Using Veterans Socials to Build a Community: Feasibility of the VOICES Intervention.

Increasing social connection and access to care has been found to decrease the rate of suicide in U.S. veterans. The Veteran Outreach Into the Community to Expand Social Support (VOICES) is an intervention developed by Department Veteran Affairs (VA) staff to improve social connection and provide information about services by implementing community-based Veterans Socials. Seventy veterans at eight locations completed an anonymous cross-sectional survey. This evaluation examined three domains, acceptability (i.e., perceived value), demand (i.e., estimated or actual use), and expansion (i.e., sustainability and increase of Veterans Socials across time and locations). Findings indicated considerable levels of acceptability, demand for, and expansion of this intervention. Additionally, data suggested this intervention may increase social connection and utilization of VA services among attendees.

The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality in Patients With Spinal Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Virtual reality (VR) technologies have been shown to be beneficial in various areas of health care; to date, there are no systematic reviews examining the effectiveness of VR technology for the treatment of spinal pain. PURPOSE: To investigate the effectiveness of VR technology in the management of individuals with acute, subacute, and chronic spinal pain. METHODS: Six electronic databases were searched until November 2019. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effectiveness of VR were eligible for inclusion. Two independent reviewers extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias for each study and the overall quality of evidence. Mean differences of outcomes were pooled as appropriate using random-effects models. RESULTS: Seven RCTs with high risk of bias met review criteria. Quality of evidence ranged from very low to low quality. In patients with chronic neck pain, VR improved global perceived effect (GPE), satisfaction, and general health at short-term follow-up, as well as general health and balance at intermediate-term follow-up compared to kinematic training. VR improved pain intensity and disability at short-term and long-term follow-up compared to conventional proprioceptive training in patients with chronic neck pain. In patients with either subacute or chronic low back pain (LBP), VR improved pain, disability, and fear of movement compared to lumbar stabilization exercises and improved pain compared to conventional physical therapy (at short-term follow-up). In patients with chronic LBP, VR improved pain compared to lumbar stabilization exercises and improved fear of movement compared to conventional physical therapy (at short-term follow-up). CONCLUSION: VR's potential for improvement in outcomes for spinal pain that demonstrated statistical and/or clinical significance (pain intensity, disability, fear of movement, GPE, patient satisfaction, general health status, and balance) highlights the need for more focused, higher-quality research on the efficacy and effectiveness of VR for treatment of patients with spinal pain.

Quantifying the Oligomeric State of hZIP4 on the Surface of Cells.

The human (h) zinc transporter ZIP4 is expressed on the plasma membrane and functions to increase cytosolic zinc levels. Mutations in hZIP4 cause the disease acrodermatitis enteropathica. Dysfunction in the regulation of hZIP4 has also been indicated in solid tissue cancers, including pancreatic and prostate cancer. Although structural studies of the extracellular domain and computational modeling of the membrane domain suggest hZIP4 exists as a dimer, the oligomerization status of hZIP4 in the plasma membrane of mammalian cells has not been directly quantified in vivo. Here, the oligomeric state of hZIP4 expressed in HEK293 cells was quantified using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. hZIP4 was tagged with eGFP, and by comparing brightness values (ε) of monomer and tandem eGFP constructs to that of an hZIP4/eGFP, we show that hZIP4 is a dimer. Determining that hZIP4 is a dimer is an important step toward understanding the function and processing of the protein, which can provide more insight into how diseases affected by hZIP4 occur and can be managed.

Influence of Ionic Liquids on the Selectivity of Ion Exchange-Based Polymer Membrane Sensing Layers.

The applicability of ion exchange membranes is mainly defined by their permselectivity towards specific ions. For instance, the needed selectivity can be sought by modifying some of the components required for the preparation of such membranes. In this study, a new class of materials -trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium based ionic liquids (ILs) were used to modify the properties of ion exchange membranes. We determined selectivity coefficients for iodide as model ion utilizing six phosphonium-based ILs and compared the selectivity with two classical plasticizers. The dielectric properties of membranes plasticized with ionic liquids and their response characteristics towards ten different anions were investigated using potentiometric and impedance measurements. In this large set of data, deviations of obtained selectivity coefficients from the well-established Hofmeister series were observed on many occasions thus indicating a multitude of applications for these ion-exchanging systems.