Experimental procedure: Thirty six virgin adult female rats (n = 6) were randomly divided into six groups; Group 1-3 were normal control (NC), Sham (SHAM) and ovariectomized group (OVX) respectively whereas group 4-6 were PPD rats forced-fed once daily with distilled water (PPD), fish oil (PPD + FO; 9 g/kg) and Fluoxetine (PPD + FLX; 15 mg/kg) respectively from postpartum day 1 and continued for 10 consecutive days. Rats behaviors were evaluated on postpartum day 10 through open field test (OFT) and forced swimming test (FST), followed by biochemical analysis of NLRP3 inflammasome proteins pathway in their brain and determination of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR).
Results: PPD-induced rats exhibited high immobility and low swimming time in FST with increased inflammatory status; NLR, IL-1β and NFкB/NLRP3/caspase-1 activity in their hippocampus. However, administration of FO or fluoxetine reversed the aforementioned abnormalities.
Conclusion: In conclusion, 10 days supplementation with FO ameliorated the depressive-like behaviors in PPD rats by targeting the NFкB/NLRP3/caspase-1/IL-1β activity. This has shed light on the potential of NLRP3 as a therapeutic target in treatment of PPD in rats.
Methods: We selected the recent publication of a landmark international randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing immediate and salvage radiotherapy for prostate cancer, RADICALS-RT, for discussion over the weekend of January 16 to 17, 2021. Coordination included open access to the article and an asynchronous portion to decrease barriers to participation, cooperation of study authors (CP, MS) who participated to share deeper insights including a live hour, and curation of related resources and tweet content through a blog post and Wakelet journal club summary.
Discussion of Results: Our conversations created 2,370,104 impressions over 599 tweets with 51 participants spanning 11 countries and 5 continents. A quarter of the participants were from the US (13/51) followed by 10% from the UK (5/51). Clinical or Radiation Oncologists comprised 59% of active participants (16/27) with 62% (18/29) reporting giving aRT within the last 5 years. Discussion was interdisciplinary with three urologists (11%), three trainees (11%), and two physiotherapists (7%). Four months after the journal club its article Altmetric score had increased by 7% (214 to 229). Thematic analysis of tweet content suggested participants wanted clarification on definitions of adjuvant (aRT) and salvage radiotherapy (sRT) including indications, timing, and decision-making tools including guidelines; more interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration including with patients for study design including survivorship and meaningful outcomes; more effective knowledge translation including faster clinical trials; and more data including mature results of current trials, particular high-risk features (Gleason Group 4+, pT4b+, and margin-positive disease), implications of newer technologies such as PSMA-PET and genomic classifiers, and better explanations for practice pattern variations including underutilization of radiotherapy. This was further explored in the context of relevant literature.
Conclusion: Together, this global collaborative review on the postoperative management of prostate cancer suggested a stronger signal for the uptake of early salvage radiation treatment with careful PSA monitoring, more sensitive PSA triggers, and expected access to radiotherapy. Questions still remain on potential exceptions and barriers to use. These require better decision-making tools for all practice settings, consideration of newer technologies, more pragmatic trials, and better use of social media for knowledge translation.
METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of an international prospective cohort study from 2012 to 2014. This study included patients who were 45 yr of age or older who underwent major inpatient noncardiac surgery. Data were collected perioperatively and at 1 yr after surgery to assess for the development of persistent incisional pain (pain present around incision at 1 yr after surgery).
RESULTS: Among 14,831 patients, 495 (3.3%; 95% CI, 3.1 to 3.6) reported persistent incisional pain at 1 yr, with an average pain intensity of 3.6 ± 2.5 (0 to 10 numeric rating scale), with 35% and 14% reporting moderate and severe pain intensities, respectively. More than half of patients with persistent pain reported needing analgesic medications, and 85% reported interference with daily activities (denominator = 495 in the above proportions). Risk factors for persistent pain included female sex (P = 0.007), Asian ethnicity (P < 0.001), surgery for fracture (P < 0.001), history of chronic pain (P < 0.001), coronary artery disease (P < 0.001), history of tobacco use (P = 0.048), postoperative patient-controlled analgesia (P < 0.001), postoperative continuous nerve block (P = 0.010), insulin initiation within 24 h of surgery (P < 0.001), and withholding nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication or cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors on the day of surgery (P = 0.029 and P < 0.001, respectively). Older age (P < 0.001), endoscopic surgery (P = 0.005), and South Asian (P < 0.001), Native American/Australian (P = 0.004), and Latin/Hispanic ethnicities (P < 0.001) were associated with a lower risk of persistent pain.
CONCLUSIONS: Persistent incisional pain is a common complication of inpatient noncardiac surgery, occurring in approximately 1 in 30 adults. It results in significant morbidity, interferes with daily living, and is associated with persistent analgesic consumption. Certain demographics, ethnicities, and perioperative practices are associated with increased risk of persistent pain.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE:
METHODS: In this methodological study, patients with cancer (n = 400) were recruited by convenience sampling from June to December 2019. The construct and content validity and reliability of the scale were evaluated.
RESULTS: A two-factor structure for the scale was indicated with the factors being optimism life, and despair that explained 60.483% of the total variance of the scale. The model has the goodness of fit and acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: .701-.897).
CONCLUSIONS: The Persian Version of Hope Scale demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability among patients with cancer.
STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive content analysis of patient organisation websites was conducted.
METHODS: The Google® search engine was interrogated using search terms related to the principal chronic diseases from the Global Burden of Disease Study. Data relating to 41 travel health variables were extracted from each eligible website. An aggregate quality score was derived for each organisation based on the presence of specific website information. Visitor usage and search analytics for each organisation's website were also described.
RESULTS: We examined 145 official organisation websites relating to 10 major chronic illnesses. The largest number of websites was retrieved for patients with cancer (n = 36). Only 21 (16.5%) websites provided information on fitness-to-travel considerations. COPD websites had the highest average quality score (17.68%), followed by diabetes (14.91%) and dementia (13.28%). Mental health illness websites had the lowest score of 1.33%. There was a trend towards increased emphasis on pre-travel preparation and medications. Insect bite avoidance, malaria, animal bites, jet lag, and repatriation were addressed to the least extent.
CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis exposes significant deficits in the coverage of travel health topics. Patient organisations should provide accessible pre-travel health advice to website users. Future research should elucidate the influence of web-based pre-travel health information on the behaviour of travellers with chronic disease.