Disability and suicidal behaviors among women of reproductive age

Archives of Women's Mental Health - Limited research exists on suicidal behaviors among women with disabilities. This study examined disability, suicidal behaviors, and associated health...     

Caring for a relative with dementia: family caregiver burden

AIM: This paper is a report of part of a study to investigate the burden experienced by families giving care to a relative with dementia, the consequences of care for the mental health of the primary caregiver and the strategies families use to cope with the care giving stressors. BACKGROUND: The cost of caring for people with dementia is enormous, both monetary and psychological. Partners, relatives and friends who take care of patients experience emotional, physical and financial stress, and care giving demands are central to decisions on patient institutionalization. METHOD: A volunteer sample of 172 caregiver/care recipient dyads participated in the study in Cyprus in 2004-2005. All patients were suffering from probable Alzheimer's type dementia and were recruited from neurology clinics. Data were collected using the Memory and Behaviour Problem Checklist, Burden Interview, Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale and Ways of Coping Questionnaire. FINDINGS: The results showed that 68.02% of caregivers were highly burdened and 65% exhibited depressive symptoms. Burden was related to patient psychopathology and caregiver sex, income and level of education. There was no statistically significant difference in level of burden or depression when patients lived in the community or in institutions. High scores in the burden scale were associated with use of emotional-focused coping strategies, while less burdened relatives used more problem-solving approaches to care-giving demands. CONCLUSION: Caregivers, especially women, need individualized, specific training in how to understand and manage the behaviour of relatives with dementia and how to cope with their own feelings.     

Un effort limite peut-IL modifier les valeurs de reference des parametres sanguins?Does mild exercise affect the reference values of the blood parameters?

After mild exercise, plasma levels of total cholesterol, creatinine, uric acid, total bilirubin, potassium and sodium exhibit only small variations.Some others plasma parameters, however, such as calcium, phosphorus, total proteins, glucose and urea, do show significant variations. These modifications are not important for diagnosis but must be taken into account for the definition of reference values.     

Exploring preschool teachers’ professional profiles in Swedish preschool: a latent class analysis

This article explores preschool teachers’ professional profiles in Sweden. Considering various educational policy reforms in Sweden the last decades, this study is grounded in interactionist perspectives and Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model. A set of multiple professional indicators related to preschool teachers’ educational background, personal characteristics and their working context were analysed applying latent class analysis as a person-oriented approach. The sample consists of 698 preschool teachers across different preschools in 46 municipalities in Sweden. The analysis revealed two subgroups of preschool teachers’ professional profiles: (a) late educated (after the introduction of preschool curriculum in 1998) and (b) early educated (before the introduction of preschool curriculum in 1998). The pattern of graduation year, experience, continuous professional development and specified assignment in preschool was the most distinctive pattern across these profiles. Findings add to the ongoing debate on preschool teachers’ professionalization suggesting an alternative analytic approach examining multiple indicators characterizing preschool teachers’ professional profiles.     

Evaluating wood volume estimates derived from Quickbird imagery with GEOBIA for Pinus nigra trees in the Pentalofo forest,northern Greece

The objective of this research was to evaluate wood volume estimates of Pinus nigra trees in forest stands, which were derived utilizing Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis. Information on forest parameters such as wood volume and number of trees is useful for forest management facilitating forest sustainability. Most of the existing approaches used to estimate wood volume of forest trees require field measurements, which are laboursome. In this study, the collected field data were utilized only in order to investigate the results. Wood volume was estimated based on an individual tree crown approach and using monoscopic satellite images in combination with allometric data. The study area is the Pentalofo forest, which is located in Kozani prefecture in western Macedonia, Northern Greece. About 1 plot surface of 0.1143 ha was utilized. During the preprocessing, a pansharpened image was produced from two Quickbird satellite images (one multispectral image of 2.4 m spatial resolution and one panchromatic image of 0.6 m spatial resolution). Bands of this image were utilized single or in combination in order to delineate the tree crowns individually. The allometric equation served in order to calculate the tree Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) utilizing the detected tree crowns. The evaluation was conducted on three levels: (i) number of trees, (ii) DBH class distribution and (iii) wood volume. On the third level, the evaluation procedure was conducted twice; once using field height and once without. The difference between the results and the field data for the wood volume reached a maximum of approximately 30%. The total number of trees was exactly the same as counted in the field and the DBH distribution showed a tendency for the trees to move to a higher DBH class, resulting in an overestimation of the wood volume.     

