Compassion Fatigue and Compassion Satisfaction in Pediatric Intensive Care Professionals.

Background: Paediatric ICU doctors and nurses' quality of professional life is influenced by the intense emotions and distress experienced when caring for suffering children and their families. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of compassion satisfaction (CS) and compassion fatigue (CF) in Paediatric Intensive Care Units in Greece. Methods: Out of 147 intensive care professionals in public hospitals in Greece completed the ProQOL-V scale as well as a socio-demographic and professional-life characteristics questionnaire. Results: Almost two thirds of participants reported medium-risk for CF (74.8%) while 23.1% and 76.9% of professionals expressed high or medium potential for CS respectively. More than half of doctors and nurses in paediatric ICUs report being overprotective towards members of the family as a result of their professional life and that their work-life affects their attitude towards life in general. Conclusion: Recognizing factors related to CF may support paediatric intensive care professionals in avoiding the costs of exposure to the trauma and loss experiences of patients and their families. A trauma-informed intensive care culture and continuing trauma-informed education may shield professionals from the erosive effects of lingering emotions which may trigger secondary traumatic stress symptoms and also facilitate adequate reflection on their emotional reactions in the landscape of intensive care.

Kisspeptin and the Genetic Obesity Interactome.

BACKGROUND: Kisspeptin (encoded by the KISS1 gene in humans) is an excitatory neuromodulatory peptide implicated in multiple homeostatic systems, including anti-oxidation, glucose homeostasis, nutrition, locomotion, etc. Therefore, in the current obesity epidemic, kisspeptin is gaining increasing interest as a research objective. AIM: To construct an updated interactome of genetic obesity, including the kisspeptin signal transduction pathway. METHODS: Kisspeptin and obesity-related genes or gene products were extracted from the biomedical literature, and a network of functional associations was created. RESULTS: The generated network contains 101 nodes corresponding to gene/gene products with known and/or predicted interactions. In this interactome, KISS1 and KISS1R are connected directly to the luteinizing hormone receptor (LHCGR), gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GNRH1), and indirectly, through the latter, to proopiomelanocortin (POMC), glucagon, leptin (LEP), and/or pro-protein convertase subtilisin/kexin-type 1 (PCSK1), all of which are critically implicated in obesity disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Our updated obesidome includes kisspeptin and its connections to the genetic obesity signalosome with 12 major hubs: glucagon (GCG), insulin (INS), arginine vasopressin (AVP), G protein subunit beta 1 (GNB1) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC), melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R), leptin (LEP), gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GNRH1), adrenoceptor beta 2 and 3 (ADRB2-3), glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP1R), and melanocortin 3 receptor (MC3R) genes were identified as major "hubs" for genetic obesity, providing novel insight into the body's energy homeostasis.

Entropy in Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System of Adolescents with General Learning Disabilities or Dyslexia.

Heart rate variability (HRV) represents one of the two key markers of the autonomic nervous system. It is measured by the time variation in the beat-to-beat interval, while the period between successive beats is defined as the RR interval (RRI). Its components are classified as linear and non-linear. In the field of psychophysiology, HRV is investigated as a key player of possible predictive or diagnostic value. Female adolescents with general learning disabilities or dyslexia were recruited at the Center for Adolescent Medicine and UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Adolescents were further assessed for HRV. Data were collected with the Task Force® Monitor at the Cardiovascular Laboratory of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. The RRI time-series were estimated for approximate entropy (AE), conditional entropy (CE), corrected conditional entropy (CCE), fuzzy entropy (FE), permutation entropy (PE), sample entropy (SE), and Shannon's entropy (ShE). RRI manifested complex dynamics, indicating a complex pattern of progression. This finding suggests that RRI conceals non-linear dynamics, which if investigated in depth could provide more knowledge on the relation between RRI and learning disorders.

Locked versus open ward environments and restrictive measures in acute psychiatry in Greece: Nursing students' attitudes and experiences.

PURPOSE: To examine student nurses' attitudes and experiences of door policies and restrictive measures in acute psychiatric care. METHODS: A mixed-method study with 274 third-year students. RESULTS: Participants' attitudes towards door locking and other containment measures appeared to be more a matter of custom, practice and tradition at particular units. The therapeutic benefits of open doors was the central organizing element in open units experiences while locked doors appeared to be "invisible" when the locked unit was perceived as a caring environment. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Exploring student nurses' attitudes towards crucial and debatable aspects of mental health practice contributes in cultivating a critical and analytical attitude towards the service they provide necessary for supporting a recovery mental health model and building a strong professional identity.

Factors associated with depression and anxiety of hospitalized patients with heart failure.

INTRODUCTION: Heart failure (HF) is a chronic disease associated with significant prevalence, mortality, and health care expenditure. The aim of the present study was to explore the factors associated with anxiety and depression experienced by patients hospitalized with HF. METHODS: We evaluated 190 hospitalized HF patients in four public hospitals. The data were collected using a specific questionnaire, which, apart from demographic and clinical variables, included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). RESULTS: In the total sample, 24.7% and 32.6% of patients were found to have moderate or high levels of anxiety, respectively. Simple multinomial logistic regression showed that no characteristic was significantly associated with anxiety. It also appeared that 17.4% of patients had minor and 24.2% major depression. Among the factors examined, longer disease duration was associated with a higher probability of being depressed (p=0.041). Moreover, single/divorced and widowed patients were more likely to have major depression compared to married patients (35.6% vs. 19.2%, p=0.046). Simple multinomial logistic regression revealed that married patients were 59% less likely to have major depression compared to their unmarried counterparts (OR: 0.41). Moreover, patients with short (<1 year) and moderate (2-5 years) disease duration were 69% (OR: 0.31) and 61% (OR: 0.39) less likely to have major depression compared to those with a long disease duration. Multiple multinomial logistic regression showed that only the disease duration remained statistically significantly associated with depression after controlling for the rest of factors found to be significant at a univariate level. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses and physicians must take measures for the identification, assessment and management of anxiety and depression in this clinical population.