Relationship Dynamics: the Protective Effect of Relationship Satisfaction and Dependency on Parents’ Mental Health After Having a Preterm Baby

background Having a premature infant who is hospitalized with the risk of death and potential health problems is a traumatic experience for many parents. The present study investigated the depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic growth (PTG) experienced by couples after the premature birth of their babies in terms of their relationship dynamics. participants and procedure The study was conducted on 209 individuals – 159 mothers (76.1%) and 50 fathers (23.9%) – who had premature babies born at or before 32 weeks of gestation. The participants completed the Relationship Assessment Scale, Emotional Dependency Scale, Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, and a sociodemographic form. For interpretation of the data, intervariable relationships were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient, and the mediation models were analyzed by the regression-based bootstrapping technique using the PROCESS Macro. results The relationship satisfaction and emotional dependency experienced by parents had a positive correlation with PTG following preterm birth. Relationship satisfaction was associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Emotional dependency was correlated with lower levels of depression and stress but not anxiety. For the mediating variables, it was found that depression and anxiety had a full mediating role between relationship satisfaction and PTG but stress did not. It was determined that depression had a partial mediating role between emotional dependency and PTG but anxiety and stress did not. conclusions The study findings revealed the importance of establishing family- and baby-centered neurodevelopmental neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The results suggested that having healthcare professionals, primarily nurses and doctors, make observations about the relationship dynamics of parents during their stay at the NICU and guide parents to receive psychological support if they perceive weaknesses in the relationship – since such weaknesses predict possible risks of depression, anxiety and stress – would support the functionality of families. The findings are discussed, and future directions are suggested

Diepoxide-Triggered Conformational Transition of Silk Fibroin: Formation of Hydrogels

Silk fibroin hydrogels with tunable properties could be obtained from aqueous fibroin solutions (4.2 w/v %) in a short period of time. This was achieved by the addition of ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE) into the reaction solution. Introduction of EGDE cross-links between the fibroin molecules decreases the mobility of the chains, which triggers the conformational transition from random-coil to β-sheet structure and hence fibroin gelation. Dynamic rheological measurements conducted at 50 °C show the formation of strong to weak hydrogels depending on the pH of the reaction solution. Although EGDE attacks the amino groups of fibroin and forms interstrand cross-links, β-sheets acting as physical cross-links dominate the elasticity of the hydrogels. Mechanical response of low-modulus fibroin hydrogels formed above pH 9.7 is highly nonlinear with strong strain hardening behavior (700%) arising from the alignment of the crystallizable amino acid segments

The role of colchicine in preventing contrast-induced acute kidney injury in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention

BACKGROUND: Contrast induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) is a serious complication of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate the preventive role of colchicine on CI-AKI in patients undergoing elective PCI considering to its anti-inflammatory and renoprotective effects

Macroporous Silk Fibroin Cryogels

Silk fibroin cryogels with remarkable properties were obtained from frozen fibroin solutions (4.2–12.6%) at subzero temperatures between −5 and −22 °C. This was achieved by the addition of ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE) into the cryogelation system. EGDE triggers the conformational transition of fibroin from random coil to β-sheet structure and hence fibroin gelation. One of the unique features of fibroin cryogels is their elasticity that allows them to resist complete compression without any crack development, during which water inside the cryogel is removed. The compressed cryogel immediately swells during unloading to recover its original shape. The scaffolds obtained by freeze-drying of the cryogels consist of regular, interconnected pores of diameters ranging from 50 to 10 μm that could be regulated by the synthesis parameters. The mechanical compressive strength and the modulus of the scaffolds increase with decreasing pore diameter, that is, with decreasing gelation temperature or, with increasing fibroin or EGDE concentrations in the feed. The scaffolds produced at 12.6% fibroin exhibit a very high compressive modulus (50 MPa) making them good candidates as bone scaffold materials

Macroporous Silk Fibroin Cryogels

Silk fibroin cryogels with remarkable properties were obtained from frozen fibroin solutions (4.2–12.6%) at subzero temperatures between −5 and −22 °C. This was achieved by the addition of ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE) into the cryogelation system. EGDE triggers the conformational transition of fibroin from random coil to β-sheet structure and hence fibroin gelation. One of the unique features of fibroin cryogels is their elasticity that allows them to resist complete compression without any crack development, during which water inside the cryogel is removed. The compressed cryogel immediately swells during unloading to recover its original shape. The scaffolds obtained by freeze-drying of the cryogels consist of regular, interconnected pores of diameters ranging from 50 to 10 μm that could be regulated by the synthesis parameters. The mechanical compressive strength and the modulus of the scaffolds increase with decreasing pore diameter, that is, with decreasing gelation temperature or, with increasing fibroin or EGDE concentrations in the feed. The scaffolds produced at 12.6% fibroin exhibit a very high compressive modulus (50 MPa) making them good candidates as bone scaffold materials

Habitual tea drinking and bone mineral density in postmenopausal Turkish women: Investigation of prevalence of postmenopausal osteoporosis in turkey (IPPOT study)

Aim: In this epidemiological report, we assessed the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis (OP) in postmenopausal Turkish women and the relationship between body mass index (BMI), and some nutritional factors (habitual tea, coffee, tobacco, and milk product consumption) with OP

Evaluation of hereditary/familial breast cancer patients with multigene targeted next generation sequencing panel and MLPA analysis in Turkey.

Breast cancer, a worldwide leading cause of cancer in women, may occur in familial cases. Germline mutations in BRCA1/2 genes are responsible for 15% of the familial cases. With the power of next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis, it is possible to analyze genes related to hereditary susceptibility to breast cancer and investigate the genetic etiology more thoroughly.In this study, we investigated 30 genes identified frequent pathogenic alleles in Turkish population. The study includes 495 unrelated individuals diagnosed with breast cancer who are selected for genetic testing according to NCCN criteria for hereditary breast cancer. All patients were analyzed by NGS for BRCA1/2 genes. Deletion/duplication investigation by Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) and massive sequencing of 30 breast cancer-related genes (Oncorisk Gene Panel) were performed in a stepwise manner. BRCA1/2 variants are the most frequent pathogenic variants which are found in 45 of 495 (9.1%) patients. Four previously unreported, novel, pathogenic variants of BRCA2 gene are identified. In four cases, exonic deletions of BRCA1/2 genes are determined and there is no duplication of these genes. NGS panel investigation involving other moderate-high risk genes contributed genetic diagnosis in an extra 39 out of 419 (9.3%) cases. Our study presents the cost effectiveness of the gene panel approach. We suggest that gene panels should be the first-tier genetic testing for hereditary breast cancer and MLPA analysis of BRCA1/2 genes should be investigated as a complementary method of NGS analysis. (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc