Caregiver burden and related factors in caregivers of patients with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus

Clinical Rheumatology - Having a child with a chronic illness is a source of stress for the whole family, especially the primary caregiver. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations...     

Protein oxidation in Type 2 diabetic patients on hemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress is considered to be a unifying link between diabetes mellitus (DM) and its complications, including nephropathy. There have been many reports on increased production of oxidants and decreased level of antioxidants in diabetic patients. The dialysis procedure contributes to oxidative stress. An increase in oxidative stress may contribute to the development of oxidative protein damage in diabetic patients. Our aim was to reveal the effects of diabetes and hemodialysis (HD) on oxidative modifications of plasma proteins. METHODS: We measured reactive carbonyl derivates (PCO), protein thiol (P-SH), and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels in Type 2 diabetic (DM) and diabetic hemodialysed patients (DHD) and in healthy control participants. RESULTS: Protein carbonyl (PCO) content increased significantly in all patient groups relative to the controls. The dialysis procedure caused an additional increase in PCO levels in DHD patients before and after dialysis compared with the level in DM patients. There was a significant decrease in P-SH levels in DHD patients compared with the level in healthy participants and DM patients. There was no significant difference in the whole blood GSH levels between the DM patients and control participants. It was significantly higher in DHD patients in comparison to the DM patients. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that PCO level increases in DM patients, and this increase is more profound in DHD patients, indicating that both diabetes and dialysis contribute to increased protein oxidation. The low P-SH level in DHD patients, but not in DM patients, suggests that dialysis is responsible for this decrease. We propose plasma PCO derivate as a novel specific marker for oxidative protein damage.     

Ultrastructural Damage in Vascular Endothelium in Rats Treated with Paclitaxel and Doxorubicin

Endothelium is the first physiological barrier between blood and tissues and can be injured by physical or chemical stress, particularly by the drugs used in the cancer therapy. Paclitaxel and doxorubicin are frequently used anticancer drugs and their cardiac side effects are well observed in clinical setting. Their side effects on the endothelium are still not clear enough. There are few investigations assessing the damages elicited by the combination use of chemotherapy agents in animal experimental models. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the side effects of doxorubicin and paclitaxel on endothelium in vivo. The drugs were administered weekly to rats via intraperitoneal injections singly or in combinations. Lastly, aorta endothelium was examined. The most familiar parts of the aorta endothelium are the nucleus, free ribosomes, Weibel-Palada granules, plasmalemmal vesicles, and clear basement membrane. Examination of the endothelium and the related structures revealed some clear degenerative findings. Notably, administration of a paclitaxel and doxorubicin combinations caused the most dramatic change in ultrastructure, which may disrupt many functions of the endothelium.     

Group eye movement desensitization and reprocessing interventions in adults and children: A systematic review of randomized and nonrandomized trials

This review systematically synthesized existing literature on group protocols of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for treating a range of mental health difficulties in adults and children. We conducted database searches on PsychINFO, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library and Francine Shapiro Library up to May 2020, using PRISMA guidelines. Studies were included if they used at least one standardized outcome measure, if they present a quantitative data on the effect of group EMDR protocols on mental health difficulties and if they were published in English. Twenty-two studies with 1739 participants were included. Thirteen studies examined EMDR Integrative Group Treatment Protocol (IGTP), four studies examined EMDR Group Traumatic Episode Protocol (G-TEP), four studies EMDR Integrative Group Treatment Protocol for Ongoing Traumatic Stress and one study considered EMDR Group Protocol with Children. Of the 22 studies included, 12 were one-arm trials and 10 were two-arm trials. We assessed risk of bias using a revised Tool to Assess Risk of Bias in Randomized Trials (ROB 2) and Risk of Bias in Nonrandomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I). Overall, the results suggested that Group EMDR protocols might be an effective tool in improving a wide range of mental health-related outcomes including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. However, the included studies are limited to methodological challenges. The limitations and future directions are discussed.