts of watching positive emotional pictures (PEPs), and decreased fixation and observe counts of watching NEPs before field competition.
CONCLUSIONS
The present study proved that different indicators appeared to measure different sport performances: More indicators of Profile of Mood States inclined to predict track performance, while more eye movement indicators could predict field performance. Mixed methods could provide a better understanding of performance than a single approach alone. These findings provided theoretical support and supplementary data for practical applications in the design of comprehensive training programs.
PubMed: 37455956
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17860 -
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Sep 2021Brucellosis is a critical zoonotic disease in the world, it is the non-specific arthralgia that make brucellosis patients easily misdiagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis...
BACKGROUND
Brucellosis is a critical zoonotic disease in the world, it is the non-specific arthralgia that make brucellosis patients easily misdiagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in endemic regions. Elevated rheumatoid factor (RF) is an essential indicator of RA, and the RF in brucellosis patients is significantly higher than healthy people. Therefore, this study further explored the distribution of RF and the relevant factors of the RF positivity in brucellosis patients with arthralgia, in order to strengthen the recognition of physicians for brucellosis patients with RF positivity, especially in brucellosis-endemic areas, so as to avoid misdiagnosis and untimely treatment that may lead to malignant outcomes.
METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
The medical records of all 572 brucellosis inpatients were collected in the Sixth People's Hospital of Shenyang, China from 2015 to 2016. After excluding 106 patients without arthralgia, 5 patients who unwilling to perform RF testing and 16 patients with diseases that may affect RF, 445 brucellosis inpatients with arthralgia were involved in this retrospective cross-sectional study. 143 (32.1%) patients with RF >10 IU/ml were classified into the RF positive group, with an average level of 16.5[12.2, 34.7] IU/ml, of which 45 (10.1%) patients were high-positive with RF >30 IU/ml. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to further analyze the relevant factors of the RF positivity and found that age, wrist joint pain and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) were positively associated with RF positivity, with OR of 1.02 (P = 0.024), 8.94 (P = 0.008) and 1.79 (P = 0.019), respectively.
CONCLUSION
The prevalence of positive RF in brucellosis patients with arthralgia was critical, nearly one-third of patients had RF positive. Elderly men brucellosis patients with arthralgia, wrist joint pain and elevated CRP were at high risk of positive RF. It is reminded that physicians should focus on differential diagnosis during clinical diagnosis and treatment, especially in brucellosis-endemic regions.
Topics: Adult; Animals; Arthralgia; Brucellosis; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Prevalence; Retrospective Studies; Rheumatoid Factor; Zoonoses
PubMed: 34543280
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009749 -
Canadian Association of Radiologists... Feb 2022To examine if tweeting bias exists within imaging literature by determining if diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) studies with positive titles or conclusions are tweeted...
PURPOSE
To examine if tweeting bias exists within imaging literature by determining if diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) studies with positive titles or conclusions are tweeted more than non-positive studies.
METHODS
DTA studies published between October 2011 to April 2016 were included. Positivity of titles and conclusions were assessed independently and in duplicate, with disagreements resolved by consensus. A negative binomial regression analysis controlling for confounding variables was performed to assess the relationship between title or conclusion positivity and tweets an article received in the 100 days post-publication.
RESULTS
354 DTA studies were included. Twenty-four (7%) titles and 300 (85%) conclusions were positive (or positive with qualifier); 1 (0.3%) title and 23 (7%) conclusions were negative; and 329 (93%) titles and 26 (7%) conclusions were neutral. Studies with positive, negative, and neutral titles received a mean of 0.38, 0.00, and 0.45 tweets per study; while those with positive, negative, and neutral conclusions received a mean of 0.44, 0.61, and 0.38 tweets per study. Regression coefficients were -0.05 (SE 0.46) for positive relative to non-positive titles, and -0.09 (SE 0.31) for positive relative to non-positive conclusions. The positivity of the title ( = 0.91) or conclusion ( = 0.76) was not significantly associated with the number of tweets an article received.
