Mindful Kangaroo Care: mindfulness intervention for mothers during skin-to-skin care: a randomized control pilot study

Background Parents of babies admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) undergo considerable stress. There is evidence that mindfulness reduces stress in these parents. Kangaroo Care (KC) is practiced in NICUs across the world and is stress-relieving. Whether mindfulness practiced during KC in the NICU reduces parental distress has not yet been studied. The objective was to explore the feasibility and acceptability of teaching and practicing mindfulness during KC for mothers of premature babies. The objective was also to document preliminary outcomes of Mindful Kangaroo Care (MKC) on maternal stress, anxiety, depression, and mindful awareness. Methods In this pilot randomized controlled study, mothers of premature babies who were expected to stay in the NICU for at least four weeks were taught two mindfulness exercises to practice during KC and compared to mothers who received standard care with no mindfulness teaching. Mothers filled out stress, anxiety, depression and mindful awareness scales at recruitment and after four weeks. Acceptability and feasibility questionnaires were also completed. Results Fifteen mothers per group completed the study. The MKC group demonstrated a significant within-group reduction in anxiety (p = 0.003), depression (p = 0.02) and stress (p = 0.002), and a significant increase in both the curiosity (p = 0.008) and decentering (p = 0.01) scores of the Toronto Mindfulness Scale, all of which had medium to large effect sizes. Only the increases in curiosity and decentering were significant between groups. Fourteen mothers found the intervention acceptable, one neutral. Conclusion MKC was acceptable, feasible and led to a reduction in stress, anxiety and depression in mothers who practiced mindfulness exercises during KC.

Piloting the Effectiveness of a Text Messaging and Fitness Tracking Intervention within Older Black Women

Physical activity (PA) can help lower risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, reduce anxiety, and reduce risk of Alzheimer’s and other related dementias. Despite these benefits, older, obese Black women are not meeting CDC recommended PA guidelines at disproportionate rates. This study aims to identify whether a targeted intervention, Texting Older Sisters to Step (T.O.S.S.), can improve health-related outcomes within older Black women. A sample of 24 Black women (12 per group) age 60 and older who had a BMI > 30 were recruited. The treatment group received text messages previously validated to promote physical activity every day for 12-weeks and were placed in Fitbit communities. The control group received a general health or nutrition-related text message every Sunday. Participants ranged from 60 to 70 years of age with a mean of 64 and 90% had at least some college education. Overall, there was a significant reduction of 1.53 inches in waist circumference, p < .01. When the groups were compared, the treatment group showed a 2.16 inch reduction compared to a 0.91 inch reduction in the control group (Cohen’s d=0.54, a medium effect size). Similarly, the treatment group lost 2.50 pounds on average compared to 1.33 in the control group (d=0.23). When the groups were compared on HgA1c, the treatment group was stable with a reduction of 0.01 unit whereas the control group reduction was 0.15 unit (d=0.23). Findings provide initial support for the T.O.S.S. intervention and suggest a modification of including nutrition information among the intervention messages.

Coenzyme Q10 Supplementation Improves Adipokine Profile In Dyslipidemic Individuals: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Adipokines are peptides secreted mainly by adipose tissue, which have been demonstrated to be vital targets of metabolic diseases. However, the effect of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) on adipokines has not been well studied. Methods: We investigate the effect of CoQ10 intervention on adipokines in dyslipidemic patients. In this randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, a number of 101 dyslipidemic individuals were administrated to 120 mg CoQ10 or placebo for 24 weeks. Anthropometric parameters, glucolipid profile, serum total adiponectin, leptin, and resistin were evaluated at baseline, week 12 and week 24. Results: CoQ10 significantly increased adiponectin at week 12 (380 ng/mL [SE, 101] ng/mL, p < 0.001) and had more increment at week 24 (611 ng/mL [SE, 126] ng/mL , p < 0.001). The increase of adiponectin was negative associated with decrease in HOMA-IR (r = -0.465, p = 0.001), TG (r = -0.297, p = 0.047), and LDL-c (r = -0.440, p = 0.002) at week 24 only in CoQ10 group. Resistin was reduced by CoQ10 only at week 24 (3.45 ng/mL [SE, 0.69] ng/mL, p < 0.001) compared with placebo group. Reduction of resistin was positively correlated with the change in HOMA-IR (r = 0.343, p = 0.021) and TG (r = 0.323, p = 0.030) at week 24 in CoQ10 group but not placebo group. Leptin was not influenced by CoQ10 treatment. Conclusions: Our study shows that CoQ10 ameliorates adipokines dysfunction in dyslipidemia patients in 24 weeks intervention, which suggests the beneficial effect of CoQ10 in modulating adipokine profile and metabolic disorders in dyslipidemic adults.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02407548. Registered on April 3, 2015, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02407548.

