Caregiving consequences in cancer family caregivers: a narrative review of qualitative studies.

Background: Cancer is a significant public health issue, causing various challenges for individuals affected by it. As cancer progresses, patients often become dependent on others for support. Family caregivers and members play a crucial role in the recovery and rehabilitation of these patients. However, caregivers themselves face numerous challenges throughout the course of their family member's illness. Exploring the experiences of family caregivers can inform long-term planning and supportive interventions to address their caregiving difficulties. This study reviews previous literature on caregiving outcomes. Method: This study presents a narrative review of qualitative studies, analyzing a total of 23 articles. The results were extracted and organized into subcategories. After revision by the research team, main categories were identified. These categories encompass both positive and negative outcomes of caregiving. Results: The findings of this review demonstrate that caring for a family member with cancer has significant implications for caregivers. These implications include: (A) Positive outcomes of caregiving (such as achieving self-management and balance, promoting kinship intimacy, finding meaning and purpose, and experiencing spiritual growth) and (B) Negative outcomes of caregiving (including care-related physical exhaustion, disruption of personal life plans, psycho-emotional consequences, and socio-economic burden). Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the challenges faced by family caregivers and emphasize the importance of addressing their needs within the healthcare system. By providing support and attention to their well-being, caregivers can enhance their resilience and adaptability in managing caregiving difficulties.

Non-coding RNAs and exosomal non-coding RNAs in pituitary adenoma.

Pituitary adenoma (PA) is the third most common primary intracranial tumor in terms of overall disease incidence. Although they are benign tumors, they can have a variety of clinical symptoms, but are mostly asymptomatic, which often leads to diagnosis at an advanced stage when surgical intervention is ineffective. Earlier identification of PA could reduce morbidity and allow better clinical management of the affected patients. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) do not generally code for proteins, but can modulate biological processes at the post-transcriptional level through a variety of molecular mechanisms. An increased number of ncRNA expression profiles have been found in PAs. Therefore, understanding the expression patterns of different ncRNAs could be a promising method for developing non-invasive biomarkers. This review summarizes the expression patterns of dysregulated ncRNAs (microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and circular RNAs) involved in PA, which could one day serve as innovative biomarkers or therapeutic targets for the treatment of this neoplasia. We also discuss the potential molecular pathways by which the dysregulated ncRNAs could cause PA and affect its progression.

Systemic lupus erythematosus: From non-coding RNAs to exosomal non-coding RNAs.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), as an immunological illness, frequently impacts young females. Both vulnerabilities to SLE and the course of the illness's clinical symptoms have been demonstrated to be affected by individual differences in non-coding RNA expression. Many non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are out of whack in patients with SLE. Because of the dysregulation of several ncRNAs in peripheral blood of patients suffering from SLE, these ncRNAs to be showed valuable as biomarkers for medication response, diagnosis, and activity. NcRNAs have also been demonstrated to influence immune cell activity and apoptosis. Altogether, these facts highlight the need of investigating the roles of both families of ncRNAs in the progress of SLE. Being aware of the significance of these transcripts perhaps elucidates the molecular pathogenesis of SLE and could open up promising avenues to create tailored treatments during this condition. In this review we summarized various non-coding RNAs and Exosomal non-coding RNAs in SLE.

Exploring spatial patterns of cardiovascular disease in Sweden between 2000 and 2010.

AIMS: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide, including in Sweden. The main aim of this study was to explore the temporal trends and spatial patterns of CVD in Sweden using spatial autocorrelation analyses. METHODS: The CVD admission rates between 2000 and 2010 throughout Sweden were entered as the input disease data for the analytic processes performed for the Swedish capital, Stockholm, and also for the whole of Sweden. Age-adjusted admission rates were calculated using a direct standardisation approach for men and women, and temporal trends analysis were performed on the standardised rates. Global Moran's I was used to explore the structure of patterns and Anselin's local Moran's I, together with Kulldorff's scan statistic were applied to explore the geographical patterns of admission rates. RESULTS: The rates followed a spatially clustered pattern in Sweden with differences occurring between sexes. Accordingly, hot spots were identified in northern Sweden, with higher intensity identified for men, together with clusters in central Sweden. Cold spots were identified in the adjacency of the three major Swedish cities of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study can serve as a basis for distribution of health-care resources, preventive measures and exploration of aetiological factors.

