Parental Attitudes and Medication Adherence in Groups of Adolescents After Liver and Kidney Transplantations.

The objective of the study was to determine the connection between parental attitudes and medication adherence and the selected aspects of treatment in groups of adolescents after kidney and liver transplantations, in comparison with adolescents with diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease. Attitudes were assessed using M. Plopa's Parental Attitudes Scale, which distinguishes 5 types of attitudes. Medication adherence was evaluated on the basis of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8), used with the author's consent. With the 4-item scale developed by the authors, the following aspects of treatment were assessed: the patient's level of knowledge about the disease, treatment effects, and physician's satisfaction with patient cooperation. In both groups of adolescents after transplantation, 2 types of parental attitudes were found to correlate with medication adherence: the Accepting Attitude and the Overly Protective Attitude. The results of other studied aspects varied in terms of gender, age, and chronic disease type.

Vitamin E, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance concentrations and superoxide dismutase activity in the blood of children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To study the role of active oxygen species in tissue injury in rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: We examined the levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and antioxidants of the first line antioxidative defence of the organism, i.e. vitamin E (VE) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the blood of 74 young patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and in 138 healthy children, all aged 3-15. RESULTS: A statistically significant increase of TBARS was found in the blood plasma of the children with JRA compared with the control group. In the whole group of patients and in the patients over 6 years of age, the VE concentration was in the red blood cells (RBC) was significantly lower in children who had suffered from JRA for more than one year and in those with the systemic form of the disease. The type of treatment also affected the values for the plasma VE and SOD in the RBC. CONCLUSION: Our results seem to confirm the supposition of increased oxidative stress in children with JRA and low antioxidant levels in terms of SOD activity and vitamin E concentrations.

Decreased plasma dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and dihydrotestosterone concentrations in young men after myocardial infarction.

Plasma levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT) androstenedione, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), lipoproteins, apolipoproteins and high density lipoprotein (HDL) subfraction were measured in 32 men aged 26-40 years after myocardial infarction (MI) suffered at least 3-4 months prior to the study, who were normocholesterolemic and had angiographically demonstrated coronary occlusion. The control group consisted of 76 healthy men aged 25-40 years. Blood samples were obtained in the morning from fasting subjects. A significant decrease in plasma DHEA-S and DHT levels were found in MI patients. Also, a significant decrease in HDL-cholesterol, HDL2-cholesterol (HDL2-C) and apolipoprotein A-I, an increase in apolipoprotein B and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels were observed in those patients as compared with healthy men. However, there were no differences in testosterone, androstenedione and SHBG concentrations between the groups. Significant correlations between testosterone and HDL2-C (r = 0.46, P less than 0.01), as well as between DHEA-S and HDL3-C (r = 0.39, P less than 0.05) levels in MI patients were observed. These results suggest that decreased levels of plasma DHEA-S and DHT may promote the development of coronary atherosclerosis in men.