What is Recovery? Functioning and Recovery Stories of Self-Identified People in Recovery in a Services User Group and Their Peer Networks in Birmingham England

The study was based on a peer snowballing method involving members of a service users group in Birmingham, United Kingdom, who were asked to identify and interview members of their peer networks who had achieved “sustained recovery” of one year. Two hundred and nineteen individuals were recruited who defined themselves as being in recovery, consisting of 132 individuals in medication maintained recovery and 87 in abstinent recovery. Those in maintained recovery were more anxious about using heroin and had lower self-efficacy, worse physical health, poorer quality of life, and more peer group members still using. Being older was associated with greater quality of life (rather than time since last use) supporting a “maturing out” hypothesis.     

Delayed Recovery of Myocardial Blood Flow After Intracoronary Stem Cell Administration

The aim of the present study was to investigate the changes in absolute myocardial blood flow (AMF) after intracoronary injections of mesenchymal SC (MSC) and compared to controls in closed-chest reperfused acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in pigs. Male MSCs, transiently transfected with Luciferase (Luc-MSC) were delivered (9.7 ± 1.2 x 10(6)) intracoronary in the open infarct-related artery one-week post-AMI in female pigs (group MSC), while saline was injected with the same injection rate in controls (group C). The AMF was measured immediately after, and 3, 12 and 24 h post-intracoronary Luc-MSC or saline injections. In vitro bioluminescence images and quantitative real-time TaqMan PCR measurements were performed to quantify the sex-mismatched MSCs. No difference between the groups was observed regarding the weight, heart rate, blood pressure and global ejection fraction 1-week post-AMI. The baseline AMF were similar in the groups (61.3?±?15. vs 61.1?±?12.0 ml/min). AMF was decreased significantly immediately after intracoronary MSC delivery (42.0?±?12.4 vs 57.7?±?15.7 ml/min p?=?0.013), and remained low at 3 h (40.9?±?13.4 vs 55.8?±?4.9 ml/min, p?=?0.004), 12 h (43.0?±?3.7 vs 57.8?±?5.4 ml/min, p?=?0.001) with incomplete recovery at 24 h (47.2?±?5.5 vs 62.1?±?14.1 ml/min, p?=?0.038) as compared to controls, respectively. In vitro bioluminescence displayed transfected Luc-MSCs along the proximal and mid part of the LAD, with limited number (295?±?101 sry copied/million cardiac cells) of Y-chromosome-MSCs in the infarcted area. Intracoronary injection of SCs results in immediate decrease of AMF, with delayed recovery. The delivery of the SC into the injured myocardium might be hindered by the altered coronary pressure and flow conditions.     

Histopathological aspects and local implications of oxidative stress in patients with oral lichen planus

Aerobic life is connected with continuous production of free radicals, particularly reactive oxygen species (ROS). Cells posses an enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant system to maintain redox homeostasis. Oxidant-antioxidant imbalance resulting in excessive accumulation of ROS is defined as oxidative stress. Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammation of unknown etiology. Several researchers suggest that oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of this disorder. The aim of this study was to evaluate the histopathological alterations and the status of local oxidative stress and antioxidant defense system in patients with OLP. We evaluated and compared the local levels of oxidative stress biomarkers malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) in patients with OLP with that of normal controls. Increased levels of MDA and decreased levels of GSH suggest the idea of oxidative stress implication in the pathogenesis of oral lichen planus.     

Persistent Moderate-to-Weak Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Low Scoring for Plant-Based Foods across Several Southern European Countries: Are We Overlooking the Mediterranean Diet Recommendations?

The Mediterranean diet (MD) has been sponsored worldwide as a healthy and sustainable diet. Our aim was to update and compare MD adherence and food choices across several Southern European countries: Spain (SP), Portugal (PT), Italy (IT), Greece (GR), and Cyprus (CY) (MED, Mediterranean), and Bulgaria (BG) and the Republic of North Macedonia (NMK) (non-MED, non-Mediterranean). Participants (N = 3145, ≥18 y) completed a survey (MeDiWeB) with sociodemographic, anthropometric, and food questions (14-item Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener, 14-MEDAS). The MED and non-MED populations showed moderate (7.08 ± 1.96) and weak (5.58 ± 1.82) MD adherence, respectively, with significant yet small differences across countries (SP > PT > GR > IT > CY > BG > NMK, p-value < 0.001). The MED participants scored higher than the non-MED ones for most of the Mediterranean-typical foods, with the greatest differences found for olive oil (OO) and white meat preference. In most countries, ≥70% of the participants reported quantities of red meat, butter, sweet drinks, and desserts below the recommended cutoff points, whereas <50% achieved the targets for plant-based foods, OO, fish, and wine. Being a woman and increasing age were associated with superior adherence (p-value < 0.001), but differences were rather small. Our results suggest that the campaigns carried out to support and reinforce the MD and to promote plant-based foods have limited success across Southern Europe, and that more hard-hitting strategies are needed.     

