Meanings of quality of life held by patients with colorectal cancer in the context of chemotherapy

OBJECTIVE: this study's aim was to interpret the meanings assigned to quality of life by patients with colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy.METHOD: the ethnographic method and the medical anthropology theoretical framework were used. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observations with 16 men and women aged from 43 to 75 years old undergoing chemotherapy in a university hospital.RESULTS: the meanings and senses describe biographical ruptures, loss of normality of life, personal and social suffering, and the need to respond to chemotherapy's side effects; chemotherapy is seen as a transitional stage for a cure. Quality of life is considered unsatisfactory because the treatment imposes personal and social limitations and QoL is linked to resuming normal life.CONCLUSIONS: the meanings show the importance of considering sociocultural aspects in the conceptualization and assessment of quality of life

Synthesis, solubility, plasma stability, and pharmacological evaluation of novel sulfonylhydrazones designed as anti-diabetic agents

Gisele Zapata-Sudo,1,2 Isabelle Karine da Costa Nunes,2 Josenildo Segundo Chaves Araujo,1,2 Jaqueline Soares da Silva,2 Margarete Manhães Trachez,2,3 Tiago Fernandes da Silva,1 Filipe P da Costa,2 Roberto Takashi Sudo,1,2 Eliezer J Barreiro,1,2 Lídia Moreira Lima1,2 1National Institute of Science and Technology on Drugs and Medicines, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Laboratory of Evaluation and Synthesis of Bioactive Compounds, Center of Health Sciences, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 2Program of Research in Drug Development, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 3Department of Anesthesiology, Fluminense Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Abstract: Neuropathy is a serious complication of diabetes that has a significant socioeconomic impact, since it frequently demands high levels of health care consumption and compromises labor productivity. Recently, LASSBio-1471 (3) was demonstrated to improve oral glucose tolerance, reduce blood glucose levels, and display an anti-neuropathy effect in a murine streptozotocin-induced diabetes model. In the present work, we describe the design, synthesis, solubility, plasma stability, and pharmacological evaluation of novel sulfonylhydrazone derivatives (referred to herein as compounds 4–9), which were designed by molecular modification based on the structure of the prototype LASSBio-1471 (3). Among the compounds tested, better plasma stability was observed with 4, 5, and 9 in comparison to compounds 6, 7, and 8. LASSBio-1773 (7), promoted not only hypoglycemic activity but also the reduction of thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia in a murine model of streptozotocin-induced diabetic neuropathic pain. Keywords: diabetes, sulfonylhydrazone, hypoglycemic activity, druglikeness, plasma stability, metabolit