Comparison of the Level of Awareness about the Transmission of Echinococcosis and Toxocariasis between Pet Owners and Non-Pet Owners in Greece

Ζoonotic parasitic diseases that can occur through animal contact pose risks to pets, their owners and to their bond. This study aims to assess the level of knowledge about zoonoses, specifically echinococcosis and toxocariasis, among cat/dog owners and non-pet owners in Greece. Multiple-choice questionnaires were designed to obtain data regarding the knowledge of pet and non-pet owners on echinococcosis and toxocariasis, including signs and symptoms of these zoonoses, ways of transmission and precautions that need to be taken into account in order to avoid it. A total of 185 questionnaires were retrieved and data was expressed as absolute (Ν) and relative frequencies (%). Associations between pet ownership, residence and outcome variables were evaluated using the Fisher exact test and Chi-squared test, respectively. Multifactorial linear regression analysis was used to investigate the cross-sectional association between demographic characteristics and the awareness of helminthic zoonoses. All tests were two-sided and statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Our study revealed a disturbing lack of awareness of echinococcosis and toxocariasis (mean zoonotic knowledge score 8.11 ± 3.18) independently of pet ownership. Surprisingly, in some cases the ignorance of pet owners exceeded that of non-pet owners. Given the progressive impact of toxocariasis in public health and the high prevalence of echinococcosis in the Mediterranean region, measures should be taken to inform people about zoonoses and eliminate their putative transmission

Chronic p53-independent p21 expression causes genomic instability by deregulating replication licensing

The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21WAF1/CIP1 (p21) is a cell-cycle checkpoint effector and inducer of senescence, regulated by p53. Yet, evidence suggests that p21 could also be oncogenic, through a mechanism that has so far remained obscure. We report that a subset of atypical cancerous cells strongly expressing p21 showed proliferation features. This occurred predominantly in p53-mutant human cancers, suggesting p53-independent upregulation of p21 selectively in more aggressive tumour cells. Multifaceted phenotypic and genomic analyses of p21-inducible, p53-null, cancerous and near-normal cellular models showed that after an initial senescence-like phase, a subpopulation of p21-expressing proliferating cells emerged, featuring increased genomic instability, aggressiveness and chemoresistance. Mechanistically, sustained p21 accumulation inhibited mainly the CRL4–CDT2 ubiquitin ligase, leading to deregulated origin licensing and replication stress. Collectively, our data reveal the tumour-promoting ability of p21 through deregulation of DNA replication licensing machinery—an unorthodox role to be considered in cancer treatment, since p21 responds to various stimuli including some chemotherapy drugs

Psychometric properties of the impact of event scale in Greek cancer patients

To develop the Greek version of the Impact of E vent Scale-Revised (IES-R-Gr), assess its Psychometric properties, and finally to examine the impact of cancer diagnosis to a palliative care patient sample, the IES-R was translated into Greek using the “forward-backward” procedure. It was administered twice, at one-week intervals, to 82 eligible patients with advanced cancer. Together with the IES-R-Gr scale, the patients also completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) Scale. Reliability was assessed in terms of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficients) and test/retest (Spearman’s r value and Kendall’s tau-b). Construct validity was demonstrated through association with the HAD Scale, and convergence and discriminative validity and interscale correlations were also assessed. The Greek version of the IES-R had Cronbach’s alphas for the intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal scales of 0.72, 0.77, and 0.85, respectively. Overall test-retest reliability was satisfactory at P &lt; 0.0005. Satisfactory construct validity was supported by the correlation analysis between the IES-R-Gr subscales and anxiety and depression. Factor analysis yielded three factors, explaining 57.26% of the variance. Interscale and interitem correlations were found satisfactory at P &lt; 0.0005. These results demonstrate that the IES-R-Gr is an instrument with satisfactory psychometric properties and is a valid research tool for the impact of cancer diagnosis in advanced cancer patients

Psychological distress of patients with advanced cancer - Influence and contribution of pain severity and pain interference

The growing interest in the psychological distress and the multidimensionality of pain in patients with cancer has been the major reason for the conduction of this study. The aims we; re to evaluate psychological distress and pain in patients with advanced cancer and the impact of pain severity and pain interference dimensions on the anxiety and depression. One hundred twenty patients with advanced cancer were surveyed at a palliative care unit in Athens, Greece. Greek versions of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (G-HAD) scale and the Brief Pain Inventory were administered. Information concerning patients’ treatment received was acquired from the medical records, whereas physicians recorded their clinical condition. The analysis showed that significant associations were found between pain interference to “mood” and HAD-A (anxiety) (r = 0.252, P =.005) and between pain interference to “relations with other people” and HAD-A (r = 0.474, P &lt;.0005). Multiple regression analyses showed that “average pain” (P &lt;.05), pain interference’to “walking ability” (P &lt;.05), “normal work” (P &lt;.05, and “relations with other people” are significant predictors of HAD-anxiety (HAD-A) (P &lt;.0005), explaining 46.2% of total variance. For depression (HAD-D), the Greek version of the Brief Pain Inventory dimension that serve as predictor is “enjoyment of life,” as well as the demographic variables of “age,” and “gender” (P &lt;.05), explaining 22.2% of variance. Moreover, a further analysis of the pain severity and pain interference scales showed that they differentiate the anxiety of the patients with cancer. In this patient sample, pain interference and, to a lesser extent, pain severity was significantly associated with psychological distress (anxiety and pain), whereas pain interference to “walking ability,” “normal work,” and “relations with other people” was found to be more prominent and troublesome to patients’ anxiety than that to patients’ depression

Protective effect of

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential effect of the methanolic extract of plant Glycyrrhiza glabra roots on bone mineral density and femoral bone strength of ovariectomized rats. Methods: Thirty 10-month-old Wistar rats were randomly separated into three groups of ten, Control, Ovariectomy and Ovariectomy-plus-Glycyrrhiza in their drinking water. Total and proximal tibial bone mineral density was measured in all groups before ovariectomy (baseline) and after 3 and 6 months post ovariectomy. Three-point-bending of the femurs and uterine weight and histology were examined at the end of the study. Results: No significant difference was noted in bone density percentage change of total tibia from baseline to 3 months between Control and Ovariectomy-plus-Glycyrrhiza groups (+5.31% ± 4.75 and +3.30% ± 6.31 respectively, P = non significant), and of proximal tibia accordingly (+5.58% ± 6.92 and +2.61% ± 13.62, P = non significant) demonstrating a strong osteoprotective effect. There was notable difference in percentage change of total tibia from baseline to 6 months between groups Ovariectomy and Ovariectomy-plus-Glycyrrhiza (−13.03% ± 5.11 and −0.84% ± 7.63 respectively, P < 0.005), and of proximal tibia accordingly (−27.9% ± 3.69 and −0.81% ± 14.85 respectively, P < 0.001), confirming the protective effect of Glycyrrhiza glabra extract in preserving bone density of the Ovariectomy-plus-Glycyrrhiza group. Three-point-bending did not reveal any statistically significant difference between Ovariectomy and Ovariectomy-plus-Glycyrrhiza groups. Uterine weights of the Ovariectomy-plus-Glycyrrhiza group ranged between the other two groups with no statistically significant difference to each. Conclusions: Glycyrrhiza glabra root extract notably protected tibial bone mineral density loss in Ovariectomy-plus-Glycyrrhiza rats in comparison with ovariectomized rats, but did not improve biomechanical strength