The use of the Impact on Sibling scale with families of children with chronic illness and developmental disability

Objective   This study evaluated the Impact on Sibling scale, a six-item measure of parents' perception of the effects of a child's illness on healthy siblings.
Methods   Participants were 122 parents of a child with chronic illness, developmental disability, or autism spectrum disorder, and a well sibling aged 4–13 years. Parents completed the Impact on Sibling scale and the Child Behavior Checklist about the sibling, and completed the revised Impact on Family scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory about themselves.
Results   The Impact on Sibling score was correlated with measures of sibling, parent and family functioning. The internal consistency of the Impact on Sibling scale was higher for families with children with chronic illness compared with the other two diagnostic groups.
Conclusion   The Impact on Sibling scale is a brief set of items that can help identify siblings who are negatively affected by a brother/sister's illness. Findings support further research on the Impact on Sibling scale, particularly with families of children with chronic illnesses.     

Mild gentamicin nephrotoxicity reduces the progression of chronic adriamycin nephrosis

SUMMARY: The effect of mild acute tubular injury on the progression of tubulointerstitial fibrosis was studied in pair-fed uninephrectomized male Wistar rats with established adriamycin nephrosis ( n = 34). Rats were stratified into three groups according to endogenous creatinine clearance (CrCl), proteinuria (Upr) and body weight (BW): (i) group 1 (Fe, n = 12) received a single intraperitoneal injection of ferric nitrilotriacetate (5 mg Fe/kg BW); (ii) group 2 (G, n = 10) three daily subcutaneous injections of gentamicin (60 mg/kg BW) and; (iii) group 3 (C, n = 12) saline injections. Serial CrCl (day 2, day 5, weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8) and renal histology (week 8) were examined following administration of nephrotoxin. CrCl was reduced on d2 (Fe: 0.78 ± 0.23 mL/min; mean ± SD) and day 5 (G: 0.91 ± 0.36 mL/min) as compared with C (1.22 ± 0.12 mL/min; P <0.05). There was no change in the serum creatinine and functional recovery occurred by d5 (Fe) and week 2 (G). Upr decreased transiently in G at week 2 (G: 482 ± 208 mg/day vs C: 716 ± 233; P = 0.05) despite similar food intake, baseline Upr and CrCl. At week 8, CrCl in Fe (0.84 ± 0.40 mL/min) was similar to C (0.84 ± 0.58 mL/min), whereas in G it remained stable (1.27 ± 0.39 mL/min; P <0.05). By morphometric analysis, mean relative interstitial volume (RIV) and glomerulosclerosis (GS) in Fe (RIV: 28.5 ± 13.4%; GS: 10.3 ± 12.3%) was no different to C (RIV: 24.5 ± 12.5%; GS: 20.9 ± 20.0%), whereas both parameters were reduced in G (RIV: 14.1 ± 8.1%; GS: 4.0 ± 4.8%; P <0.05). Mild gentamicin nephrotoxicity therefore reduced the progression of adriamycin nephrosis. the mechanism of this finding is unclear, but it may relate to altered glomerular and tubular cell handling of protein.     

Inhibition of cytochrome P-450c-mediated benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylase and ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase by dihydrosafrole

1. Inhibitory activity of dihydrosafrole towards benzo[a]pyrene (BP) hydroxylase activity in hepatic microsomes from beta-naphthoflavone (BNF)-induced rats, and in reconstituted systems containing cytochrome P-450c, increased dramatically on preincubation of the inhibitor with NADPH; no inhibition occurred without preincubation. The level of BP hydroxylase inhibition was associated with the progressive formation of the 456 nm dihydrosafrole metabolite-cytochrome P-450c spectral complex during preincubation. 2. Inhibition of BP hydroxylase by dihydrosafrole in control microsomes, and inhibition of ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) in microsomes (control or BNF-induced) and in reconstituted systems with cytochrome P-450c, did not require preincubation and apparently was not dependent on prior formation of the dihydrosafrole metabolite-cytochrome P-450 complex. 3. Kinetic studies established that, following preincubation with NADPH, dihydrosafrole was a noncompetitive inhibitor of both BP hydroxylase and EROD activities. In the absence of preincubation, dihydrosafrole was an effective competitive inhibitor of EROD in BNF-induced microsomes and in reconstituted systems with cytochrome P-450c. 4. Both ethoxyresorufin and benzo[a]pyrene inhibited the development of the type I optical difference spectrum of dihydrosafrole in reconstituted systems containing cytochrome P-450c. Inhibition by ethoxyresorufin was competitive while that caused by benzo[a]pyrene was noncompetitive in nature. 5. The type II ligand phenylimidazole was an effective noncompetitive inhibitor of EROD activity but failed to exert any inhibitory effect on cytochrome P-450c-mediated BP hydroxylase activity. Phenylimidazole inhibited formation of the dihydrosafrole type I optical difference spectrum non-competitively. 6. The results indicate that ethoxyresorufin and benzo[a]pyrene may occupy different binding sites on cytochrome P-450c and that dihydrosafrole binds primarily to the site utilized by ethoxyresorufin.     

The outcome of ganglion clipping in hyperhidrosis and blushing

A total of 114 patients with various sympathetic disorders underwent endoscopic sympathetic block over different thoracic ganglions by the clipping method. The advantages of this method include the recognition of the clipped level, changeability, and reversibility. However, 4.4% of patients were unilaterally clipped at the wrong level.