Attachment to Caregivers and Type 1 Diabetes in Children

Attachment is a behavioral and physiological system, which enables individual’s dynamic adaptation to its environment. Attachment develops in close interaction between an infant and his/her mother, plays an important role in the development of the infant’s brain, and influences the quality of interpersonal relationships throughout life.Security of attachment is believed to influence individual response to stress, exposing insecurely organized individuals to deregulated autonomic nervous system and exaggerated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity, which, in turn, produces increased and prolonged exposure to stress-hormones. Such stress responses may have considerable implications for the development of diverse health-risk conditions, such as insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia, shown by numerous studies.Although the mechanisms are not yet fully understood, there is compelling evidence highlighting the role of psychological stress in the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D). One of the possible contributing factors for the development of T1D may be the influence of attachment security on individual stress reactivity. Thus, the suggestion is that insecurely attached individuals are more prone to experience increased and prolonged influence of stress hormones and other mechanisms causing pancreatic beta-cell destruction.The present paper opens with a short overview of the field of attachment in children, the principal attachment classifications and their historic development, describes the influence of attachment security on individual stress-reactivity and the role of the latter in the development of T1D. Following is a review of recent literature on the attachment in patients with T1D with a conclusion of a proposed role of attachment organization in the etiology of T1D.     

Secondary haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: Experience from the Uppsala University Hospital

Background. Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare clinical syndrome characterized by fever, hepatosplenomegaly, cytopenia, and progressive multiple-organ failure. HLH in adults is often secondary to autoimmune diseases, cancer, or infections in contrast to familial HLH. Treatment of secondary HLH is directed against the triggering disease in addition to immunosuppressive therapy, the latter commonly according to the HLH-2004 protocol.Methods. We conducted a retrospective study to identify triggering diseases, disease-specific and immunosuppressive therapy administered, and prognosis in adult patients with secondary HLH. Patient data were collected from October 2010 to January 2015.Results. Ten adult patients with secondary HLH were identified. Seven were men, and the median age at diagnosis was 62 years. Five cases were triggered by malignant disease and five by infection. The median patient fulfilled five of the eight HLH-2004 diagnostic criteria. All patients fulfilled the criteria fever, cytopenia, and ferritin >500 µg/L. Median time from hospital admission to HLH diagnosis was 20 days. Four patients received immunosuppressive therapy according to the HLH-2004 protocol. The prognosis was dismal, especially for the patients with malignancy-associated HLH, of whom all died.Conclusion. HLH should be suspected in patients who present with fever, cytopenia, and ferritin >500 µg/L. Secondary HLH has a dismal prognosis. None of the patients with HLH triggered by malignancy survived. Achieving remission of the triggering disease seems to be important for a favourable outcome as, in all surviving patients, the haemophagocytic syndrome resolved after remission of the underlying infection.     

The cost-of-illness for invasive meningococcal disease caused by serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis (MenB) in Germany

Introduction

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a severe disease mainly affecting infants and young children. The most common serogroup causing IMD in Germany is the serogroup type B Neisseria meningitidis (MenB). The aim of the present study is to estimate the economic burden of MenB-related IMD in Germany.

Reconstruction of parietal bone defects with adiposederived mesenchymal stem cells. Experimental study

Purpose:This study assessed the regeneration potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from adipose tissue associated with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in bone regeneration.Methods:Thirty Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus albinos) were divided into five groups (according to the grafting material and time to euthanasia): (1) autograft - 14 days (control), (2) autograft - 28 days (control), (3) MSC + PRP - 14 days, (4) MSC + PRP + papaverine - 14 days and (5) MSC + PRP + papaverine - 28 days. After euthanasia, the graft was removed and histological slides were prepared. They were assessed by a blinded pathologist using a previously published histological scale as parameter.Results:There was some degree of neoformed bone trabeculae (NBT) in 93.3% of the samples, as well as osteoblastic activity (OA). The autograft groups (14 and 28 days) had higher levels in the formation of bone trabeculae. Nonparametric data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test and proved not to be statistically significant at p < 0.05.Conclusions:Experimental parietal bone reconstruction, combining MSC, PRP and papaverine presented regeneration in all groups with no significant difference among them.Key words: Bone Regeneration, Platelet-Rich Plasma, Tissue Engineering, Rats