Meaning of life and conceptions about death in college students: a correlational study

Considerando a relevância da temática da finitude para a existência humana, este trabalho teve como objetivo conhecer as correlações entre o sentido da vida e as concepções acerca da morte. Participaram do estudo 190 estudantes universitários dos cursos de Direito, Educação Física, Fisioterapia e Psicologia, sendo a maioria destes participantes do sexo feminino (68,9%), e de religião católica (61,6%). Como instrumentos para a coleta de dados, foram utilizados o Teste Propósito de Vida, o Questionário de Percepção de Morte e um questionário sociodemográfico. Os resultados apontaram para a existência de correlações positivas entre o vazio existencial e as visões de morte como fracasso, dor e solidão, e abandono. Por outro lado, o vazio existencial correlacionou-se negativamente com a visão de morte como fim natural. Tais resultados apóiam a concepção teleológica de Viktor Frankl quando pressupõe que a consciência da finitude põe em movimento a vontade de encontrar um sentido para a vida. Conclui-se que variáveis existenciais são relevantes para compreender as concepções que as pessoas têm sobre a morte.   Palavras-chave: sentido da vida; conceitos de morte; psicologia existencial.Considering the importance of finitude for human existence, this paper aimed to investigate the relationships between meaning of life and conceptions of death. The participants of this study were 190 male and female university students, from Law, Physical Education, Physiotherapy and Psychology courses. Most of the participants were female (68,9%) and Catholic (61,6%). The Purpose in Life Test, the Death Perspective Questionnaire and a socio-demographic questionnaire were used to collect the data. The results showed positive correlations between existential emptiness and concepts of death as failure, pain and loneliness, and abandonment. On the other hand, existential emptiness was correlated negatively with the concept of death as a natural end. Such results support the teleological conception of Viktor Frankl, which asserts that the conscience of finitude puts in motion the will to find a life purpose. We conclude that existential variables are relevant to understand the conceptions people have about death.  Keywords: meaning of life; concepts of death; existential psychology

Multidisciplinary approach in breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common neoplasm among women. Worldwide, there will be about 2.1 million newly diagnosed female breast cancer cases in 2018, accounting for almost 1 in 4 cancer cases among women. The disease is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in the vast majority of the countries. The purpose of this article is to report the positive experience of a multidisciplinary team in the care of women with breast cancer and their family members. Our approach that is part of the Cancer Patient Support Center (CPSC) at the public health (IPSEMG) in Brazil has been developed taking into account a broader concept of health care. We value not only individual dimensions in patient care, but also common ones, we recognize the importance of dealing with non-biological aspects of the disease, such as socioeconomic, political and cultural facets and our service is focused on health promotion rather than merely on curative treatment. Among the advantages of our approach, we highlight the facilitated accessibility to health services, the patient-centered communication and shared decision making, and the strong bonds between health professionals, patients, and family members. As part of CPSC`s activities, we emphasize the services provided by ?Aconchego? (?Warmth?), that is our breast cancer support group at public health in Brazil

Patterns of immune-related adverse events in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: a Brazilian real-world analysis

Objectives: To report real-world data of a cohort of patients treated with immune-checkpoint inhibitors in Brazil, with focus in immune-related adverse events. Material and Methods: In this retrospective study, we analyzed a cohort of patients with metastatic solid tumors treated at an oncology reference center with at least one dose of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (given as monotherapy or in combination with other agents). The safety profile was characterized through the incidence of adverse events, management and hospitalization. Results: We included 185 patients. Immune-related adverse events were observed in 92 of the 185 study patients (49.7%), including 16 patients (8.6%) with such events of grade 3 or 4, and 28 patients (15.1%) requiring systemic corticosteroid therapy. Thyroid disorders (20%), rash (17.8%), pruritus (11.4%) and colitis (11.4%) were the most frequent immune-related adverse events. Five (2.7%) patients discontinued immune-checkpoint inhibitors and 15 (7.0%) were hospitalized due to immune-related adverse events. Development of immune-related adverse events and immune-checkpoint inhibitors used in the firstline setting were associated with prolonged progression-free survival and overall survival in the multivariate analysis. Moreover, age <75 years old and ECOG score 0 or 1 were positively associated with overall survival in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion: This study based upon a Brazilian “real-world” data confirms the toxicity profile of immune-checkpoint inhibitors seen in clinical trials. In accordance with previous retrospective analyses, development of immune-related adverse events was associated with survival outcome of immune-checkpoint inhibitors treatment in patients with metastatic solid cancers