Effects of a video education program for patients with benign uterine tumors receiving high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a video education program in women receiving high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment. Methods This was a quasi-experimental study with a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design. The participants were 54 patients who had benign uterine tumors and adenomyosis. The data were collected from June to August 2018. A 10-minute video education program on HIFU and post-procedural care was developed based on the literature. The experimental group was provided the video education program with a question-and-answer session for 10 minutes after viewing the video. The control group received usual care (i.e., verbal instructions on post-procedural self-care). The questionnaire survey was conducted twice: before the educational program and before being discharged from the hospital. Differences in uncertainty, emotions, and self-efficacy among patients were analyzed. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test, Shapiro-Wilk test, paired t-test, and t-test with SPSS version 23.0. Results The participants in the experimental group showed a decrease in uncertainty(t=4.33, p<.001), improvements in anxiety(t=–4.07, p<.001) and depression (t=–3.55,p<.001), and an enhancement ofself-efficacy (t=–4.39,p<.001) compared to the control group. Conclusion This nursing intervention was effective at reducing uncertainty, improving emotions, and enhancing self-efficacy. This intervention is feasible for use in nursing practice as an aid for patients when considering treatment methods

Characterisation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa related to bovine mastitis

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the causative pathogens of bovine mastitis. Most P. aeruginosa strains possess the type III secretion system (TTSS), which may increase somatic cell counts (SCCs) in milk from mastitis-affected cows. Moreover, most of P. aeruginosa cells can form biofilms, thereby reducing antibiotic efficacy. In this study, the presence and effect of TTSS-related genotypes on increase of SCCs among 122 P. aeruginosa isolates obtained from raw milk samples from mastitis-affected cows and their antibiotic susceptibility at planktonic and biofilm status were investigated. Based on the presence of TTSS-related genes a total of 82.7% of the isolates were found to harbour exoU and/or exoS genes, including the invasive (exoU-/exoS+, 69.4%), cytotoxic (exoU+/exoS-, 8.3%) and cytotoxic/invasive strains (exoU+/ exoS+, 5.0%). Milk containing exoS-positive isolates had higher SCCs than those containing exoS-negative isolates. The majority of isolates showed gentamicin, amikacin, meropenem and ciprofloxacin susceptibility at planktonic status. However, the susceptibility was decreased at the biofilm status. Based on minimum biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC)/minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ratios, the range of change in antibiotic susceptibility varied widely depending on the antibiotics (from ≥ 3.1-fold to ≥ 475.0-fold). In conclusion, most P. aeruginosa isolates studied here had a genotype related to increase in SCCs. The efficiency of antibiotic therapy against P. aeruginosa-related bovine mastitis could be improved by analysing both the MBEC and the MIC of isolates

β-Caryophyllene attenuates dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis in mice via modulation of gene expression associated mainly with colon inflammation

AbstractWe examined the modulatory activity of β-caryophyllene (CA) and gene expression in colitic colon tissues in a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis model. Experimental colitis was induced by exposing male BALB/c mice to 5% DSS in drinking water for 7 days. CA (30 or 300mg/kg) was administered orally once a day together with DSS. CA administration attenuated the increases in the disease activity index, colon weight/length ratio, inflammation score, and myeloperoxidase activity in DSS-treated mice. Microarray analysis showed that CA administration regulated the expression in colon tissue of inflammation-related genes including those for cytokines and chemokines (Ccl2, Ccl7, Ccl11, Ifitm3, IL-1β, IL-28, Tnfrsf1b, Tnfrsf12a); acute-phase proteins (S100a8, Saa3, Hp); adhesion molecules (Cd14, Cd55, Cd68, Mmp3, Mmp10, Sema6b, Sema7a, Anax13); and signal regulatory proteins induced by DSS. CA significantly suppressed NF-κB activity, which mediates the expression of a different set of genes. These results suggest that CA attenuates DSS-induced colitis, possibly by modulating the expression of genes associated mainly with colon inflammation through inhibition of DSS-induced NF-κB activity