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Fulltext Seminal Plasma Proteins Associated with The Fertility of Brahman Bulls in The Colombian Low Tropics

Chacón LJ, Yepes GD, Cardozo J, Rueda F, Castillo V, Torres A, et al.

Trop Life Sci Res, 2023 Sep;34(3):259-277.
PMID: 37860088 DOI: 10.21315/tlsr2023.34.3.14

The sperm interacts with seminal plasma proteins during its transport through the female reproductive tract to reach the oocyte. Seminal plasma proteins have been associated as biomarkers of fertility in bovine males, while two-dimensional electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels under denaturing conditions (2D-PAGE) is a useful technique for their separation, allowing their subsequent analysis with the aid of specialised software. Brahman bulls are known for their tolerance to tropical conditions such as low-quality pastures, high temperatures, and relative humidity as well as moderate resistance to infestations by parasites and insects. The present study describes the two-dimensional electrophoretic profiles of the seminal plasma proteins in the rainy and dry seasons, associating them with the fertility of Brahman bulls in the Colombian Orinoquía in a 90-days breeding season and a single-sire mating system (1 bull per 50 Brahman cows) with 60 consecutive days of rest. The fertility-related seminal plasma protein spots increased in the dry season. Likewise, a meaningful relationship was found between the protein spots that possibly coincide with the Binder of Sperm Proteins. It was also found that bulls with the highest percentages of pregnancy also had similarities in their 2D seminal plasma maps. We conclude that the seminal plasma protein profile of Brahman bulls raised in the Colombian low tropic changes between rainy and dry seasons, and such changes may influence the reproductive performance of those animals.
Clinical performance of a novel sirolimus-coated balloon in coronary artery disease: EASTBOURNE registry

Cortese B, Testa L, Di Palma G, Heang TM, Bossi I, Nuruddin AA, et al.

J Cardiovasc Med (Hagerstown), 2021 02 01;22(2):94-100.
PMID: 32740442 DOI: 10.2459/JCM.0000000000001070

AIMS: The purpose of the EASTBOURNE registry is to evaluate the immediate and long-term clinical performance of a novel sirolimus-coated balloon (SCB) in a real-world population of patients with coronary artery disease. We here present the prespecified interim analysis after the enrollment of the first 642 patients who obtained 1-year clinical follow-up.
METHODS: EASTBOURNE is a prospective, international, multicenter, all-comer investigator-driven clinical registry, which is enrolling consecutive patients treated with SCB at 42 European and Asiatic centers. Primary study endpoint is target-lesion revascularization (TLR) at 12 months. Secondary endpoints are procedural success and major adverse cardiac events through 36 months.
RESULTS: Diabetes mellitus was present in 41% of patients. Acute coronary syndrome was present in 45% of patients and de novo lesions were 55%; 83% of the in-stent restenosis (ISR) patients had drug-eluting stents restenosis. Lesion predilatation was performed in 95% of the cases and bailout stenting occurred in 7.5%. So far, 642 patients have a complete 12-month follow-up. TLR occurred in 2.5%, myocardial infarction in 2.3%, total death in 1% and major adverse cardiac events in 5.8% of patients. A prespecified analysis of comparison between ISR and de-novo lesions showed a significantly higher occurrence of TLR in the ISR population (5.4 vs. 0.2%, P = 0.0008).
CONCLUSION: The current interim analysis of 12-month follow-up of the EASTBOURNE registry shows good immediate performance and an adequate and encouraging safety profile through 12 months for this novel SCB.
Sirolimus-Coated Balloon in an All-Comer Population of Coronary Artery Disease Patients: The EASTBOURNE Prospective Registry

Cortese B, Testa L, Heang TM, Ielasi A, Bossi I, Latini RA, et al.

JACC Cardiovasc Interv, 2023 Jul 24;16(14):1794-1803.
PMID: 37495352 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcin.2023.05.005