Hydro-distillation and microwave-assisted distillation of Sideritis raeseri: Comparison of the composition of the essential oil,hydrolat and residual water extract

Sideritis raeseri is widely used as a tea in the traditional medicine of many Mediterranean, Balkan, and Middle East countries. In this study, microwave-assisted hydro-distillation (MAHD) at different power levels (180 W, 360 W, and 600 W) of Sideritis raeseri essential oil was compared in terms of extraction time, yield, qualitative analysis, and operational cost with the conventional method of hydro-distillation (HD). Obtained essential oil, as well as hydrolats and residual water extracts, were chemically characterized. An extraction time of 16–32 min with MAHD at different powers provided yields of 0.61–0.67%, while HD gave 0.01% after 141 min. The main constituents in all essential oils were oxygenated sesquiterpenes, and their content was higher in MAHD (32.93–51.42%) than in oil from HD (17.62%). HD oil was characterized by higher concentration of oxygenated monoterpenes (14.95%) in relation to MAHD oil (8.87–14.16%). The essential oil obtained by MAHD at 600 W has a higher content of diterpenes (13.26%) than HD oil (8.59%). All hydrolats displayed the highest content of oxygenated monoterpenes. The highest contents of 8-hydroxyflavone 7-allosylglucosides compounds in residual water extracts were obtained by applying higher (600 W) microwave power. MAHD could be selected as a more appropriate extraction technique for S. reaseri essential oil than HD with respect to the extraction time, quality, and energy savings above 99%.     

The induction of apoptosis in pre-malignant keratinocytes by omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is inhibited by albumin

The long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have been reported to exert anti-cancer effects. At this study we tested the effect of the omega-3 PUFA, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), on pre-malignant keratinocytes growth in the well-characterised human pre-malignant epidermal cell line, HaCaT and attempted to identify a PUFA serum antagonist. Both EPA and DHA inhibited HaCaT growth and induced apoptosis. At the 10% (v/v) foetal bovine serum (FBS) medium, limited growth inhibition (3–20% for 50 μM DHA and EPA respectively) and negligible apoptosis were observed with PUFA use. However, at 3% (v/v) FBS medium, 30–50 μM of PUFA caused impressive levels of growth inhibition (82–83% for 50 μM DHA and EPA respectively) and increase of apoptosis (8–19% increase in 72 h). None of the numerous serum growth factors present in FBS or the antioxidant n-tert-butyl-α-phenylnitrone could inhibit the PUFA-induced cytotoxicity. In contrast, bovine and human albumin (0.1–0.3%, w/v) significantly antagonized the growth inhibitory and apoptosis-inducing effects of PUFA. In conclusion, we have shown for the first time that omega-3 PUFA inhibit the growth and induce apoptosis of pre-malignant keratinocytes and identified albumin as a major antagonistic factor in serum that could limit their effectiveness at pharmacologically-achievable doses.     

Predictive value of diagnostic tests in polytrauma patients with abdominal and craniocerebral injuries

In a study on 1024 polytrauma patients with craniocerebral injury, abdominal injury was present in 206 (20.11%) of them. In order to identify the intraabdominal organs injury, physical examination and specific diagnostic tests will be used. Their value was calculated by means of informational indices. The main indices, sensitivity, positive predictive value and accuracy were: for physical examination = 81.06%, 90.3%, 94.72%; for peritoneal lavage = 94.17%, 95.12%, 97.94%; for abdominal computed tomography = 98.44%, 97.65% and 99.25%. As one might expect the abdominal computed tomography is the most accurate method for the diagnosis of intraabdominal organs injuries.     

MDMA (ecstasy): neuroendocrine and behavioral features

Long lasting 5HT system impairment has been demonstrated in experimental animals exposed to ecstasy use; MDMA seems to be able to induce behavioral conditioning and reiterated use because of its dopaminergic action. Among behavioral aspects of ecstasy users mood disorders, irritability and difficult in relationships, interpersonal difficulties, high levels of impulsiveness and hostility, high sensation seeking, cognitive and attentive deficit have been reported. A derangement of serotonin system function was reported also in humans exposed to ecstasy, as confirmed by neuroendocrine challenges and brain imaging techniques. Recent researches suggest functional changes in dopaminergic system too. The persistence of behavioral and neuroendocrine changes many months after MDMA's discontinuation, indicate a lack of reversibility in the dysfunction induced by ecstasy, or the persistence of psychobiological traits that could preexist to MDMA exposure, possibly involved in substance abuse vulnerability.     

Both apoptosis and complement membrane attack complex deposition are major features of murine acute graft-vs.-host disease

The parent-into-F1 mouse model (P-->F1) of acute graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) is a useful model of human acute GVHD because it allows the study of the T cell contribution to pathology without the complicating effects of conditioning regimens. To determine the similarity of this model to human GVHD, we assessed injury in organs typically involved in human acute GVHD (skin, liver) and less typically involved organs (spleen, kidney, lung). Mice were assessed histologically at early (2 weeks), intermediate (3 months) and late (6 month) time points. Based on the emerging roles of Fas ligand killing and complement deposition in allograft rejection, we correlated the amount of tissue specific TUNEL positive apoptosis and deposition of complement (C5b-9) with histopathologic changes. Our results indicate a striking similarity histologically between acute GVHD occurring in this model and in humans following bone marrow transplant. Moreover, C5b-9 deposition and apoptotic cell accumulation were found to parallel tissue injury in major organs of acute GVHD mice, although not all organs exhibited the same kinetic pattern. These results indicate a role for both adaptive immunity and innate immunity in this model of GVHD and support its use in modeling human acute GVHD in the nonmyeloablative setting.