Post-traumatic stress disorder in a sample of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

INTRODUCTION: Lebanon is the main hosting country for the Syrian crisis, with more than one million Syrian refugees. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and identify its possible predictors, in a sample of Syrian refugees living in camps in Lebanon. METHOD: We conducted a household survey on Syrian refugees between 18 and 65years old in 6 camps of the Central Bekaa region, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) as a diagnostic tool. RESULTS: Among the 452 respondents, we found a lifetime prevalence of PTSD of 35.4%, and a point prevalence of 27.2%. The lifetime prevalence of SUD was 1.99% and the point prevalence 0.66%. Multivariate logistic regression could not identify any predictor of current PTSD among a list of demographic variables, but identified the Syrian hometown as a significant predictor of lifetime PTSD (p=.013), with refugees from Aleppo having significantly more PTSD than those coming from Homs (adjusted OR 2.14, 95% CI [1.28, 3.56], p=.004). DISCUSSION: PTSD was a real mental health issue in our sample of adult Syrian refugees in Central Bekaa camps, unlike SUD.

Sulfur-to-nitrogen transnitrosation: transfer of nitric oxide from S-nitroso compounds to diethanolamine and the role of intermediate sulfur-to-sulfur transnitrosation.

S-Nitrosothiols are formed in vivo and are involved in NO signaling. We investigated the sulfur-to-nitrogen transnitrosation activity of S-nitrosocysteine, S-nitrosoglutathione, S-nitrosohomocysteine, S-nitrosocysteinylglycine and S-nitroso-N-acetylcysteine in their reaction with the secondary amine diethanolamine in vitro. The resulting N-nitrosodiethanolamine, a strong carcinogen, was formed in yields of up to 11% from S-nitrosocysteine and S-nitrosocysteinylglycine, whereas the transnitrosation activity of the other S-nitroso compounds was weak. However, the addition of L-cysteine to a solution of S-nitrosohomocysteine and diethanolamine accelerated the decomposition of S-nitrosohomocysteine and resulted in a significant formation of N-nitrosodiethanolamine accompanied by the intermediate generation of S-nitrosocysteine. Thus, reactive nitrosothiols can be formed from less reactive analogs via sulfur-to-sulfur transnitrosation. We suggest that this affects regulation of NO trafficking in vivo. The reaction provides an alternative mechanism for the generation of carcinogenic N-nitroso derivatives.

[H. pylori infection at the duodenal bulb in different endoscopic diagnoses]. / Infección por H. pylori a nivel bulbar en diferentes diagnósticos endoscópicos.

Biopsy samples obtained by endoscopy to diagnose infection by H. pylori usually come from the antral region. Nevertheless, there are few reports documenting the prevalence of infection at duodenal level. OBJECTIVE. To investigate the prevalence of H. pylori infection in duodenal bulb in different endoscopic diagnosis. METHODS. 331 patients with the following endoscopic diagnosis were studied: normal appearance (n = 55), gastritis (87), gastric ulcer (49), duodenal ulcer (120), and duodenitis (20). At endoscopy, different samples from duodenal bulb were obtained (apart from gastric fundus, body and antrum), which were processed for microbiology (Gram stain and culture) and histology (hematoxilin-eosin). RESULTS. Patients with duodenal ulcer or duodenitis had the highest H. pylori infection rate at duodenal bulb (47.7% and 65%, respectively). Differences were significant when compared with normal appearance (14.5%; p < 0.001) and gastritis (25%; p < 0.05). In all patients with H. pylori at duodenal bulb this organism was also detected at antral region. CONCLUSIONS. 1) The highest prevalence rates for H. pylori infection in duodenal bulb were found in patients with duodenal ulcer or duodenitis. 2) Diagnosis of H. pylori infection should not be based on the duodenal bulb samples alone, as this sample yields high false-negative results.