Immunosuppressant-Responsive Enteropathy and Non-Responsive Enteropathy in Dogs: Prognostic Factors, Short- and Long-Term Follow Up

A multicentre prospective study was performed to assess whether clinical, hematobiochemical, endoscopic and histopathological parameters were associated with mortality, clinical response and relapse of disease in short- and long-term follow-up of a total of 165 dogs with chronic inflammatory enteropathy, of which 150 had immunosuppressant responsive enteropathy (IRE), and 15 had non-responsive enteropathy (NRE) dogs. Clinical severity (CCECAI) was evaluated from presentation (T0) to 18 months (T18) from diagnosis. T0 body condition score (BCS), selected haematological parameters and endoscopic and histopathological scores were evaluated. Presence/absence of histopathological duodenal lesions was recorded. Responders were evaluated using CCECAI at T1. Relapse was evaluated from T3 to T18. Long-term responders included dogs who responded at T1 and showed no relapse. Dogs were divided into responders/non-responders, survivors/non-survivors and relapsed/non-relapsed. At T1, 15/165 dogs (9%) were considered NRE. Sixteen dogs (11%) were considered relapsed at T3, 8% at T6 and 10% at T12, and none of 96 dogs relapsed at T18. NREs showed significantly lower BCS than IREs. Non-survivors showed a significantly lower serum albumin concentration and BCS than survivors. Non-responders, relapsed or non-survivors had higher presence of lacteal dilatation compared to long-term responders. Dogs with IRE showed a good clinical course with a low relapse rate, with only a few dogs in the NRE group. Reduction of BCS, albumin and lacteal dilatation at diagnosis may be considered negative prognostic factors for response, mortality and long-term disease remission.

Disorganization of intercalated discs in dilated cardiomyopathy

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a primary myocardial disease, the pathology of which is left ventricular or biventricular dilation and impaired myocardial contractility. The clinical and pathological diagnosis of DCM is difficult, and other cardiac diseases must be ruled out. Several studies have reported pathological findings that are characteristic of DCM, including cardiomyocyte atrophy, nuclear pleomorphism, and interstitial fibrosis, but none of these findings are DCM-specific. In this study, we examined the morphological differences in the intercalated discs (ICDs) between three groups of patients, a DCM group, a chronic heart failure group, and a control group. A total of 22 autopsy cases, including five DCM cases, nine CHF cases and eight control cases, were retrieved from the archives of the Department of Pathology at Akita University, Japan. The morphological differences were examined using multiple methods: macroscopic examination, light microscopy, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and gene expression analyses. We observed disorganized ICDs, clearly illustrated by N-cadherin immunostaining in the DCM group. “Reduction of N-cadherin immunostaining intensity” and “ICD scattering” was DCM-specific. The results suggest that disorganized ICDs contribute to the development of DCM, and that N-cadherin immunostaining is useful for determining the presence of disorganized ICDs and for the pathological diagnosis of DCM.

The use of saliva steroids (cortisol and DHEA-s) as biomarkers of changing stress levels in people with dementia and their caregivers: A pilot study

The rationale was to explore the efficacy/sensitivity of using morning and evening cortisol levels as biomarkers for stress reduction in persons with dementia (PWDs) and their family caregivers (FCGs) participating in a music intervention program. Thirty-two PWD and their FGC were recruited to an 8-week, home-based music intervention program. Daily home-based collection of saliva samples took place at bedtime and upon awakening. Cortisol was analyzed in the morning and evening saliva samples and DHEA-s in the morning samples. Trends over 40 workdays (15–40 observations per subject) were assessed using linear regression analysis. Twenty-three PWD (72% of invited, 16 men and 7 women, age 69–93) and 24 caregivers (75%, 8 men and 16 women, age 37–90) completed the intervention for at least 6 weeks and were included in the analysis. One-fourth of the PWD and FCG had decreasing evening cortisol, accompanied by decreasing morning cortisol levels. In one-fourth of the participants the ratio between cortisol and DHEA-S in the morning samples was improved, indicating improved balance between energy mobilization and regeneration. Several participants showed no significant endocrine change. There was a statistically significant (two-sided test) correlation within the PWD-caregiver dyads in evening cortisol trend and a statistically significant decrease (two-sided test) in the morning-evening cortisol slope for the FCG group. Reduction in stress, as measured by evening cortisol, was observed in a substantial number of the participants. Recording endocrine stress is helpful for the unbiased assessment of the intervention.