Depression in systemic lupus erythematosus: gender differences in the performance of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

The prevalence of depressive symptoms in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) varies widely between different cohorts (17-75%), primarily due to factors such as the heterogeneity of the samples and the instruments used to detect depressive symptoms. Most of these instruments are self-administered questionnaires that have different characteristics and approaches to depressive symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate gender differences in the performance of three questionnaires used to assess depressive symptoms in patients with SLE: the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). This study included 54 male and 54 female SLE patients. Depressive symptoms were assessed using BDI (cutoffs 13 and 15), CES-D and HADS. The gold standard method used was the diagnostic criteria of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Regarding the performance of the BDI questionnaire, no significant differences in sensitivity or specificity were found between the genders. The specificity of the CES-D questionnaire was significantly greater for the male group (83% vs. 62.5%, p = 0.0309), and its sensitivity was non-significantly higher for the female group (92.9% for women and 71.4% for men; p = 0.2474). Regarding the performance of the HADS, we found similar sensitivities between the genders (71.4%) but a higher specificity among the men (95.7% in men and 82.5% in women, p = 0.0741). In conclusion, our results suggest the presence of gender differences in the performance of the questionnaires in SLE patients. The BDI had the most similar performances between the male and female groups. In contrast, the CES-D and HADS-D showed considerable variation in performances between men and women with SLE.

Gender differences in systemic lupus erythematosus concerning anxiety, depression and quality of life.

Several studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); however, few data address gender differences regarding these manifestations. This study aimed to investigate gender differences in the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms, and their effect on the quality of life (QOL) of male and female SLE patients. This study included 54 male SLE patients, 54 female SLE patients, 54 male controls and 54 female controls. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); the anxiety symptoms were examined using HADS. We used the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) to assess QOL. Depressive symptoms were found in 22.2% of BDI respondents, 24.1% of CES-D respondents and 13% of HADS-D respondents who were male SLE patients; while in the female SLE patient group, they were found in 38.9% of BDI respondents (p = 0.063), 51.9% of CES-D respondents (p = 0.653) and 31.5% of HADS-D respondents (p = 0.003). Anxiety symptoms were found in 16.7% of the male SLE patients and 38.9% of the female SLE patients (p = 0.024). Lower scores on the SF-36 (for QOL) were found in both male and female SLE patients with depression and anxiety symptoms. In conclusion, we observed significant gender differences regarding the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with SLE, with significantly higher values in the female group. The presence of these symptoms appears to have a negative effect on the QOL of patients of both genders.

Optimisation of reactive dye degradation by laccase using Box-Behnken design.

A three-level Box-Behnken factorial design with three factors and the Response Surface Methodology were used to optimise the colour removal of the reactive textile dye, Colour Index (C.I.) reactive red 180, by commercial laccase. A mathematical model was developed to study the effect of temperature, pH, enzyme concentration and their interactions on the decolourisation. Enzyme concentration and pH as well as their interaction were the principal factors that affected the decolourisation. The dye degradation was independent of temperature. The model estimated that the highest decolourisation (> 92%) was obtained for 27 degrees C, pH 7.5 and 85 U l(-1). This predicted value was experimentally validated, obtaining dye colour removal (540 nm) of 93 +/- 1.5%.

Comparacao entre resultados de provas tuberculinicas feitas com tuberculinas PPD-Rt 23 diluidas no Brasil e na Dinamarca. / Results of tuberculin tests with PPD-Rt tuberculins dissolved in Brazil and Denmark

Os autores comparam os resultados obtidos em provas tuberculinicas com tuberculinas (PPD-Rt 23) diluida no Brasil (diluicao A) e diluida na Dinamarca (diluicao B). Aplicaram as provas em 80 pacientes portadores de tuberculose (comprovados bacteriologicamente), aplicando diluicao A num branco e diluicao B no outro (alternando-se os bracos progressivamente, para evitar tendenciosidade na aplicacao e/ou na leitura dos resultados. Concluiram que nao ha diferenca, estatisticamente falando, entre os resultados obtidos com as tuberculinas diluidas no Brasil ou na Dinamarca. De 76 pacientes onde se obtiveram resultados, em apenas 1 caso houve uma diferenca de 3mm entre as induracoes dos braco direito e esquerdo; nos demais casos as diferencas nao ultrapassaram a 2 mm