Stress and coping patterns of participants and non-participants in self-help groups for parents of the mentally ill

The authors examined differences in stress and coping patterns as well as in situationally-related variables between participants and non-participants in self-help groups for parents of the mentally ill in Israel. Participants, who were higher on socio-economic status indicators, reported coping patterns that tended to be both more active and interactive. They also reported greater concerns around psycho-social issues than non-participants. The authors discuss the possible interrelationships among these findings.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44305/1/10597_2004_Article_BF00752453.pd

Cytotoxicity and DNA damage in the neutrophils of patients with sickle cell anaemia treated with hydroxyurea

Hydroxyurea (HU) is the most important advance in the treatment of sickle cell anaemia (SCA) for preventing complications and improving quality of life for patients. However, some aspects of treatment with HU remain unclear, including their effect on and potential toxicity to other blood cells such as neutrophils. This study used the measurement of Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) and Methyl ThiazolTetrazolium (MTT) and the comet assay to investigate the cytotoxicity and damage index (DI) of the DNA in the neutrophils of patients with SCA using HU.In the LDH and MTT assays, a cytoprotective effect was observed in the group of patients treated, as well as an absence of toxicity. When compared to patients without the treatment, the SS group (n=20, 13 women and 07 men, aged 18-69 years), and the group of healthy individuals (AA) used as a control group (n=52, 28 women and 24 men, aged 19-60 years), The SSHU group (n=21, 11 women and 10 men, aged 19-63 years) showed a significant reduction (p20 months), demonstrating that despite the cytoprotective effects in terms of cell viability, the use of HU can induce DNA damage in neutrophils

Framing the doctor-patient relationship in chronic illness: a comparative study of general practitioners' accounts

How family doctors conceptualise chronic illness in the consultation has important implications for both the delivery of medical care, and its experience by patients. In this paper, we present the results of a re-analysis of qualitative data collected in a series of studies of British family doctors between 1995 and 2001, to explore the ways in which the legitimacy and authority of medical knowledge and practice are organised and worked out in relation to three kinds of chronic illness (menorrhagia; depression; and chronic low back pain/medically unexplained symptoms). We present a comparative analysis of (a) the moral evaluation of the patient (and judgements about the legitimacy of symptom presentation); (b) the possibilities of disposal; and (c) doctors’ empathic responses to the patient, in each of these clinical cases. Our analysis defines some of the fundamental conditions through which general practitioners frame their relationships with patients presenting complex but sometimes diffuse combinations of ‘social’, ‘psychological’ and ‘medical’ symptoms. These are fundamental to, yet barely touched by, the increasingly voluminous literature on how doctors should interact with patients. Moving beyond the individual studies from which our data are drawn, we have outlined some of the highly complex and demanding features of what is often seen as routine and unrewarding medical work, and some of the key requirements for the local negotiation of patients’ problems and their meanings (for both patients and doctors) in everyday general practice.<br/