Valoració de la qualitat de vida dels familiars de pacients amb fibromiàlgia

Curs 2013-2014Fonament i objectiu: La Fibromiàlgia (FM) és una malaltia reumàtica caracteritzada per dolor generalitzat, que afecta a un tant per cent elevat de la població general , majoritàriament dones i d’etiologia desconeguda, i que pensem que no afecta tan sols als qui la pateixen, sinó que també als seus familiars. En aquest estudi s’han avaluat diferents variables com l’impacte emocional, la vida social, aspectes econòmics i laborals i altres activitats en familiars de primer grau de pacients amb FM. L’objectiu principal és determinar quin és el grau d’afectació negativa en la seva qualitat de vida. Material i mètodes: Es va fer un estudi observacional clínic a un grup de 27 familiars de 1er grau que convivien a la mateixa casa que els respectius afectats per FM. Se’ls va passar un qüestionari ad- hoc de 16 preguntes tancades, basades en estudis previs , i també una entrevista oberta amb l’objectiu de reforçar les dades estadístiques. Les entrevistes es varen fer a la Unitat de Fibromiàlgia de l’Hospital Santa Maria de Lleida. Resultats: Es va entrevistar a 27 familiars, 85’2 % homes, la majoria de entre 51 – 70 anys (63%). El 85’2 % eren casats, amb estudis primaris el 59’3% i el 88% tenien coneixements sobre la malaltia del familiar afectat. El percentatge de familiars que van opinar que hi havia una minva del grau de felicitats amb la malaltia era del 74’1%. El 85% no havia pensat mai en trencar la relació familiar. El 70% referien canvis en la vida social i relacional arrel del diagnòstic de FM , un 88’9% havien tingut que augmentar l’ajut en tasques domèstiques i el 70’4% patien efectes econòmics negatius arrel de la malaltia. La relació sexual es va veure afectada en un 85% dels casos, en canvi no es varen veure alteracions del son ni de la percepció de salut. Conclusions: El fet de conviure amb una persona afectada de FM suposa pèrdua del grau de felicitat i canvis en la vida social, relacional i sexual amb empitjorament del nivell econòmic.Fundamentals and objectives: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a rheumatic disease characterized by widespread pain, with a high presence in the general population, affecting mostly women, with unknown etiology, and we think that it affects not only patients, but also their families. In this study different variables were evaluated in family members of FM’s patients, such as the emotional impact, the social life, financial aspects and other activities. The main aim was to determinate what the degree of negative affection in their quality of life is. Material and Methods: To carry the study out, we propose a clinical observational study in a group of 27 first-degree relatives that were living in the same house that the respective FM affected. An ad-hoc questionnaire of 16 closed questions based on previous studies was administered to the participants, together with an open interview with the objective of strength the statistical data. The interviews were carried out in the Fibromyalgia Unit of the Hospital Santa Maria, in Lleida. Results: We interviewed 27 families, 85’2% were male, most of them between 51-70 years (63%). 85’2% of them were married, 69,3% had primary studies, and 88% had knowledge of the disease that affected their relative. The percentage of families who felt a decrease in the degree of happiness since FM was 74’1%. The 85% had not ever thought of breaking up with the family relationship. The 70% talked about changes in the social and relational life because of the FM diagnosis; the 88’9% increased the aid in housework, and the 70’4% suffered negative economic problems since FM. The sexual relationship was affected in the 85% of cases; however, any sleep or health disturbances were observed in the study. Conclusions: The fact of living with a person affected by FM represents a loss in the degree of happiness and changes in social, relational and sexual life, together with a worsening in the economic level

Advancements in ambient ionization mass spectrometry towards improved ovarian cancer research and diagnosis

Ovarian cancer is a highly aggressive disease accounting for the majority of deaths from gynecological malignancies. Investigating the molecular mechanisms driving disease development and progression can improve early detection and drive the introduction of novel treatment strategies to ameliorate patient outcomes. Enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of ovarian cancer surgeries by introducing molecular information to rapidly assess tissue samples and guide cancer excision could also offer significant benefits to the management of ovarian cancer. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry (MS) methods are capable of obtaining biomolecule information directly from tissue samples with minimal sample preparation requirements and experimental simplicity, providing a suitable platform to conduct these investigations. Desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) was introduced in 2004 as the first ambient ionization MS technique and has been widely applied to investigate healthy and cancerous human tissue sections towards identifying potential cancer molecular markers and developing predictive statistical models towards improved cancer diagnosis. Alternative ambient ionization methods utilizing direct liquid extraction-based mechanisms have also been developed to improve the analytical capabilities of ambient ionization MS and expand applications in tissue analysis and cancer diagnosis. Overall, this dissertation presents the application and development of ambient ionization MS methods for ovarian cancer research and improved diagnostics. First, the use of DESI-MS to distinguish between malignant and borderline ovarian tumors, as well as determine metabolic markers associated with disease aggressiveness is described. Going beyond cancer diagnosis, we next apply DESI-MS to identify trends in metabolic composition resulting from the expression of the fatty acid binding protein (FABP4) gene, a molecular determinant of ovarian cancer metastasis and residual disease post-surgery. An alternative liquid extraction-based ambient ionization MS approach is also described in this dissertation to improve spatial control in MS imaging and profiling applications from biological tissue sections. The capabilities of this method are tested with various biological samples, including ovarian cancer tissue. Finally, we discuss the development of an ambient MS technology, the MasSpec Pen, envisioned for nondestructive, rapid, ex vivo and in vivo assessment of surgical specimens. We demonstrate the capabilities of this system to provide accurate diagnoses from ovarian fresh-frozen specimens ex vivo across different sample sets, utilizing various healthy and ovarian cancer tissue types and mass spectrometry platforms.Chemistr

