The effect of a grief support program on Turkish parents whose babies have died

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the Grief Support Program on the bereavement of parents whose babies had died. The sample consisted of 77 couples. The data was collected by the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief and the Coping Strategies Inventory. The intervention group was offered before, immediately after, and a month after death of their baby in accordance with the Grief Support Program guideline. The Grief Support Program did not affect grief intensity in the short term but had a positive effect 1 year later.     

Protective effects of resveratrol on small intestines against intestinal ischemia–reperfusion injury in rats

Background and Aim:  The aim of this study was to determine whether resveratrol could prevent intestinal tissue injury induced by ischemia–reperfusion (I/R).
Methods:  Intestinal I/R was induced in rats' intestines by 60-min occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery, followed by a 60-min reperfusion. Thirty rats were divided into three groups as follows: sham (group 1), control (group 2), and the treatment groups (group 3). The rats in the treatment group received resveratrol both before ischemia and before reperfusion. In all groups, serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase levels were determined. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), catalase, total oxidative status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in the intestinal tissue were measured. Intestinal tissue histopathology was also evaluated by light microscopy.
Results:  The levels of liver enzymes in group 3 were significantly lower than those in group 2 ( P  < 0.05). TAC in the intestinal tissue was significantly higher in group 3 than in group 2 ( P  < 0.05). TOS, OSI, and MPO in the intestinal tissue were significantly lower in group 3 than in group 2 ( P  < 0.05 for all). Histological tissue damage was milder in the resveratrol treatment group than in the control group.
Conclusions:  The results of this study indicated that resveratrol treatment limits the oxidative injury of the small intestine induced by I/R in rats. However, more precise investigations are required to evaluate the antioxidative effect of resveratrol on small intestine tissue damage in clinical and experimental models.     

Vasodilating mechanisms of testosterone.

The increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in man compared with premenopausal women suggests an unfavourable effect of male sex hormone testosterone on the cardiovascular system. However, numerous clinical and epidemiological studies reported a controversial relationship between testosterone and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, an increasing amount of evidence indicate that testosterone can exert acute vasorelaxing effects, VIA non-genomic mechanisms. These effects involve primarily the vascular smooth muscle, without requiring the presence of endothelium, although an endothelial contribution is apparent in some studies. To date, the mechanism behind the vasodilatory action of testosterone is still under debate and might be through either activation of K (+) channels or blockade of Ca (2+) channels in vascular muscle cells. The purpose of this article is to review the evidence regarding the vasodilating effect of testosterone as well as its mechanism of action.     

Mathematical Models for Estimating the Risks of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

When the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic first emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, the etiology of animal prion diseases was largely unknown. Risk management efforts to control the disease were also subject to uncertainties regarding the extent of BSE infections and future course of the epidemic. As understanding of BSE increased, mathematical models were developed to estimate risk of BSE infection and to predict reductions in risk in response to BSE control measures. Risk models of BSE-transmission dynamics determined disease persistence in cattle herds and relative infectivity of cattle prior to onset of clinical disease. These BSE models helped in understanding key epidemiological features of BSE transmission and dynamics, such as incubation period distribution and age-dependent infection susceptibility to infection with the BSE agent. This review summarizes different mathematical models and methods that have been used to estimate risk of BSE, and discusses how such risk projection models have informed risk assessment and management of BSE. This review also provides some general insights on how mathematical models of the type discussed here may be used to estimate risks of emerging zoonotic diseases when biological data on transmission of the etiological agent are limited.     

