Conectar
by Allison P. Pack, Mary Clare Masters, Rachel O’Conor, Kenya Alcantara, Sophia Svoboda, Reneaki Smith, Fangyu Yeh, Guisselle Wismer, Amisha Wallia, Stacy C. Bailey
BackgroundOlder adults with HIV are at increased risk of developing certain chronic health conditions including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). As the number and complexity of conditions increases, so do treatment and health care needs. We explored patient and clinician preferences for HIV+T2DM care and perceived solutions to improving care.
MethodsWe conducted an exploratory qualitative study comprised of individual in-depth interviews. Participants included English-speaking patients aged 50 and older living with HIV and T2DM and infectious disease (ID) and primary care (PC) clinicians from a large academic health center in Chicago. Thematic analysis drew from the Framework Method.
ResultsA total of 19 patient and 10 clinician participants were interviewed. Many patients reported seeking HIV and T2DM care from the same clinician; they valued rapport and a ‘one-stop-shop’. Others reported having separate clinicians; they valued perceived expertise and specialty care. Nearly all clinicians reported comfort screening for T2DM and initiating first line oral therapy; ID clinicians reported placing referrals for newer, complex therapies. Patients would like educational support for T2DM management; clinicians would like to learn more about newer therapies and easier referral processes.
ConclusionsPatient-centered care includes managing T2DM from a variety of clinical settings for individuals with HIV, yet strategies are needed to better support clinicians. Future research should examine how best to implement these strategies.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a mental health screening form for early identification and care escalation of mental health issues in general settings. A secondary aim was to explore general nurses' use of the form and their confidence to discuss mental health issues with patients.
A cross-sectional design comprising a review of clinical records to determine use of the form, instances of missed care and escalation to the mental health team. The survey focused on nurses' confidence in general settings to engage in discussions with patients about mental health. Data were collected from April to December 2022. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology Statement guided this study.
Of 400 patient records, 397 were analysed; 293 (73.8%) of those had mental health screening by nurses. Age was a significant factor, with younger patients more likely to be screened although concerns were typically recognized in older patients. Of the 20 patients identified with mental health concerns, 9 (45%) were referred for further evaluation by the Clinical Liaison Team. While nurses were proactive in assessing physical risks, assessing risk factors that required deeper conversations with patients, including psychiatric history, was lacking. The survey highlighted fewer than half of the respondents (46%, n = 10) felt competent to engage in discussions about mental health; however, most (59%, n = 13) knew when to seek a mental health referral.
General nurses have a role in the early identification and referral of patients with mental health challenges. However, training is imperative to facilitate deeper patient interactions concerning mental health. Integrating mental health checks within general settings is crucial for early detection and intervention, aligning with global quality care standards.
STROBE guidelines.
We received feedback that shaped the research protocol from a consumer representative.
Nurses, assuming a wide range of clinical and patient care responsibilities in a healthcare team, are highly susceptible to direct and indirect exposure to traumatic experiences. However, literature has shown that nurses with certain traits developed a new sense of personal strength in the face of adversity, known as post-traumatic growth (PTG). This review aimed to synthesize the best available evidence to evaluate personal and work-related factors associated with PTG among nurses.
Mixed studies systematic review.
Studies examining factors influencing PTG on certified nurses from all healthcare facilities were included. Published and unpublished studies were identified by searching 12 databases from their inception until 4th February 2023. Two reviewers independently screened, appraised, piloted a data collection form, and extracted relevant data. Meta-summary, meta-synthesis, meta-analysis, as well as subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed. Integration of results followed result-based convergent design.
A total of 98 studies with 29,706 nurses from 18 countries were included. These included 49 quantitative, 42 qualitative, and seven mixed-methods studies. Forty-six influencing factors were meta-analyzed, whereas nine facilitating factors were meta-summarized. A PTG conceptual map was created. Four constructs emerged from the integration synthesis: (a) personal system, (b) work-related system, (c) event-related factors, and (d) cognitive transformation.
The review findings highlighted areas healthcare organizations could do to facilitate PTG in nurses. Practical implications include developing intervention programs based on PTG facilitators. Further research should examine the trend of PTG and its dynamic response to different nursing factors.
