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Oxidative alkene functionalization reactions are a fundamental class of complexity-building organic transformations. However, the majority of established approaches rely on electrophilic reagents that limit the diversity of groups that can be installed. Recent advances have established a new approach that instead relies on the transformation of alkenes into thianthrene-derived cationic electrophiles. These linchpin intermediates can be generated selectively and undergo a diverse array of mechanistically distinct reactions with abundant nucleophiles. Taken together, this unlocks a suite of net oxidative alkene transformations that have been elusive using conventional strategies. This Minireview describes these advances and is organized around the three distinct synthons formally accessible from alkenes via thianthrenation: 1) alkenyl cations; 2) vicinal dications; 3) allyl cations. Throughout the Minireview, we illustrate how thianthrenium salts address key limitations endemic to classic alkene-derived electrophiles and highlight the mechanistic origins of these distinctions wherever possible.
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Vascularized composite allografts (VCAs) of faces and extremities are subject to chronic rejection that is incompletely understood. Here we report on immunoproteomic evaluation of a full facial VCA removed 88 months after transplantation due to chronic rejection. CD8-positive T cells of donor (graft) origin infiltrate deep intragraft arteries in apposition to degenerating endothelium of chimeric recipient origin in association with arteriosclerotic alterations. Digital spatial proteomic profiling highlighted proteins expressed by activated cytotoxic T cells and macrophages as well as pathway components involved in atherogenic responses, including Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) and Stimulator of Interferon Response CGAMP Interactor (STING). Chronic facial VCA rejection thus involves T cell/macrophage-mediated accelerated arteriosclerosis not normally represented in punch biopsies and potentially driven by persistent graft-resident effector T cells and recipient target endothelium that chimerically repopulates graft arteries.
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Aloinjertos Compuestos , Trasplante Facial , Alotrasplante Compuesto Vascularizado , Supervivencia de Injerto , Proteómica , Aloinjertos Compuestos/trasplante , Rechazo de Injerto/etiología , Rechazo de Injerto/patologíaRESUMEN
Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) develops in stratified epithelial tissues and demonstrates frequent alterations in transcriptional regulators. We sought to discover SCC-specific transcriptional programs and identified the transcription factor Basonuclin 1 (BNC1) as highly expressed in SCC compared to other tumor types. RNA-seq and ChIP-seq analysis identified pro-proliferative genes activated by BNC1 in SCC cells and keratinocytes. Inhibition of BNC1 in SCC cells suppressed proliferation and increased migration via FRA1. In contrast, BNC1 reduction in keratinocytes caused differentiation, which was abrogated by IRF6 knockdown, leading to increased migration. Protein interactome analysis identified PRMT1 as a co-activator of BNC1-dependent proliferative genes. Inhibition of PRMT1 resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in SCC cell proliferation without increasing migration. Importantly, therapeutic inhibition of PRMT1 in SCC xenografts significantly reduced tumor size, resembling functional effects of BNC1 knockdown. Together, we identify BNC1-PRMT1 as an SCC-lineage specific transcriptional axis that promotes cancer growth, which can be therapeutically targeted to inhibit SCC tumorigenesis.
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Cyclopropanes are desirable structural motifs with valuable applications in drug discovery and beyond. Established alkene cyclopropanation methods give rise to cyclopropanes with a limited array of substituents, are difficult to scale, or both. Herein, we disclose a new cyclopropane synthesis through the formal coupling of abundant carbon pronucleophiles and unactivated alkenes. This strategy exploits dicationic adducts derived from electrolysis of thianthrene in the presence of alkene substrates. We find that these dielectrophiles undergo cyclopropanation with methylene pronucleophiles via alkenyl thianthrenium intermediates. This protocol is scalable, proceeds with high diastereoselectivity, and tolerates diverse functional groups on both the alkene and pronucleophile coupling partners. To validate the utility of this new procedure, we prepared an array of substituted analogs of an established cyclopropane that is en route to multiple pharmaceuticals.
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Heart rate variability is a robust biomarker of emotional well-being, consistent with the shared brain networks regulating emotion regulation and heart rate. While high heart rate oscillatory activity clearly indicates healthy regulatory brain systems, can increasing this oscillatory activity also enhance brain function? To test this possibility, we randomly assigned 106 young adult participants to one of two 5-week interventions involving daily biofeedback that either increased heart rate oscillations (Osc+ condition) or had little effect on heart rate oscillations (Osc- condition) and examined effects on brain activity during rest and during regulating emotion. While there were no significant changes in the right amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) functional connectivity (our primary outcome), the Osc+ intervention increased left amygdala-MPFC functional connectivity and functional connectivity in emotion-related resting-state networks during rest. It also increased down-regulation of activity in somatosensory brain regions during an emotion regulation task. The Osc- intervention did not have these effects. In this healthy cohort, the two conditions did not differentially affect anxiety, depression, or mood. These findings indicate that modulating heart rate oscillatory activity changes emotion network coordination in the brain.
