| 1. |
- Eikelboom, Willem S., et al.
(författare)
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Biweekly fluctuations of neuropsychiatric symptoms according to the Neuropsychiatric Inventory : Erratic symptoms or scores?
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. - : Wiley. - 0885-6230 .- 1099-1166. ; 37:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: This study investigates the stability of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) assessed biweekly using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) in a memory clinic population during a 6 week period. Methods: Twenty-three spousal caregivers (mean [SD] age = 69.7 [8.8], 82.6% female) of 23 patients (43.5% had dementia) completed all assessments. The NPI was assessed four times during 6 weeks. We examined whether NPI domains were present during all four assessments, studied within-person variation for each NPI domain, and calculated Spearman's correlations between subsequent time-points. Furthermore, we associated repeated NPI assessments with repeated measures of caregiver burden to examine the clinical impact of changes in NPI scores over time. Results: The course of NPS was highly irregular according to the NPI, with only 35.8% of the NPI domains that were present at baseline persisted during all 6 weeks. We observed large within-person variation in the presence of individual NPI domains (61.3%, range 37.5%–83.9%) and inconsistent correlations between NPI assessments (e.g., range rs = 0.20–0.57 for agitation, range rs = 0.29–0.59 for anxiety). Higher NPI total scores were related to higher caregiver burden (rs = 0.60, p < 0.001), but changes in NPI total scores were unrelated to changes in caregiver burden (rs = 0.16, p = 0.20). Conclusions: We observed strong fluctuations in NPI scores within very short time windows raising the question whether this represents erratic symptoms and/or scores. Further studies are needed to investigate the origins of these fluctuations.
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| 2. |
- Kosten, Sarian, et al.
(författare)
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Extreme drought boosts CO2 and CH4 emissions from reservoir drawdown areas
- 2018
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Ingår i: Inland Waters. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2044-2041 .- 2044-205X. ; 8:3, s. 329-340
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although previous studies suggest that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from reservoir sediment exposed to the atmosphere during drought may be substantial, this process has not been rigorously quantified. Here we determined carbon dioxide (CO 2) and methane (CH 4) emissions from sediment cores exposed to a drying and rewetting cycle. We found a strong temporal variation in GHG emissions with peaks when the sediment was drained (C emissions from permanently wet sediment and drained sediments were, respectively, 251 and 1646 mg m −2 d −1 for CO 2 and 0.8 and 547.4 mg m −2 d −1 for CH 4) and then again during rewetting (C emissions from permanently wet sediment and rewetted sediments were, respectively, 456 and 1725mg m −2 d −1 for CO 2 and 1.3 and 3.1 mg m −2 d −1 for CH 4). To gain insight into the importance of these emissions at a regional scale, we used Landsat satellite imagery to upscale our results to all Brazilian reservoirs. We found that during the extreme drought of 2014-2015, an additional 1299 km 2 of sediment was exposed, resulting in an estimated emission of 8.5 × 10 11 g of CO 2-eq during the first 15 d after the overlying water disappeared and in the first 33 d after rewetting, the same order of magnitude as the year-round GHG emissions of large (∼mean surface water area 454 km 2) Brazilian reservoirs, excluding the emissions from the draw-down zone. Our estimate, however, has high uncertainty, with actual emissions likely higher. We therefore argue that the effects of drought on reservoir GHG emissions merits further study, especially because climate models indicate an increase in the frequency of severe droughts in the future. We recommend incorporation of emissions during drying and rewetting into GHG budgets of reservoirs to improve regional GHG emission estimates and to enable comparison between GHG emissions from hydroelectric and other electricity sources. We also emphasize that peak emissions at the onset of drought and the later rewetting should be quantified to obtain reliable emission estimates. ARTICLE HISTORY
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| 3. |
- Abrahams, Harriët J. G., et al.
(författare)
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Moderators of the effect of psychosocial interventions on fatigue in women with breast cancer and men with prostate cancer : Individual patient data meta-analyses
- 2020
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Ingår i: Psycho-Oncology. - : Wiley. - 1057-9249 .- 1099-1611. ; 29:11, s. 1772-1785
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- ObjectivePsychosocial interventions can reduce cancer‐related fatigue effectively. However, it is still unclear if intervention effects differ across subgroups of patients. These meta‐analyses aimed at evaluating moderator effects of (a) sociodemographic characteristics, (b) clinical characteristics, (c) baseline levels of fatigue and other symptoms, and (d) intervention‐related characteristics on the effect of psychosocial interventions on cancer‐related fatigue in patients with non‐metastatic breast and prostate cancer.MethodsData were retrieved from the Predicting OptimaL cAncer RehabIlitation and Supportive care (POLARIS) consortium. Potential moderators were studied with meta‐analyses of pooled individual patient data from 14 randomized controlled trials through linear mixed‐effects models with interaction tests. The analyses were conducted separately in patients with breast (n = 1091) and prostate cancer (n = 1008).ResultsStatistically significant, small overall effects of psychosocial interventions on fatigue were found (breast cancer: β = −0.19 [95% confidence interval (95%CI) = −0.30; −0.08]; prostate cancer: β = −0.11 [95%CI = −0.21; −0.00]). In both patient groups, intervention effects did not differ significantly by sociodemographic or clinical characteristics, nor by baseline levels of fatigue or pain. For intervention‐related moderators (only tested among women with breast cancer), statistically significant larger effects were found for cognitive behavioral therapy as intervention strategy (β = −0.27 [95%CI = −0.40; −0.15]), fatigue‐specific interventions (β = −0.48 [95%CI = −0.79; −0.18]), and interventions that only targeted patients with clinically relevant fatigue (β = −0.85 [95%CI = −1.40; −0.30]).ConclusionsOur findings did not provide evidence that any selected demographic or clinical characteristic, or baseline levels of fatigue or pain, moderated effects of psychosocial interventions on fatigue. A specific focus on decreasing fatigue seems beneficial for patients with breast cancer with clinically relevant fatigue.
