The influence of total intravenous anaesthesia and isoflurane anaesthesia on plasma interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 concentrations after colorectal surgery for cancer: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Although it has been demonstrated that both surgery and anaesthesia induce immune suppression, it remains unclear whether there are differences between anaesthetic techniques in inducing immune suppression in cancer patients.

Objective: The aim of this present study was to compare the effects of total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) and isoflurane anaesthesia on plasma concentrations of interleukins IL-6 and IL-10 in patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer.

Design: A randomised, controlled, open-label study.

Preliminary evidence that early reduction in p11 levels in natural killer cells and monocytes predicts the likelihood of antidepressant response to chronic citalopram.

The prediction of treatment response in many neuropsychiatric disorders would be facilitated by easily accessible biomarkers. Using flow cytometry, we herein demonstrate correlations between early reductions of p11 levels in Natural Killer (NK) cells and monocytes and antidepressant response to citalopram in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Microenvironments of reduced salinity harbour biofilms in Dead Sea underwater springs.

The Dead Sea is a hypersaline lake where only few types of organisms can grow. Recently, abundant and diverse microbial life was discovered in biofilms covering rocks and permeable sediments around underwater freshwater springs and seeps. We used a newly developed salinity mini-sensor (spatial resolution 300 μm) to investigate the salinity environment around these biofilms in a flume that simulates an underwater spring.

Choice of anesthetic technique on plasma concentrations of interleukins and cell adhesion molecules.

Background: Whether inflammatory responses to surgery are comparably activated during total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) and during volatile anesthesia remains unclear. We thus compared the perioperative effects of TIVA and isoflurane anesthesia on plasma concentrations of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory interleukins and cell adhesion molecules.

Methods: Patients having laparoscopic cholecystectomies were randomly allocated to two groups: 44 were assigned to TIVA and 44 to isoflurane anesthesia.

Biomarkers in mood disorders research: developing new and improved therapeutics.

Background: Recently, surrogate neurobiological biomarkers that correlate with target engagement and therapeutic response have been developed and tested in early phase studies of mood disorders.

Objective: The identification of biomarkers could help develop personalized psychiatric treatments that may impact public health.

Methods: These biomarkers, which are associated with clinical response post-treatment, can be directly validated using multimodal approaches including genetic tools, proteomics/metabolomics, peripheral measures, neuroimaging, biostatistical predictors, and clinical predictors.

Mitochondrial respiratory complex I probed by delayed luminescence spectroscopy.

The role of mitochondrial complex I in ultraweak photon-induced delayed photon emission [delayed luminescence (DL)] of human leukemia Jurkat T cells was probed by using complex I targeting agents like rotenone, menadione, and quercetin. Rotenone, a complex I-specific inhibitor, dose-dependently increased the mitochondrial level of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), decreased clonogenic survival, and induced apoptosis. A strong correlation was found between the mitochondrial levels of NADH and oxidized flavin mononucleotide (FMNox) in rotenone-, menadione- and quercetin-treated cells.

Developing biomarkers in mood disorders research through the use of rapid-acting antidepressants.

An impediment to progress in mood disorders research is the lack of analytically valid and qualified diagnostic and treatment biomarkers. Consistent with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)'s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative, the lack of diagnostic biomarkers has precluded us from moving away from a purely subjective (symptom-based) toward a more objective diagnostic system. In addition, treatment response biomarkers in mood disorders would facilitate drug development and move beyond trial-and-error toward more personalized treatments.

Pre-operative hypoalbuminemia in colorectal cancer patients undergoing elective surgery - a major risk factor for postoperative outcome.

Background: The incidence of hypoalbuminemia in surgical patients varies in different studies with age, tumor stage, time interval to the first referral to a doctor, symptoms of disease and nutritional habits of the population. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence of hypoalbuminemia in colorectal cancer patients undergoing scheduled surgery in an academic hospital in Romania and the impact of hypoalbuminemia on perioperative outcome. The secondary objective was to identify other possible risk factors for the post operative outcome.

Glutamate and its receptors in the pathophysiology and treatment of major depressive disorder.

Monoaminergic neurotransmitter (serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine) mechanisms of disease dominated the research landscape in the pathophysiology and treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) for more than 50 years and still dominate available treatment options. However, the sum of all brain neurons that use monoamines as their primary neurotransmitter is <20%. In addition, most patients treated with monoaminergic antidepressants are left with significant residual symptoms and psychosocial disability not to mention side effects, e.

Determinants of procedural pain intensity in the intensive care unit. The Europain® study.

Rationale: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients undergo several diagnostic and therapeutic procedures every day. The prevalence, intensity, and risk factors of pain related to these procedures are not well known.

Objectives: To assess self-reported procedural pain intensity versus baseline pain, examine pain intensity differences across procedures, and identify risk factors for procedural pain intensity.

A population-based review of the feasibility of platinum-based combination chemotherapy after tyrosine kinase inhibition in EGFR mutation positive non-small cell lung cancer patients with advanced disease.

Introduction: The IPASS trial demonstrated superior progression free survival for Asian, light/never smoking, advanced, pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients treated with first-line gefitinib compared to carboplatin/paclitaxel, of which 59% of those tested were epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation positive. In IPASS 39% of gefitinib treated patients went on to receive platin based polychemotherapy. We hypothesized that in a population-based setting fewer patients receive second-line platin based chemotherapy than those enrolled in a clinical trial.