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Encéfalo , Emociones , Adulto Joven , Humanos , Frecuencia Cardíaca/fisiología , Emociones/fisiología , Corteza Prefrontal/fisiología , Amígdala del Cerebelo/fisiología , Imagen por Resonancia Magnética , Vías Nerviosas/fisiología , Mapeo EncefálicoRESUMEN
Acute stress activates the brain's locus coeruleus (LC)-noradrenaline system. Recent studies indicate that a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based measure of LC structure is associated with better cognitive outcomes in later life. Yet despite the LC's documented role in promoting physiological arousal during acute stress, no studies have examined whether MRI-assessed LC structure is related to arousal responses to acute stress. In this study, 102 younger and 51 older adults completed an acute stress induction task while we assessed multiple measures of physiological arousal (heart rate, breathing rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, sympathetic tone, and heart rate variability, HRV). We used turbo spin echo MRI scans to quantify LC MRI contrast as a measure of LC structure. We applied univariate and multivariate approaches to assess how LC MRI contrast was associated with arousal at rest and during acute stress reactivity and recovery. In older participants, having higher caudal LC MRI contrast was associated with greater stress-related increases in systolic blood pressure and decreases in HRV, as well as lower HRV during recovery from acute stress. These results suggest that having higher caudal LC MRI contrast in older adulthood is associated with more pronounced physiological responses to acute stress. Further work is needed to confirm these patterns in larger samples of older adults.
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Locus Coeruleus , Imagen por Resonancia Magnética , Anciano , Nivel de Alerta/fisiología , Medios de Contraste , Humanos , Locus Coeruleus/fisiología , Imagen por Resonancia Magnética/métodos , NorepinefrinaRESUMEN
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many different facets of life. The infectious nature of the disease has led to significant changes in social interactions in everyday life. The present study examined how older adults' patterns of everyday momentary social interactions (i.e., with no one, partner, family, and friends) and their affect varied across the early stages of the pandemic and whether the magnitude of affective benefits associated with social interactions changed across time. A total of 188 adults aged 50 or above (Mage = 62.05) completed momentary assessments in early March, late March, May, and July 2020. Overall, older adults spent more time in solitude and less time interacting with their friends after the declaration of the pandemic. Further, negative affect (NA) spiked after the pandemic declaration and then returned to pre-pandemic level. Finally, momentary interactions with close social ties were consistently associated with higher positive affect (PA) and lower NA whereas momentary solitude was associated with lower PA, but not related to NA. The magnitude of associations between specific social interactions (or solitude) and affect varied across time, and the onset of the pandemic appeared associated with this variation. During the presumably most stressful period, solitude was not associated with lower PA and family interaction was not associated with higher PA as they were at other times. Further, interactions with friends seemed to have diminished affective benefits following the onset of the pandemic.
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COVID-19 , Interacción Social , Anciano , COVID-19/epidemiología , Amigos , Humanos , PandemiasRESUMEN
At our institution, multimodal opiate-sparing pain management is the cornerstone of our enhanced recovery program for autologous breast reconstruction. The purpose of this study was to compare postoperative outcomes and pain control metrics following implementation of an enhanced recovery program with two different regional analgesia approaches. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study identified 145 women who underwent autologous breast reconstruction from 2015 to 2017. Three groups were included: historical control patients (n = 46) and enhanced recovery patients that received multimodal pain management including a postoperative transversalis abdominis plane block with either a continuous local anesthetic catheter (n = 60) or a single-shot of liposomal bupivacaine (n = 39). The primary outcome was pain scores in the first three postoperative days. Secondary outcomes were opioid consumption in oral morphine equivalents and length of stay. RESULTS: Postoperative pain scores were similar across all three groups until postoperative day 3. Length of stay was significantly shorter in both of the enhanced recovery cohorts (3.0 [3.0, 4.0]) compared with control patients (4.0 [4.0, 5.0], P < 0.001). Likewise, average total oral morphine equivalents consumption was significantly reduced in enhanced recovery patients (continuous catheter 215.9 (95% CI, 165.4-266.3); liposomal bupivacaine 211.0 (95% CI, 154.8-267.2); control 518.4 (95% CI 454.2-582.7), P < 0.001). Neither length of stay (P = 0.953), nor oral morphine equivalents consumption (P = 0.883) differed by type of regional analgesia. CONCLUSION: Compared with control patients, both approaches to regional transversalis abdominis plane block analgesia as part of an opiate-sparing enhanced recovery pain management strategy were successful, but neither superior to the other.