CONCLUSIONS
The positivity of the title or conclusion for DTA studies does not influence the amount of tweets it receives suggesting that tweet bias is not present among imaging diagnostic accuracy studies. Study protocol available at https://osf.io/hdk2m/.
Topics: Bibliometrics; Diagnostic Imaging; Humans; Information Dissemination; Publication Bias; Reproducibility of Results; Social Media
PubMed: 33874758
DOI: 10.1177/08465371211006420 -
PloS One 2022This study aimed to analyze the relationship among different evaluative reactions of the intergroup attitudes and contact in Spanish adolescents evaluating different...
This study aimed to analyze the relationship among different evaluative reactions of the intergroup attitudes and contact in Spanish adolescents evaluating different ethnic minorities and in immigrant-background adolescents evaluating Spanish youth. This study was based on psychosocial models of great impact in the study of intergroup relations such as the Stereotype Content Model and the Behaviors from Intergroup Affect and Stereotypes Map, and incorporated a new approach to the study of attitudes: psychological networks. In total, 1122 Spanish adolescents and 683 adolescents with an immigrant background (Moroccan, Romanian or Ecuadorian origin) participated in the study, aged from 12 to 19 years. They answered a questionnaire with measures of stereotype dimensions (morality, immorality, sociability and competence), emotions (positives and negative), behavioral tendencies (facilitation and harm) and contact (quantity and quality). The results show similar structural patterns in the six studied groups, with emotions acting as links between stereotypes and behavioral tendencies. Moreover, positive and negative stereotype dimensions appeared as independent dimensions that were part of different processes: sociability and morality, and competence to a lesser extent, were related to facilitation behaviors through positive emotions, while immorality was related to harm behaviors through negative emotions. This could indicate that, to achieve successful intergroup relations involving cooperation and the development of friendly relationships, it would be appropriate to intervene in parallel in these two pathways. Due to the centrality of positive emotions (and sociability and immorality) and, therefore, their capacity to affect the entire network, focusing interventions on these variables could be an appropriate strategy to achieve overall positive attitudes.
Topics: Adolescent; Attitude; Emigrants and Immigrants; Emotions; Humans; Morals; Stereotyping
PubMed: 35930551
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271376 -
Investigative and Clinical Urology Mar 2021As age increases, oxidative stress increases, sperm motility decreases, and DNA fragmentation increases. To date, reports of age-related effects on semen have focused on...
PURPOSE
As age increases, oxidative stress increases, sperm motility decreases, and DNA fragmentation increases. To date, reports of age-related effects on semen have focused on reactive oxygen species (ROS) or total antioxidant capacity (TAC) as indicators of oxidative stress. However, assessments of ROS and TAC must be considered within a more comprehensive context in order to correctly evaluate oxidative stress and interpret findings. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the static oxidation reduction potential (sORP) and paternal age with the goal of using the sORP as an indicator of semen oxidative stress.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Semen samples from 173 men were analyzed for the following parameters: volume, motility, and beat cross frequency (BCF). The sORP was measured by using the MiOXSYS™ system. The correlation between semen parameters and the sORP level was analyzed as a function of age. The rate of sORP positivity was compared between men <34 and ≥34 years of age, with a positive sORP defined as a level ≥1.38.
RESULTS
Volume, motility, and BCF were negatively correlated with age (p<0.001). The semen sORP level was positively correlated with age (p<0.05). The rate of sORP positivity was significantly increased in men ≥34 years of age compared with that in men <34 years of age (33% compared with 12%, respectively; p<0.01).
CONCLUSIONS
The sORP may play a role in age-related decreases in semen parameters (volume, motility, and BCF). The rate of sORP positivity increased significantly after 34 years of age.
Topics: Adult; Age Factors; Aging; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Oxidative Stress; Semen; Young Adult
PubMed: 33660452
DOI: 10.4111/icu.20200066