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A lower fasting plasma concentration of cholesterol in large HDL particles was found in healthy male carriers of the Cys82 polymorphism compared to noncarriers, both in the OBB (

 = .004) and RbG studies (

 = .005). In addition, the Cys82 polymorphism was associated with low fasting plasma concentrations of ApoA1 (

 = .008) in the OBB cohort. On the contrary, we did not find differences in postprandial lipemia or 2-hour plasma glucose levels.

Taken together, our results indicate an association between the Arg82Cys variant and a lower concentration of HDL particles and HDLc, especially in larger HDL subclasses, suggesting a link between nepmucin and HDLc metabolism or maturation.

Taken together, our results indicate an association between the Arg82Cys variant and a lower concentration of HDL particles and HDLc, especially in larger HDL subclasses, suggesting a link between nepmucin and HDLc metabolism or maturation.

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune connective tissue disease in which there is activation of the immune system, vascular disease and fibrosis. Activation of quiescent fibroblasts to myofibroblasts is key to disease pathogenesis. Gremlin-1 is a bone morphogenetic protein antagonist which is important in development and we recently reported in skin fibrosis. The aim of this study was to determine the serum circulating levels of Gremlin-1 in early diffuse systemic sclerosis.

Twenty-one early diffuse systemic sclerosis patients (less than 2 years from first non-Raynaud’s symptom) were included and age and sex-matched healthy controls. Serum was isolated from blood and measured with a specific enzyme-linked immunoassay for Gremlin-1. Clinical variables were also measured.

Significantly elevated Gremlin-1 was found in sera of early diffuse systemic sclerosis patients (

< 0.001). In patients with interstitial lung disease, this compared to systemic sclerosis without evidence of interstitial lung disease, Gremlin-1 was significantly elevated (

< 0.0007). A correlation was found between circulating Gremlin-1 and modified Rodnan Skin Score, albeit weak.

In early diffuse systemic sclerosis patients, elevated Gremlin-1 is found in serum. This is particularly prominent in systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease. This suggests that Gremlin-1 may be a biomarker for systemic sclerosis interstitial lung disease.

In early diffuse systemic sclerosis patients, elevated Gremlin-1 is found in serum. This is particularly prominent in systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease. This suggests that Gremlin-1 may be a biomarker for systemic sclerosis interstitial lung disease.

Gastrointestinal manifestations of systemic sclerosis affect up to 90% of patients, with symptoms including diarrhea and constipation. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is a condition associated with increased numbers of pathogenic bacteria in the small bowel. While currently unknown, it has been suggested that dysregulation of the fecal microbiota may play a role in the development of systemic sclerosis and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

Our study aimed to describe the fecal microbiota of patients with systemic sclerosis and compare it between those with and without a diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. We also compared the fecal microbiota of systemic sclerosis patients with that of healthy controls to understand the association between particular bacterial taxa and clinical gastrointestinal manifestations of systemic sclerosis.

A total of 29 patients with systemic sclerosis underwent breath testing to assess for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, provided stool samplesintestinal bacterial overgrowth and systemic sclerosis when compared to healthy controls. As a cross-sectional study, the potential pathophysiologic role of an altered microbiome in the development of systemic sclerosis was not considered and hence needs to be further investigated.

Our results suggest that changes to the fecal microbiome occur in patients with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and systemic sclerosis when compared to healthy controls. As a cross-sectional study, the potential pathophysiologic role of an altered microbiome in the development of systemic sclerosis was not considered and hence needs to be further investigated.Joint distribution between two or more variables could be influenced by the outcome of a conditioning variable. In this paper, we propose a flexible Wald-type statistic to test for such influence. The test is based on a conditioned multivariate Kendall’s tau nonparametric estimator. The asymptotic properties of the test statistic are established under different null hypotheses to be tested for, such as conditional independence or testing for constant conditional dependence. Two simulation studies are presented The first shows that the estimator proposed and the bandwidth selection procedure perform well. The second presents different bivariate and multivariate models to check the size and power of the test and runs comparisons with previous proposals when appropriate. The results support the contention that the test is accurate even in complex situations and that its computational cost is low. As an empirical application, we study the dependence between some pillars of European Regional Competitiveness when conditioned on the quality of regional institutions. We find interesting results, such as weaker links between innovation and higher education in regions with lower institutional quality.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11749-022-00806-1.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11749-022-00806-1.

Individuals experiencing homelessness or criminal justice involvement (CJI) have higher rates of substance use than the general public. Despite documented barriers to accessing treatment, few studies have compared substance use treatment patterns between these groups.

