Psychological distress in men with prostate cancer receiving adjuvant androgen-deprivation therapy

ObjectivesTo compare the occurrence of depression, anxiety, self body image perception, sleep disturbances, and diminished quality of life in prostate cancer patients undergoing adjuvant androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) as opposed to patients in follow-up alone.Methods and materialsHospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group essential diagnostic criteria, Body Image Scale and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Prostate were administered to consecutive prostate cancer patients who underwent radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy and are presently either under adjuvant ADT or included in a follow-up program.ResultsOf the 103 patients enrolled, 49 (47.6%) were receiving adjuvant ADT and 54 (52.4%) were not. Compared with the controls, the patients undergoing ADT showed higher levels of depression (P = 0.002), worse self body image perception (P = 0.001), worse quality of life (P = 0.0001) and worse sleep quality (P = 0.04). ADT was significantly associated with depression at multivariate analysis after adjustment for age, stage, Gleason score, as well as demographic and social variables (P = 0.001). Depression scores showed a strong inverse correlation with quality of life scores (P < 0.01).ConclusionsAdjuvant ADT is associated with depression, worse quality of life, and altered self body image in prostate cancer patients.     

Ischaemic stroke provoked by sexual intercourse

The association between long term risk factors and stroke has been well established, but very little is known about factors that may precipitate acute stroke. We describe two young women presenting with ischaemic stroke triggered by sexual intercourse. Patient 1 presented with a cardioembolic stroke probably secondary to the interaction between a patent foramen ovale and thrombophilic abnormalities; Patient 2, presenting with orgasmic headache, had a cryptogenic striatocapsular infarct. Sexual intercourse should be considered as an unusual, but possible, trigger of cerebral ischaemia, especially in young patients presenting with cryptogenic stroke.     

Difference in safety and humoral response to mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with autoimmune neurological disorders: the ANCOVAX study

Journal of Neurology - Assessing the safety of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines and the effect of immunotherapies on the seroconversion rate in patients with autoimmune neurological conditions (ANC) is...     

Six-month humoral response to BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in people with multiple sclerosis treated with natalizumab

Neurological Sciences - Few studies investigated the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in patients with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) treated with natalizumab (NTZ) and found a short-term efficient...     

Efficacy of Bariatric Surgery in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Remission: the Role of Mini Gastric Bypass/One Anastomosis Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy at 1 Year of Follow-up. A European survey

Background

A retrospective study was undertaken to define the efficacy of both mini gastric bypass or one anastomosis gastric bypass (MGB/OAGB) and sleeve gastrectomy (SG) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remission in morbidly obese patients (pts).

Methods

Eight European centers were involved in this survey. T2DM was preoperatively diagnosed in 313/3252 pts (9.62 %). In 175/313 patients, 55.9 % underwent MGB/OAGB, while in 138/313 patients, 44.1 % received SG between January 2006 and December 2014.

Results

Two hundred six out of 313 (63.7 %) pts reached 1 year of follow-up. The mean body mass index (BMI) for MGB/OAGB pts was 33.1?±?6.6, and the mean BMI for SG pts was 35.9?±?5.9 (p?<?0.001). Eighty-two out of 96 (85.4 %) MGB/OAGB pts vs. 67/110 (60.9 %) SG pts are in remission (p?<?0.001). No correlation was found in the % change vs. baseline values for hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) in relation to BMI reduction, for both MGB/OAGB or SG (ΔFPG 0.7 and ΔHbA1c 0.4 for MGB/OAGB; ΔFPG 0.7 and ΔHbA1c 0.1 for SG). At multivariate analysis, high baseline HbA1c [odds ratio (OR)?=?0.623, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.419–0.925, p?=?0.01], preoperative consumption of insulin or oral antidiabetic agents (OR?=?0.256, 95 % CI 0.137–0.478, p?=?<0.001), and T2DM duration >10 years (OR?=?0.752, 95 % CI 0.512–0.976, p?=?0.01) were negative predictors whereas MGB/OAGB resulted as a positive predictor (OR?=?3.888, 95 % CI 1.654–9.143, p?=?0.002) of diabetes remission.

Conclusions

A significant BMI decrease and T2DM remission unrelated from weight loss were recorded for both procedures if compared to baseline values. At univariate and multivariate analyses, MGB/OAGB seems to outperform significantly SG. Four independent variables able to influence T2DM remission at 12 months have been identified.