Mexican American caregivers' coping efficacy: associations with caregivers' distress and positivity to their relatives with schizophrenia.

Background: Coping styles utilized by family caregivers of persons with schizophrenia have been implicated in the mental health of those caregivers and in the course of schizophrenia. We tested the relation between caregivers' coping efficacy, defined as the caregiver's perceptions of how successful they were in modifying their relative's behavior, and caregiver's psychological distress as well as criticisms and positivity toward their relatives diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Method: We sampled 31 dyads of Mexican American caregivers and their relative with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and used multiple methods of measurement including caregiver interviews, interactions between caregivers and their relatives, and clinician interviews with patients.

Acceptance and expressed emotion in Mexican American caregivers of relatives with schizophrenia.

The relation between Expressed Emotion (EE) and caregiver acceptance was tested with the use of video-recorded interactions between 31 Mexican American family caregivers and their relatives with schizophrenia. Borrowing the concept from Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy, acceptance was defined as caregiver's engagement with the ill relative along with low levels of expectations for behavioral change. Three aspects of caregiver acceptance were measured: global acceptance of the patient, unified detachment (i.

Uptake of quinolones by in-vitro human monocyte derived macrophages.

We have developed an in-vitro model of monocyte-derived macrophage (MDMphi) to compare fluoroquinolone uptake in monocytes and derived macrophages. Monocyte-derived macrophages were obtained in-vitro by cultivating freshly isolated monocytes for seven days in RPMI 1640 medium, containing foetal calf serum and Rhu granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor. Final suspensions contained 95% viable cells and 63% macrophages.

Alcohol and drug use in second-year medical students at the University of Leeds.

Objective: In view of recent media attention concerning the high level of alcohol and drug use reported in a group of newly qualified junior doctors, the aim of the present study was to assess the alcohol and drug habits of a group of current medical students.

Methods: Information about alcohol and illicit drug use was obtained from 136 second-year medical students (46 men, 90 women) at the University of Leeds by means of a personally administered questionnaire. Levels of anxiety and depression were also assessed.

Uptake of fluoroquinolones in human monocytes isolated from peripheral blood.

The aim of this study was to develop a technique for separating monocytic cells in suspension from peripheral blood to measure the intracellular penetration of three fluoroquinolones (ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and sparfloxacin). Mononucleated cells were isolated from the blood on a density gradient with lymphoprep and purified by a specific technique of adhesion and disadhesion on fibronectin. The monocytes were obtained in suspension with 76.