Environmental modelling of visceral leishmaniasis by susceptibility-mapping using neural networks: a case study in north-western Iran.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a potentially fatal vector-borne zoonotic disease, which has become an increasing public health problem in the north-western part of Iran. This work presents an environmental health modelling approach to map the potential of VL outbreaks in this part of the country. Radial basis functional link networks is used as a data-driven method for predictive mapping of VL in the study area. The high susceptibility areas for VL outbreaks account for 36.3% of the study area and occur mainly in the north (which may affect the neighbouring countries) and South (which is a warning for other provinces in Iran). These parts of the study area have many nomadic, riverside villages. The overall accuracy of the resultant map was 92% in endemic villages. Such susceptibility maps can be used as reconnaissance guides for planning of effective control strategies and identification of possible new VL endemic areas.

Attitude and willingness of high school students toward organ donation.

Public awareness of organ donation fundamentally affects the organ transplantation programs. This study was performed to assess the attitude and willingness of high school adolescents regarding organ donation. The study population consisted of 416 high school girls who were studying in four grades of three educational courses. Data were collected by a questionnaire and included demographic variables and attitude and willingness, which were assessed based on the Likert scale. The SPSS v.16 was used for data analysis. The mean age of the study subjects was 16.26 ± 1.06 years, 31% studied in grade-1, 27% in grade-2 (25% natural sciences, 27% mathematics and 48% humanities), 26% in grade-3 (30% natural sciences, 34% mathematics and 36% humanities) and 16% in pre-university stage (32% natural sciences, 42% mathematics and 26% humanities). The students had a highly positive attitude toward organ donation (mean score 4.2 ± 0.54). The greatest willingness for organ donation was concerning the kidney (88%) and heart (84%), followed by the liver (83.4%), pancreas (79.6%), cornea (67.8%) and skin (51%). Willingness for deceased as well as living organ donation was indicated by 92% and 47%, respectively, of the participants. Organ donation was considered acceptable only to relatives by 5% of the participants when the donors were deceased donors and by 16% of the participants when the donors were living donors; donation to all needy persons from deceased donors was accepted by 87% of the participants and from living donors by 31%. The purpose of donation was stated as lending help to others by 89% and progression of science by 40.2% of the participants. Willingness for organ donation from a deceased relative was declared by 63% of the students. There was significant positive correlation between willingness for organ donation and attitude (P <0.001). In addition, attitude and willingness had positive correlation with educational levels, age and educational courses. Our study suggests that Iranian adolescents have a great attitude and willingness toward organ donation, which reflects favorable knowledge of transplantation. Further research on public awareness in both genders and various age ranges is needed.

Erectile dysfunction in men with angiographically documented coronary artery disease.

INTRODUCTION: We evaluated erectile function of men with coronary artery disease (CAD) and the relation between the degree of erectile dysfunction (ED) and the extent of coronary artery stenosis on cardiac angiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nondiabetic men with CAD documented by angiography were evaluated for ED. Erectile function was assessed by a 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Dysfunction, the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM). RESULTS: Of 401 men, 186 (46.4%) had ED (SHIM score, 21 or less). Men with ED were more likely to have more than 1 stenotic cardiac vessel (P<.001). The mean SHIM score was 20.9 +/- 7.6, 12.9 +/- 9.2, and 14.3 +/- 9.1 for men with 1-, 2-, and 3-vessel disease, respectively (P<.001). Multivariate analysis showed that only the SHIM score had a relationship with the number of involved vessels (P<.001); the SHIM score was lower and ED was more frequent in men with more than 1 vessel involvement. Forty-one patients (19.1%) without ED and 45 (24.2%) with ED had a positive history of myocardial infarction (P=.21). Symptoms of ED had appeared prior to CAD detection in 78 out of 189 patients (41.9%) with a mean time interval of about 23 months (range, 10 to 36 months). CONCLUSION: Our finding showed that the prevalence of ED is relatively high in patients with CAD, and has a relationship with the extent of CAD. Furthermore, ED may occur before CAD with an average interval of 2 years.