Advances in experimental medicine and biology最新文献

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that affect perceived stress, mental resilience, and quality of life in cancer patients and the associations between these variables.

Methods: A quantitative, observational correlational study was conducted in the day unit of a central oncology center of Athens, Greece. Through convenience sampling, 120 cancer patients were recruited. Perceived stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) questionnaire, mental resilience with the Resilience Scale (RS-14), and quality of life with the EORTC QLQ-C30 v.3.

Results: 51.7% of patients were women and had breast cancer (25%). The mean age was 65.28 ± 9.98 years. The mean PSS score was18.73 ± 7.83, while the RS score was 81.04 ± 11.46. The mean score of the EORTC QLQ-C30 scale was 81.04 ± 11.46. Statistically significant negative correlations were observed between all subscales of the PSS scale with the functional subscales of the EORTC QLQ-C30 (r = -0.27- -0.58, p < 0.05), while statistically significant positive correlations were observed between the scale PSS and the symptom subscales of the EORTC QLQ-C30 (r = 0.21-0.44, p < 0.05). The PSS total score was correlated with RS total score (r = -0.42, p < 0.01). The PSS score was a statistically significant negative predictor of the EORTC QLQ-C30 total score (b = -0.54, p < 0.001), while the RS score was not a predictive factor.

Conclusion: Perceived stress, mental resilience, and quality of life in cancer patients are influenced and related. The extent of their influence depends on the individual characteristics of the patients but also on the support they receive and certainly requires further research.

To ensure optimum health and performance, lipid metabolism needs to be temporally aligned to other body processes and to daily changes in the environment. Central and peripheral circadian clocks and environmental signals such as light provide internal and external time cues to the body. Importantly, each of the key organs involved in insect lipid metabolism contains a molecular clockwork which ticks with a varying degree of autonomy from the central clock in the brain. In this chapter, we review our current knowledge about peripheral clocks in the insect fat body, gut and oenocytes, and light- and circadian-driven diel patterns in lipid metabolites and lipid-related transcripts. In addition, we highlight selected neuroendocrine signaling pathways that are or may be involved in the temporal coordination and control of lipid metabolism.

Viral infectious diseases represent a major global health burden, contributing significantly to morbidity and mortality across diverse populations. Lower respiratory infections, including bronchitis, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia, accounted for more than 2 million deaths worldwide in both 2016 and 2019, while upper respiratory tract infections such as the common cold, sinusitis, and pharyngitis collectively caused billions of incident cases with notable mortality. Gastrointestinal viruses, particularly rotaviruses, remain a leading cause of severe pediatric gastroenteritis, resulting in thousands of childhood deaths daily, especially in developing countries. Exanthematous viral diseases, including measles and rubella, continue to pose high transmission risks, with measles alone responsible for over half a million child deaths annually. Hepatic viral infections, most notably hepatitis viruses A-E, affect more than two billion individuals globally and cause approximately 1.4 million deaths each year. Cutaneous viral diseases, hemorrhagic fevers, and neurologic infections such as polio and viral encephalitis further illustrate the broad clinical spectrum and public health challenges posed by viral pathogens. Addressing these threats relies heavily on the development and application of antiviral agents with diverse mechanisms of action. These include direct virus-targeting approaches-such as attachment, entry, uncoating, protease, polymerase, and integrase inhibitors-as well as reverse transcriptase inhibitors used in HIV management. Complementary strategies involve indirect virus-targeting antivirals that disrupt host cellular pathways exploited during viral replication. Together, these therapeutic strategies highlight the critical need for continued innovation and comprehensive antiviral development to mitigate the ongoing global burden of viral diseases.