Research on trauma-focused therapies targeting nurses' mental health is lacking. Therefore, findings from this review could inform healthcare organizations on the PTG phenomenon and developing support measures for nurses through healthcare policies and clinical practice.
The rapid growth of the ageing population underscores the critical need for dementia care training among care providers. Innovative virtual reality (VR) technology has created opportunities to improve dementia care training. This scoping review will specifically focus on the barriers, facilitators and impacts of implementing fully immersive VR training for dementia care among staff in long-term care (LTC) settings.
We will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute’s scoping review methodology to ensure scientific rigour. We will collect literature of all languages with abstracts in English from CINAHL, Medline, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science and ProQuest database until 31 December 2023. Grey literature from Google Scholar and AgeWell websites will be included. Inclusion criteria encompass papers involving paid staff (Population), fully immersive VR training on dementia care (Concept) and LTC settings (Context). Literature referring only to non-paid caregivers, non-fully immersive VR or other chronic diseases will be excluded. Literature screening, data extraction and analysis will be conducted by two reviewers separately. We will present a narrative summary with a charting table on the main findings.
This work does not require ethics approval, given the public data availability for this scoping review. Through a comprehensive overview of the current evidence regarding impacts, barriers and facilitators on this topic, potential insights and practical recommendations will be generated to support the implementation of VR training to enhance staff competence in LTC settings. The findings will be presented in a journal article and shared with practitioners on the frontline.
The effectiveness of antibiotics for treating gonococcal infections is compromised due to escalating antibiotic resistance; and the development of an effective gonococcal vaccine has been challenging. Emerging evidence suggests that the licensed meningococcal B (MenB) vaccine, 4CMenB is effective against gonococcal infections due to cross-reacting antibodies and 95% genetic homology between the two bacteria, Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, that cause the diseases. This project aims to undertake epidemiological and genomic surveillance to evaluate the long-term protection of the 4CMenB vaccine against gonococcal infections in the Northern Territory (NT) and South Australia (SA), and to determine the potential benefit of a booster vaccine doses to provide longer-term protection against gonococcal infections.
This observational study will provide long-term evaluation results of the effectiveness of the 4CMenB vaccine against gonococcal infections at 4–7 years post 4CMenB programme implementation. Routine notifiable disease notifications will be the basis for assessing the impact of the vaccine on gonococcal infections. Pathology laboratories will provide data on the number and percentage of N. gonorrhoeae positive tests relative to all tests administered and will coordinate molecular sequencing for isolates. Genome sequencing results will be provided by SA Pathology and Territory Pathology/New South Wales Health Pathology, and linked with notification data by SA Health and NT Health. There are limitations in observational studies including the potential for confounding. Confounders will be analysed separately for each outcome/comparison.
The protocol and all study documents have been reviewed and approved by the SA Department for Health and Well-being Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC/2022/HRE00308), and the evaluation will commence in the NT on receipt of approval from the NT Health and Menzies School of Health Research Human Research Ethics Committee. Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific meetings and public forums.
This study aimed to investigate the caregiving behaviours and supportive needs of caregivers of patients with HIV/AIDS and provide a basis for healthcare institutions to carry out caregiver interventions.
A purposive sampling method was used to select 11 caregivers of patients with HIV/AIDS in the Infectious Disease Department of a tertiary hospital in Nanjing, China, to conduct semistructured interviews. Colaizzi analysis was used to collate and analyse the interview data.
All interviews were conducted at a tertiary hospital specialising in infectious diseases in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.
We purposively sampled 11 caregivers of people with HIV/AIDS, including nine women and two men.
Analysing the results from the perspective of iceberg theory, three thematic layers were identified: behavioural, value and belief. The behavioural layer includes a lack of awareness of the disease, physical and mental coping disorders, and an increased sense of stigma; the values layer includes a heightened sense of responsibility, the constraints of traditional gender norms, the influence of strong family values and the oppression of public opinion and morality and the belief layer includes the faith of standing together through storms and stress.
Healthcare professionals should value the experiences of caregivers of patients with HIV/AIDS and provide professional support to improve their quality of life.
To follow SARS-CoV-2-infected persons up to 18 months after a positive test in order to assess the burden and nature of post acute symptoms and health problems.
