Effects of psychological symptoms on life adjustment among survivors of humidifier disinfectants.

OBJECTIVES: The humidifier disinfectant catastrophe in South Korea was a social disaster caused by toxic chemical substances. The present study aimed to examine the relationships between psychological symptoms and adaptive life functioning in survivors of humidifier disinfectants. This study examined the differential effects of psychological symptoms on life adjustment between survivors of humidifier disinfectant and the general population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 452 individuals (228 general and 224 survivor groups) participated in this research. This study utilized the Adult Self-Report, one of the most widely used comprehensive mental health scales for measuring both psychological symptoms (e.g., anxiety/depression) and life adjustment functioning (e.g., interpersonal relationship). For the data analysis, multi-group structural equation modeling analysis was conducted using AMOS 21.0 program. RESULTS: The results of this study indicated that attention problems out of 8 psychological symptoms was the only significant factor related to life adjustment in both general and survivor groups. In addition, there was a significant 2-way interaction effect of group status and somatic complaints on life adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: When the somatic complaint symptom was higher, participants in the survivor group were less likely to adjust in life than the general group. Taken together, the somatic complaints of the survivors more strongly influence the life adjustment than the general population. Finally, the authors discuss practical implications for survivors of humidifier disinfectants for designing suitable intervention strategies.Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2023;36(5):596-605.

Eriodictyol Attenuates Cholangiocarcinoma Malignancy by Regulating HMOX1 Expression: An In Vitro Study.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Cholangiocarcinoma remains one of the most dangerous types of cancer. Eriodictyol is a well-known flavonoid having effective bioactivity against various malignant tumor types. However, the anticancer effect of eriodictyol against cholangiocarcinoma remains ambiguous. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of eriodictyol on human cholangiocarcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The biological effects of eriodictyol were validated by viability assay, colony formation and western blot analysis. The significance of heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX1) expression in cholangio-carcinoma was demonstrated using bioinformatics analysis and knockdown of HMOX1 by transfection with short interfering (si)-RNA. RESULTS: Eriodictyol highly reduced the in vitro viability of SNU-308, SNU-478, SNU-1079, and SNU-1196 cholangiocarcinoma cells compared with that of 293T cells, in a dose-dependent manner. The anticancer effect of eriodictyol was achieved by caspase-3-mediated apoptosis. In particular, eriodictyol increased HMOX1 expression, which resulted in attenuation of cholangiocarcinoma cell proliferation. In contrast, ablating HMOX1 expression by si-RNA transfection against HMOX1 made cholangiocarcinoma cells insensitive to the antiproliferative effect of eriodictyol treatment. CONCLUSION: These results collectively indicate that eriodictyol acts as an anticancer agent via regulation of HMOX1 expression against human cholangiocarcinoma.