Poor quality of sleep is a frequent problem among patients on dialysis. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of sociodemographic factors with sleep quality in patients on dialysis. The present study was conducted with 402 patients on dialysis using the Athens Insomnia Scale for the assessment of sleep disorders and a questionnaire about demographic characteristics. The results showed that 41% of the participants had difficulty in falling asleep, 40.3% waking up during the night, 35.6% waking up earlier than desired, 33.3% found the duration of sleep insufficient, 31.8% had a diminished sense of well-being during the day, 24.4% had reduced functioning, and 26.4% had daytime sleepiness problems. Overall, 72.1% of patients suffered from insomnia. Participants undergoing hemodialysis had significantly greater percentage of having a problem with awakenings during the night compared to participants under peritoneal dialysis (p = 0.020). Additionally, women had 1.88 times greater probability of suffering from insomnia compared to men (p = 0.019).Thus, sleep hygiene education programs and intradialytic resistance exercises programs along with early diagnosis of sleep disorders and home dialysis can lead to an improvement of sleep quality in dialysis population.

This study aims to explore the various defense mechanisms employed by individuals with harmful alcohol use and their implications for psychiatric mental health nursing. Utilizing a literature review methodology, the chapter examines both mature and immature defense mechanisms as classified by Koukias (Principles of psychiatric nursing - mental health nursing (Αρχές ψυχιατρικής νοσηλευτικής - νοσηλευτική ψυχικής υγείας). Broken Hill Publishers LTD, Athens, 2018) in "Principles of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing." The findings reveal that mature mechanisms, such as altruism and sublimation, can promote healthier coping strategies and emotional resilience, aiding in recovery. Conversely, immature mechanisms like passive aggression, acting out, dissociation, projection, devaluation, and splitting tend to perpetuate dysfunctional behaviors and hinder recovery efforts. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for developing tailored therapeutic interventions that support long-term sobriety and emotional well-being. This comprehensive approach underscores the importance of integrating psychological insights into clinical practice to enhance treatment outcomes for individuals with alcohol use disorders.

Prenatal exposure to cannabis and tobacco can significantly disrupt critical stages of fetal development, resulting in long-lasting consequences for offspring's health. Prenatal THC exposure has been shown to impair offspring neurodevelopment, alter metabolic and cardiovascular function, and disrupt reproductive health, with sex-specific effects that persist into adulthood. Similarly, nicotine exposure during pregnancy is associated with structural and functional deficits in the offspring's pulmonary, neurological, behavioral, cardiac, and renal systems. Epigenetic modifications are a key mechanism through which both THC and nicotine exert their developmental effects, including widespread changes in DNA methylation that influence gene expression and may mediate long-term health outcomes. The rapidly changing landscape of prenatal cannabis and nicotine use, including rising rates of co-use and novel product formulations, highlights the need for ongoing, mechanistic research. Further studies are required to define how these substances impact fetal development and identify shared and distinct molecular pathways, particularly in the context of polysubstance exposure and contemporary delivery methods. Animal models are pivotal in dissecting these pathways and evaluating the direct effects of exposure, free from confounding variables common in human studies. Importantly, they provide a platform to examine both the individual and synergistic effects of THC and nicotine, as well as to uncover underlying mechanisms that may inform intervention strategies and guide public health policy.

Modern insects have inhabited the earth for hundreds of millions of years, and part of their successful adaptation lies in their many reproductive strategies. Insect reproduction is linked to a high metabolic rate that provides viable eggs in a relatively short time. In this context, an accurate interplay between the endocrine system and the nutrients synthetized and metabolized is essential to produce healthy offspring. Lipids guarantee the metabolic energy needed for egg formation and represent the main energy source consumed during embryogenesis. Lipids availability is tightly regulated by a complex network of endocrine signals primarily controlled by the central nervous system (CNS) and associated endocrine glands, the corpora allata (CA) and corpora cardiaca (CC). This endocrine axis provides hormones and neuropeptides that significatively affect tissues closely involved in successful reproduction: the fat body, which is the metabolic center supplying the lipid resources and energy demanded in egg formation, and the ovaries, where the developing oocytes recruit lipids that will be used for optimal embryogenesis. The post-genomic era and the availability of modern experimental approaches have advanced our understanding of many processes involved in lipid homeostasis; therefore, it is crucial to integrate the findings of recent years into the knowledge already acquired in the last decades. The present chapter is devoted to reviewing major recent contributions made in elucidating the impact of the CNS/CA/CC-fat body-ovary axis on lipid metabolism in the context of insect reproduction, highlighting areas of fruitful research.