A multicenter retrospective study defining the clinical and hematological manifestations of brucellosis and pancytopenia in a large series: Hematological malignancies, the unusual cause of pancytopenia in patients with brucellosis

The aim of the study is to review the clinical manifestations and the hematological findings of brucellosis and pancytopenia, with or without hematological malignancies. The records of 202 patients with brucellosis were evaluated retrospectively. Among these cases of brucellosis seen in a 6 year period between April 1999 and June 2005, 30 patients with pancytopenia were identified. The most common manifestation was fever, followed by weight loss, anorexia, malaise, arthralgia, and hepatosplenomegaly. Bone marrow biopsies revealed hypercellularity or normocellularity. The most common findings in the bone marrow evaluation were histiocytic hemophagocytosis and granulomas. Among all cases, we diagnosed 5 hematological malignancies (1 acute myelogenous leukemia, 2 acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and 2 multiple myeloma) concurrently with brucellosis. The clinical symptoms and findings were similar in patients with and without malignancies. In cases with malignancies, the bone marrow biopsy revealed predominant primary disease involvement. Significant increases in ESR and CRP, severe anemia and thrombocytopenia were observed in patients with malignancies. Peripheral blood counts in patients without malignancies returned to normal after antibiotic treatment for brucellosis. However, pancytopenia in two patients with malignancies did not recover because of primary resistant disease. We conclude that while histiocytic hemophagocytosis may be considered as a major cause of pancytopenia, leukemic infiltration can also be an extreme and unusual cause of pancytopenia in patients in whom brucellosis was concurrently diagnosed with hematological malignancies.     

The effects of antioxidants on exercise-induced lipid peroxidation in patients with COPD

OBJEctive: The oxidant-antioxidant balance plays an important role in the pathogenesis of COPD. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of exercise, as an oxidative stress factor on the oxidant-antioxidant balance and to investigate whether short-term antioxidant treatment affects lipid peroxidation products. METHODOLOGY: Twenty-one stable COPD patients and 10 control subjects were included in the study. Symptom-limited exercise tests were performed by all subjects. Blood was collected before and 1 h after exercise in control subjects and before, 1 and 3 h after exercise in COPD patients, for analysis of malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and vitamin E (VE) levels. VE and vitamin C treatments were added to the regular bronchodilator therapy in 10 COPD patients for 1 month. After the treatment period, an exercise test was performed and blood was collected again for MDA, GSH and VE levels. RESULTS: Baseline GSH and VE levels were significantly lower in the COPD group when compared with the control subjects. There was no statistically significant difference in MDA levels between the two groups. In the COPD group, MDA levels 3 h after exercise were significantly higher than at baseline. In contrast there were no significant differences in MDA, VE and GSH levels in the control group after exercise. VE and MDA levels increased significantly after exercise in COPD patients but there was no difference in GSH levels. Baseline exercise time was significantly lower in the COPD group than in the controls. In 10 COPD patients who were given antioxidant therapy, their exercise time increased significantly and there was no increase in MDA and VE levels after the repeated exercise test. CONCLUSIONS: Antioxidant levels were significantly lower in COPD patients than in control subjects. In these patients, exercise results in more significant oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation than in control subjects and antioxidant therapy may decrease lipid peroxidation following exercise and improve exercise capacity.     

Antenatal steroids at 37 weeks,does it reduce neonatal respiratory morbidity? A randomized trial

Objective: To assess the effect of prophylactic corticosteroids administration at 37 weeks before term elective cesarean section (CS) in reducing neonatal respiratory morbidity and admission to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Methods: This randomized trial was conducted focusing on women subjected to term elective CS. Women who were eligible for the study were divided into two groups. At 37 weeks' gestation; study group received two intramuscular doses of 12?mg dexamethasone 24?h apart, while the control group given the usual care without steroids. Outcome measures were adverse neonatal respiratory outcomes (respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN)) and rates of admission to NICU.

Results: Neonates in the treatment group had lower overall incidence of respiratory distress morbidity 7.9% versus 23% when compared to the control group. The main morbidity was TTN (7% in study versus 19.6% in control group). There was significantly lower incidence of both mild and moderate degrees of respiratory distress in the study group (7 and 0.9%, respectively) compared to 17 and 5.3% in the control group. The most significant benefit of steroid administration was noted in those babies 37–37⁺⁶ weeks.

Conclusion: Antenatal administration of steroids at 37 weeks appears to be beneficial in reducing neonatal respiratory morbidity in women undergoing elective term CS.