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OBJECTIVE: Exposure to stressors in daily life and dysregulated stress responses are associated with increased risk for a variety of chronic mental and physical health problems, including anxiety disorders, depression, asthma, heart disease, certain cancers, and autoimmune and neurodegenerative disorders. Despite this fact, stress exposure and responses are rarely assessed in the primary care setting and infrequently targeted for disease prevention or treatment. METHOD: In this narrative review, we describe the primary reasons for this striking disjoint between the centrality of stress for promoting disease and how rarely it is assessed by summarizing the main conceptual, measurement, practical, and reimbursement issues that have made stress difficult to routinely measure in primary care. The following issues will be reviewed: a) assessment of stress in primary care, b) biobehavioral pathways linking stress and illness, c) the value of stress measurements for improving outcomes in primary care, d) barriers to measuring and managing stress, and e) key research questions relevant to stress assessment and intervention in primary care. RESULTS: On the basis of our synthesis, we suggest several approaches that can be pursued to advance this work, including feasibility and acceptability studies, cost-benefit studies, and clinical improvement studies. CONCLUSIONS: Although stress is recognized as a key contributor to chronic disease risk and mortality, additional research is needed to determine how and when instruments for assessing life stress might be useful in the primary care setting, and how stress-related data could be integrated into disease prevention and treatment strategies to reduce chronic disease burden and improve human health and well-being.
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Trastornos de Ansiedad , Estrés Psicológico , Trastornos de Ansiedad/terapia , Humanos , Atención Primaria de SaludRESUMEN
DNA methylation is a key regulatory event controlling a variety of physiological processes and can have dramatic effects on gene transcription. Methylated cytosine (5-methylcytosine) can be oxidized by the TET family of enzymes to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC), a key intermediate in the demethylation cycle, and 5-hmC levels are reduced in malignancies such as acute myeloid leukemia and melanoma. We constructed a tissue microarray of human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma tumors and found a global reduction in 5-hmC levels compared with that in the adjacent skin. Using a murine K14-CreER system, we have found that loss of Tet2 promotes carcinogen-induced squamous cell carcinoma and cooperates with loss of Tp53 to drive spontaneous squamous cell carcinoma tumors in epithelial tissues. Analysis of changes in 5-hmC and gene expression after loss of Tet2 in the epidermis revealed focal alterations in 5-hmC levels and an increase in hair follicle transient amplifying cell genes along with a reduction in epidermal differentiation genes. These results show a role for TET2 in epidermal lineage specification, consistent with reported roles for TET enzymes in controlling lineage commitment in hematopoietic stem cells and embryonic stem cells and establishing TET2 as a bone fide tumor suppressor in squamous cell carcinoma.
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Carcinoma de Células Escamosas , Proteínas de Unión al ADN , Dioxigenasas , Neoplasias Cutáneas , 5-Metilcitosina/análogos & derivados , 5-Metilcitosina/metabolismo , Animales , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/genética , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/metabolismo , Transformación Celular Neoplásica/genética , Metilación de ADN , Proteínas de Unión al ADN/genética , Proteínas de Unión al ADN/metabolismo , Dioxigenasas/genética , Dioxigenasas/metabolismo , Humanos , Ratones , Proteínas Proto-Oncogénicas/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogénicas/metabolismo , Neoplasias Cutáneas/genéticaRESUMEN
Allylic amines are valuable synthetic targets en route to diverse biologically active amine products. Current allylic C-H amination strategies remain limited with respect to the viable N-substituents. Herein, we disclose a new electrochemical process to prepare aliphatic allylic amines by coupling two abundant starting materials: secondary amines and unactivated alkenes. This oxidative transformation proceeds via electrochemical generation of an electrophilic adduct between thianthrene and the alkene substrates. Treatment of these adducts with aliphatic amine nucleophiles and base provides allylic amine products in high yield. This synthetic strategy is also amenable to functionalization of feedstock gaseous alkenes at 1 atm. In the case of 1-butene, high Z-selective crotylation is observed. This strategy, however, is not limited to the synthesis of simple building blocks; complex biologically active molecules are suitable as both alkene and amine coupling partners. Preliminary mechanistic studies implicate vinylthianthrenium salts as key reactive intermediates.
