Objectives
Illness perception is a cognitive representation influencing physical and psychological functioning and adherence in patients with rheumatic disease. Studies exploring illness perception ...in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are still scarce and none of them have investigated factors determining illness perception. We aimed to assess illness perception and to identify psychological, clinical and sociodemographic factors that might influence illness perception in SLE.
Methods
The study involved 80 patients with SLE (87.5% women, mean age 41.56 years). The Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Visual Analogue Scale-Pain and Fatigue Severity Scale were used. Clinical and sociodemographic data were collected via structured interview and medical files review.
Results
Illness perception was significantly positively correlated with anxiety, depression, sleep quality, fatigue and pain while it was not related to age, education, steroid treatment, disease duration and activity (SLEDAI) or organ damage (SLICC/ACR). Regression analysis revealed that state anxiety and depression explained 43% of illness perception variance. Cluster analysis identified three patient groups among which the middle-aged group had the most negative illness perception, the highest levels of anxiety, depression, pain and fatigue, and the poorest sleep quality.
Conclusions
The study has proved a significant relationship between negative illness perception and anxiety and depression. Patients reporting fatigue, poor sleep and pain might have special needs in terms of psychological intervention focused on negative illness perception and distress symptoms. Multidisciplinary care in managing SLE seems to be of great importance.
Background
Suicidal ideation is observed in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). No study on this notable phenomenon in neuropsychiatric SLE (NPSLE) is available so far.
Methods
...Participants were 53 consecutive outpatients with NPSLE (48 women; mean age 43.8 years) diagnosed according to the American College of Rheumatology nomenclature for SLE neuropsychiatric syndromes. A Neuropsychiatric Questionnaire (NP-Q) concerning 45 neurological, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms was used to assess the prevalence of self-perceived neuropsychiatric symptoms. The Modified Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-M) was used to assess the level of anxiety, depression and irritability. Formal neuropsychological examination was performed. Clinical data were collected by means of medical charts review and structured interview.
Results
Suicidal thoughts were present in 25% of patients with NPSLE, irrespective of sex, age, education, work status, disease duration and steroid treatment. Suicidal ideation was connected with elevated levels of depression, anxiety and irritability. In patients with suicidal ideation the prevalence of cognitive, psychiatric and neurological self-perceived problems was significantly higher.
Conclusions
Suicidal thoughts are common in patients with NPSLE. Neuropsychiatric manifestation per se, depression, anxiety and patients’ subjective complaints can be risk factors for suicidal ideation. Screening for suicidal thoughts is vital in routine care of SLE patients.
Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) is an enzyme that downregulates the insulin receptor. Inhibition of PTP1B is expected to improve insulin action, and the design of small molecule PTP1B ...inhibitors to treat type II diabetes has received considerable attention. In this work, NMR-based screening identified a nonselective competitive inhibitor of PTP1B. A second site ligand was also identified by NMR-based screening and then linked to the catalytic site ligand by rational design. X-ray data confirmed that the inhibitor bound with the catalytic site in the native, “open” conformation. The final compound displayed excellent potency and good selectivity over many other phosphatases. The modular approach to drug design described in this work should be applicable for the design of potent and selective inhibitors of other therapeutically relevant protein tyrosine phosphatases.
Trypanosoma brucei spp. cause African human and animal trypanosomiasis, a burden on health and economy in Africa. These hemoflagellates are distinguished by a kinetoplast nucleoid containing ...mitochondrial DNAs of two kinds: maxicircles encoding ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and proteins and minicircles bearing guide RNAs (gRNAs) for mRNA editing. All RNAs are produced by a phage-type RNA polymerase as 3′ extended precursors, which undergo exonucleolytic trimming. Most pre-mRNAs proceed through 3′ adenylation, uridine insertion/deletion editing, and 3′ A/U-tailing. The rRNAs and gRNAs are 3′ uridylated. Historically, RNA editing has attracted major research effort, and recently essential pre- and postediting processing events have been discovered. Here, we classify the key players that transform primary transcripts into mature molecules and regulate their function and turnover.
Mitochondrial RNA processing events in kinetoplastid protists include 5′ modification, 3′–5′ degradation, internal sequence changes by U-insertion/deletion mRNA editing, and nontemplated 3′ extensions.The specificity of mRNA editing is dictated by gRNAs while 5′ modifications and 3′ extensions are controlled by diverse pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) RNA-binding factors.Antisense transcription plays a central role in delimiting 3′ termini of mature RNAs.Macromolecular protein and ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes and auxiliary factors involved in these processes have been identified and characterized to varying degrees. This review discusses recent developments and introduces a consensus nomenclature for mitochondrial RNA-processing complexes and factors in Trypanosoma brucei.
Using an NMR-based fragment screening and X-ray crystal structure-based assembly, starting with millimolar ligands for both the catalytic site and the second phosphotyrosine binding site, we have ...identified a small-molecule inhibitor of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B with low micromolar inhibition constant, high selectivity (30-fold) over the highly homologous T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatase, and good cellular activity in COS-7 cells.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus belongs to the Coronaviridea family of viruses. Its virion encodes several proteins including a replicase and four structural proteins. Here we ...describe the three-dimensional structure of the N-terminal domain of the SARS coronavirus (CoV) nucleocapsid protein. The protein consists of a five-stranded β sheet with a folding topology distinct from other RNA-binding proteins. Single-stranded RNAs bind to the protein surface at the junction between a flexible, positively charged β hairpin and the core structure. NMR-based screening was used to identify low molecular weight compounds that bind to this site.
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