The Interaction Between Asthma and Anxiety: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Young People's Experiences.

Asthma and anxiety are highly co-morbid, and their interaction leads to exacerbations for both conditions. This study explored the interplay between these two conditions from the perspective of children and adolescents. The objective was to identify potential mechanisms of interaction between asthma and anxiety, and to derive improvements for prevention and treatment.

Effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy in reducing anxiety in adults and children with asthma: A systematic review.

Objective: Asthma and anxiety are known to interact, leading to exacerbations for both conditions. This systematic review summarised evidence regarding the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in reducing anxiety in individuals with asthma, with results presented separately for adults and children.

Data Sources: PRISMA and CRD guidance were followed to conduct and report the current review.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues alter gene expression of metalloproteinases and their tissue inhibitors in human breast cancer epithelial cells.

Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH or GnRH) is not only produced by hypothalamus, but also by other normal and cancer tissues. GnRH peptide agonists and antagonists inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells, but their effect on the expression of metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) has not been studied despite the fact that growth and invasiveness of breast cancer cells in adjacent and distant sites is associated with the expression of MMPs. In the present study, the effects of [D-Leu6, desGly10]GnRH-NHEt (commercially available) and [D-Tic3, Deg6, desGlyl0]GnRH-NHEt on gene expression of MMPs and TIMPs in the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 were examined with semi-quantitative RT-PCR.

Gilbert syndrome associated with beta-thalassemia.

The authors investigated whether the considerable variability in serum bilirubin levels (STB) found in transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia, beta-thal intermedia, and heterozygous beta-thalassemia individuals could be related to the coexistence of Gilbert syndrome (GS). The promoter region [A(TA)nTAA] of the bilirubin UDP-glucuronosyltransferase gene (UGT1A1) was analyzed in a total of 128 beta-thalassemia individuals (108 transfusion-dependent beta-thal patients, 20 very mild beta-thal intermedia) and in 33 beta-thal heterozygotes. The control group consisted of 70 healthy children with no history of anemia.

Seroepidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infection in Greece.

Helicobacter pylori infection is strongly associated with chronic gastritis and peptic ulceration. As the prevalence of H. pylori infection in southern European populations is not known, a serological survey of 1069 samples from three different age groups in the Greek population was carried out with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibodies to these bacteria.

The presence of both antivirus and antiself antibodies in sera from patients with adenovirus and influenza B.

Using the ELISA method we examined serum samples from 62 male patients aged 19-23 infected with adenovirus (serotype 7), 22 children aged 7-14 infected with influenza B (B/Norway 1/84) and 113 normal subjects aged 5-30. The infections were diagnosed serologically by complement fixation, by inhibition of hemagglutination, by ELISA and by viral culture. Moreover using enzyme-linked short-time culture assay, the production of specific antivirus antibodies and autoantibodies in vitro by spleen cells (1 x 10(6) cells/well) from normal mice and from mice immunized with adenovirus and influenza B was studied.

Autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus and normal subjects.

The presence of various antibodies in serum samples from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and from healthy subjects was investigated by ELISA, using a panel of natural antigens. Fifty-eight serum samples from 58 healthy women and 50 serum samples from 30 patients with active SLE were tested with 9 natural antigens (ds-DNA, actin, tubulin, thyroglobulin, myosin, myoglobin, human transferrin, human interferon a and BSA FV). It was found that the proportion of positive sera from healthy women at a dilution of 1/20 was almost the same as that of lupus sera at a dilution of 1/150 for nearly all antigens, while at a dilution of 1/150 the proportion of positive sera from patients with SLE was significantly higher for nearly all antigens.

Leishmaniasis in Greece I. Isolation and identification of the parasite causing human and canine visceral leishmaniasis.

Three human and 19 canine leishmanial stocks were typed according to their excreted factor serotype and the electrophoretic mobility of their MDH, GPI, G6PDH and 6PGDH and shown to be identical with regard to these characters and, thus with Leishmania donovani infantum. This verifies the opinion of earlier researchers, who suggested that the parasites which cause human and canine visceral leishmaniasis in Greece are the same organism and that dogs are the reservoir for the human infection. The complexities raised by the co-existence of human cutaneous leishmaniasis in Greece caused by L.

Antiactin and antitubulin antibodies in canine visceral leishmaniasis.

Visceral leishmaniasis, a chronic and often fatal disease, is caused by the protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani. Both specific and nonspecific antibodies are produced in the course of the disease, and autoantibodies may be involved in pathogenesis. Tubulin and actin have been found to be associated with L.

TerELISA: the ELISA test performed in Terasaki plates.

The use of Terasaki (10 microliter samples) and microtitration (100 microliter samples) plates as the solid phase in enzyme immunoassays was compared. Various antigens were used for coating the plates and antibodies present in human sera were evaluated using the same anti-human Ig antibody labelled with either beta -galactosidase, alkaline phosphatase, peroxidase or glucose oxidase. The results obtained, either by scoring with the naked eye or by absorbance reading with appropriate densitometers, showed that both plates were equally suitable and that the 4 enzymes were equally effective in detecting the same lowest quantity of antibody.

Isolation of salmonella from minced meat by the use of a new procedure of enrichment.

In the examination of 526 samples of minced meat for the presence of salmonellae, a preliminary pre-enrichment in buffered peptone water was made. From this medium enrichments were made, for each sample of meat, in the usual Rappaport's medium (R25), incubated at 37 degrees C, and in Muller-Kauffmanns tetrathionate broth, incubated at 43 degrees C. Moreover, an enrichment was also made in a strongly modified Rappaport's medium, containing much less malachite green (R10), incubated at 43 degrees C.

[A new procedure of "Salmonella" enrichment (author's transl)].

We have prepared a modification of Rappaport's medium by reducing the content of themalachite green oxalate: medium R10, which is incubated at 43 degrees C instead of 37 degrees. These two modifications allow a satisfactory growth of a wide range of Salmonella and a better inhibition of competing organisms than the original medium of Rappaport incubated at 37 degrees and than Muller-Kauffmann's medium incubated at 43 degrees.

[Healthy meningococcal carriers in 1973 in Greece. Sensitivity of the isolated strains to minocycline, rifampicin and sulphadiazine (author's transl)].

The frequency of healthy carriers of meningococci in Greece in 1973 has been studied by examining 1105 nasopharyngeal swabs from 731 recruits, during the four recruitment periods of this year. The frequency of healthy carriers among inductees within 24 hours from the arrival in the Camp was 38.9%.