Expression analysis of proteins involved in the non homologous end joining DNA repair mechanism, in the bone marrow of adult de novo myelodysplastic syndromes

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are characterized by genetic instability which is associated with abnormal DNA repair mechanisms. The most lethal type of DNA damage are double strand DNA breaks (DSBs), which are mainly repaired by Non Homologous End Joining Mechanism (NHEJ), whose core enzyme components include the Ku70/Ku80 heterodimer, DNA–PKcs, XRCC4 and DNA Ligase IV. The aim of the present study was the analysis of expression of proteins required for NHEJ in bone marrow cells of adult de novo MDS and their association with clinical characteristics and prognosis. Our analysis included 48 cases of MDS; 19 RA, 5 RARS, 19 RAEB, 3 RAEB-T, 1 CMML, 1 transformation to AML according to FAB classification. The expression of the enzymes Ku70, Ku80, XRCC4, DNA-PKcs and Ligase IV was determined by Western Blotting. The mean Ligase IV expression value was significantly lower in MDS patients compared to normal controls (0.53 vs. 0.78, p?=?0.03). A negative correlation was found between karyotype risk group and Ligase IV values. (p?=?0.05). Moreover, Ku70 expression levels were significantly lower in patients with a good prognosis karyotype (p?=?0.04). Furthermore, a negative correlation between Ku70 expression values and Hb levels was observed (p?=?0.04). Finally, a positive correlation was observed between enzyme Ku70 expression values and level of blasts (p?=?0.04). Our findings suppor-t a potential role of NHEJ enzyme Ligase IV in the pathogenesis of MDS. Larger numbers of cases need to be screened in order to draw definite conclusion.     

A simple and sensitive GC/MS method for the determination of atropine during therapy of anticholinesterase poisoning in serum samples

Atropine is used in the daily clinical practice for the treatment of poisonings caused by anticholinesterase pesticides, due to its sympathomimetic action. The investigation of the cause of the adverse effects that appear during atropine administration showed the necessity for the development and validation of a simple, rapid, sensitive, and specific method for the determination of atropine levels in serum samples. The developed method includes liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate: dichloromethane (3:1, v/v) and derivatization using N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoracetamide (BSTFA) with 1% trimethylchlorsilane (TMCS) in acetonitrile environment. The method was found to be selective, linear, accurate, and precise according to international guidelines. The recovery was higher than 85.9%, the limit of quantification was 2.00?ng/ml, and the calibration curve was linear within the range of 2.00-500?ng/ml (R(2) ≥?0.992). Accuracy and precision were also calculated and were found to be less than 5.2 and 8.7%, respectively. The developed method was applied in a real case of accidental poisoning with chlorpyrifos in order to determine the atropine serum levels of the patient. The proposed method proved to be useful for the investigation of adverse effects that appear during atropine treatment of patients poisoned by anticholinesterase pesticides and it can also be used for the investigation of poisonings caused after consumption of atropine containing plants.     

Capsule endoscopy retention as a helpful tool in the management of a young patient with suspected small-bowel disease

Capsule endoscopy is an easy and painless procedure permitting visualization of the entire small-bowel during its normal peristalsis. However, important problems exist concerning capsule retention in patients at risk of small bowel obstruction. The present report describes a young patient who had recurrent episodes of overt gastrointestinal bleeding of obscure origin, 18 years after small bowel resection in infancy for ileal atresia. Capsule endoscopy was performed, resulting in capsule retention in the distal small bowel. However, this event contributed to patient management by clearly identifying the site of obstruction and can be used to guide surgical intervention, where an anastomotic ulcer is identified.     

Clinical dimensions of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenic disorders

BACKGROUND: Auditory hallucinations occupy, along with delusional beliefs, the center stage of active or "positive" psychotic clinical psychopathology. During the last decade, several sets of auditory hallucinations' clinical features were subjected to multivariate statistical analyses to disclose major dimensions of psychotic patients' overall hallucinatory experience and behavior. However, these studies failed, to a large extent, to provide satisfactory external validations of the thereby extracted factors. METHODS: We investigated the major clinical dimensions of verbal auditory hallucinations in a sample of 100 inpatients with schizophrenic disorders. Patients (61 men and 39 women) were examined before the initiation of antipsychotic treatment and their assessment included 18 major clinical features of auditory hallucinations. Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Global Assessment Scale, and Mini-Mental State Examination were used as external validators. RESULTS: Principal component analysis resulted in the extraction of 5 factors interpreted as the dimensions of severity of auditory hallucinations, emotional and behavioral impact, rate of their intrusion in self-consciousness, delusional elaboration, and similarity to ordinary auditory perception, respectively. The second and third factors extracted in our study correlated with short duration of illness, whereas the first, fourth, and fifth ones correlated with chronicity. Our second factor correlated with clinical severity of patients' current mental state, the fifth factor with severity of their cognitive impairment, and the first and fourth ones with lower clinical depression despite patients' chronicity. CONCLUSION: The findings of our study contribute to the further elucidation of the major clinical dimensions of auditory hallucinations and the testing of their external validity.