Persons in Denmark above 15 years of age, who were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during 1 September 2020 to 21 February 2023 using a RT-PCR test. As a reference group, three test-negative individuals were selected for every two test-positive individuals by matching on test date.
In total, 2 427 913 invitations to baseline questionnaires have been sent out and 839 528 baseline questionnaires (34.5%) have been completed. Females, the age group 50–69 years, Danish-born and persons, who had received at least one SARS-CoV-2 vaccination booster dose were more likely to participate. Follow-up questionnaires were sent at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12 and 18 months after the test, with response rates at 42%–54%.
New participants have been recruited on a daily basis from 1 August 2021 to 23 March 2023. Data collection will continue until the last follow-up questionnaires (at 18 months after test) have been distributed in August 2024.
The term primary progressive aphasia (PPA) describes a group of language-led dementias. Disease-modifying treatments that delay, slow or reverse progression of PPA are currently lacking, though a number of interventions to manage the symptoms of PPA have been developed in recent years. Unfortunately, studies exploring the effectiveness of these interventions have used a variety of different outcome measures, limiting comparability. There are more constructs, apart from word retrieval, that are important for people with PPA that have not received much attention in the research literature. Existing core outcome sets (COS) for dementia and non-progressive aphasia do not meet the needs of people with PPA, highlighting a need to develop a specific COS for PPA.
This protocol describes a three-stage study to identify a COS for PPA interventions in research and clinical practice. The stage 1 systematic review will identify existing speech, language and communication measures used to examine the effectiveness of interventions for PPA in the research literature. Employing a nominal group technique, stage 2 will identify the most important outcomes for people with PPA and their families. The data collected in stages 1 and 2 will be jointly analysed with the project PPI group and will inform the stage 2 modified Delphi consensus study to identify a core outcome measurement set for PPA among a range of research disciplines undertaking intervention studies for people with PPA.
Ethical approval for stage 2 of the study has been sought individually in each country at collaborating institutions and is stated in detail in the manuscript. Stage 3 has been granted ethical approval by the Chairs of UCL Language and Cognition Department Ethics, Project ID LCD-2023-06. Work undertaken at stages 1, 2 and 3 will be published in open-access peer-reviewed journal articles and presented at international scientific conferences.
CRD42022367565.
Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder of lipid metabolism and a preventable cause of premature cardiovascular disease. Current detection rates for this highly treatable condition are low. Early detection and management of FH can significantly reduce cardiac morbidity and mortality. This study aims to implement a primary-tertiary shared care model to improve detection rates for FH. The primary objective is to evaluate the implementation of a shared care model and support package for genetic testing of FH. This protocol describes the design and methods used to evaluate the implementation of the shared care model and support package to improve the detection of FH.
This mixed methods pre-post implementation study design will be used to evaluate increased detection rates for FH in the tertiary and primary care setting. The primary-tertiary shared care model will be implemented at NSW Health Pathology and Sydney Local Health District in NSW, Australia, over a 12-month period. Implementation of the shared care model will be evaluated using a modification of the implementation outcome taxonomy and will focus on the acceptability, evidence of delivery, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, implementation cost and timely initiation of the intervention. Quantitative pre-post and qualitative semistructured interview data will be collected. It is anticipated that data relating to at least 62 index patients will be collected over this period and a similar number obtained for the historical group for the quantitative data. We anticipate conducting approximately 20 interviews for the qualitative data.
Ethical approval has been granted by the ethics review committee (Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Zone) of the Sydney Local Health District (Protocol ID: X23-0239). Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and an end-of-study research report to stakeholders.
