19 research outputs found
Telomere length shortening is associated with treatment-free remission in chronic myeloid leukemia patients
We studied telomere length in 32 CML patients who discontinued imatinib after achieving complete molecular remission and 32 age-sex-matched controls. The relative telomere length (RTL) was determined by q-PCR as the telomere to single copy gene (36B4) ratio normalized to a reference sample (K-562 DNA). Age-corrected RTL (acRTL) was also obtained. The 36-month probability of treatment-free remission (TFR) was 59.4 %. TFR patients showed shorter acRTL compared to relapsed (mean ± SD = 0.01 ± 0.14 vs 0.20 ± 0.21; p = 0.01). TFR was significantly higher in CML patients with acRTL ≤0.09 (78.9 vs 30.8 %, p = 0.002). CML stem cells harboring longer telomeres possibly maintain a proliferative potential after treatment discontinuation
Psychopathology, psychosocial factors and obesity
The aims of this study were to evaluate the association between obesity and socio-demographic and psychopathological variables in a clinical sample of patients referred to a center for the diagnosis and treatment of obesity, compared with a homogeneous sample of normal-weight subjects.Aims. The aims of this study were to evaluate the association between obesity and socio-demographic and psychopathological variables in a clinical sample of patients referred to a center for the diagnosis and treatment of obesity, compared with a homogeneous sample of normal-weight subjects. Methods. In the context of a research project regarding obesity and psychopathology, a multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between obesity and the demographic and clinical variables, on the basis of the data set of a consecutive sample of 293 obese patients (48 males, 245 females, mean age: 45.41±13.55, mean body mass index [BMI] 35.6±6.2) compared with a control group of 293 non-obese subjects (48 males, 245 females, mean age 45.66±13.86, mean BMI 21.8±2.06). All subjects were assessed by structured clinical interview, the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis for axis I DSM-IV (SCID-I) and for axis II DSM-IV (SCID-II). Results. Multivariate statistical analysis showed that the status of housewife and the presence of lifetime axis I and II psychiatric diagnosis in general, and of depressive, anxiety, eating and some personality disorders in particular, significantly increased the likelihood of being overweight/obese. The likelihood for different combinations of risk factors increased from a value of 32.3% for an individual not exposed to any risk factor, to a value of 86.7% for those exposed to all risk factors considered. Conclusions.The presence of an axis I and/or II diagnosis and housewife status are both independently associated with an increased likelihood of being overweight/obese. The interaction of these factors increases this likelihood. Even taking into account the limits of the study, in particular of its cross-sectional nature, these findings may have important implications in both prevention and treatment of obesity