Cognitive–Behavioral Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress in Patients With Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial

Approximately 20% of patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to a history of cardiac arrest, device implantation, and ICD shock. There has been very little examination of treatment of PTSD symptoms in these patients. This study evaluated the effect of a specific cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention for ICD patients with high levels of PTSD symptoms: a manualized program consisting of 8 telephone sessions with a trained counselor, a patient education book, and a stress management procedure on compact disc. Participants were 193 ICD patients, who were randomized to CBT or usual cardiac care (UCC) who completed self‐report surveys at the time of recruitment and 6 and 12 months after initial measurement. Previous publication on the primary research evaluation questions reported that the CBT condition resulted in greater improvement on PTSD and depression symptoms than the UCC for the general population of ICD patients, but did not evaluate the effect on those with elevated symptoms of PTSD. The authors conducted secondary analyses of the effect of treatment on high and low PTSD symptom groups based on a cutoff for the Impact of Event Scale‐Revised (Weiss & Marmar, 1997). Participants in the CBT group who had high symptoms experienced significantly greater symptom reduction from baseline to 12 months (d = 2.44, p = .021) than the UCC group (d = 1.12). Participants with low symptoms had small reductions regardless of group assignment (d = 0.16, p = .031). ICD‐focused CBT was sufficient to produce a large, statistically significant reduction in PTSD symptoms in ICD patients with indications for treatment.     

Measuring Outcomes of Laparoscopic Anti-reflux Surgery: Quality of Life Versus Symptom Scores?

Introduction

Outcome following fundoplication for gastroesophageal reflux can be measured using objective tests, symptom scores and quality of life (QoL) measures. Which is best and how these assessments correlate is uncertain. To determine the utility of assessment measures we compared a general QoL measure (SF-36) and a disease-specific measure (GERD-hr-QoL) with symptom and satisfaction scores in individuals following fundoplication.

Methods

329 individuals underwent fundoplication between 2000 and 2015 in 2 centres in Australia and the Netherlands. Patients were assessed before and 3, 12 and 24 months after surgery using 10-point Likert scales to assess heartburn and satisfaction, the SF-36 questionnaire and the GERD-hr-QoL questionnaire. SF-36 scores were converted into component scores: Physical Component Scale (PCS) score and Mental Component Scale (MCS) score. Correlations between QoL measures and clinical outcomes were determined.

Results

Surgery relieved heartburn (7.0 vs. 0.0 median, P < 0.001) and patients were highly satisfied with the outcome (median 9.0). PCS and MCS scores improved after surgery (PCS 40.9 vs. 46.0, P < 0.001; MCS 47.6 vs. 50.3, P = 0.027). GERD-hr-QoL scores also improved after surgery (15.7 vs. 3.7, P < 0.001). Correlations between PCS and MCS scores versus heartburn and satisfaction scores were generally weak or absent. However, correlations between GERD-hr-QoL versus heartburn and satisfaction scores were moderate to strong.

Conclusion

Despite improvements in scores, the SF-36 correlated poorly with clinical outcome measures, and its use to measure outcome following fundoplication is questioned. However, the GERD-hr-QoL correlated well with the symptom scores, suggesting this disease-specific QoL measure is a better tool for assessing anti-reflux surgery outcome.

     

ERbeta1 and the ERbeta2 splice variant (ERbetacx/beta2) are expressed in distinct cell populations in the adult human testis

Estrogens can regulate germ cell function. Estrogen action is mediated via high affinity ERs; two subtypes (ERalpha and ERbeta) have been identified. We have shown previously that ERbeta is expressed in nuclei of multiple human testicular cells. A variant isoform of human (h) ERbeta (hERbetacx/2), formed by alternative splicing, has been identified in testicular cDNA libraries by two laboratories. The present study examined the expression of wild-type (ERbeta1) and variant (ERbeta2) beta receptors in human testes by 1) RT-PCR with isoform specific primers, and 2) single and double immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies raised against peptides unique to the C termini of hERbeta1 and hERbeta2. PCR products specific for ERbeta1 and ERbeta2 were amplified from cDNA pools prepared from human testes and granulosa cells. On Western blots, the anti-ERbeta1 monoclonal antibody bound to recombinant ERbeta1 and the anti-ERbeta2 monoclonal to recombinant hERbeta2. Neither bound to the other ERbeta isoform nor to recombinant ERalpha. ERbeta1 and ERbeta2 proteins were both detected in human testis. Immunoexpression of ERbeta1 was most intense in pachytene spermatocytes and round spermatids, whereas low levels of expression were detected in Sertoli cells, spermatogonia, preleptotene, leptotene, zygotene, and diplotene spermatocytes. Highest levels of expression of ERbeta2 protein were detected in Sertoli cells and spermatogonia with low/variable expression in preleptotene, pachytene, and diplotene spermatocytes. No immunostaining was detected in elongating spermatids. Most interstitial cells expressed more ERbeta2 than ERbeta1. It is speculated that the cells most susceptible to modulation by estrogenic ligands are round spermatids in which levels of expression of ERbeta1 are high. In contrast, expression of ERbeta2, an isoform that may act as a dominant negative inhibitor of ER action, in Sertoli cells and spermatogonia, could protect these cells from adverse effects of estrogens.     