Lipids are a diverse group of compounds that play several important roles in insect physiology. Among biological lipids, the fundamental category comprises fatty acyl structures, with significant members being fatty acids (FAs). They play several crucial functions in insect physiology; they are used as the source of energy for flight and play key roles in the insect immune system. The FAs present in the insect cuticle are known to demonstrate antibacterial and antifungal activity and are considered as potential insecticides. The most abundant family of lipids are the glycerolipids, with numerous cellular functions including storage of energy, structural compartmentation of cells and organelles, and important signaling activities required for regulation of physiological processes (i.e., growth, development, reproduction, diapause, and overwintering). The phospholipids are also highly diversified key components of all cell membranes; they can modify cellular components in response to rapid cold-hardening (RCH), enhancing membrane fluidity and improving survival at low temperatures. The sphingolipids are important structural and signaling bioactive compounds, mostly detected in membranes.Insects are sterol-auxotrophs: they do not have genes, which code enzymes converting farnesyl pyrophosphate to squalene. Similarly, to mammals, the production of steroids in insects is regulated by cytochrome P450 enzymes that convert sterols (mostly cholesterol) to hormonally active steroids. The major molting hormone in insects is 20-hydroxyecdysone, and cholesterol is the required precursor; however, several exemptions from this rule have been noted. This manuscript also reviews the roles of prenol lipids, isoprenoids, lipid vitamins, polyketides, and waxes in the vital processes of insects.

Lipid metabolism is essential to insect life as insects use lipids for their development, reproduction, flight, diapause, and a wide range of other functions. The central organ for insect lipid metabolism is the fat body, which is analogous to mammalian adipose tissue and liver, albeit less structured. Various other systems including the midgut, brain, and neural organs also contribute functionally to insect lipid metabolism. Lipid metabolism is under the control of core lipogenic [e.g. acetyl-CoA-carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid synthase (FAS), perilipin 2 (LSD2)], and lipolytic (lipases, perilipin 1) enzymes that are primarily expressed in the fat body, as well as hormones [insulin-like peptides (ILP), adipokinetic hormone (AKH)], transcription factors (SREBPs, foxO, and CREB), secondary messengers (calcium) and post-translational modifications (phosphorylation). Essential roles of the fat body, together with the fact that proper coordination of lipid metabolism is critical for insects, render lipid metabolism an attractive target site in pest control. In the current chapter, we focus on pest control tactics that target insect lipid metabolism. Various classes of traditional chemical insecticides [e.g. organophosphates, pyrethroids, neonicotinoids, and chitin synthesis inhibitors (Sects. 2.1 and 2.2)] have been shown to interfere with lipid metabolism, albeit it is not their primary site of action. However, the discovery of "lipid biosynthesis inhibitors", tetronic and tetramic acid derivatives commonly known as ketoenols (Sect. 2.3), was a milestone in applied entomology as they directly target lipid biosynthesis, particularly in sucking pests. Spirodiclofen, spiromesifen, and spirotetramat targeting ACC act against various insect and mite pests, while spiropidion and spidoxamat have been introduced to the market only recently. Efforts have concentrated on the development of chemical alternatives, such as hormone agonists and antagonists (Sect. 2.4), dsRNA-based pesticides that depend on RNA interference, which have great potential in pest control (Sect. 2.5) and other eco-friendly alternatives (Sect. 2.6).

The aim of this study is the investigation of attitudes and perceptions toward surrogacy in general public. More extensively, the degree of acceptance and intention to use surrogacy, the perceived attitude of society toward surrogacy, the attitudes and perceptions of the role of the surrogate mother, and the perceptions of the relationship the child should have with the surrogate mother, as well as the perceptions of the influence of surrogate motherhood on the parents' relationship with the child, are examined. In addition, factors influencing the formation of attitudes and perceptions in each of the aforementioned aspects of surrogacy are examined.Total acceptance of surrogacy found high. Positive attitudes found in all other divisions of surrogacy. Higher knowledge of Artificial Reproduction Technologies contributes to more positive attitudes about surrogacy. Married and infertile people tend to have more positive attitudes on surrogacy. Religiousness tends to shape less positive attitudes on surrogacy. Finally, marital status found to have an effect on disclosure of surrogacy.