Needs of neuro-oncological patients and their caregivers during the hospitalization and after discharge: results from a longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: The aims of this study are to identify neuro-oncological patients' and their caregivers' needs during hospitalization (T0) and at 4 months after discharge (T1); to analyze the longitudinal changes in patients' and caregivers' needs and burden; to identify correlations between patients' needs and caregivers' burden and needs. METHODS: A pilot observational longitudinal study was conducted on 94 neuro-oncological patients and their caregivers using NEQ to evaluate patients' needs, CNA, and FSQ for caregivers' needs and burden at T0 and T1. Descriptive statistics were performed to illustrate the distribution of questionnaires' scores. The longitudinal change of NEQ, FSQ, and CNA scores were investigated using Wilcoxon test. Spearman's correlation was used to measure the relation between NEQ and FSQ and CNA scores. RESULTS: The most frequent patients and caregivers' needs were material and informative. Needs tend to decrease over time; in particular FSQ factor "need for knowledge about the disease", CNA factor "Information/communication needs" and CNA total score significantly decreased (p < 0.001). NEQ total score significantly correlated with FSQ factors "emotional burden" and "need for knowledge about the disease" and CNA total and factors scores at T0 and T1. At T0, NEQ correlated significantly with FSQ factor "thoughts about death", while at T1, it correlated with FSQ factor "problems in social involvement". CONCLUSIONS: It is crucial to plan an assessment of patients' and caregivers' needs from the very beginning, in order to identify those individuals potentially at risk of developing high level of distress and to provide information and support following the illness trajectory of the brain tumor.

Building an artificial actin cortex on microscopic pillar arrays.

Eukaryotic cells obtain their morphology and mechanical strength from the cytoskeleton and in particular from the cross-linked actin network that branches throughout the whole cell. This actin cortex lies like a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) biopolymer network just below the cell membrane, to which it is attached. In the quest for building an artificial cell, one needs to make a biomimetic model of the actin cortex and combine this in a bottom-up approach with other "synthetic" components. Here, we describe a reconstitution method for such an artificial actin cortex, which is freely suspended on top of a regular array of pillars. By this immobilization method, the actin network is only attached to a surface at discrete points and can fluctuate freely in between. By discussing the method to make the micropillars and the way to reconstitute a quasi-2D actin network on top, we show how one can study an isolated, reconstituted part of a cell. This allows the study of fundamental interaction mechanisms of actin networks, providing handles to design a functional actin cortex in an artificial cell.

[Oral-dental health status in patients with infectious endocarditis]. / Etat bucco-dentaire chez des patients atteints d'endocardite infectieuse.

Mouth and dental examination is a systematic act in the etiologic follow up of an infectious endocarditis. Our study concerned 42 patients collected during 5 years period, starting july 1995 until July 2000, in the dental medical service of Hedi Chaker university hospital of Sfax oriented by the cardiovascular diseases service looking for a buccodental entry of bacteria. Our patients group is divided into 25 men and 17 women of 36.1 years mean age. Dental or parodontal lesions were observed in 25 patients. Panoramic X-rays showed periapical lesions of granuloma or cystic type in 15 patients. Among the etiological factors encountered we noticed dental acts accomplished without antibioprophylaxis and dental bacterial collection medically treated without extraction. Buccodental lesions were a frequent cause of the infectious endocarditis in 59.5% of the patients studied in this report, and were due more to defectious hygienic conditions than to a disabled dental act.