Avaliação do nível de espiritualidade e esperança de pacientes com câncer / Assessment of the level of spirituality and hope of cancer patients

Introdução: A esperança é um componente que pode ajudar o paciente, estimulando no seu existir, e permite o sentimento de um futuro otimista. A espiritualidade, no adoecimento por câncer, proporciona aos pacientes o desenvolvimento da esperança, de um significado para a doença e de um propósito e sentido para a vida. Objetivos: Avaliar o nível de espiritualidade e esperança de pacientes com câncer em tratamento em um hospital geral de Macaé e avaliar a correlação entre eles. Métodos: Foi realizado estudo clínico sobre o perfil de esperança e espiritualidade de pacientes com câncer em um hospital público que realiza tratamento oncológico na cidade de Macaé, Rio de Janeiro, entre agosto e novembro de 2019. Utilizou-se a escala de esperança de Herth e a escala de espiritualidade de Pinto e Pais-Ribeiro, que foram preenchidas por meio de entrevistas individuais. Resultados: Participaram 65 pacientes com idade média de 59 anos ± 12.39, com diferentes topografias tumorais, apresentando escore médio de 16,98 de 20,0 (valor máximo) para espiritualidade e 41,25 de 48,0 (valor máximo) para esperança. As variáveis apresentaram correlação positiva entre si. Conclusão: O nível de espiritualidade e esperança de pacientes com câncer apresentou correlação positiva com moderada magnitude, sugerindo que as necessidades espirituais devam ser reconhecidas e estimuladas para manter a esperança do paciente e assim poder mitigar quadros depressivos muito comuns em oncologia.

Introduction: Hope is a component that can help the patient, stimulating their existence, and allowing the feeling of an optimistic future. Spirituality, in the illness caused by cancer, provides patients with the development of hope, a meaning for the disease and a purpose and meaning for life. Purpose: To assess the level of spirituality and hope of cancer patients undergoing treatment at a general hospital in Macaé and to assess the correlation between them. Methods: A clinical study was carried out on the hope and spirituality profile of cancer patients at the hospital that provides public cancer treatment in the city of Macaé, Rio de Janeiro, between August and November 2019. The Herth hope scale was used and the Pinto and Pais-Ribeiro spirituality scale that were completed through individual interviews. Results: 65 patients participated, with a mean age of 59 years ± 12.39, with different tumor topographies, with a mean score of 16.98 of 20.0 (maximum value) for spirituality and 41.25 of 48.0 (maximum value) for hope. The variables showed a positive correlation with each other. Conclusion: The level of spirituality and hope of cancer patients showed a moderate positive correlation, suggesting that spiritual needs should be recognized and encouraged to maintain the patient's hope and thus be able to mitigate depression that are very common in oncology

study of Helicobacter pylori duodenal ulcer promoting gene [cfupA] polymorphisms in Iraq and Turkey and their role in IL-12 secretion

The duodenal ulcer promoting gene [dupA] has been identified recently and was found to associate with duodenal ulceration in some populations and gastric cancer in others. It was also found that this gene is polymorphic and dupAl [but not dupAZ] substantially increased H. pylori-induced IL-12 production from mononuclear cells. The aims of this paper were to determine the prevalence ofdupA polymorphisms in Iraq and Turkey and their effect on major cytokine secretion from peripheral blood mononuclear cells [PBMCs]. We studied a total of 85 H. pylon strains: 42 [non-ulcer disease [MUD]: 26; duodenal ulcer [DU]: 13; gastric ulcer [GU]: 3; gastric cancer [GC]: 0] which were isolated from Iraq and 43 [NUD: 28; DU: 12; GU: 2; GC: 1] from Turkey. dupA was PCR amplified then polymorphisms were studied by sequencing 10 and 9 dupA+ Iraqi and Turkish strains, respectively. It was found that none of the Iraqi strains and [22%] of Turkish strains typed as dupA1. Finally, 2 dupA1, 4 dupA2 and 2 dupA-negative strains were assessed for their ability to induce IL-12, IL-10 and IL-8 in PBMCs. The IL-12 response of PBMCs cultured for 48 hours with wild-type strains carrying the dupAl was significantly higher [strain: mean +/- sd pg/ml, WTD1A:416 +/- 22.8; WTD1B:405.9 +/- 22.4] than those induced by wild-type H. pylori carrying the dupA2 [WTD2A:290.7 +/- 16.3; WTD2B:252.5 +/- 5; WTD2C:262.1 +/- 14; WTD2D:279.5 +/- 17; p<0.02 for all] and than those typed dupA-negative [WTD-veA:258.5 +/- 12; WTD-veB:225.6 +/- 32; p<0.02 for all] . Regarding IL-8 and IL-10, we found no significant differences between dupAl and others. These data suggested that dupAl is rare in these two countries and dupAl plays an important role in IL-12 secretion from PBMCs. More research is needed to determine the functionality ofdupA and its relationship with disease