by Francesco Di Gennaro, Francesco Vladimiro Segala, Giacomo Guido, Mariacristina Poliseno, Laura De Santis, Alessandra Belati, Carmen Rita Santoro, Irene Francesca Bottalico, Carmen Pellegrino, Roberta Novara, Luisa Frallonardo, Mariangela Cormio, Michele Camporeale, Sergio Cotugno, Vincenzo Giliberti, Stefano Di Gregorio, Valentina Totaro, Nicola Catucci, Anna De Giosa, Roberta Giusto, Ilaria Viviana Lanera, Gioacchino Angarano, Sergio Lo Caputo, Annalisa Saracino
High School students, recognized as a high-risk group for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), were the focal point of an educational campaign in Southern Italy to share information and good practices about STIs and HIV/AIDS. A baseline survey comprising 76 items was conducted via the REDCap platform to assess students’ initial knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to STIs and HIV/AIDS. Sociodemographic variables were also investigated. The association between variables and KAP score was assessed by Kruskal-Wallis’ or Spearman’s test, as appropriate. An ordinal regression model was built to estimate the effect size, reported as odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI), for achieving higher KAP scores among students features. On a scale of 0 to 29, 1702 participants achieved a median KAP score of 14 points. Higher scores were predominantly reported by students from classical High Schools (OR 3.19, 95% C.I. 1.60–6.33, pby Milhan Chaze, Laurent Mériade, Corinne Rochette, Mélina Bailly, Rea Bingula, Christelle Blavignac, Martine Duclos, Bertrand Evrard, Anne Cécile Fournier, Lena Pelissier, David Thivel, on behalf of CAUVIM-19 Group
BackgroundWork on long COVID-19 has mainly focused on clinical care in hospitals. Thermal spa therapies represent a therapeutic offer outside of health care institutions that are nationally or even internationally attractive. Unlike local care (hospital care, general medicine, para-medical care), their integration in the care pathways of long COVID-19 patients seems little studied. The aim of this article is to determine what place french thermal spa therapies can take in the care pathway of long COVID-19 patients.
MethodsBased on the case of France, we carry out a geographic mapping analysis of the potential care pathways for long COVID-19 patients by cross-referencing, over the period 2020–2022, the available official data on COVID-19 contamination, hospitalisations in intensive care units and the national offer of spa treatments. This first analysis allows us, by using the method for evaluating the attractiveness of an area defined by David Huff, to evaluate the accessibility of each French department to thermal spas.
ResultsUsing dynamic geographical mapping, this study describes two essential criteria for the integration of the thermal spa therapies offer in the care pathways of long COVID-19 patients (attractiveness of spa areas and accessibility to thermal spas) and three fundamental elements for the success of these pathways (continuity of the care pathways; clinical collaborations; adaptation of the financing modalities to each patient). Using a spatial attractiveness method, we make this type of geographical analysis more dynamic by showing the extent to which a thermal spa is accessible to long COVID-19 patients.
ConclusionBased on the example of the French spa offer, this study makes it possible to place the care pathways of long COVID-19 patients in a wider area (at least national), rather than limiting them to clinical and local management in a hospital setting. The identification and operationalization of two geographical criteria for integrating a type of treatment such as a spa cure into a care pathway contributes to a finer conceptualization of the construction of healthcare pathways.
by Luiza Mesesan-Schmitz, Claudiu Coman, Carmen Stanciu, Venera Bucur, Laurentiu Gabriel Tiru, Maria Cristina Bularca
This study was designed to explore mothers’ perceptions about changes in parenting behavior in the middle of the pandemic COVID 19 period. Based on the convergent mixed-method design and Parental Stress model, we illustrated these changes by taking into account the impact of the pandemic perceived by mothers and the resources they had available. Research on parenting changes was important in the Romanian context because, in that challenging period, there were no regulations to safeguard parents, especially single parents as mothers. Mothers experienced increased levels of stress, some of them having to leave their jobs to stay at home with their children. Other mothers needed to work from home and in the meantime to take care of their children. In this context we wanted to illustrate the possible changes that occurred in their parenting behavior during the pandemic period. Results from the quantitative survey showed that there is a moderate correlation between the negative impact felt by mothers and the negative changes in their parenting behavior, and this correlation was diminished by a series of resources such as: social support, parenting alliance, or high income. Qualitative data provided better understanding of mothers’ parenting behavior by showing that mothers shared both positive and negative experiences during the pandemic, regardless of the general trend mentioned. As shown by the quantitative data, the qualitative data also showed that mothers who felt more strongly the impact of the pandemic reported more negative changes in their parenting behavior. The positive changes most frequently stated involved expressing affection and communicating more often on various topics, carrying out leisure activities or activities meant to help with the personal development of the child, and involving children in domestic activities. Mothers mostly described negative aspects such as too much involvement in school life, increased control and surveillance of children, especially when it comes to school related activities and to the time children were allowed to spend on their digital devices. These changes led to conflicts and sometimes, mothers resorted to discipline practices. In addition to the resources identified in quantitative research, mothers with higher education and medium–high income also turned to specialized resources (psychologists, online courses, support groups) in order to manage conflicts, them being able to see the challenges of the pandemic as an opportunity to develop and improve the relationship with their children.Hip osteoarthritis (OA) is a major cause of pain and disability worldwide. Lack of effective therapies may reflect poor knowledge on its aetiology and risk factors, and result in the management of end-stage hip OA with costly joint replacement. The Worldwide Collaboration on OsteoArthritis prediCtion for the Hip (World COACH) consortium was established to pool and harmonise individual participant data from prospective cohort studies. The consortium aims to better understand determinants and risk factors for the development and progression of hip OA, to optimise and automate methods for (imaging) analysis, and to develop a personalised prediction model for hip OA.