Determination of the spatiotemporal dependence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm viability after treatment with NLC-colistin

The emergence of colistin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, particularly after long-term inhalation treatments, has been recently reported. Nanoencapsulation may enable preparations to overcome the limitations of conventional pharmaceutical forms. We have determined the time-dependent viability of P. aeruginosa biofilms treated with both free and nanoencapsulated colistin. We also examined the relationship between the optimal anti-biofilm activity of nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC)-colistin and the structural organization of the biofilm itself. The results showed the more rapid killing of P. aeruginosa bacterial biofilms by NLC-colistin than by free colistin. However, the two formulations did not differ in terms of the final percentages of living and dead cells, which were higher in the inner than in the outer layers of the treated biofilms. The effective anti-biofilm activity of NLC-colistin and its faster killing effect recommend further studies of its use over free colistin in the treatment of P. aeruginosa infections in CF patients

The role of intercropping on insects diversity in dryland field crops in a Mediterranean site

This work aims to evaluate the effect of crop type and density on insects’ community in the Mediterranean re-gion. In winter of 2004, four 35m x 10m blocks (replicates) were delimited and 24 equidistant 2m x 3m plots were marked. Seven crop types (barley, vetch, turnip, barley-vetch, barley-turnip, vetch-turnip and barley-vetch-turnip) at three densities were randomly established within each block. Fifteen crop shoots per plot were randomly collected in May to evaluate insect’s abundance and diversity. Our results suggest that inter-crop has a positive effect on abundance of most exam-ined groups of insects and diversity, specifically when vetch is incorporated in the mixture. Changes in abun-dance of aphids, trips and ants are also discussed connected with vetch presence

Septal gabaergic inputs to CA1 govern contextual memory retrieval

The CA1 output region of the hippocampus plays an essential role in the retrieval of episodic memories. γ-Aminobutyric acid-releasing (GABAergic) long-range projections from the medial septum (MS) densely innervate the hippocampus, but whether septal inputs regulate memory expression remains elusive. We found that the MS to CA1 connection is recruited during recall of a contextual fear memory. Chemogenetic silencing of CA1-projecting MS neurons or septal GABAergic terminals within CA1 blocked memory retrieval. Photostimulation of septal GABAergic terminals in CA1 selectively inhibited interneurons. Abrogating septal GABAergic cells during retrieval disinhibited parvalbumin-rich (PV+) cells in CA1. Direct activation of CA1 PV+ cells impaired memory and prevented the induction of extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated kinase signaling in postsynaptic pyramidal neurons. Opposing disinhibition of hippocampal PV+ cells reversibly restored memory. Our data indicate that suppression of feed-forward inhibition onto CA1 by septal GABAergic neurons is an important mechanism in gating contextual fear behavior

Síntesi estereoselectiva de ciclobutan-1,2-diamines

En el present treball de màster s'ha dut a terme la síntesi estereoselectiva de ciclobutan-1,2-diamines protegides ortogonalment. S'han sintetitzat els quatre estereoisòmers de la ciclobutan-1,2-diamina partint d'un intermedi comú, l'àcid 2-metoxicarbonil-(1S,2R)-ciclobutan-1-carboxílic, del qual es disposen metodologies en el nostre grup de recerca per fer-ne la síntesi de manera enantioselectiva

Cyclobutane scaffold in bolaamphiphiles : Effect of diastereoisomerism and regiochemistry on their surface activity aggregate structure

Cationic bolaamphiphiles have been synthesized starting from meso cis- or chiral trans-1,2-difunctionalized cyclobutane derivatives. They include cis/trans pairs of diastereoisomers, of N- or C-centered bisamides. The goal of this work was to investigate the influence of stereochemistry and regiochemistry on their abilities as surfactants and self-assembly. Very large differences in surface coverage (2-fold), critical micellar concentration (cmc, up to 2 orders of magnitude), and aggregate structure (from lamellae to fibers) for the four molecules are remarkable due to regio- and stereochemistry differences. Computational calculations were carried out to rationalize the experimental findings and a new methodology has been developed to calculate the structure of these bolaamphiphiles at the surface. Although the four surfactants adopt a wicket-like conformation, for N-centered trans, the distance between polar heads is much larger than that for the other three molecules, as suggested by calculations. We have shown that the interplay between the regiochemistry and stereoisomerism, enhanced by rigidity of the cyclobutane ring, affects different physicochemical properties quite differently. That is, the cmc value is mainly governed by stereochemistry, with regiochemistry only modulating this value. On the other hand, regiochemistry definitely governs the morphology of the supramolecular aggregates (i.e., long fibers versus plates or spherical assemblies), with stereochemistry finely modulating their structural parameters. All these results must help in the rational design of new bolaamphiphiles with predictable properties and useful potential applications