Infant and parent heart rates during a babywearing procedure: Evidence for autonomic coregulation.

Babywearing is the practice of carrying an infant in a baby carrier, which may provide an inexpensive, nonpharmacological intervention for the parent-infant dyads to handle mental stressors, such as pain and anxiety, especially among vulnerable infants. This study investigated the influence of babywearing on parent-infant autonomic coregulation based on the changes in the HR of mother-infant and father-infant dyads for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Guided by the Calming Cycle Theory as the framework, the correlation between parent HR and infant HR and the difference in the mother-infant dyad (n = 17) compared to the father-infant dyad (n = 8) were examined. Although only the mother-infant HRs reached statistical significance during babywearing (r̅ =.52, p = .03), both parent-infant dyads had strong correlations during babywearing (compared to pre- and post-babywearing conditions), indicating that babywearing, for parents and their infants with NAS, may influence autonomic coregulation.

Wage Disparities across Immigrant Generations: Education, Segregation, or Unequal Pay?

Immigrants and their native-born children often face considerable wage penalties relative to natives, but less is known about whether this inequality arises through differences in educational qualifications, segregation across occupations and establishments, or unequal pay for the same work. Using linked employer-employee data from Norway, the authors ask whether immigrant-native wage disparities 1) reflect differences in detailed educational qualifications, labor market segregation, or within-job pay differences; 2) differ by immigrant generation; and 3) vary across different segments of the labor market. They find that immigrant-native wage disparities primarily reflect sorting into lower-paying jobs, and that wage disadvantages are considerably reduced across immigrant generations. When doing the same work for the same employer, immigrant-background workers, especially children of immigrants, earn similar wages to natives. Sorting into jobs seems more meritocratic for university graduates, for professionals, and in the public sector, but within-job pay differences are strikingly similar across market segments.

A national survey comparing practice patterns and residency training satisfaction for categorical dermatology versus combined internal medicine and dermatology trained physicians.

Combined internal medicine and dermatology (med-derm) training programs were created to advance complex medical dermatology and inpatient dermatology care. A prior study demonstrated that compared to categorical dermatology residents, med-derm residents had less program satisfaction, yet indicated a stronger desire to pursue careers in academia. No follow-up data on practice patterns after training has been reported. We aimed to characterize differences in residency program satisfaction and practice patterns between physicians trained in categorical dermatology compared to med-derm residency programs. We surveyed physicians who graduated from combined med-derm programs along with their counterparts, from six institutions, that either currently or historically had a combined med-derm training, from 2008-2017. Fifty-five percent of med-derm and forty-one percent of categorical-trained physicians responded. The practice patterns between the two groups were similar. A quarter of med-derm physicians continued to provide general internal medicine services. Categorical trained physicians were significantly more satisfied with their training (P=0.03) and performed more excisions on the head/neck (P=0.02). The combined graduates had significantly greater confidence in multidisciplinary care (P=0.003), prescribed more biologic (P<0.001) and non-biologic immunosuppressive agents (P=0.002), and volunteered more for the underserved patients in their communities (P=0.04). Although few differences in overall practice patterns between categorical and med-derm trained graduates were appreciated, med-derm graduates seem more comfortable with multidisciplinary care and may care for more medically complex patients requiring immunosuppression.

Patch Testing to Chlorhexidine Digluconate, 1% Aqueous: North American Contact Dermatitis Group Experience, 2015-2020.

Background: Chlorhexidine is an antiseptic that may cause allergic contact dermatitis. Objectives: To describe the epidemiology of chlorhexidine allergy and characterize positive patch test reactions. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed patients patch tested to chlorhexidine digluconate 1% aqueous by the North American Contact Dermatitis Group, 2015-2020. Results: Of 14,731 patients tested to chlorhexidine digluconate, 107 (0.7%) had an allergic reaction; of these, 56 (52.3%) reactions were currently clinically relevant. Most (59%) reactions were mild (+), followed by strong (++, 18.7%) and very strong (+++, 6.5%). Common primary dermatitis anatomic sites in chlorhexidine-positive patients were hands (26.4%), face (24.5%), and scattered/generalized distribution (17.9%). Compared with negative patients, chlorhexidine-positive patients were significantly more likely to have dermatitis involving the trunk (11.3% vs 5.1%; P = 0.0036). The most commonly identified source category was skin/health care products (n = 41, 38.3%). Only 11 (10.3%) chlorhexidine reactions were occupationally related; of these, 81.8% were in health care workers. Conclusions: Chlorhexidine digluconate allergy is uncommon, but often clinically relevant. Involvement of the hands, face, and scattered generalized patterns was frequent. Occupationally related reactions were found predominantly in health care workers.

The increased efficiency of porphyran hydrolysis by constructing a multifunctional enzyme complex from marine microorganisms.

