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Previous studies have revealed that muscle atrophy emerges as a significant challenge faced by astronauts during prolonged missions in space. A loss in muscle mass results in a weakening of skeletal muscle strength and function, which will not only contribute to a decline in overall physical performance but also elevate the risk of various age-related diseases. Skeletal muscle atrophy in the microgravity environment is thought to be associated with changes in energy metabolism, protein metabolism, calcium ion homeostasis, myostatin levels, and apoptosis. Modulating some pathways could be a promising approach to mitigating muscle atrophy in the microgravity environment. This review serves as a comprehensive summary of research on the impact of microgravity on skeletal muscle, with the aim of providing insights into its pathogenesis and the development of effective treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intramuscular injections of progesterone (P4) are common during assisted reproduction, which can cause painful injection area reactions, and the current study was therefore initiated to determine whether P4 was involved in these adverse local effects. Female Sprague–Dawley rats were given daily intramuscular injection of vehicle oil or P4‐in‐oil with or without dermal administration of ketoprofen (Ket) gel at right biceps femoris muscle of hindlimb for 5 weeks. It was found that rats receiving repeated vehicle oil injections developed nociception‐related behaviours together with induration formation and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) damage, indicating that the vehicle oil contributed to the side‐effect reactions. Interestingly, P4 injections caused more nociception‐related behaviours than those of vehicle oil as reflected by both nociception score and muscle withdrawal threshold evaluations, which were impressively relieved by Ket. In fact, P4 induced higher induration occurrence rate with larger volume that was alleviated by Ket. Further ELISA assays supported that P4 rather than vehicle oil profoundly elevated inflammatory factor levels. Moreover, an extensive upregulation of Nav1.8 was observed at L2, L3, and L5 of DRG in response to P4, indicating a sole role of P4 in Nav1.8 upregulation. Collectively, P4 may contribute to the painful injection area reactions via stimulating inflammation and DRG Nav1.8 upregulation in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Aim Design Methods Results Conclusion Impact Reporting Method Patient or Public Contribution To explore lung transplant recipients' perceptions of well‐being when they are facing uncertain health outcomes, including identifying the factors to enhance well‐being.A qualitative descriptive study.A purposive sample of 11 lung transplantation recipients who were hospitalised in the Department of Organ Transplantation of a tertiary university hospital was recruited in China. A descriptive qualitative study using thematic analysis of semistructured interviews. Themes were organised within a PERMA model. Colaizzi's qualitative analysis was used to analyse the data.Five major themes and 11 categories were generated: (1) mindset shift [optimism and hope and living in the moment]; (2) meaning in life [self‐care, priority change and value realisation]; (3) health benefits [improved health and behavioural changes]; (4) perceived support [support from family, the health care team and others]; (5) unmet support needs.Lung transplant recipients could perceive well‐being from five aspects that caused significantly favourable transformation across a variety of aspects in patients' lives. These findings may support nursing staff when caring for this patient group, making them aware of multifaceted nature of well‐being. They could offer insight into potential pathways for the development of nurse‐led tailored interventions, based on specific elements of PERMA model.This work adds to a growing body of knowledge about well‐being amongst lung transplant patients. These findings may support nursing staff when caring for this patient group, making them aware of multifaceted nature of well‐being and illustrating factors that promote positive well‐being in this group, based on specific elements of PERMA model.This study followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist.Two lung transplant recipients were involved in the early phases of this study. They helped in formulating the interview outline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgrounds: Improving quality of life (QOL) is one of the main aims of lung transplantation (LTx). There is a need to identify those who have poor quality of life early. However, research addressing inter individual quality of life variability among them is lacking. This study aims to identify group patterns in quality of life among lung transplant recipients and examine the predictors associated with quality of life subgroups., Methods: In total, 173 lung transplant recipients were recruited from one hospital in Guangdong Province between September 2022 and August 2023. They were assessed using the Lung Transplant Quality of Life scale (LT-QOL), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Life Orientation Test-Revised scale (LOT-R), and Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). Latent profile analysis was used to identify QOL subtypes, and logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations between latent profiles and sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics., Results: Two distinct QOL profiles were identified: "low HRQOL" profile [ N  = 53 (30.94%)] and "high HRQOL" profile [ N  = 120 (69.06%)]. Single lung transplant recipients, and patients who reported post-transplant infection, high levels of negative emotion or low levels of mindfulness and optimism were significantly correlated with the low QOL subgroup., Conclusion: Using the domains of the LT-QOL scale, two profiles were identified among the lung transplant recipients. Our findings highlighted that targeted intervention should be developed based on the characteristics of each latent class, and timely attention must be paid to patients who have undergone single lung transplantation, have had a hospital readmission due to infection, exhibit low levels of optimism, low levels of mindfulness or high negative emotions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Song, Luo, Liu, Zhou, Huang, Ju, Chen, Wong, Chen, Tan, Miao, Ma and Chen.)

Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the post-lung transplant survival and complications of connective tissue disease (CTD)-related interstitial lung disease (ILD) and/or pulmonary arterial hypertension with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)., Methods: The clinical data of patients with CTD-ILD or IPF who received lung transplantation between 2015 and 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Cumulative survival rates after transplantation were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method., Results: The study included 31 patients with confirmed CTD-ILD and 98 with IPF. Patients with CTD-ILD were significantly younger (53.2 ± 13.7 vs. 62.3 ± 7.2 years, p=0.001) and more likely female (61.3% vs. 7.1%, p<0.001) than patients with IPF. No significant difference was noticed in the 1-year and 5-year survival rates between CTD-ILD and IPF patients (1-year, 73.2% vs 71.4%, p=0.76; 5-year, 69.1% vs. 39.5%, p=0.21). The incidence of primary graft dysfunction was significantly higher in CTD-ILD patients (90.3% vs. 70.4%, p=0.03), while there was no significant difference in primary graft dysfunction-related mortality (6.5% vs. 6.1%, p=0.95) between the two groups., Conclusions: There was no significant difference in post-lung transplant survival and complications between CTD-ILD and IPF.

Purpose: To investigate the quality of life and influence factors in patients awaiting lung transplantation., Methods: Fifty five participants who waited for lung transplantation were enrolled and received multiple surveys including Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaires (SF-36), Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Perceiving Social Support Scale (PSSS)., Results: The subjects awaiting lung transplant scored ranging from (23.18±37.53) to (74.57±26.02) regarding SF-36, significantly lower than norms (p<0.01); they scored (48.09±9.06) and ( 52.18±9.98) in SAS and SDS respectively, which were significant higher compared with norms (p<0.01), the patients scored (5.56±1.04) regarding social total support factor in PSSS questionnaire, and the scores of family support factor was significantly higher than that of outside family support factor (p<0.05). Single factor analysis revealed that the factors affecting quality of life included monthly family per capita income, medical cost source, dyspnea, BMI, anxiety, depression, and social support (p<0.05). Multiple factor analysis screened dyspnea (p<0.001) and depression (p<0.05) as influence factors of quality of life in patients awaiting lung transplantation., Conclusion: Affected by various factors, the quality of life in patients awaiting lung transplant surgery is relatively poor, among which dyspnea and depression are dominant influence factors. Therefore, clinicians should take psychological and physiological measures to effectively enhance the quality of life in patients awaiting lung transplantation.