Exploration of Inflammatory Biomarkers and Psychological Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Among Community Dwelling Adults: A Gender Comparison Study.

Patients with rheumatic disease (RD) are at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading non-communicable chronic disease cause of death worldwide. Inflammatory biomarkers and psychological health status are reliable predictors of CVD in patients with RD. The primary aim of this study was to compare the inflammatory biomarkers and psychological CVD risk factors (CRFs) between a group of community-dwelling adults with RD and CRFs and a group of their peers with CRFs only. The secondary aim of this study was to analyze and compare the collected data by gender in the RD group. Data were collected and analyzed from 355 participants, with the 135 participants with physician-diagnosed RD assigned to the RD group and the remainder (n = 220) assigned to the comparison group. The measures used included a demographic datasheet, medical information, serum homocysteine (Hcy) levels, high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels, and depression and global sleep-quality scale scores. The RD group had higher ratios of hypertension and depression diagnoses than the comparison group. The gender analysis of the RD group found significantly more-severe sleep disturbances in women than men and a significantly higher mean value of Hcy in men than women. The women in the RD group were significantly older, less educated, and less employed than their male counterparts and thus may be presumed to at higher risk of health illiteracy. Gender-tailored interventions to modify the risk factors of CVD identified in this study for patients with RD are recommended.

Design, fabrication, and validation of an aberration-free integral imaging system for 3D reconstruction.

Optical design for reducing aberrations of the micro-lens-array-based integral imaging system is challenging. A design process combining the sequential and non-sequential modes of optical design software is proposed. The process is verified by a system assembled on a coordinate measuring machine with errors of several micrometers. Differences in the modulation transfer function, measured by the slanted-edge method, are less than 0.02 between the paraxial and off-axial regions. Reconstructed images of a U.S. quarter-dollar coin with different refocusing depths show the synthesized defocusing. The estimated depth map and depth-based reconstructed image show the rough shape of the coin.

The clinically crucial predictors of depression in women with systemic autoimmune diseases.

The researchers' aim of this study was to identify and quantify the useful, clinically crucial predictors of depression in Taiwanese women with systemic autoimmune diseases (SADs). We used a cross-sectional method. A total of 241 Taiwanese women with SADs between 21 and 85 years of age participated in the study. Analysis revealed that the strongest predictors of depression in participants were: perceived stress, fatigue, mental health, physical health, chronic-disease-related comorbidities, self-perceived SAD severity, and social support. The model used in the present study explained 70.9% of the variance in the depression.

Impacts of Fatigue, Stress, and Perceived Health Status on Women With Rheumatic Diseases: A Comparison Study.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic conditions, which increase in prevalence as populations age, are a growing public health problem that disproportionately affects women. Understanding the influences of rheumatic diseases (RDs) on fatigue, stress, and perceived health status is deemed important to the improvement of physical and mental health for women with RDs. PURPOSE: This study was designed to compare the fatigue, stress, and perceived physical and mental health status of women with RDs (RD group) with those of peers who did not have chronic illnesses (comparison group). METHODS: A cross-sectional, purposive sample and comparative design was used. Four hundred forty-three women with a mean age of 46.2 years participated in this study. Those with physician-diagnosed RDs (n = 212) were enrolled in the RD group, and those without chronic disease were enrolled in the comparison group (n = 231). Measures used included a demographic datasheet, Fatigue Severity Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and Short Form-12 Items Health Survey. Analysis of covariance was used to examine the intergroup differences for major variables based on demographic covariates. RESULTS: The RD group reported significantly more fatigue and stress than the comparison group. Moreover, the RD group reported significantly poorer perceived physical health status, significantly poorer physical functioning and general health, and greater bodily pain compared with the comparison group. Conversely, the RD group reported significantly better perceived mental health status, significantly lower vitality, and better role emotional status than the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The findings support the theory that RDs have a negative impact on perceived stress and fatigue in women. Physical function, bodily pain, and general health may be the most significantly affected domains of perceived physical health in women with RDs. Of note, with the exception of the vitality subscale, RDs did not adversely affect the perceived mental health of participants with RD in this study. Healthcare professionals should cooperate with clinical rheumatologists, psychologists, and physiotherapists to provide comprehensive care that includes long-term education to help patients with RD self-manage stress, restore vitality, relieve pain, and increase physical function.

[Malignant tumor of the floor of mouth in a patient with membranous nephrosis: Report of one case].

The membranous nephropathy is a common cause which initiates adult's nephropathy syndrome. It's generally considered to be immune compound-mediated at the present time, and has a great variety of antigen. The tumor-relevant antigen holds an important position in the elder's membranous nephropathy. This article reported a case of malignant tumor of mouth floor complicated with membranous nephropathy, and discussed some problems that were encountered during clinical care. It's believed that only radical resection of the malignant tumor of the mouth floor for this kind of patient can achieve good results from the therapy of membranous nephropathy.