Dental Anxiety as a Risk Factor for Facebook Intrusion.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationships between dental anxiety, Facebook intrusion, and shame. METHODS: A sample of 498 adults aged 16-69 years completed an online questionnaire comprising the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale, the Facebook Intrusion Scale, and the Shame scale from the Test of Self-Conscious Affect. RESULTS: Dental anxiety was positively associated with Facebook intrusion. There were also indirect effects of dental anxiety on Facebook intrusion through shame. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the problem of dental anxiety in the context of Facebook intrusion risk. The findings may be applicable in Internet dependency prevention and treatment, focused on help in coping with the anxiety related to doctors' appointments.

Internet use, Facebook intrusion, and depression: Results of a cross-sectional study.

Facebook has become a very popular social networking platform today, particularly among adolescents and young adults, profoundly changing the way they communicate and interact. However, some reports have indicated that excessive Facebook use might have detrimental effects on mental health and be associated with certain psychological problems. Because previous findings on the relationship between Facebook addiction and depression were not unambiguous, further investigation was required. The main objective of our study was to examine the potential associations between Internet use, depression, and Facebook intrusion. A total of 672 Facebook users took part in the cross-sectional study. The Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale were used. For collecting the data, the snowball sampling procedure was used. We showed that depression can be a predictor of Facebook intrusion. Our results provides additional evidence that daily Internet use time in minutes, gender, and age are also predictors of Facebook intrusion: that Facebook intrusion can be predicted by being male, young age, and an extensive number of minutes spent online. On the basis of this study, it is possible to conclude that there are certain demographic - variables, such as age, gender, or time spent online - that may help in outlining the profile of a user who may be in danger of becoming addicted to Facebook. This piece of knowledge may serve for prevention purposes.

Effect of exercise duration on ceramide metabolism in the rat heart.

AIM: We aimed at gaining more insight into the mechanisms underlying exercise-induced alterations in myocardial ceramide (CER) content by employing physical activity of various durations and examining all key pathways of CER metabolism. METHODS: The experiments were carried out on male Wistar rats divided into four groups (n = 6 in each case): control, exercised for 30 and 90 min and until exhaustion on the electrically driven treadmill moving with a speed of 1200 m h(-1) and set at +10 degrees incline. The animals were anaesthetized and samples of the heart's left ventricle were excised. RESULTS: Thirty-minute exercise decreased the level of CER in the heart by 15%. However, after 90 min of running it returned to the baseline and at the point of exhaustion it exceeded that of the control animals by 26%. The initial reduction in the content of CER was probably a result of its augmented degradation, as a concomitant elevation in the activity of acid ceramidase and the level of sphingosine was observed. The transition from reduction in CER content after 30 min of exercise to its accumulation at the point of exhaustion was a consequence of gradual reduction in the activity of acid ceramidase and simultaneous increase in the rate of de novo CER synthesis, as evidenced by progressive activation of serine palmitoyltransferase and accumulation of sphinganine. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the effect of physical effort on myocardial CER content and metabolism depends to a large extent on exercise duration.

Increased skeletal muscle ceramide level in men at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Intramyocellular lipids, including ceramide, a second messenger in the sphingomyelin signalling pathway, might contribute to the development of insulin resistance. The aim of our study was to assess parameters of the skeletal muscle sphingomyelin signalling pathway in men at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. METHODS: We studied 12 lean (BMI < 25 kg/m(2)) men without a family history of diabetes (control group), 12 lean male offspring of type 2 diabetic patients, and 21 men with overweight or obesity comprising 12 with NGT (obese-NGT) and nine with IGT (obese-IGT). A euglycaemic-hyperinsulinaemic clamp and a biopsy of vastus lateralis muscle were performed. Ceramide, sphingomyelin, sphinganine and sphingosine levels and sphingomyelinase and ceramidase activities were measured in muscle. Muscle diacylglycerol and triacylglycerol levels were estimated in a subgroup of 27 men (comprising men from all the above groups). RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the lean offspring of diabetic patients and the men with overweight or obesity showed lower insulin sensitivity (all p < 0.005) and a greater muscle ceramide level (all p < 0.01). The obese-IGT group had lower insulin sensitivity (p = 0.0018) and higher muscle ceramide (p = 0.0022) than the obese-NGT group. There was lower muscle sphingosine level and alkaline ceramidase activity in offspring of diabetic patients (p = 0.038 and p = 0.031, respectively) and higher sphinganine level in the obese-NGT (p = 0.049) and obese-IGT (p = 0.002) groups than in the control group. Muscle sphingomyelin was lower (p = 0.0028) and neutral sphingomyelinase activity was higher (p = 0.00079) in the obese-IGT than in the obese-NGT group. Muscle ceramide was related to insulin sensitivity independently of other muscle lipid fractions. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATIONS: Ceramide accumulates in muscle of men at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

PPARalpha agonist induces the accumulation of ceramide in the heart of rats fed high-fat diet.

It was shown that high-fat feeding of mice with cardiac-specific overexpression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) alpha but not wild type animals leads to the accumulation of ceramide (an important mediator of lipotoxicity) in the heart [Finck et al. 2003 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA]. To investigate the mechanism of this phenomenon we examined the effects of PPARalpha activation on ceramide metabolism in the myocardium. Male Wistar rats were fed either a standard chow or a high-fat diet. Each group was divided into two subgroups: control and treated with selective PPARalpha activator - WY-14643. In the rats fed on the standard diet WY-14643 did not affect the myocardial content of sphingomyelin and ceramide but reduced the content of sphinganine and sphingosine. It also inhibited the activity of neutral sphingomyelinase and increased the activity of acid sphingomyelinase, whereas the activity of ceramidases and serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT) remained stable. High-fat diet itself did not affect the content of the examined sphingolipids. However, it reduced the activity of sphingomyelinases and ceramidases having no effect on the activity of SPT. Administration of WY-14643 to this group significantly increased the content of myocardial free palmitate, ceramide, sphingomyelin and the activity of SPT. Our results demonstrated that PPARalpha activation modulates myocardial ceramide metabolism and leads to the accumulation of ceramide in the heart of the high-fat fed rats due to its increased synthesis de novo.

[Initial experience with a new type of high energy neodymium laser in correcting stenosis of the airway]. / Pierwsze doswiadczenia z zastosowaniem nowego lasera neodymowego w leczeniu zwezen dróg oddechowych.

The aim of the study was to assess the use of a new Nd:YAG laser--mediLas fibertom--in correcting malignant and benign stenoses of the airways. Eighteen patients were included in the study. In 9 these were caused by malignant tumors, in 3 by nonmalignant tumors, in 6 by post-inflammatory stenoses of the airways. Altogether 99 laser sessions were carried out. In patients with malignant diseases complete recanalization was achieved in 6 patients, in 2 partial. One patients did not benefit form the laser procedure. In patients with benign tumors complete recanalization was achieved in all of the patients. In 5 out of 6 patients the post inflammatory stenosis was corrected. Satisfactory results observed after the second, fourth and one year after the initial laser procedure encourage to use this from of therapy in cases of malignant and nonmalignant narrowing of the airways.