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Alquenos/química , Aminas/síntesis química , Técnicas Electroquímicas/métodos , Aminas/química , Modelos Moleculares , Estructura MolecularRESUMEN
Aziridines-three-membered nitrogen-containing cyclic molecules-are important synthetic targets. Their substantial ring strain and resultant proclivity towards ring-opening reactions makes them versatile precursors of diverse amine products1-3, and, in some cases, the aziridine functional group itself imbues important biological (for example, anti-tumour) activity4-6. Transformation of ubiquitous alkenes into aziridines is an attractive synthetic strategy, but is typically accomplished using electrophilic nitrogen sources rather than widely available amine nucleophiles. Here we show that unactivated alkenes can be electrochemically transformed into a metastable, dicationic intermediate that undergoes aziridination with primary amines under basic conditions. This new approach expands the scope of readily accessible N-alkyl aziridine products relative to those obtained through existing state-of-the-art methods. A key strategic advantage of this approach is that oxidative alkene activation is decoupled from the aziridination step, enabling a wide range of commercially available but oxidatively sensitive7 amines to act as coupling partners for this strain-inducing transformation. More broadly, our work lays the foundations for a diverse array of difunctionalization reactions using this dication pool approach.
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Alquenos/química , Aminas/química , Aziridinas/síntesis química , Técnicas de Química Sintética/métodos , Electroquímica/métodos , Alquenos/síntesis química , Aminas/síntesis química , Aziridinas/química , Oxidación-Reducción , TermodinámicaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Irritant contact stomatitis (ICS) and contact hypersensitivity stomatitis (CHS) are often caused by alcohol, flavoring agents and additives in dentifrices and foods, and contactants with high or low pH. A well-recognized contactant for ICS is Listerine™ mouthwash, while that for CHS is cinnamic aldehyde. However, many other flavoring agents and even smokeless tobacco are contactants that cause mucosal lesions that are entirely reversible. The objective of this study is to 1) present cases of ICS and CHS with a clear history of a contactant at the site and the histopathologic features of the resulting lesion and 2) define the histopathologic features that characterize such lesions. METHODS: 12 cases of ICS and CHS with known contactants that exhibited distinct histopathologic patterns were identified. RESULTS: ICS are characterized by three patterns in increasing order of severity namely: 1) superficial desquamation, 2) superficial keratinocyte edema, and 3) keratinocyte coagulative necrosis with/out spongiosis and microabscesses. CHS is characterized by two patterns namely plasma cell stomatitis with an intense plasma cell infiltrate and a lymphohistiocytic infiltrate with or without non-necrotizing granulomatous inflammation. Three patterns of the latter are recognized: (1) lymphohistiocytic infiltrate at the interface with well-formed or loosely aggregated non-necrotizing granulomas; (2) lymphohistiocytic infiltrate at the interface with peri- and para-vascular lymphohistiocytic nodules; and (3) lymphohistiocytic infiltrate at the interface with peri- and para-vascular lymphohistiocytic nodules containing non-necrotizing granulomas. The same contactant may elicit ICS and CHS, while one histopathologic pattern may be brought on by various contactants. CONCLUSION: ICS and CHS have distinct histologic patterns. Recognizing that these patterns are caused by contactants would help clinicians manage such mucosal lesions.
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Estomatitis/inducido químicamente , Estomatitis/patología , Adulto , Anciano , Antiulcerosos/efectos adversos , Goma de Mascar/efectos adversos , Femenino , Humanos , Queratinocitos/patología , Linfocitosis/patología , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Antisépticos Bucales/efectos adversos , Necrosis , Dispositivos para Dejar de Fumar Tabaco/efectos adversos , Tabaco sin Humo/efectos adversosRESUMEN
BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: Oral myeloid sarcoma (MS) is an extramedullary tumor that can occur in the setting of acute myeloid leukemia, either as the first sign of an underlying disease or later in the course of disease. The authors' aim was to present the clinical features of oral MS and review the literature. CASE DESCRIPTION: Case 1 was an 82-year-old woman with an asymptomatic erythematous swelling on the maxillary gingiva and no history of hematologic malignancy. Case 2, a 65-year-old man, and case 3, a 58-year-old woman, each had a history of acute myeloid leukemia and a painful ulcer on the palatal mucosa and an asymptomatic ulcer on the lower lip mucosa, respectively. Case 1 was treated with focal radiation then chemotherapy and achieved complete remission initially, but died of relapse 2 years after diagnosis. Case 2 received radiotherapy and immunotherapy and had a complete response. Case 3 received chemotherapy and achieved remission initially, but relapsed and is undergoing investigational targeted therapies. CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Oral MS can manifest as gingival or mucosal swelling or ulceration and can indicate onset or relapse of associated hematologic malignancies, which often have a poor prognosis. Because patients with oral findings are likely to seek treatment from their dentists first, oral clinicians should maintain a broad differential diagnosis list when evaluating oral lesions, especially if treatment prescribed for a more common diagnosis fails to resolve the lesion.
