Coping with stress of family caregivers of cancer patients in Turkey

Objective: Cancer is a disease that not only affects the individual′s mental and physical integrity but also affects the functionality of the family system. Caregivers experience stress when patients cannot cope with the symptoms they are experiencing. The stress experienced by caregivers gives rise to psychological and physical symptoms. The purpose of this study is to determine the attitude of coping with stress of family caregivers of cancer patients. Methods: This study was conducted as a descriptive research at the Medical Oncology Clinic. The study sample group comprised of 127 family caregivers. In the collection of the data, the Personel Information Form and Attitude of Coping with Stress Inventory were used. Results: The coping attitude used most frequently by family caregivers was active planning, and the least used coping attitude was avoidance isolation (biochemical). There was no significant statistical difference between the coping attitude depending on the descriptive characteristics of the family caregivers (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Results show that family caregivers of cancer patients tend to choose effective coping methods. However, there were still caregivers that displayed ineffective coping attitudes. Therefore, it is important to support the effective coping attitudes of caregivers and intervene in order to change the ineffective coping attitudes

Quantifying the effects of antiangiogenic and chemotherapy drug combinations on drug delivery and treatment efficacy.

Tumor-induced angiogenesis leads to the development of leaky tumor vessels devoid of structural and morphological integrity. Due to angiogenesis, elevated interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) and low blood perfusion emerge as common properties of the tumor microenvironment that act as barriers for drug delivery. In order to overcome these barriers, normalization of vasculature is considered to be a viable option. However, insight is needed into the phenomenon of normalization and in which conditions it can realize its promise. In order to explore the effect of microenvironmental conditions and drug scheduling on normalization benefit, we build a mathematical model that incorporates tumor growth, angiogenesis and IFP. We administer various theoretical combinations of antiangiogenic agents and cytotoxic nanoparticles through heterogeneous vasculature that displays a similar morphology to tumor vasculature. We observe differences in drug extravasation that depend on the scheduling of combined therapy; for concurrent therapy, total drug extravasation is increased but in adjuvant therapy, drugs can penetrate into deeper regions of tumor

Which Device Is Favorable for Intubation Attempts of Pediatric Residents on Four Different Pediatric Airway Simulations?

Objectives Endotracheal intubation is an essential skill for the pediatric airway management. Although direct laryngoscopy (DL) is the standard method, several videolaryngoscopes (VLs) have been recently enhanced as an alternative especially for difficult intubations. We aimed to compare McGrath MAC (McG) and Storz C-MAC PM (ST) VLs with DL in terms of intubation success rate, time to intubation (TTI), and duration of obtaining glottis view of intubation attempts performed by pediatric residents on different pediatric airway manikins. Methods The pediatric residents with no experience in videolaryngoscopy were included. After a brief demonstration, intubation attempts with 3 randomly handled different devices with 6 different blades were performed on a child manikin, an infant manikin, a Pierre-Robin sequence infant manikin, and a child manikin with cervical immobilization sequentially. Results Fifty pediatric residents were enrolled. The attempts of DL on child manikin and attempts of all devices on child with cervical immobilization simulation were completely successful. For the attempts on both infant manikin and Pierre-Robin sequence infant manikin, the success rate of McG was significantly lower than ST and DL (P = 0.011 and P = 0.001). In the child manikin, McG and ST had prolonged TTI compared with DL (P = 0.016 and P = 0.001). For the child with cervical immobilization simulation, TTI of DL was significantly shorter than McG and ST (P = 0.011 and P = 0.001). Time to intubation of McG was significantly longer than DL and ST for the attempts on both 2 infant manikins. The rate of Cormack-Lehane grade I glottis view was similar for the attempts on both 2 child airway simulations. For infant manikin and Pierre-Robin sequence infant simulation, the rate of Cormack-Lehane grade I of ST was higher than attempts of DL and McG. Conclusions The attempts of pediatric residents on infant normal airway and Pierre-Robin sequence infant airway simulations resulted with enhanced glottis view by the utilization of Storz C-MAC PM, but both 2 VLs did not provide the improvement of intubation success rate and TTI compared with DL on these 4 different pediatric manikins. Further clinical studies of different VLs in different clinical courses are required for a reliable utilization in children

Drug extravasation rate from vessels and total drug exposure per unit area in the interior region of tumor by the end of the simulation.

<p>Drug extravasation rate from vessels and total drug exposure per unit area in the interior region of tumor by the end of the simulation.</p

Parameters related to transport of 100 nm liposomes and antiangiogenic agents.

<p>Parameters related to transport of 100 nm liposomes and antiangiogenic agents.</p

Average IFP over whole tumor and average cell density in the interior region of tumor.

<p>Eqs <a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005724#pcbi.1005724.e020" target="_blank">12</a> an <a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005724#pcbi.1005724.e019" target="_blank">11</a> are used to calculate average IFP and average cell density, respectively.</p