The Relationship Between Maternal Fear of Hypoglycaemia and Adherence in Children with Type-1 Diabetes

Background

Regular blood glucose monitoring is important for children with type-1 diabetes; however, the relationship between maternal fear of hypoglycaemia and glycaemic control is not well understood.

Purpose

The relationship between maternal beliefs about diabetes, concerns about glycaemic control and adherence to recommended blood glucose levels in young children with type-1 diabetes were examined in this study.

Method

Seventy-one mothers with children under 13 were recruited, and a prospective design was used. Demographics, maternal self-reported hypoglycaemic fear and illness perceptions were measured at baseline. Self-report daily blood sugar levels were recorded over 1 week, and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA_1c) blood glucose levels were collected at baseline and 3 months later.

Results

High maternal fears of hypoglycaemia were predictive of suboptimal daily glycaemic control (elevated blood glucose levels), irrespective of illness duration or age at diagnosis.

Conclusion

The results suggest that mothers who worry most about hypoglycaemia compensate by maintaining their child’s blood glucose levels above recommended levels. Elevated blood glucose levels have important consequences for long-term health, and further research could explore ways to target maternal fear of hypoglycaemia.     

Update in the methodology of the chronic stress paradigm: internal control matters

To date, the reliability of induction of a depressive-like state using chronic stress models is confronted by many methodological limitations. We believe that the modifications to the stress paradigm in mice proposed herein allow some of these limitations to be overcome. Here, we discuss a variant of the standard stress paradigm, which results in anhedonia. This anhedonic state was defined by a decrease in sucrose preference that was not exhibited by all animals. As such, we propose the use of non-anhedonic, stressed mice as an internal control in experimental mouse models of depression. The application of an internal control for the effects of stress, along with optimized behavioural testing, can enable the analysis of biological correlates of stress-induced anhedonia versus the consequences of stress alone in a chronic-stress depression model. This is illustrated, for instance, by distinct physiological and molecular profiles in anhedonic and non-anhedonic groups subjected to stress. These results argue for the use of a subgroup of individuals who are negative for the induction of a depressive phenotype during experimental paradigms of depression as an internal control, for more refined modeling of this disorder in animals.     

Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation of hepatic tumors against the diaphragm: frequency of diaphragmatic injury

PURPOSE: To retrospectively determine the frequency of diaphragmatic injury when percutaneous hepatic radiofrequency (RF) ablation is performed adjacent to the diaphragm. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Institutional Review Board approval was obtained for our HIPAA-compliant study. Informed consent for the ablation procedure and for use of related data for future research was obtained from each patient. A retrospective review was conducted of 215 patients undergoing percutaneous RF ablation of hepatic tumors. Twenty-nine patients (21 men and eight women; age, 41-89 years) were identified with tumors abutting the diaphragm. Episodes of right shoulder pain were recorded. A panel of radiologists blinded to the patients' clinical histories reviewed their imaging for evidence of diaphragmatic injury and ablation success. A generalized estimating equation model and the Fisher exact test were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The 29 patients had a total of 33 tumors abutting the diaphragm. Tumor size was 1.3-5.5 cm (mean, 3.2 cm +/- 1.1). After ablation, five (17%) patients reported right shoulder pain. In four, pain was mild or moderate, with symptoms lasting 2-14 days (median, 5.5 days). Three of these showed diaphragmatic thickening on postablation computed tomographic (CT) scans. One patient had severe pain lasting 2 weeks, followed by milder pain for 2 months. This patient's postablation CT images showed focal nodular diaphragmatic thickening. This patient was treated with a multitined device; the other four, with straight-needle devices. Local tumor progression was seen in 14 tumors (42.4%). Tumors 3 cm or smaller had a much lower local progression rate than tumors larger than 3 cm (12.5% vs 70.6%). CONCLUSION: Of 29 patients who had ablation of hepatic tumors adjacent to the diaphragm, five (17%) had diaphragmatic injury, which was clinically apparent with right shoulder pain.     

Surgical treatment for pancreatic cancer

胰腺癌是一种预后很差的恶性肿瘤,85%的病人在确诊后12个月内死亡,5年生存率仅为1%～2%.胰腺癌预后差的原因主要包括(1)很难在疾病早期做出诊断;(2)当发现胰腺发生病变时,又很难对疾病进行正确分期;(3)外科手术治疗的并发症和死亡率仍然较高;(4)缺乏有效的肿瘤辅助治疗手段.胰腺癌的分期非常重要,它可以尽早地区分肿瘤可切除的病人与不可切除的病人,避免不必要的剖腹探查术.在过去的20年中,用于胰腺癌分期的影像学技术越来越多,取得了很大进步,它们包括超声探测,双相螺旋CT扫描,选择性脏器血管造影,内窥镜逆行胰胆管造影,超速核磁共振,以及腹腔镜检查.它们各有优缺点,需综合分析几项检查结果才能得出准确分期.随着诊断和外科手术技术的提高,尤其是在拥有胰腺专业外科医师的疾病治疗中心,胰十二指肠切除术的并发症和死亡率近20年有了明显下降,同时手术切除率和术后生存率也有稳步提高.Whipple手术虽然仍是壶腹周围癌的标准手术方式,但是越来越多的外科医师将保留幽门的胰十二指肠切除术用于胰头癌的治疗,并证明它是一种安全、根治性切除手术.保留幽门的胰十二指肠切除术术后生存率、局部复发和远处转移与Whipple手术一样,但是术后病人的生活质量、体重增加和社会活动能力都明显好于Whipple术后病人.全胰切除由于存在许多弊端,而且没有明显改善胰腺癌病人的预后,除非在特殊情况下,不宜使用.一些临床资料显示姑息性切除的病人预后优于不切除的病人,尤其是在术后第1年.扩大性淋巴结清扫是否可以提高5年生存率目前意见尚未统一,需要进一步临床前瞻性观察.虽然胰腺癌外科治疗取得了很大成绩,但是,目前一致认为单靠外科手术切除尚不能控制此疾病的进展.为了改善胰腺癌病人的预后,必须深入研究胰腺癌的生物学特性,及其对化疗、放射治疗和基因治疗等肿瘤辅助治疗的反应,并进行临床前瞻性观察.