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Leucemia Mieloide Aguda , Sarcoma Mieloide , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Femenino , Humanos , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/complicaciones , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/diagnóstico , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Mucosa Bucal , Recurrencia , Sarcoma Mieloide/diagnósticoRESUMEN
The number of computerized and reliable performance validity tests are scarce. This study aims to address this issue by validating a free and computerized performance validity test: the Coin in Hand-Extended Version (CIH-EV). The CIH-EV test was administered in four countries (Colombia, Spain, Portugal, and the United States) and performance was compared with other commonly used validated tests. Results showed that the CIH-EV has at least 95% specificity and 62% sensitivity, and performance was highly correlated with scores on the Test of Memory Malingering, Victoria Symptom Validity Test, and Digit Span of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. There were no significant differences in scores across countries, suggesting that the CIH-EV performs similarly in a variety of cultures. Our findings suggest that the CIH-EV has the potential to serve as a valid validity test either alone or as a supplement to other commonly used validity tests.
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Simulación de Enfermedad , Adulto , Colombia , Humanos , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas , Portugal , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , España , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
Activating transcription factor 3 (ATF-3), a cyclic AMP-dependent transcription factor, has been shown to play a regulatory role in melanoma, although its function during tumor progression remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that ATF-3 exhibits tumor suppressive function in melanoma. Specifically, ATF-3 nuclear expression was significantly diminished with melanoma progression from nevi to primary to metastatic patient melanomas, correlating low expression with poor prognosis. Significantly low expression of ATF-3 was also found in cultured human metastatic melanoma cell lines. Importantly, overexpression of ATF-3 in metastatic melanoma cell lines significantly inhibited cell growth, migration, and invasion in vitro; as well as abrogated tumor growth in a human melanoma xenograft mouse model in vivo. RNA sequencing analysis revealed downregulation of ERK and AKT pathways and upregulation in apoptotic-related genes in ATF-3 overexpressed melanoma cell lines, which was further validated by Western-blot analysis. In summary, this study demonstrated that diminished ATF-3 expression is associated with melanoma virulence and thus provides a potential target for novel therapies and prognostic biomarker applications.
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Factor de Transcripción Activador 3/metabolismo , Melanoma/metabolismo , Animales , Apoptosis , Femenino , Humanos , Sistema de Señalización de MAP Quinasas , Melanoma Experimental/metabolismo , Ratones Desnudos , Proteína Oncogénica v-akt/metabolismo , Fosforilación , Estudios RetrospectivosRESUMEN
Subjective well-being has captured the interest of scientists and policy-makers as a way of knowing how individuals and groups evaluate and experience their lives: that is, their sense of meaning, their satisfaction with life, and their everyday moods. One of the more striking findings in this literature is a strong association between age and subjective well-being: in Western countries it has a U-shaped association over the lifespan. Despite many efforts, the reason for the curve is largely unexplained, for example, by traditional demographic variables. In this study we examined twelve social and psychological variables that could account for the U-shaped curve. In an Internet sample of 3,294 adults ranging in age from 40 to 69 we observed the expected steep increase in a measure of subjective well-being, the Cantril Ladder. Regression analyses demonstrated that the social-psychological variables explained about two-thirds of the curve and accounting for them significantly flattened the U-shape. Perceived stress, distress-depression, an open perspective about the future, wisdom, satisfaction with social relationships, and family strain were measures that had pronounced impacts on reducing the curve. These findings advance our understanding of why subjective well-being is associated with age and point the way to future studies.
