Medicina
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Background and Objectives: Radiation enteritis is a common side effect after radiotherapy for abdominal and pelvic malignancies. The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of melatonin, known for its free radical scavenging ability, against radiotherapy-induced small intestinal oxidative damage. Materials and Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to six groups (5 rats in each) as follows: Group I (control group) rats received neither radiation nor melatonin; group II rats received only 8 Gy single dose of gamma radiation to their abdomen and pelvis regions; group III (administered with only 50 mg/kg melatonin); group IV (administered with only 100 mg/kg melatonin); group V (50 mg/kg melatonin + 8 Gy radiation), group VI (100 mg/kg melatonin + 8 Gy radiation). ⋯ Moreover, the 100 mg/kg dose was more effective compared to 50 mg/kg. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that melatonin has a potent protective effect against radiotherapy-induced intestinal damage, by decreasing oxidative stress and increasing antioxidant enzymes. We recommend future clinical trials for more insights.
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Psychotherapy with suicidal patients is inherently challenging. Psychodynamic psychotherapy focuses attention on the patient's internal experience through the creation of a therapeutic space for an open-ended exploration of thoughts, fears, and fantasies as they emerge through interactive dialogue with an empathic therapist. The Boston Suicide Study Group (M. ⋯ The elements of treatment are overlapping and not meant to be sequential, but each is discussed separately as an essential aspect of the psychotherapeutic work. This integrative psychodynamic approach is a useful method for suicide prevention as it helps to instill hope, provides relational contact and engages the suicidal patient in a process that leads to positive internal change. The benefits of the psychotherapy go beyond crisis intervention, and include the potential for improved affect tolerance, more fulfilling relational experiences, emergence of previously warded off experience of genuine capacities, and a positive change in narrative identity.
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Background and objectives: toxic liver injury results in nitrooxidative stress. Melatonin is a potent free radical scavenger, an inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor and an activator of antioxidant enzymes. The aim of this study was to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of exogenous melatonin on animals with acute toxic hepatitis. ⋯ Melatonin significantly reduced iNOS concentrations both in serum (59.7%) and liver (57.8%) but did not affect endothelial isoform enzyme activities neither in serum, nor in liver. The histopathological liver lesions observed in the CCl4/melatonin group were less severe than those seen in the CCl4 group. Conclusions: we demonstrated an ameliorating effect of melatonin on prooxidants and antioxidants, NO-NOS systems balance, mitochondrial function and histopathological lesions in the liver in rats with CCl4-induced hepatitis.
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Background and objectives: To enter the target cell, HIV-1 binds not only CD4 but also a co-receptor β-chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) or α chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4). Limited information is available on the impact of co-receptor usage on HIV-1 replication in monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) and on the homeostasis of this important cellular reservoir. Materials and Methods: Replication (measured by p24 production) of the CCR5-tropic 81A strain increased up to 10 days post-infection and then reached a plateau. ⋯ Furthermore, microarray analysis showed modulation of proapoptotic and cancer-related genes induced by CXCR4-tropic strains starting from 24 h after infection, whereas CCR5 viruses modulated the expression of genes not correlated with apoptotic-pathways. Conclusions: In conclusion, CXCR4-tropic strains can induce a remarkable depletion of MDM. Conversely, MDM can represent an important cellular reservoir for CCR5-tropic strains supporting the role of CCR5-usage in HIV-1 pathogenesis and as a pharmacological target to contribute to an HIV-1 cure.
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Several researchers have analyzed the alterations of the methionine cycle associated with liver disease to clarify the pathogenesis of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and improve the preventive and the therapeutic approaches to this tumor. Different alterations of the methionine cycle leading to a decrease of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) occur in hepatitis, liver steatosis, liver cirrhosis, and HCC. The reproduction of these changes in MAT1A-KO mice, prone to develop hepatitis and HCC, demonstrates the pathogenetic role of MAT1A gene under-regulation associated with up-regulation of the MAT2A gene (MAT1A:MAT2A switch), encoding the SAM synthesizing enzymes, methyladenosyltransferase I/III (MATI/III) and methyladenosyltransferase II (MATII), respectively. ⋯ Furthermore, SAM enhances the IFN-α antiviral activity and protects against hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury during hepatectomy in HCC patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, although SAM prevents experimental tumors, it is not curative against already established experimental and human HCCs. The recent observation that the inhibition of MAT2A and MAT2B expression by miRNAs leads to a rise of endogenous SAM and strong inhibition of cancer cell growth could open new perspectives to the treatment of HCC.