World COACH aimed to include participants of prospective cohort studies with ≥200 participants, that have hip imaging data available from at least 2 time points at least 4 years apart. All individual participant data, including clinical data, imaging (data), biochemical markers, questionnaires and genetic data, were collected and pooled into a single, individual-level database.
World COACH currently consists of 9 cohorts, with 38 021 participants aged 18–80 years at baseline. Overall, 71% of the participants were women and mean baseline age was 65.3±8.6 years. Over 34 000 participants had baseline pelvic radiographs available, and over 22 000 had an additional pelvic radiograph after 8–12 years of follow-up. Even longer radiographic follow-up (15–25 years) is available for over 6000 of these participants.
The World COACH consortium offers unique opportunities for studies on the relationship between determinants/risk factors and the development or progression of hip OA, by using harmonised data on clinical findings, imaging, biomarkers, genetics and lifestyle. This provides a unique opportunity to develop a personalised hip OA risk prediction model and to optimise methods for imaging analysis of the hip.
Patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) have an increased cancer risk. The aim of this study was to determine cancer-related mortality in CHD patients compared with non-CHD controls, compare ages at cancer diagnosis and death, and explore the most fatal cancer diagnoses.
Registry-based cohort study.
CHD patients born between 1970 and 2017 were identified using Swedish Health Registers. Each was matched by birth year and sex with 10 non-CHD controls. Included were those born in Sweden with a cancer diagnosis.
Cancer developed in 758 out of 67814 CHD patients (1.1%), with 139 deaths (18.3%)—of which 41 deaths occurred in patients with genetic syndromes. Cancer was the cause of death in 71.9% of cases. Across all CHD patients, cancer accounted for 1.8% of deaths. Excluding patients with genetic syndromes and transplant recipients, mortality risk between CHD patients with cancer and controls showed no significant difference (adjusted HR 1.17; 95% CI 0.93 to 1.49). CHD patients had a lower median age at cancer diagnosis—13.0 years (IQR 2.9–30.0) in CHD versus 24.6 years (IQR 8.6–35.1) in controls. Median age at death was 15.1 years (IQR 3.6–30.7) in CHD patients versus 18.5 years (IQR 6.1–32.7) in controls. The top three fatal cancer diagnoses were ill-defined, secondary and unspecified, eye and central nervous system tumours and haematological malignancies.
Cancer-related deaths constituted 1.8% of all mortalities across all CHD patients. Among CHD patients with cancer, 18.3% died, with cancer being the cause in 71.9% of cases. Although CHD patients have an increased cancer risk, their mortality risk post-diagnosis does not significantly differ from non-CHD patients after adjustements and exclusion of patients with genetic syndromes and transplant recipients. However, CHD patients with genetic syndromes and concurrent cancer appear to be a vulnerable group.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a causative virus for the common cold worldwide and can result in hospitalisations and even death in patients with high-risk conditions and older adults. However, the relationship between RSV or other incidental respiratory infections and acute exacerbations of underlying conditions has not been well investigated. The primary objective of this study is to estimate RSV prevalence, risk factors for adverse outcomes or hospitalisation and their effect on the hospital course of patients with acute respiratory symptoms admitted from emergency departments. Furthermore, we evaluate the prevalence of other respiratory viruses associated with respiratory symptoms.
