Depression and anxiety levels of the mothers of children and adolescents with left ventricular assist devices

Ozbaran B, Kose S, Yagdi T, Engin C, Erermis S, Yazici KU, Noyan A, Ozbaran M. Depression and anxiety levels of the mothers of children and adolescents with left ventricular assist devices. Abstract: VADs have been used to provide treatment for end‐stage heart failure. Parents may feel overwhelmed with the VAD regimes responsibility and be affected from this process beside children. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the depressive and anxiety symptoms of mothers of the first eight children equipped with a VAD in Turkey. The mothers of eight pediatric patients living with VADs were filled BDI and STAI at first month of VAD implantation (E.I) and secondly six months after their first evaluation (E.II). In E.I, the BDI mean score of mothers was 20.87, in E.II 14.37. STAI‐S mean score was 53.37 in E.I and 43.62 in E.II. The Wilcoxon nonparametric‐paired t‐test revealed significant difference between baseline and end‐point STAI‐S scores (Z: ?2.035; p: 0.042), and for BDI scores (Z, ?1.965; p, 0.049). Prolonged usage of VAD may increase distress in parents. Psychiatric evaluation and support of the primary caregiver is important for the well‐being of the pediatric patients.     

Diffuse optical tomography with a priori anatomical information

Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) poses a typical ill-posed inverse problem with a limited number of measurements and inherently low spatial resolution. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical Bayesian approach to improve spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy by using a priori information provided by a secondary high resolution anatomical imaging modality, such as magnetic resonance (MR) or x-ray. In such a dual imaging approach, while the correlation between optical and anatomical images may be high, it is not perfect. For example, a tumour may be present in the optical image, but may not be discernable in the anatomical image. The proposed hierarchical Bayesian approach allows incorporation of partial a priori knowledge about the noise and unknown optical image models, thereby capturing the function-anatomy correlation effectively. We present a computationally efficient iterative algorithm to simultaneously estimate the optical image and the unknown a priori model parameters. Extensive numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed method avoids undesirable bias towards anatomical prior information and leads to significantly improved spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy.     

Affective temperaments in pregnancy

Aim: There are many studies on the mood disorders that occur during pregnancy, but no studies that question how affective temperaments, which are the antecedents of the mood disorders, are influenced by pregnancy. This study aims to examine the affective temperaments in women without any psychiatric diagnoses during the pregnancy period.

Method: The study included 100 pregnant women at the third trimester of their pregnancy (pregnant group) and 75 non-pregnant women (control group). Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Axis-I Disorders (SCID-I) was used for the evaluation of psychiatric disorders; Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Auto-questionnaire (TEMPS-A) was used for the evaluation of affective temperaments.

Results: The cyclothymic, irritable and anxious temperament scores of the pregnant women were significantly lower than that of the non-pregnant women (p?Conclusion: The third trimester of pregnancy is associated with significantly lower affective temperament. Future studies may help to understand the biological background of the present findings.     

Fuzzy pharmacology: theory and applications

Fuzzy pharmacology is a term coined to represent the application of fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory to pharmacological problems. Fuzzy logic is the science of reasoning, thinking and inference that recognizes and uses the real world phenomenon that everything is a matter of degree. It is an extension of binary logic that is able to deal with complex systems because it does not require crisp definitions and distinctions for the system components. In pharmacology, fuzzy modeling has been used for the mechanical control of drug delivery in surgical settings, and work has begun evaluating its use in other pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic applications. Fuzzy pharmacology is an emerging field that, based on these initial explorations, warrants further investigation.     

Monoamine oxidase-B activity in alcohol withdrawal of smokers: is there any relationship with aggressiveness?

There is a considerable inconsistency in terms of the association between alcoholism and alterations in monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the changes in platelet MAO-B activity throughout the alcohol withdrawal period and whether or not MAO-B activity differed between patients with high- and low-aggression tendency. We assayed platelet MAO-B levels spectrophotometrically in 22 male inpatients with alcohol dependence in their first and fourth weeks of withdrawal and in 20 healthy controls. Patients were divided into two high- and low-aggression subgroups according to scores obtained in a Brown-Goodwin Assessment for Life History of Aggression. Our data revealed that the significantly lower platelet MAO-B activity observed during the first week of alcohol withdrawal in patients, compared to controls, did not continue in the fourth week, and that there was no relationship between aggressiveness and MAO activity. These results suggest that low platelet MAO activity may be a state marker of alcohol withdrawal period or a result of high alcohol consumption rather than a trait marker of alcoholism.     

Cardiac involvement in myositis

After careful examination, cardiac involvement can be found in certain patients with inflammatory muscle disease. The clinical significance is not always clear, although in some patients profound disturbances can become manifest. Currently, no laboratory assay can be relied on to detect cardiac disease with 100% accuracy. Cardiac troponin I is, however, the best test currently available.     

Cetuximab and irinotecan interact synergistically to inhibit the growth of orthotopic anaplastic thyroid carcinoma xenografts in nude mice.

PURPOSE: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) remains one of the most lethal known human cancers. Targeted molecular therapy with cetuximab, a monoclonal antibody against epidermal growth factor receptor, offers new treatment potentials for patient with ATC. Cetuximab has also been reported to have synergistic effects when combined with irinotecan, a topoisomerase inhibitor. Therefore, we hypothesized that cetuximab and irinotecan would be effective in inhibiting the growth and progression of ATC in a murine orthotopic model. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: The in vitro antiproliferative effects of cetuximab and irinotecan on ATC cell line ARO were examined. We also studied the in vivo effects of cetuximab and irinotecan on the growth, invasion, and metastasis of orthotopic ATC tumors in nude mice. The in vivo antitumor efficacy of cetuximab/irinotecan combination was also compared with that of doxorubicin. RESULTS: Cetuximab alone did not show any antiproliferative or proapoptotic effect on this cell line. However, when combined with irinotecan, cetuximab potentiated the in vitro antiproliferative and proapoptotic effect of irinotecan. Cetuximab, irinotecan, and cetuximab/irinotecan combination resulted in 77%, 79%, and 93% in vivo inhibition of tumor growth, respectively. Incidences of lymph node metastasis, laryngeal invasion, and tumor microvessel density were also significantly decreased in these treatment groups. Furthermore, the cetuximab/irinotecan combination was significantly more effective than doxorubicin in inhibiting the growth of orthotopic ATC xenografts. CONCLUSIONS: Combination therapy with cetuximab/irinotecan inhibits the growth and progression of orthotopic ATC xenografts in nude mice. Given the lack of curative options for patients with ATC, combination therapy with cetuximab and irinotecan treatment warrants further study.