Tufts University

About: Tufts University is a education organization based out in Medford, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 32800 authors who have published 66881 publications receiving 3451152 citations. The organization is also known as: Tufts College & Universitatis Tuftensis.

Laminectomy plus Fusion versus Laminectomy Alone for Lumbar Spondylolisthesis

Abstract: BackgroundThe comparative effectiveness of performing instrumented (rigid pedicle screws affixed to titanium alloy rods) lumbar spinal fusion in addition to decompressive laminectomy in patients with symptomatic lumbar grade I degenerative spondylolisthesis with spinal stenosis is unknown. MethodsIn this randomized, controlled trial, we assigned patients, 50 to 80 years of age, who had stable degenerative spondylolisthesis (degree of spondylolisthesis, 3 to 14 mm) and symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis to undergo either decompressive laminectomy alone (decompression-alone group) or laminectomy with posterolateral instrumented fusion (fusion group). The primary outcome measure was the change in the physical-component summary score of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36; range, 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better quality of life) 2 years after surgery. The secondary outcome measure was the score on the Oswestry Disability Index (range, 0 to 100, with higher scores i...

Emotion Regulation in Older Age

Abstract: Older age is normatively associated with losses in physical, cognitive, and social domains. Despite these losses, older adults often report higher levels of well-being than do younger adults. How can we explain this enhancement of well-being? In this article, we consider one possible explanation, namely, that older adults show enhanced emotion regulation. Specifically, we propose that older adults achieve well-being by selecting and optimizing particular emotion regulation processes to compensate for changes in internal and external resources. With this framework in mind, we suggest several directions for future research.

Interleukin 1 induces interleukin 1. I: Induction of circulating interleukin 1 in rabbits in vivo and in human mononuclear cells in vitro

Abstract: Interleukin 1 (IL-1) plays an important role in host defense mechanisms by increasing body temperature, inducing the synthesis of a variety of lymphokines and hepatic acute phase proteins and acting as a chemoattractant for lymphocytes However, in some microenvironments such as injured tissue or joint spaces, elevated IL-1 levels may contribute to pathologic processes, for example, proliferation and fibrosis of tissue involved in pannus formation as well as degradation of matrix and abnormal tissue architecture To investigate potential mechanisms that may lead to excessive production of IL-1, we have examined the ability of IL-1 to participate in an amplification event by inducing its own gene expression leading to synthesis of biologically active IL-1 When injected into rabbits, recombinant human IL-1-alpha induced biphasic fevers, and during the second temperature elevation 3 hr later, a circulating pyrogenic material was detected by passive transfer of plasma to other rabbits Induction of the biphasic fever was not caused by endotoxin contamination of the recombinant IL-1 The 3-hr circulating pyrogen was heat-labile and was not residual injected IL-1-alpha Chromatographic separation of this plasma and biologic assay suggested that it was new IL-1 of rabbit origin We next incubated human blood mononuclear cells with recombinant IL-1-alpha and measured the intracellular and extracellular levels of IL-1 by bioassay using the D10G41 murine T cell line In order to control for the carryover of recombinant IL-1-alpha used to stimulate the mononuclear cells (MNC), we used neutralizing antibodies that were specific for IL-1-alpha or IL-1-beta The results of these neutralizations showed that recombinant human IL-1-alpha induces the synthesis of IL-1-beta in human MNC in vitro These results were verified with a radioimmunoassay specific for IL-1-beta At concentrations of 100 ng/ml, IL-1-alpha induced prostaglandin E2 production in the MNC culture, and this was associated with decreased production of immunoreactive IL-1-beta Adding indomethacin to the cultures prevented the decreased production of IL-1-beta induced by high concentrations of IL-1-alpha Using nonadherent MNC, we observed an increase in IL-1-beta as well as IL-1-alpha mRNA after 4 hr of exposure to recombinant IL-1-alpha These results demonstrate that IL-1-alpha induces biologically active and immunoreactive IL-1-beta from MNC in vitro and that the same concentrations of IL-1-alpha induce gene expression for both forms of IL-1(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)