This paper uses data from the Treatment Episode Dataset-Admissions between 2006 to 2018 to describe characteristics and trends in substance use treatment admissions indicating homelessness (n=2,524,413), CJI (4,764,750), both (509,902), or neither (8,950,797) in the United States. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine trends independent of demographic differences between groups.

Between 2006 and 2018, the proportion of treatment admissions related to heroin increased across all groups. Methamphetamine-related admissions rose substantially for individuals experiencing homelessness, CJI, or both. By 2018, 27·8% (95% CI 27·4-28·2%) of admissions for individuals experiencing both were methamphetamine-related and 16·7% (95% CI 16·3-17·0%) were heroin-related. Conversely, among individuals experiencing neither, 7·5% (95% CI 7·4-7·5%) of admissions were methamphetamine-related and 33·6% (95% CI 33·4-33·7%) were heroin-related. Individuals experiencing both homelessness and CJI received lower rates of medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) (8·3%; 95% CI 8·2-8·3%) compared to individuals experiencing neither (36·4%; 95% CI 36·4-36·4%).

Community treatment facilities should be supported to provide medications for OUD and accommodate rising rates of methamphetamine and polysubstance-related treatment admissions in populations experiencing complex social drivers of health such as homelessness, CJI, or both.

National Institute of General Medical Sciences and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

National Institute of General Medical Sciences and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of 2019 has dramatically changed the life of both individuals and corporate businesses. Besides the health fears of the pandemic, there are sizable challenges for some jobs that habitually deliver their services face-to-face, disrupting the quality of service. In particular, external auditors, the most critical and reliable accreditors of financial reports, are in an unprecedented situation to conduct audit works and collect sufficient and appropriate audit evidence. To capture how COVID-19 affects auditors in Saudi Arabia, an online questionnaire was developed and distributed from April to August 2021 via email to all 417 auditors/audit firms registered with the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA). check details This dataset contains responses from 193 auditors, in four major sections demographic information (7 items); audit effort during COVID-19 (3 items); auditor performance during COVID-19 (7 items); and remote audit proficiency (6 items). It may serve for theoretical and practical assessment for auditors in the time of COVID-19, for example, evaluating how auditors conduct their work during the lockdown and how remote audit proficiency impacts the effort and performance of auditors. In addition, it can be used to assess the differences between auditors by considering the moderating effect of their personal characteristics on the impact of remote audit proficiency on both effort and performance.This paper presents three datasets (.csv) providing raw data of three surveys about self-reported behavior, attitudes, and emotions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Data for Study 1 comes from a German sample, while data for Study 2 and Study X come from U.S. samples. For each survey, data was collected online through different survey software. The surveys contained items concerning self-reported ambivalence (two measures) regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and preventive measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, self-reported adherence to these preventive measures, and sociodemographic variables. Data can be used for re-analyses and exploratory purposes and comparisons between German and U.S. citizens in the domain of adherence, attitudes, and emotions.

Platelets are not only involved in hemostasis and coagulation, but play a significant role in innate immunity and inflammatory response. Excess production of cytokines and acute phase reactants affect megakaryopoiesis resulting in the release of immature platelets from the bone marrow altering platelet indices.

To study platelet indices in RT-PCR-proven COVID patients and non-COVID patients.

A case-control study was conducted on 199 COVID-19 patients and 198 normal individuals. Blood samples were analyzed in an automated hematology analyzer. The platelet indices like platelet count, mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), platelet large cell count (PLCC), and platelet large cell ratio (P-LCR) were compared among two groups.

Platelet count in COVID-19 patients were significantly low (p<0.01) compared to controls, and a significant number of COVID-19 patients had thrombocytopenia. Plateletcrit (PCT) was also significantly decreased in COVID-19 patients compared to non-COVID individuals. MPV, PDW, and PLCR were significantly (p<0.05) high in COVID-19 patients in comparison to controls, but was not significantly raised in a large number of cases. In contrast, there were no significant differences in platelet large cell count (PLCC) values between COVID-19 cases and non-COVID-19 controls.

Platelet indices like platelet count, PCT, MPV, PDW, and P-LCR are significantly altered in COVID-19 infection and thereby can be used as biomarkers in COVID-19. Further research is needed to find if these simple, cost-effective parameters can be used to predict the severity and prognosis in COVID-19 infection.

Platelet indices like platelet count, PCT, MPV, PDW, and P-LCR are significantly altered in COVID-19 infection and thereby can be used as biomarkers in COVID-19. Further research is needed to find if these simple, cost-effective parameters can be used to predict the severity and prognosis in COVID-19 infection.