Prenatal Folate and Choline Levels and Brain and Cognitive Development in Children: A Critical Narrative Review

Women’s nutritional status during pregnancy can have long-term effects on children’s brains and cognitive development. Folate and choline are methyl-donor nutrients and are important for closure of the neural tube during fetal development. They have also been associated with brain and cognitive development in children. Animal studies have observed that prenatal folate and choline supplementation is associated with better cognitive outcomes in offspring and that these nutrients may have interactive effects on brain development. Although some human studies have reported associations between maternal folate and choline levels and child cognitive outcomes, results are not consistent, and no human studies have investigated the potential interactive effects of folate and choline. This lack of consistency could be due to differences in the methods used to assess folate and choline levels, the gestational trimester at which they were measured, and lack of consideration of potential confounding variables. This narrative review discusses and critically reviews current research examining the associations between maternal levels of folate and choline during pregnancy and brain and cognitive development in children. Directions for future research that will increase our understanding of the effects of these nutrients on children’s neurodevelopment are discussed.     

SVEP1 plays a crucial role in epidermal differentiation

SVEP1 is a recently identified multidomain cell adhesion protein, homologous to the mouse polydom protein, which has been shown to mediate cell‐cell adhesion in an integrin‐dependent manner in osteogenic cells. In this study, we characterized SVEP1 function in the epidermis. SVEP1 was found by qRT‐PCR to be ubiquitously expressed in human tissues, including the skin. Confocal microscopy revealed that SVEP1 is normally mostly expressed in the cytoplasm of basal and suprabasal epidermal cells. Downregulation of SVEP1 expression in primary keratinocytes resulted in decreased expression of major epidermal differentiation markers. Similarly, SVEP1 downregulation was associated with disturbed differentiation and marked epidermal acanthosis in three‐dimensional skin equivalents. In contrast, the dispase assay failed to demonstrate significant differences in adhesion between keratinocytes expressing normal vs low levels of SVEP1. Homozygous Svep1 knockout mice were embryonic lethal. Thus, to assess the importance of SVEP1 for normal skin homoeostasis in vivo, we downregulated SVEP1 in zebrafish embryos with a Svep1‐specific splice morpholino. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a rugged epidermis with perturbed microridge formation in the centre of the keratinocytes of morphant larvae. Transmission electron microscopy analysis demonstrated abnormal epidermal cell‐cell adhesion with disadhesion between cells in Svep1‐deficient morphant larvae compared to controls. In summary, our results indicate that SVEP1 plays a critical role during epidermal differentiation.     

A clinical and immunological study of adrenocortical insufficiency (Addison's disease)

Fifty-one patients with adrenocortical insufficiency were subdivided into three groups according to the nature of their adrenal disease; twelve patients with idiopathic, twenty-three patients with probable idiopathic and sixteen patients with tuberculous adrenal insufficiency. The importance of objective confirmation of a clinical diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency is stressed and the difficulties of classification of many patients with adult onset adrenal insufficiency are discussed. Idiopathic and probable idiopathic adrenal insufficiency had a sex ratio that was predominantly female (2·5:1) with a mean age of onset of 33 years.Antibodies to adrenal cortex were detected by the methods of immunofluorescence and complement fixation. They were detected in the serum of 80% (20:25) of the females with idiopathic or probable idiopathic adrenal insufficiency and in only 10% (1:10) of the males. The titre of the adrenal antibody was low (≤32) as tested either by immunofluorescence or complement fixation. The serum of only one patient with tuberculous adrenal insufficiency reacted with adrenal tissue in the complement fixation test but the immunofluorescence method showed that this serum reacted with the vascular endothelium and not the secretory cells. No correlation was observed between the duration of the clinical illness and the presence, or absence, or titre of the adrenal antibody. Adrenal antibody was not detected in the sera of fifty-one control subjects matched for age and sex. Four of sixty-nine patients with lymphadenoid goitre, one out of ninety-three patients with diabetes mellitus and none of 230 patients with thyrotoxicosis, primary hypothyroidism or pernicious anaemia had antibody in the serum specific for adrenocortical secretory cells.There is a clinical and immunological overlap between idiopathic adrenal insufficiency and other diseases associated with autoimmune phenomena— thyroid disease, atrophic gastritis and hypoparathyroidism.It is concluded that idiopathic adrenal insufficiency belongs to a group of diseases that are characterized clinically by onset predominantly in females, by aggregation in the same group of patients, by familial tendency, by the presence of organ-specific antibodies in the serum and histologically by lymphocytic infiltration and atrophy. While only one tissue of the group may be predominantly affected, the other tissues are frequently the site of subclinical disease. There is no set order in which the different tissues are affected. Serological evidence of adrenalitis is rare in patients with thyroid disease or pernicious anaemia, but thyroiditis and gastritis are common in patients with adrenalitis.Two autopsies on patients with idiopathic adrenal insufficiency are described. One case had the classical features of adrenal atrophy with gross reduction in size of the glands, islets of secretory epithelial cells and a moderate degree of lymphocytic infiltration. In the other case, the adrenal glands were only slightly less than normal in size, there were few adrenal epithelial cells and a dense lymphocytic infiltration and some fibrosis. The histology resembled that of the thyroid in Hashimoto goitre.If the term `autoimmune'' adrenalitis is to be substituted for idiopathic adrenal insufficiency, it should be on the understanding that while autoimmune mechanisms may be of primary importance in the pathogenesis of adrenal disease this has yet to be proven.