Assessing health status and quality of life of Q-fever patients: the Nijmegen Clinical Screening Instrument versus the Short Form 36

Contains fulltext : 117978.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to assess the use of the Nijmegen Clinical Screening Instrument (NCSI) and Short Form 36 (SF-36) in providing a detailed assessment of health status of Q-fever patients and to evaluate which subdomains within the NCSI and SF-36 measure unique aspects of health status. FINDINGS: Patients received a study questionnaire, which contained the NCSI and SF-36. Pearson correlation coefficients between subdomains of the instruments were calculated. The response rate was 94% (309 out of 330 eligible patients). Intercorrelations between subdomains of the NCSI were generally lower than of the SF-36. Four subdomains of the NCSI showed conceptual similarity (Pearson's r >/= .70) with one or more subdomains of the SF-36 and vice versa. Subdomains that showed no conceptual similarity were NCSI Subjective Pulmonary Symptoms, Subjective Impairment, Dyspnoea Emotions and Satisfaction Relations, and SF-36 Social functioning, Bodily Pain, Role Physical and Role Emotional. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that either the NCSI or SF-36 can be used to measure health status in Q-fever patients. When the aim is to obtain a detailed overview of the patients' health, a combination of the two instruments, consisting of the complete NCSI and the four unique subdomains of the SF-36, is preferred

MMP Inhibition in Prostate Cancer

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a significant role during the development and metastasis of prostate cancer (CaP). CaP cells secrete high levels of MMPs and low levels of endogenous MMP inhibitors (TIMPs), thus creating an excess balance of MMPs. Established CaP cell lines that express high levels of MMPs frequently metastasize to the bone and the lungs. Drugs such as Taxol and alendronate that reduce cell motility and calcium metabolism reduce bony metastasis of xenografted CaP tumors. We tested several synthetic, nontoxic inhibitors of MMPs that can be administered orally, including doxycycline (DC) and chemically modified tetracyclines (CMTs) on CaP cells in vitro and on a rat CaP model in vivo. Among several anti‐MMP agents tested, CMT‐3 (6‐deoxy, 6‐demethyl,4‐de‐dimethylamino tetracycline) showed highest activity against CaP cell invasion and cell proliferation. Micromolar concentration of CMT‐3 and DC inhibited both the secretion and activity of MMPs by CaP cells. When tested for in vivo efficacy in the Dunning rat CaP model by daily oral gavage, CMT‐3 and DC both reduced the lung metastases (> 50%). CMT‐3, but not DC, inhibited tumor incidence (55 ± 9%) and also reduced the tumor growth rate (27 ± 9.3%). More significantly, the drugs showed minimum systemic toxicity. Ongoing studies indicate that CMT‐3 may inhibit the skeletal metastases of CaP cells and delay the onset of paraplegia due to lumbar metastases. These preclinical studies provide the basis for clinical trials of CMT‐3 for the treatment of metastatic disease