A Correlational Test of the Relationship Between Posttraumatic Growth,Religion, and Cognitive Processing

The present study examined the degree to which event related rumination, a quest orientation to religion, and religious involvement is related to posttraumatic growth. Fifty-four young adults, selected based on prescreening for experience of a traumatic event, completed a measure of event related ruminations, the Quest Scale, an index of religious participation, and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. The three subscales of the Quest Scale, the two groups of rumination items (soon after event/within past two weeks), and the index of religious participation were entered in a standard multiple regression with the total score of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory as the dependent variable. The degree of rumination soon after the event and the degree of openness to religious change were significantly related to Posttraumatic Growth. Congruent with theoretical predictions, more rumination soon after the event, and greater openness to religious change were related to more posttraumatic growth. Present findings offer some confirmation of theoretical predictions, and also offer clear direction for further research on the relationships of religion, rumination, and posttraumatic growth.     

An Investigation of the Impact of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on Physical Health

In a large sample of Gulf War veterans (N = 2301) we examined the relations between PTSD symptoms assessed immediately upon returning from the Gulf War and self-reported health problems assessed 18–24 months later. PTSD symptomatology was predictive of self-reported health problems over time for both men and women veterans, even after the effects of combat exposure were removed from the analysis. Female veterans reported significantly more health problems than male veterans, however, there was no interactive effect of gender and PTSD on health problems. These findings provide further support for the theory that psychological response to stressors impacts health outcome.     

Assault,PTSD, Family Substance Use,and Depression as Risk Factors for Cigarette Use in Youth: Findings from the National Survey of Adolescents

A national household probability sample of 4,023 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years was surveyed by telephone via structured clinical interview to determine the impact of familial substance use, sexual and physical assault, witnessed violence, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on risk of smoking. Results indicated that familial substance use increased risk of smoking only for boys and sexual assault or depression increased risk of smoking only for girls. Age, Caucasian ethnicity, and experiencing physical assault or witnessing violence elevated risk of current cigarette use for both genders. By contrast, PTSD per se was not associated with increased risk of smoking, after the effects of other variables were controlled.     

Peroxiredoxins in breast carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) are a novel group of peroxidases containing high antioxidant efficiency and some of them having also effects on cell differentiation and apoptosis. The mammalian Prx family has six distinct members located in various subcellular locations, including peroxisomes and mitochondria, places where oxidative stress is most evident. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We examined immunohistochemically a large set of samples from patients with breast carcinoma and investigated associations with parameters such as tumor-node-metastasis classification, hormone receptor status, and patient survival. Three biopsies of healthy breast tissue were used as controls. RESULTS: Expression of peroxiredoxins I, III, IV, and V was found in >or=80% of cases, whereas the expression of Prx II and VI was less frequent. Increased expression of Prx III was found to associate with the presence of progesterone (P = 0.02) and estrogen (P = 0.03) receptors, and Prxs IV (P = 0.009) and VI (P = 0.04) were overexpressed in progesterone receptor positive cases. Prx V was the only isoform that associated with items of tumor-node-metastasis classification, it was connected to a larger tumor size (P = 0.05) and positive lymph node status (P = 0.04). Prx V positivity was also connected with shorter survival (P = 0.04), whereas Prxs III (P = 0.002) and IV (P = 0.02) were related to better prognosis, probably resulting from their connection with a positive hormone receptor status. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, we found that expression of peroxiredoxins, especially III, IV and V, is increased in breast malignancy, suggesting the induction of Prxs as response to increased production of reactive oxygen species in carcinomatous tissue.     

Effects of Posttraumatic Stress and Acculturation on Marital Functioning in Bosnian Refugee Couples

Forty Bosnian refugee couples living in the United States completed a translated version of the PTSD Symptom Scale—Self Report, the Behavioral Acculturation Scale, the Marital Satisfaction Inventory—Revised, and a demographic questionnaire. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology was the best predictor of marital functioning and was related negatively to acculturation. After controlling for PTSD, acculturation did not predict marital functioning. Wives' marital satisfaction was best predicted by husbands' PTSD, husbands' acculturation, and their own PTSD. Husbands' marital satisfaction was not predicted significantly by any of these variables. These findings suggest several implications for mental health professionals dealing with refugees and other traumatized populations.     

Coping with Domestic Violence: Control Attributions,Dysphoria, and Hopelessness

We investigated the influence of control judgments and coping style on emotional reactions to domestic violence utilizing the framework of hopelessness theory. We assessed abuse severity, control attributions, coping, dysphoric symptoms, and hopelessness in 70 battered women recruited from 12 domestic violence agencies. Respondents reported dysphoria but not hopelessness. Increased reports of dysphoria were associated with higher levels of self-blame and avoidance coping and lower levels of problem-focused coping. Increased problem-focused coping was associated with decreased hopelessness. Perceived control over current abuse was not related to dysphoria. High expectations for control over future events were associated with decreased dysphoria. We discuss our results in terms of their application to attributional accounts of emotional reactions to battering.     

“Amnesia” for Summer Camps and High School Graduation: Memory Work Increases Reports of Prior Periods of Remembering Less

Claims regarding amnesia for childhood sexual abuse have often been based on studies of adults' responses to questions of the form, “Was there ever a period of time when you remembered less of the abuse than you do now?” In this experiment, 43 adult (mean age = 42) participants rated their current and prior memories of several nontraumatic childhood/adolescent events. Reports of prior periods of less memory were fairly common. Participants then engaged in “reminiscence” or “enhanced” retrieval activities directed toward remembering more about a selected target event. Following retrieval, 35% of the reminiscence condition participants reported prior poor memory for the target event, as did 70% of the enhanced condition. These results highlight the need for appropriate control conditions in retrospective studies of amnesia for childhood trauma.     

