Quality of life, alexithymia, and defence mechanisms in patients affected by breast cancer across different stages of illness

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of alexithymia and defence mechanisms on the quality of life of patients affected by breast cancer at different stages of the disease. Methods A convenience sample of 110 patients with breast cancer was involved in the study: 41 were receiving adjuvant chemotherapyafter surgery, 29 had disease-free survival in follow-up and 40 were receiving chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Quality of life, alexithymia and defence mechanisms were assessed using the following instruments: EORTC QLQ-C30-BR23, Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and Defense Mechanism Inventory (DMI). Results Compared to the other groups, patients receiving chemotherapy for metastatic disease reported poorer quality of life in several domains, more severe cancer-related and treatment-related symptoms and higher levels of alexithymia. When the effect of other potential predictors was taken into account, TAS-20 difficulty in identifying feelings was significantly related to all the EORTC functional subscale. Conclusion: This study underlined the relevance of difficulty in emotional processing and defence mechanisms in modulating psychological adjustment in women affected by breast cancer, suggesting that these might be potential targets of psychological intervention for this population

Exploring the Impact of SOD1 Transcript Variants on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

<p>The database includes the raw data of the article "Exploring the Impact of SOD1 Transcript Variants on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis". Aim of this work was to investigate the role of SOD1 transcripts in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The database contains the data obtained by the following evaluations:</p><p> a) immunofluorescence analysis for the evaluation of total, transfected and endogenous SOD1 in transfected SHYSY5Y and Hela cells, b) Multiplex analysis for the evaluation of SOD1 transcripts in SYSY5Y cells and in PBMCs patients, c) correlation analysis for the correlation between SOD1 transcripts and ages of patients, ALSFRS_R value, PRB value and PRL value.</p><p>We found that the shortest transcript is upregulated in stress condition in both the cellular model and the patients' cells. Moreover, we found a possible correlation between the SOD1 short transcript and the severity of the pathology, which correlates also with the age of patients at symptoms onset. No correlation was found between SOD1 transcripts and the progression of the disease. Our data suggest a toxic effect of SOD1 short transcript in patients affects by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.</p&gt

New Insights into Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Response in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Oxidative stress (OS) and inflammation are two important and well-studied pathological hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). Due to elevated oxygen consumption, the high presence of easily oxidizable polyunsaturated fatty acids and the weak antioxidant defenses, the brain is particularly vulnerable to oxidative injury. Uncertainty exists over whether these deficits contribute to the development of NDDs or are solely a consequence of neuronal degeneration. Furthermore, these two pathological hallmarks are linked, and it is known that OS can affect the inflammatory response. In this review, we will overview the last findings about these two pathways in the principal NDDs. Moreover, we will focus more in depth on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to understand how anti-inflammatory and antioxidants drugs have been used for the treatment of this still incurable motor neuron (MN) disease. Finally, we will analyze the principal past and actual clinical trials and the future perspectives in the study of these two pathological mechanisms

Metacognitive Therapy in Patients with Tinnitus: a Single Group Study

Tinnitus is often in comorbidity with anxiety and depression, and several authors have proposed a reduced efficiency of the top-down executive control in its perception. This single-group study describes a novel application of the metacognitive therapy (MCT), which works on a top-down engagement of proactive attentional control mechanisms on a group of patients with tinnitus, to see its impact on the perception of tinnitus and its anxiety and depression correlates. Eight metacognitive therapy group-sessions were proposed to a group of nine patients, as part of a regional project conducted at the University General Hospital “Paolo Giaccone” of Palermo. The last was a follow-up session, proposed three months after the seventh. The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were administered during the first, the seventh and the follow-up group session. The distress perceived by tinnitus (THI), lowered at a tolerable level at re-test, by maintaining this result up to 3 months after the conclusion of the experience (F(2) = 13.1, p = 0.001; effect size = 0.731). Distress scores (HADS) (F(2) = 8.3, p = 0.016; effect size = 0.462) and anxiety sub-scores (F(2) = 12.06, p = 0.001; effect size = 0.670) improved at the end of the experience, and the benefits stayed stable over the course of the follow-up, while depression scores did not change (p = 0.549). The use of MCT appears to offer promise in reducing the perception of the tinnitus and the anxiety of participants and reduces the significance of annoying thinking. Further studies are necessary to test its efficacy and replicability in a controlled trial

Virtual reality environments to rehabilitation attention deficits in schizophrenic patients

Cognitive dysfunction is regarded as a core feature of schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia showed poor performance on tasks that require vigilance or sustained attention. The study aimed at developing a Virtual Reality cognitive training to improve the selective, divided and sustained attention. Two clinical samples of patients with schizophrenic disorder were involved: an experimental group treated with pharmacological therapy and Virtual Reality cognitive training; a control group received pharmacological therapy and Integrated Psychological Treatment. Both VR training and IPT were associated with improved performance in sustained attention tasks. After the training, the experimental group showed improvements in planning and divided attention. This preliminary investigation suggests that virtual reality training may improve cognitive functioning in patients with psychosis

Comparison between D-loop methylation and mtDNA copy number in patients with Aicardi-Goutières Syndrome

IntroductionAicardi-Goutieres Syndrome (AGS) is a rare encephalopathy with early onset that can be transmitted in both dominant and recessive forms. Its phenotypic covers a wide range of neurological and extraneurological symptoms. Nine genes that are all involved in nucleic acids (NAs) metabolism or signaling have so far been linked to the AGS phenotype. Recently, a link between autoimmune or neurodegenerative conditions and mitochondrial dysfunctions has been found. As part of the intricate system of epigenetic control, the mtDNA goes through various alterations. The displacement (D-loop) region represents one of the most methylated sites in the mtDNA. The term "mitoepigenetics" has been introduced as a result of increasing data suggesting that epigenetic processes may play a critical role in the control of mtDNA transcription and replication. Since we showed that RNASEH2B and RNASEH2A-mutated Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines (LCLs) derived from AGS patients had mitochondrial alterations, highlighting changes in the mtDNA content, the main objective of this study was to examine any potential methylation changes in the D-loop regulatory region of mitochondria and their relationship to the mtDNA copy number in peripheral blood cells of AGS patients with mutations in various AGS genes and healthy controls. Materials and methodsWe collected blood samples from 25 AGS patients and we performed RT-qPCR to assess the mtDNA copy number and pyrosequencing to measure DNA methylation levels in the D-loop region. ResultsComparing AGS patients to healthy controls, D-loop methylation levels and mtDNA copy number increased significantly. We also observed that in AGS patients, the mtDNA copy number increased with age at sampling, but not the D-loop methylation levels, and there was no relationship between sex and mtDNA copy number. In addition, the D-loop methylation levels and mtDNA copy number in the AGS group showed a non-statistically significant positive relation. ConclusionThese findings, which contradict the evidence for an inverse relationship between D-loop methylation levels and mtDNA copy number, show that AGS patients have higher D-loop methylation levels than healthy control subjects. Additional research is needed to identify the function of these features in the etiology and course of AGS