Psychological Factors in Essential Hypertension

Essential hypertension is one of the most emphasized psychosomatic disorders. Age, sexuality, excessive salt and alcohol consumption, lower activity level, fatigue, personality traits, emotional factors and stress are some of the risk factors for essential hypertension. The presence of emotional factors in the etiology of the essential hypertension and the emergence of psychiatric symptoms in the course of the illness has driven considerable attention from mental health workers on the disease for a long time. Some of the personality traits that make a person vulnerable to hypertension are being over controlled, being submissive, and hardworking. Hypertension is accepted to be a reaction against suppressed emotions and an adaptive and defense mechanism of the body. Among persons who are prone to hypertension, sympathetic nerve system is affected as a response to emotional stress and hypertension appears as a result of vasoconstriction and other autonomous responses. All at once, it was also shown that vasoconstrictor response continues much longer in hypertensive individuals than in normotensive patients. Autonomic response to stress almost always displays itself as hypertension in individuals who are prone to hypertension. Moreover, normotensive children of hypertensive parents also have elevation in blood pressures as a response to emotional stress almost without exception. The increase in sympathetic stimulus, re-modulation of bar receptors by structural and functional changes are the main features of the most commonly valid hypothesis in essential hypertension, currently. According to this hypothesis: as a result of emotional stress, inhibition over vasomotor center decreases and output of stimulus increases; epigenetic changes in endothelial structure of carotid sinus and/or aortic arch and/or vasomotor centers occurs; and finally stress increases sympathetic stimulus output. This situation leads to neurohormonal excitation; increases in systemic vessel resistance; and in turn increase in the secretion of vasoconstrictor compounds from endothelial cells of over-resistant vessels. Hypertension develops as a result of vasoconstriction. In the previous studies, emotional factors and particular personality traits are consistently confirmed for being predisposing factors in hypertensive individuals. In this article, we focused on the association between essential hypertension and psychological factors, and discussed the common pathophysiological mechanisms

Dose-dependent effects of adalimumab in neonatal rats with hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced intestinal damage

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) has an important role in hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-induced intestinal damage. It was shown that blocking TNF-α with infliximab has beneficial effects on experimental necrotizing enterocolitis and hypoxic intestinal injury. However, there is no data about the effect of adalimumab on H/R-induced intestinal damage. Therefore, we aimed to determine potential dose-dependent benefits of adalimumab in such damage in neonatal rats. Wistar albino rat pups were assigned to one of the four groups: control group, hypoxia group, low-dose adalimumab (5 mg/kg/day) treated group (LDAT), and high-dose adalimumab (50 mg/kg/day) treated group (HDAT). On the fourth day of the experiment, all rats except for the control group were exposed to H/R followed by euthanasia. Malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO), TNF-α, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and total oxidant capacity (TOC) were measured in intestinal tissue. TAC and TOC values were used to calculate the oxidative stress index (OSI). Histopathological injury scores (HIS) were also evaluated in the tissue samples. MDA levels were significantly lower in the LDAT and HDAT groups (p < 0.001). TNF-α levels were significantly lower in the LDAT group (p < 0.001). OSI was significantly higher in the H/R group than in the control and LDAT groups (p < 0.001). Mean HIS values in the LDAT group were significantly lower than those in the H/R and HDAT groups (p < 0.001). This experimental study showed that low-dose adalimumab appears to have a beneficial effect on intestinal injury induced with H/R in neonatal rats

Assessment of dissociation among combat-exposed soldiers with and without posttraumatic stress disorder

Background: Dissociation is a disruption of and/or discontinuity in the normal, subjective integration of one or more aspects of psychological functioning, including memory, identity, consciousness, perception, and motor control. A limited number of studies investigated combat-related dissociation. Objective: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between dissociative symptoms and combat-related trauma. Method: This study included 184 individuals, including 84 patients who were exposed to combat and diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Group I), 50 subjects who were exposed to combat but were not diagnosed with PTSD (Group II), and 50 healthy subjects without combat exposure (Group III). The participants were evaluated using the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) to determine their total and sub-factor (i.e., amnesia, depersonalization/derealization, and absorption) dissociative symptom levels. In addition, Group I and Group II were compared with respect to the relationship between physical injury and DES scores. Results: The mean DES scores (i.e., total and sub-factors) of Group I were higher than those of Group II (p30) was highest in Group I, followed by Group II and Group III. When we compared combat-exposed subjects with high total DES scores, Group I had higher scores than Group II. In contrast, no relationship between the presence of bodily injury and total DES scores could be demonstrated. In addition, our results demonstrated that high depersonalization/derealization factor scores were correlated with bodily injury in PTSD patients. A similar relationship was found between high absorption factor scores and bodily injury for Group II. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that the level of dissociation was significantly higher in subjects with combat-related PTSD than in subjects without combat-related PTSD. In addition, combat-exposed subjects without PTSD also had higher dissociation levels than healthy subjects without combat experience

Hatalı Kıyı Kullanımının Neden Olduğu Bir Problem: Karaburun Limanının (İstanbul) Dolması

Karaburun, İstanbul ilinin Karadeniz kıyısındaki bir yerleşimi olup, başta balık&ccedil;ılık olmak &uuml;zere, &ccedil;eşitli ama&ccedil;lar i&ccedil;in kullanılan k&uuml;&ccedil;&uuml;k bir limana sahiptir. Bu liman ve &ccedil;evresinde araziden faydalanmadaki hatalı uygulamalar nedeni ile limanın ağzı kum dolgusu ile kapanmıştır. Daha &ouml;nceden de sık sık dolan ve taranarak fonksiyonu devam ettirilen liman, bu kez kullanılamaz bir duruma gelmiştir. Sorun ile ilgili olarak coğrafi perspektifte ger&ccedil;ekleştirilen bu &ccedil;alışmada olayda etkili olan coğrafi parametreler değerlendirilerek mevcut durum ortaya konulmuştur. Daha sonra ise problemin &ccedil;&ouml;z&uuml;m&uuml;ne y&ouml;nelik olarak bazı &ouml;nerilerde bulunulmuştur

The effects of bosentan on hyperoxia-induced lung injury in neonatal rats

Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in premature infants. There is currently no proven effective treatment modality for BPD, and inflammation and oxidative injury play an important role in the pathogenesis of this disease. This study investigated the histopathological and biochemical effects of bosentan, which is a non-specific endothelin receptor antagonist with known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, on hyperoxia-induced lung injury (HILI) in neonatal rats. Methods: The experiment was performed on newborn rats from the 3rd to the 13th postnatal day. The rats were randomly divided into six groups: Group 1 (air-exposed + saline, n = 6); Group 2 (HILI, n = 8); Group 3 (air-exposed + bosentan, n = 7); Group 4 (HILI + saline, n = 7); Group 5 (HILI + early bosentan-treated group, n = 6), and Group 6 (HILI + late bosentan-treated group, n = 7). Bosentan was administered (30 mg/kg/day) intraperitoneally. The histopathological effects of bosentan on lung tissue were assessed by their alveolar surface area, fibrosis, and smooth muscle actin (SMA) scores, and the biochemical effects on lung tissue were assessed by interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), IL-6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Results: The alveolar surface area and fibrosis scores were found to be significantly higher in HILI groups compared with Group 1 (P < 0.01). The SMA scores in HILI groups were also significantly higher than Group 1 (P < 0.01). Bosentan treatment, especially late therapy, reduced all of these histopathological scores and the levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in the hyperoxia groups (P < 0.01). Conclusion: This experimental study showed that bosentan had a protective effect on hyperoxic lung injury through its anti-inflammatory properties. © 2019 Japan Pediatric Societ