Major depression is not associated with blunting of aversive responses; evidence for enhanced anxious anticipation.

According to the emotion-context insensitivity (ECI) hypothesis, major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with a diminished ability to react emotionally to positive stimuli and with blunting of defensive responses to threat. That defensive responses are blunted in MDD seems inconsistent with the conceptualization and diagnostic nosology of MDD. The present study tested the ECI hypothesis in MDD using a threat of shock paradigm.

Impact of the College of American Pathologists, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and the Association for Molecular Pathology clinical practice guidelines for EGFR and ALK testing in lung cancer in Canada.

This paper summarizes the practical impact of the College of American Pathologists, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and the Association for Molecular Pathology lung cancer biomarkers guidelines on the lung cancer approach in Canada, providing possible practical solutions for other similar health care systems in which scientific reality needs to be constantly balanced against economic reality.

The influence of a prophylactic dose of dexamethasone for postoperative nausea and vomiting on plasma interleukin concentrations after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a randomised trial.

Background: Little is known about the effects of small doses of dexamethasone used for the prophylaxis of postoperative nausea and vomiting on the innate host response.

Objectives: We studied the influence of dexamethasone 4 mg on the perioperative plasma concentrations of interleukins after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We hypothesised that there would be differences in pro-inflammatory interleukin concentrations in patients who received dexamethasone.

A prospective clinical utility and pharmacoeconomic study of the impact of the 21-gene Recurrence Score® assay in oestrogen receptor positive node negative breast cancer.

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to measure the impact of the 21-gene Recurrence Score® result on systemic treatment recommendations and to perform a prospective health economic analysis in stage I-II, node-negative, oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer.

Methods: Consenting patients with ER+ node negative invasive breast cancer and their treating medial oncologists were asked to complete questionnaires about treatment preferences, level of confidence in those preferences and a decisional conflict scale (patients only) after a discussion of their diagnosis and risk without knowledge of the Recurrence Score. At a subsequent visit, the assay result and final treatment recommendations were discussed prior to both parties completing a second set of questionnaires.

An examination of associations between the inability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and clinical characteristics and trait markers in first-episode, nonaffective psychotic disorders.

Research findings are mixed as to whether or not the inability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) might represent an endophenotypic trait marker for schizophrenia. We hypothesized associations between PTC-tasting status and select clinical characteristics and trait markers in patients with psychotic disorders that, if present, would provide support for the inability to taste PTC as a trait marker. In a first-episode psychosis sample (n=93), we measured PTC tasting, family history of psychosis, age at onset of prodrome and psychosis, severity of positive and negative symptoms, global impairment in functioning, neurological soft signs, and four neurocognitive domains (verbal learning/memory, visual learning/memory, verbal working memory, and spatial working memory).

Influence of emulsifiers on the characteristics of polyurethane structures used as drug carrier.

Background: Emulsifiers have a significant role in the emulsion polymerization by reducing the interfacial tension thus increasing the stability of colloidal dispersions of polymer nanostructures. This study evaluates the impact of four emulsifiers on the characteristics of polyurethane hollow structures used as drug delivery system.

Results: Polyurethane (PU) structures with high stability and sizes ranging from nano- to micro-scale were obtained by interfacial polyaddition combined with spontaneous emulsification.

Quercetin and epigallocatechin-3-gallate effect on the anisotropy of model membranes with cholesterol.

Cell membrane fluidity, which can be altered by oxidative stress, plays an important role in the cell physiology. Flavonoids are among the most studied food substances that prevent and/or reduce oxidative stress, but their action mechanisms are far from being understood. We performed a study on the effect of quercetin and epigallocatechin-3-gallate on 2-Dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) with different amounts of cholesterol, using Laurdan as a fluorescent probe, to put into evidence the perturbations of the phospholipid membrane fluidity and local lipid order in an attempt to decipher the action mechanism of the flavonoids at the cell membrane level.

Defining anxious depression: a review of the literature.

The diagnosis of anxious depression is presently inconsistent. The many different definitions of anxious depression have complicated its diagnosis, leading to clinical confusion and inconsistencies in the literature. This article reviewed the extant literature in order to identify the varying definitions of anxious depression, which were then compared using Feighner's diagnostic criteria.

Neurobiology of anxious depression: a review.

Anxious depression is a common, distinct clinical subtype of major depressive disorder (MDD). This review summarizes current neurobiological knowledge regarding anxious depression. Peer-reviewed articles, published January 1970 through September 2012, were identified via PUBMED, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library, using the following key words: anxious depression electroencephalography (EEG), anxious depression functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), anxious depression genetics, anxious depression neurobiology, and anxious melancholia neurobiology.

Second messenger/signal transduction pathways in major mood disorders: moving from membrane to mechanism of action, part II: bipolar disorder.

In this second of two articles on second messenger/signal transduction cascades in major mood disorders, we will review the evidence in support of intracellular dysfunction and its rectification in the etiopathogenesis and treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). The importance of these cascades is highlighted by lithium's (the gold standard in BD psychopharmacology) ability to inhibit multiple critical loci in second messenger/signal transduction cascades including protein kinase C (involved in the IP3/PIP2 pathway) and GSK-3β (canonically identified in the Wnt/Fz/Dvl/GSK-3β cascade). As a result, and like major depressive disorder (MDD), more recent pathophysiological studies and rational therapeutic targets have been directed at these and other intracellular mediators.