Circulating Endothelial Cells From Septic Shock Patients Convert to Fibroblasts Are Associated With the Resuscitation Fluid Dose and Are Biomarkers for Survival Prediction.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether circulating endothelial cells from septic shock patients and from nonseptic shock patients are transformed in activated fibroblast by changing the expression level of endothelial and fibrotic proteins, whether the level of the protein expression change is associated with the amount of administered resuscitation fluid, and whether this circulating endothelial cell protein expression change is a biomarker to predict sepsis survival. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Medical-surgical ICUs in a tertiary care hospital. PATIENTS: Forty-three patients admitted in ICU and 22 healthy volunteers. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Circulating mature endothelial cells and circulating endothelial progenitor cells from septic shock and nonseptic shock patients showed evidence of endothelial fibrosis by changing the endothelial protein expression pattern. The endothelial proteins were downregulated, whereas fibroblast-specific markers were increased. The magnitude of the expression change in endothelial and fibrotic proteins was higher in the septic shock nonsurvivors patients but not in nonseptic shock. Interestingly, the decrease in the endothelial protein expression was correlated with the administered resuscitation fluid better than the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores in the septic shock nonsurvivors patients but not in nonseptic shock. Notably, the significant difference between endothelial and fibrotic protein expression indicated a nonsurvival outcome in septic shock but not in nonseptic shock patients. Remarkably, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that endothelial protein expression levels predicted the survival outcome better than the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores in septic shock but not in nonseptic shock patients. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating endothelial cells from septic shock patients are acutely converted into fibroblasts. Endothelial and fibrotic protein expression level are associated with resuscitation fluid administration magnitude and can be used as biomarkers for an early survival diagnosis of sepsis.

Affective modulation of cognitive control: A systematic review of EEG studies.

In recent years, a growing corpus of research has been conducted utilizing a variety of behavioral and neurophysiological methodologies to investigate the relationship of emotion and cognition, yielding unique insights into fundamental concerns about the human mind and mental disease. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been utilized to investigate how emotional states alter neural markers of cognitive control. The current study is a systematic analysis of EEG research that looks at affective modulation (mood, emotion) of cognitive control and its many sub-processes (e.g., cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory). The PRISMA standards were followed in this review, which looked at experimental designs and tasks, as well as methodological elements of EEG recording and analysis across research. A total of 35 articles were chosen for qualitative synthesis as a consequence of the search. The examination of event-related potentials (ERPs), which showed affective modulation of 19 different components, was the most common electrophysiological approach used across research. The majority of the investigations focused on N2 and P3, indicating that affective induction has a strong influence on attentional processes and response inhibition. Future research should look into different methodologies such as source location and connection metrics to better understand the brain's areas and dynamic response during affective induction activities. It is also suggested that the technical components of the report be more explicit in order to promote study comparability and replication.

Different Responses to Stress, Health Practices, and Self-Care during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Stratified Analysis.

The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to analyze the differential impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown (3 April 2020) on stress, health practices, and self-care activities across different Hispanic countries, age range, and gender groups. One thousand and eighty-two participants from Spain, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador took part in this study. Irrespective of the country, and controlling for income level, young people, especially females, suffered a greater level of stress, perceived the situation as more severe, showed less adherence to health guidelines, and reported lower levels of health consciousness, in comparison to their male peers and older groups. However, in the case of self-care, it seems that older and female groups are generally more involved in self-care activities and adopt more healthy daily routines. These results are mostly similar between Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain. However, Chile showed some different tendencies, as males reported higher levels of healthy daily routines and better adherence to health guidelines compared to females and people over the age of 60. Differences between countries, genders, and age ranges should be considered in order to improve health recommendations and adherence to guidelines. Moreover, developing community action and intersectoral strategies with a gender-based approach could help to reduce health inequalities and increase the success of people's adherence to health guidelines and self-care-promoting interventions. Future studies should be addressed to explore the possible causations of such differences in more cultural-distant samples and at later stages of the current outbreak.

Plasma lactate and leukocyte mitochondrial DNA copy number as biomarkers of insulin sensitivity in non-diabetic women.

High plasma lactate levels have been associated with reduced mitochondrial respiratory capacity and increased type 2 diabetes risk, while mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number has been proposed as a biomarker of mitochondrial function linked to glucose homeostasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between circulating lactate levels and leukocyte mtDNA copy numbers with insulin secretion/sensitivity indexes in 65 Chilean non-diabetic women. mtDNA copy numbers were measured in leukocytes using qPCR and digital-droplet PCR. A 75-g Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) was performed to calculate systemic and tissue-specific insulin sensitivity indexes, as well as insulin secretion surrogates based on plasma c-peptide. An intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT; 0.3 g/kg) was also carried out. Disposition indexes were calculated as the product of insulin secretion × sensitivity. Plasma levels of leptin, adiponectin, TNF-α, MCP-1, and non-esterified fatty acids were also determined. Fasting plasma lactate shows a significant association with a wide range of insulin sensitivity/resistance indexes based on fasting plasma samples (HOMA-S, adipose IR index, Revised-QUICKI, leptin-adiponectin ratio, TyG index, McAuley index and TG-to-HDL-C ratio), as well as OGTT-based measures such as the Matsuda index, the hepatic insulin resistance index, and the disposition index. Fasting plasma lactate was also positively associated with the circulating adipokines TNF-α and MCP-1. We also detected a direct association between fasting plasma lactate with leukocyte mtDNA copy numbers. The above results support the use of fasting plasma lactate, and possibly leukocyte mtDNA copy numbers, as biomarkers of reduced oxidative mitochondrial capacity, decreased hepatic insulin sensitivity, and future diabetes risk.