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Envejecimiento/psicología , Salud , Factores Sociales , Adulto , Factores de Edad , Anciano , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Análisis de RegresiónRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Bone metastases cause significant morbidity in patients with cancer, and radiation therapy (RT) is an effective treatment approach. Indications for more complex ablative techniques are emerging. We sought to evaluate RT trends at a large multi-site tertiary cancer center. METHODS: Patients who received RT for bone metastases at a single institution (including regional outpatient clinics) from 2016 to 2018 were identified. Patients were grouped by RT regimen: single-fraction conventional RT (8 Gy × 1), 30 Gy in 10 fractions, SBRT, and "other". Multinomial logistic regression was performed to assess trends in regimens over time. Binary logistic regression was performed to evaluate factors associated with receipt of SBRT. RESULTS: Between 2016 and 2018, 5,952 RT episodes were received by 2,969 patients with bone metastases. Overall, 76% of episodes were ≤ 5 fractions. The median number of fractions planned for SBRT and non-SBRT episodes was 3 (IQR 3-3) and 5 (IQR 5-10), respectively. Use of SBRT increased from 2016 to 2018 (39% to 53%, p < 0.01) while use of 30 Gy in 10 fractions decreased (26% to 12%, p < 0.01), and 8 Gy × 1 was stable (5.3% to 6.9%, p = 0.28). SBRT was associated with higher performance status (p < 0.01) and non-radiosensitive histology (p < 0.01). Use of SBRT increased in the regional network (19% to 48%, p < 0.01) and at the main center (52% to 59%, p = 0.02), but did not increase within 30 days of death. More patients treated with 8 Gy × 1 than SBRT died within 30 days of treatment (24% vs 3.8%, respectively, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: SBRT is replacing 30 Gy in 10 fractions for bone metastases, especially among patients with high performance status and non-radiosensitive histologies. Better prognostic algorithms could further improve patient-centered treatment selection at the end of life.
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Music-based interventions (MBI) have become increasingly widely adopted for dementia and related disorders. Previous research shows that music engages reward-related regions through functional connectivity with the auditory system, but evidence for the effectiveness of MBI is mixed in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). This underscores the need for a unified mechanistic understanding to motivate MBIs. The main objective of the present study is to characterize the intrinsic connectivity of the auditory and reward systems in healthy aging individuals with MCI, and those with AD. Using resting-state fMRI data from the Alzheimer's Database Neuroimaging Initiative, we tested resting-state functional connectivity within and between auditory and reward systems in older adults with MCI, AD, and age-matched healthy controls (N = 105). Seed-based correlations were assessed from regions of interest (ROIs) in the auditory network (i.e., anterior superior temporal gyrus, posterior superior temporal gyrus, Heschl's Gyrus), and the reward network (i.e., nucleus accumbens, caudate, putamen, and orbitofrontal cortex). AD individuals were lower in both within-network and between-network functional connectivity in the auditory network and reward networks compared to MCI and controls. Furthermore, graph theory analyses showed that the MCI group had higher clustering and local efficiency than both AD and control groups, whereas AD individuals had lower betweenness centrality than MCI and control groups. Together, the auditory and reward systems show preserved within- and between-network connectivity in MCI individuals relative to AD. These results motivate future music-based interventions in individuals with MCI due to the preservation of functional connectivity within and between auditory and reward networks at that initial stage of neurodegeneration.
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Stress has been widely recognized as a key factor contributing to health outcomes and psychological well-being. While some growing evidence points to stress as having an effect on emotion dynamics characteristics, there has yet to be a test of how global perceptions of stress are associated with not only average levels of emotions but also the variability in the intensity of the emotions, as well as how emotions linger (inertia), and whether these characteristics differ by age. In an effort to better understand how stress influences the emotional experiences of individuals, we examined associations between perceived stress levels and emotion dynamics indices in a sample of 859 working individuals over 24 h. Participants ranged in age from 21 to 81 years. Each participant was prompted at approximately 28 min intervals throughout a 24 h period to report intensity of emotional states. Overall, individuals who were more stressed experienced lower mean levels of positive emotions (with the exception of higher levels of excitement) and higher mean levels of negative emotions. They also experienced more pronounced variability in both positive and negative emotions, and greater inertia in negative emotions. We also found some evidence for age-related differences in mean levels and variability in certain emotions. The relationship of emotion dynamics indices to stress levels was not moderated by age. Many of the stress-emotion dynamics associations did not remain statistically significant upon controlling for the mean level of momentary emotions, indicating that the mean is a large component in the association.