A greenhouse experiment was carried out to determine growth, and mineral composition of watermelon plants, either ungrafted or grafted onto two commercial bottle gourd rootstocks and two commercial ...Cucurbita hybrid rootstocks, grown in a closed-loop system with nutrient solutions having two levels of pH (6.0 or 8.1). The high pH nutrient solution had the same basic composition plus an additional of 10 mM NaHCO3 and 0.5 g L-1 CaCO3. Significant depression of shoot, root biomass production, and leaf macro- and micro elements (N, P, K, and Fe) under high pH level was observed in both grafted and ungrafted plants. At high pH level, the percentage of shoot biomass weight reduction was significantly lower in plants grafted onto pumpkins rootstocks in comparison to those grafted onto the bottle gourd rootstocks and the ungrafted plants. The Fe concentration in leaves was significantly higher in plants grafted onto pumpkin rootstocks (avg. 0.109 mg g-1) in comparison to that of bottle gourd rootstocks and ungrafted plants (avg. 0.087 mg g-1). For plants grafted onto bottle gourd rootstocks and ungrafted plants the high pH level (8.1) in the nutrient solution caused significant decrease in macronutrient leaf concentration especially for P compared to plants grafted onto pumpkin rootstocks. The improved crop performance of grafted plants in particular pumpkin rootstocks was attributed to the better uptake and translocation of mineral elements in particular iron and phosphorus to the shoot.
Subjective and objective burden, psychiatric symptoms and coping strategies in a sample of 90 key relatives and other relatives of patients with schizophrenia. living in two European countries, were ...explored by means of well‐validated questionnaires. The levels of burden on key relatives did not differ significantly from those on other relatives. Moreover, the risk of developing psychiatric symptoms was similar in the two subject groups at both centres. Significant correlations were found between key relatives and other relatives concerning the adoption of emotion‐focused coping strategies. These data contrast with the current belief that family burden in schizophrenia is mainly a burden of key relatives, and they emphasize the need to provide supportive interventions for as many relatives as possible.
Patients with chronic renal failure, and particularly those receiving regular haemodialysis, have a high incidence of premature cardiovascular disease. Oxidative stress, which causes lipid ...peroxidation, may contribute to increase the risk of atherosclerosis. The results of the present study indicate that lipid peroxidation products (malonaldehyde and 4-hydroxyalkenals) are significantly increased in plasma of renal patients before dialysis and, although reduced, remained above the normal range after this treatment. Moreover, production of free radicals and reactive oxygen metabolites was increased in chronic renal failure patients, especially after dialysis. On the other hand, the antioxidant defenses of those patients were higher than those of normal subjects, as judged from the plasma levels of specific antioxidant molecules and from the plasma antioxidant capacity. We also found that triglycerides were significantly higher in renal patients, both before and after dialysis, than in the control group. These results suggest that patients on chronic haemodialysis are particularly prone to oxidative stress and that dialysis itself may worsen this condition. Rather than to a weakening of antioxidant defenses, the susceptibility of chronic renal failure patients to oxidative stress might be ascribed to an increased free radical and reactive oxygen metabolite production and to increased levels of oxidizable substrates, notably triglycerides with their unsaturated fatty acids.
This study aims to: (a) describe the type and doses of psychotropic drugs received by outpatients with schizophrenia in Italy; (b) explore the relationship between prescription and patients' clinical ...conditions, disability and socio-demographic characteristics; and (c) estimate the percentage of patients receiving polypharmacy and antipsychotics within the official recommended ranges.
A total of 682 patients with schizophrenia were consecutively recruited in 30 Italian mental health departments, randomly selected taking into account the geographic location and population density of their catchment areas.
Of the sample, 98% were in treatment with neuroleptics, 47% received benzodiazepines, 25% were on anticholinergics, 10% were prescribed antidepressants and 8% were on mood stabilisers. Polypharmacy was found in 29% of the sample. Patients treated with one neuroleptic received this within therapeutic doses in 77% of cases. In patients who received two neuroleptics (24%), the former was prescribed within the official range in 71% of cases and the latter in 46%. Polytherapy was more frequently prescribed in patients treated with typicals (60% versus 34%) and in those who also received benzodiazepines (61% versus 41%) and anticholinergics (44% versus 16%). Patients in treatment with atypicals (45%) were mainly younger and lived in highly populated areas. Depot medications (25%) were more frequently prescribed to patients living in areas of low population density, who were older and who had a lower educational level, a longer duration of illness and milder anxiety/depression symptoms.
The consistent percentage of patients receiving polypharmacy and neuroleptics outside the therapeutic doses highlights the need to promote interventions aimed at increasing a rational use of psychotropic drugs among mental health professionals.
The availability of CD4C/HIVMutA transgenic (Tg) mice expressing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in immune cells and developing an AIDS-like disease has provided the opportunity to devise a model ...of mucosal candidiasis that closely mimics the clinical and pathologic features of candidal infection in human AIDS. After intraoral infection with Candida albicans, oral burdens were strikingly elevated in the Tg mice, compared with non-Tg littermates (P < .05), during primary infection, a 6–10-week carrier state, and a marked terminal outgrowth preceding death. The chronic carrier state was absent in the non-Tg mice because of clearing of C. albicans. Candida hyphae penetrated the epithelium of the oral cavity, esophagus, and cardial-atrium fold of the stomach, accompanied by a mononuclear cell infiltrate. Immunohistochemical analysis suggested that decreased frequencies of major histocompatibility complex class II-expressing cells, combined with reduced CD4+ cells, may underlie the susceptibility to mucosal candidiasis in these Tg mice.
As for rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) of other anatomic regions, the evaluation of traditional clinicopathological parameters does not allow the unequivocal outcome prediction of the single cases of orbital ...RMS. We investigated the role of DNA ploidy and immunohistochemical expression of p53, bcl-2, MDR-1 and Ki67 (MIB1) in the prognostic evaluation of orbital rhabdomyosarcomas.
The study population consisted of 11 selected cases. Serial sections of each tumor, stained with Feulgen's technique, were analyzed for the DNA content, using the QUANTIMET 500c Leica analyzer, QWINVO200A software. The results were compared with the immunohistochemical expression of p53 (wild plus mutated, W&M and mutated), bcl2, MDR-1 and Ki67 (MIB1), and with follow-up data.
The statistical analysis of results showed that the cases of tetraploid and/or multiploid RMS, overexpressing p53 (W&M and mutated) and MDR-1, were characterized by an overall worse prognosis. On the contrary, the tumors with a favourable clinical course showed hyperexpression of MIB1 and absence of mutated p53 expression. Significantly higher MIB1 expression was found in the relapse-free group of tumors, with respect to the RMS with relapse (both in primary tumors and relative relapses, p<0.05). This finding could justify the higher sensibility to pharmacological therapy of RMS of the first group. The group of RMS with a worse prognosis (primary tumors and relapses) showed instead p53 overexpression (W&M and mutated), MDR-1 expression and multiploidy, with high 5cEE values and tetraploid peaks. No significant difference was found concerning the expression of bcl-2 among the two groups of RMS (p>0.05).
The evaluation of DNA ploidy, p53, MIB1 and MDR-1 expression could be used for subtyping of orbital RMS into two prognostically different subcategories, respectively RMS responder to the therapy, with favourable clinical outcome, and RMS with a worse prognosis, requiring more aggressive therapeutic protocols.
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