Subjects with <Emphasis Type="Italic">TNF-A-857TT</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">-1031TT</Emphasis> genotypes showed the highest <Emphasis Type="Italic">Helicobacter pylori</Emphasis> seropositive rate compared with those with other genotypes

Background A possible association between Helicobacter pylori seropositivity and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) A G-308A has been reported in Korea. The present study examined the associations of H. pylori with functional polymorphisms, TNF-A G-308A, C-857T, and T-1031C, and TNF-B A252G in Japanese subjects.Methods The total of 1374 study subjects included 241 outpatients who participated in an H. pylori eradication program (HPE), 679 first-visit outpatients (FVO) at a regional cancer hospital, and 454 local residents who received a health checkup examination (HCE).Results The frequency of the TNF-A -308A allele was only 1.3% of 480 chromosomes in the HPE group, so the FVO and HCE groups were not genotyped for that polymorphism. The genotype frequency of TNF-A C-857T was 69.2% CC, 27.7% CT, and 3.1% TT; that of TNF-A T-1031C was 69.4% TT, 28.1% TC, and 2.5% CC; and that of TNF-B A252G was 36.8% AA, 48.2% AG, and 15.0% GG. TNF-A -857T was tightly linked to TNF-A -1031T and TNF-B 252A. No significant associations between H. pylori seropositivity and polymorphisms of TNF-A C-857T and TNF-B A252G were observed. However, a reduced odds ratio adjusted for sex, age, and recruitment source was observed for TNF-A -1031CC (0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.20–0.91) relative to TNF-A -1031TT. Subjects with TNF-A -857CC and -1031CC showed the lowest seropositivity (38.2% of 34 participants), while those with TNF-A -857TT and -1031TT showed the highest (66.7% of 42 participants).Conclusions This study suggests that the possibly high expression genotype of TNF-A may increase susceptibility to persistent H. pylori infection.     

Subjective and functional results after total gastrectomy: prospective study for longterm comparison of reconstruction procedures

Background: Many reconstruction procedures have been developed in efforts to resolve patients' complaints after total gastrectomy. However, there have been few reports of longterm comparisons between reconstruction procedures, especially with regard to the prevention of duodenal food passage. This study was undertaken to compare the longterm subjective and functional results among Roux-en-Y esophagojejunostomy (R-Y), R-Y with pouch (P-Y), and jejunal interposition with pouch (P-I) after total gastrectomy. Methods: Consecutive patients requiring curative total gastrectomy were enrolled in this prospective study by the envelope method. Results: Hospital stay was longer following a P-I than an R-Y or a P-Y. Over 50% of R-Y patients complained of heartburn, and 20% of R-Y patients showed dumping syndrome throughout the postoperative period, with this rate being significantly different from rates in the other two groups. P-Y patients complained of early satiety in the late postoperative period, while P-I patients complained of early satiety in the early postoperative period. The nutritional index in P-I patients was higher than those in patients with the other two procedures. Gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary dual scintigraphy (GHDS) showed that the rate of bile reflux with an R-Y was relatively high after surgery. Food reflux with a P-Y was increased (9.4% to 11.1%), but with a P-I food reflux was decreased at 3 years after surgery (13.3% to 9.9%). Patients with a P-Y had a faster recovery of body, weight in the early postoperative period; however, at 5 years after operation, body weight recovery with a P-I was greatest. Conclusion: Reconstruction should be performed with pouch formation after total gastrectomy with curative intent. Received: March 7, 2002 / Accepted: September 26, 2002 Acknowledgments This study was partly supported by the University of Tsukuba Research Project. Offprint requests to: S. Adachi     

Loss of expression of DNA repair enzymes MGMT,hMLH1, and hMSH2 during tumor progression in gastric cancer

BACKGROUND: Disorders of the DNA repair system that protects against alkylating mutagens are known to play an important role in carcinogenesis. METHODS: We investigated the expression of the DNA repair enzyme that protects against alkylating mutagens, O(6)-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), and the mismatch repair (MMR) enzymes, hMLH1 and hMSH2, in 135 gastric cancer specimens by immunohistochemical means. RESULTS: The immunoreactivity of MGMT and MMR proteins correlated significantly with several clinicopathologic factors. The survival curve in 116 patients showed that a loss of MGMT or hMLH1, but not of hMSH2, correlated with a poor prognosis. Combined evaluation of MGMT and hMLH1 revealed that the survival of patients with negative status for both MGMT and hMLH1 was shortest. However, this significant association between patient survival and MGMT or hMLH1 expression disappeared when early and advanced cancers were separately analyzed, indicating that synchronous losses of MGMT and hMLH1 increase during tumor progression and stage. Further evaluation according to histologic type revealed that loss of MGMT, hMLH1, and hMSH2 expression significantly differed between early and advanced cancer in differentiated-type cancers. In contrast, in undifferentiated-type cancer, loss of MGMT and MMR expression was frequently found even in intramucosal (m) cancer, and no significant difference was found in loss of hMLH1 and hMSH2 between early and advanced cancer. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that the reduced expression of MGMT, hMLH1, and hMSH2 in differentiated-type cancer may play an important role during tumor progression between the early and advanced stage. On the other hand, in undifferentiated-type cancer, loss of MGMT and the MMR proteins appears to be an important event at carcinogenesis or at an earlier step of tumor progression.