Porphyran, a polysaccharide composed of red algae, is a source of a multifunctional oligosaccharide material and raw biomass with various physiological activities. The glycolysis of porphyrans into oligosaccharides through various porphyranases is an approach for obtaining high-quality and promising alternative resources. In this study, porphyran was extracted from Porphyra yezoensis and used as a research substrate. We also established an efficient hydrolysis method using an enzymatic complex obtained through cohesin-dockerin interactions that degrade natural polysaccharides. The cohesion-dockerin interaction is designed to genetically bind the dockerin module to the end of an existing enzyme and then attach the cohesin module to obtain a protein complex. The designed protein complex has been shown to further increase the activity on the substrate, which can be considered a useful method to obtain efficient oligosaccharides or monosaccharides through hydrolysis of red algae for bioresources.

Transition of care in patients with epidermolysis bullosa: A survey study.

There are little published data on the transition of care in EB. We conducted a survey study recruiting EB patients from the Dystrophic EB Research Association (debra) website and centers caring for high numbers of EB patients in the United States and internationally from Sept 17, 2019 to Nov 3, 2021. The majority of participants had not discussed the transition of care with their healthcare providers, nor the healthcare needs to be required as an adult. Ongoing pediatric subspecialty care was reported by 12% of adults, most commonly in pediatric dermatology. Identified barriers to transition included the perceived lack of adult providers' knowledge about EB patient healthcare needs. The results suggest the need for transition guidelines, early discussions with families about transition, and practical information for the adult providers accepting care.

Combination Treatment Using Pyruvate Kinase M2 Inhibitors for the Sensitization of High Density Triple-negative Breast Cancer Cells.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Few studies have examined the correlation between pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) overexpression and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). TNBC is considered incurable with the currently available treatments, highlighting the need for alternative therapeutic targets. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PKM2 expression was examined immunohistochemically in human breast tumor samples. Furthermore, we studied the effect of three PKM2 inhibitors (gliotoxin, shikonin, and compound 3K) in the MDA-MB-231 TNBC cell line. RESULTS: PKM2 overexpression correlates with TNBC. Interestingly, most TNBC tissues showed increased levels of PKM2 compared to those of receptor-positive breast cancer tissues. This suggests that PKM2 overexpression is an important factor in the development of TNBC. MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells are resistant to anticancer drugs, such as vincristine (VIC) compared to other cancer cells. We found that the recently developed PKM2 inhibitor gliotoxin sensitized MDA-MB-231 cells at a relatively low dose to the same extent as the known PKM2 inhibitor shikonin, suggesting that PKM2 inhibitors could be an effective treatment for TNBC. Detailed sensitization mechanisms were also analyzed. Both gliotoxin and shikonin highly increased late apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells, as revealed by annexin V staining. However, MDA-MB-231 cells with high cellular density inhibited the sensitizing effect of PKM2 inhibitors; therefore, we investigated ways to overcome this inhibitory effect. We found that gliotoxin+shikonin co-treatment highly increased toxicity in MDA-MB-231 cells with high density, whereas either VIC+gliotoxin or VIC+shikonin were not effective. Thus, combination therapy with various PKM2 inhibitors may be more effective than combination therapy with anticancer drugs. Gliotoxin+shikonin co-treatment did not increase S or G2 arrest in cells, suggesting that the co-treatment showed a high increase in apoptosis without S or G2 arrest. We confirmed that another recently developed PKM2 inhibitor compound 3K had similar mechanisms of sensitizing MDA-MB-231 cells, suggesting that PKM2 inhibitors have similar sensitization mechanisms in TNBC. CONCLUSION: PKM2 is a regulator of the oncogenic function of TNBC, and combination therapy with various PKM2 inhibitors may be effective for high-density TNBC. Targeting PKM2 in TNBC lays the foundation for the development of PKM2 inhibitors as promising anti-TNBC agents.

Hitchhiking spider: a case of unilateral vasculitis.

A 63-year-old man presented with two days of palpable purpura over the right anterior shin and calf with notable point tenderness on the distal mid-calf without any palpable deep abnormality. Localized right calf pain worsened with walking and was associated with headache, chills, fatigue, and low-grade fevers. A punch biopsy of the anterior right lower leg showed necrotizing neutrophilic vasculitis of superficial and deep vessels. Direct immunofluorescence showed non-specific focal granular deposition of C3 within vessel walls. Three days after presentation, a live spider was found and microscopically identified as a male hobo spider. The patient suspected the spider arrived via packages shipped from Seattle, Washington. The patient was treated with a prednisone taper with full resolution of his cutaneous symptoms. Given the unilaterality of his symptoms and otherwise unexplained etiology, the patient was diagnosed with acute unilateral vasculitis secondary to hobo spider bite. Microscopic examination is required for identification of hobo spiders. Although not deadly, there have been several reports of cutaneous and systemic reactions resulting from hobo spider bites. Our case illustrates the importance of considering hobo spider bites in areas outside of their native regions, as they are known to travel in packaged items.