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| 4. |
- Meinderts, Sanne M., et al.
(författare)
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Human and murine splenic neutrophils are potent phagocytes of IgG-opsonized red blood cells
- 2017
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Ingår i: Blood Advances. - : American Society of Hematology. - 2473-9529 .- 2473-9537. ; 1:14, s. 875-886
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Red blood cell (RBC) clearance is known to occur primarily in the spleen, and is presumed to be executed by red pulp macrophages. Erythrophagocytosis in the spleen takes place as part of the homeostatic turnover of RBCs to remove old RBCs. It can be strongly promoted by immunoglobulin G (IgG) opsonization of RBCs, a condition that can occur as a consequence of autoantibody or alloantibody formation. The purpose of our study was to investigate which phagocytes are involved in IgG-mediated RBC clearance in the human spleen. We developed a highly specific in vitro assay to monitor RBC phagocytosis in total human splenocytes. Surprisingly, we have found that whereas homeostatic clearance of RBCs is primarily a task for splenic macrophages, neutrophils and, to a lesser extent, also monocytes can be a major factor in clearance of IgG-opsonized RBCs. Erythrophagocytosis by neutrophils is strongly dependent on the degree of opsonization of the RBCs. Additionally, the process is enhanced after blocking the "do not eat me" signal CD47 on the opsonized RBCs, which binds signal regulatory protein a, a myeloid inhibitory receptor that restricts phagocytosis. Moreover, RBCs isolated from autoimmune hemolytic anemia patients, opsonized by auto-IgGs, were shown to be readily phagocytosed by neutrophils. Finally, priming of neutrophils by inflammatory mediators such as tumor necrosis factor a and lipopolysaccharide further increases the magnitude of erythrophagocytosis. Collectively, our data suggest that neutrophils contribute significantly to the phagocytosis of antibody-opsonized RBCs, especially under inflammatory conditions. This indicates a hereto unanticipated contribution of neutrophils in RBC phagocytosis, especially under pathological conditions such as alloimmunization or autoimmunization.
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| 5. |
- Pieterman, Elise D., et al.
(författare)
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Superior Efficacy of a Bedaquiline, Delamanid, and Linezolid Combination Regimen in a Mouse Tuberculosis Model
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Infectious Diseases. - : Oxford University Press. - 0022-1899 .- 1537-6613. ; 224:6, s. 1039-1047
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The treatment success rate of drug-resistant (DR) tuberculosis is alarmingly low. Therefore, more effective and less complex regimens are urgently required.Methods: We compared the efficacy of an all oral DR tuberculosis drug regimen consisting of bedaquiline (25 mg/kg), delamanid (2.5 mg/kg), and linezolid (100 mg/kg) (BDL) on the mycobacterial load in the lungs and spleen of tuberculosis-infected mice during a treatment period of 24 weeks. This treatment was compared with the standard regimen of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol (HRZE). Relapse was assessed 12 weeks after treatment. Two logistic regression models were developed to compare the efficacy of both regimens.Results: Culture negativity in the lungs was achieved at 8 and 20 weeks of treatment with BDL and HRZE, respectively. After 14 weeks of treatment only 1 mouse had relapse in the BDL group, while in the H RZE group relapse was still observed at 24 weeks of treatment. Predictions from the final mathematical models showed that a 95% cure rate was reached after 20.5 and 28.5 weeks of treatment with BDL and HRZE, respectively.Conclusion: The BDL regimen was observed to be more effective than HRZE and could be a valuable option for the treatment of DR tuberculosis.
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| 6. |
- Ford, Alex T., et al.
(författare)
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The Role of Behavioral Ecotoxicology in Environmental Protection
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 55:9, s. 5620-5628
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For decades, we have known that chemicals affect human and wildlife behavior. Moreover, due to recent technological and computational advances, scientists are now increasingly aware that a wide variety of contaminants and other environmental stressors adversely affect organismal behavior and subsequent ecological outcomes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. There is also a groundswell of concern that regulatory ecotoxicology does not adequately consider behavior, primarily due to a lack of standardized toxicity methods. This has, in turn, led to the exclusion of many behavioral ecotoxicology studies from chemical risk assessments. To improve understanding of the challenges and opportunities for behavioral ecotoxicology within regulatory toxicology/risk assessment, a unique workshop with international representatives from the fields of behavioral ecology, ecotoxicology, regulatory (eco)toxicology, neurotoxicology, test standardization, and risk assessment resulted in the formation of consensus perspectives and recommendations, which promise to serve as a roadmap to advance interfaces among the basic and translational sciences, and regulatory practices.
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