We are conducting a multicentre prospective cohort study in Japan. We plan to enrol 3000 consecutive patients admitted from emergency departments with acute respiratory symptoms or signs from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. A nasopharyngeal swab is obtained within 24 hours of admission and the prevalence of RSV and other respiratory viruses is measured using the FilmArray Respiratory 2.1 panel. Paired serum samples are collected from patients with suspected lower respiratory infections to measure RSV antibodies at admission and 30 days later. Information on patients’ hospital course is retrieved from the electronic medical records at discharge, death or 30 days after admission. Furthermore, information on readmission to the hospital and all-cause mortality is collected 180 days after admission. We assess the differences in clinical outcomes between patients with RSV or other respiratory viruses and those without, adjusting for baseline characteristics. Clinical outcomes include in-hospital mortality, length of hospital stay, disease progression, laboratory tests and management of respiratory symptoms or underlying conditions.
The study protocol was approved by the institutional review boards of participating hospitals. Our study reports will be published in academic journals as well as international meetings.
As the incidence of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) increases, better treatments that improve healing should reduce complications of these ulcers including infections and amputations. We conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing outcomes between a novel purified reconstituted bilayer membrane (PRBM) to the standard of care (SOC) in the treatment of non-healing DFUs. This study included 105 patients who were randomized to either of two treatment groups (n = 54 PRBM; n = 51 SOC) in the intent to treat (ITT) group and 80 who completed the study per protocol (PP) (n = 47 PRBM; n = 33 SOC). The primary endpoint was the percentage of wounds closed after 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes included percent area reduction, time to healing, quality of life, and cost to closure. The DFUs that had been treated with PRBM healed at a higher rate than those treated with SOC (ITT: 83% vs. 45%, p = 0.00004, PP: 92% vs. 67%, p = 0.005). Wounds treated with PRBM also healed significantly faster than those treated with SOC with a mean of 42 versus 62 days for SOC (p = 0.00074) and achieved a mean wound area reduction within 12 weeks of 94% versus 51% for SOC (p = 0.0023). There were no adverse events or serious adverse events that were related to either the PRBM or the SOC. In comparison to the SOC, DFUs healed faster when treated with PRBM. Thus, the use of this PRBM is an effective option for the treatment of chronic DFUs.
by Juan F. Zapata-Acevedo, Mónica Losada-Barragán, Johann F. Osma, Juan C. Cruz, Andreas Reiber, Klaus G. Petry, Amael Caillard, Audrey Sauldubois, Daniel Llamosa Pérez, Aníbal José Morillo Zárate, Sonia Bermúdez Muñoz, Agustín Daza Moreno, Rafaela V. Silva, Carmen Infante-Duarte, William Chamorro-Coral, Rodrigo E. González-Reyes, Karina Vargas-Sánchez
Chronic neuroinflammation is characterized by increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, leading to molecular changes in the central nervous system that can be explored with biomarkers of active neuroinflammatory processes. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has contributed to detecting lesions and permeability of the BBB. Ultra-small superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide (USPIO) are used as contrast agents to improve MRI observations. Therefore, we validate the interaction of peptide-88 with laminin, vectorized on USPIO, to explore BBB molecular alterations occurring during neuroinflammation as a potential tool for use in MRI. The specific labeling of NPS-P88 was verified in endothelial cells (hCMEC/D3) and astrocytes (T98G) under inflammation induced by interleukin 1β (IL-1β) for 3 and 24 hours. IL-1β for 3 hours in hCMEC/D3 cells increased their co-localization with NPS-P88, compared with controls. At 24 hours, no significant differences were observed between groups. In T98G cells, NPS-P88 showed similar nonspecific labeling among treatments. These results indicate that NPS-P88 has a higher affinity towards brain endothelial cells than astrocytes under inflammation. This affinity decreases over time with reduced laminin expression. In vivo results suggest that following a 30-minute post-injection, there is an increased presence of NPS-P88 in the blood and brain, diminishing over time. Lastly, EAE animals displayed a significant accumulation of NPS-P88 in MRI, primarily in the cortex, attributed to inflammation and disruption of the BBB. Altogether, these results revealed NPS-P88 as a biomarker to evaluate changes in the BBB due to neuroinflammation by MRI in biological models targeting laminin.
FreshRSS 