BACKGROUND: Drug-coated balloons (DCB) represent 1 of the most promising innovations in interventional cardiology and may represent a valid alternative to drug-eluting stents. Currently, some sirolimus-coated balloons (SCB) are being investigated for several coronary artery disease applications.
OBJECTIVES: This study sought to understand the role of a novel SCB for the treatment of coronary artery disease.
METHODS: EASTBOURNE (All-Comers Sirolimus-Coated Balloon European Registry) is a prospective, multicenter, investigator-driven clinical study that enrolled real-world patients treated with SCB. Primary endpoint was target lesion revascularization (TLR) at 12 months. Secondary endpoints were procedural success, myocardial infarction (MI), all-cause death, and major adverse clinical events (a composite of death, MI, and TLR). All adverse events were censored and adjudicated by an independent clinical events committee.
RESULTS: A total population of 2,123 patients (2,440 lesions) was enrolled at 38 study centers in Europe and Asia. The average age was 66.6 ± 11.3 years, and diabetic patients were 41.5%. De novo lesions (small vessels) were 56%, in-stent restenosis (ISR) 44%, and bailout stenting occurred in 7.7% of the patients. After 12 months, TLR occurred in 5.9% of the lesions, major adverse clinical events in 9.9%, and spontaneous MI in 2.4% of the patients. The rates of cardiac/all-cause death were 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively. The primary outcome occurred more frequently in the ISR cohort (10.5% vs 2.0%; risk ratio: 1.90; 95% CI: 1.13-3.19). After multivariate Cox regression model, the main determinant for occurrence of the primary endpoint was ISR (OR: 5.5; 95% CI: 3.382-8.881).
CONCLUSIONS: EASTBOURNE, the largest DCB study in the coronary field, shows the safety and efficacy of a novel SCB in a broad population of coronary artery disease including small vessels and ISR patients at mid-term follow-up. (The All-Comers Sirolimus-Coated Balloon European Registry [EASTBOURNE]; NCT03085823).
Perceiving societal pressure to be happy is linked to poor well-being, especially in happy nations

Dejonckheere E, Rhee JJ, Baguma PK, Barry O, Becker M, Bilewicz M, et al.

Sci Rep, 2022 02 17;12(1):1514.
PMID: 35177625 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-04262-z

Happiness is a valuable experience, and societies want their citizens to be happy. Although this societal commitment seems laudable, overly emphasizing positivity (versus negativity) may create an unattainable emotion norm that ironically compromises individual well-being. In this multi-national study (40 countries; 7443 participants), we investigate how societal pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive and clinical indicators of well-being around the world, and examine how these relations differ as a function of countries' national happiness levels (collected from the World Happiness Report). Although detrimental well-being associations manifest for an average country, the strength of these relations varies across countries. People's felt societal pressure to be happy and not sad is particularly linked to poor well-being in countries with a higher World Happiness Index. Although the cross-sectional nature of our work prohibits causal conclusions, our findings highlight the correlational link between social emotion valuation and individual well-being, and suggest that high national happiness levels may have downsides for some.
Fulltext Social mindfulness predicts concern for nature and immigrants across 36 nations

Kirkland K, Van Lange PAM, Van Doesum NJ, Acevedo-Triana C, Amiot CE, Ausmees L, et al.

Sci Rep, 2022 Dec 21;12(1):22102.
PMID: 36543793 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25538-y

People cooperate every day in ways that range from largescale contributions that mitigate climate change to simple actions such as leaving another individual with choice - known as social mindfulness. It is not yet clear whether and how these complex and more simple forms of cooperation relate. Prior work has found that countries with individuals who made more socially mindful choices were linked to a higher country environmental performance - a proxy for complex cooperation. Here we replicated this initial finding in 41 samples around the world, demonstrating the robustness of the association between social mindfulness and environmental performance, and substantially built on it to show this relationship extended to a wide range of complex cooperative indices, tied closely to many current societal issues. We found that greater social mindfulness expressed by an individual was related to living in countries with more social capital, more community participation and reduced prejudice towards immigrants. Our findings speak to the symbiotic relationship between simple and more complex forms of cooperation in societies.
Beyond the 'east-west' dichotomy: Global variation in cultural models of selfhood

Vignoles VL, Owe E, Becker M, Smith PB, Easterbrook MJ, Brown R, et al.

J Exp Psychol Gen, 2016 08;145(8):966-1000.
PMID: 27359126 DOI: 10.1037/xge0000175

Markus and Kitayama's (1991) theory of independent and interdependent self-construals had a major influence on social, personality, and developmental psychology by highlighting the role of culture in psychological processes. However, research has relied excessively on contrasts between North American and East Asian samples, and commonly used self-report measures of independence and interdependence frequently fail to show predicted cultural differences. We revisited the conceptualization and measurement of independent and interdependent self-construals in 2 large-scale multinational surveys, using improved methods for cross-cultural research. We developed (Study 1: N = 2924 students in 16 nations) and validated across cultures (Study 2: N = 7279 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations) a new 7-dimensional model of self-reported ways of being independent or interdependent. Patterns of global variation support some of Markus and Kitayama's predictions, but a simple contrast between independence and interdependence does not adequately capture the diverse models of selfhood that prevail in different world regions. Cultural groups emphasize different ways of being both independent and interdependent, depending on individualism-collectivism, national socioeconomic development, and religious heritage. Our 7-dimensional model will allow future researchers to test more accurately the implications of cultural models of selfhood for psychological processes in diverse ecocultural contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record