Impact of age and gender on adherence to infection control guidelines and medical regimens in cystic fibrosis.

RATIONALE: The goal of the present research was to examine the impact of age and gender on adherence to both infection control (IC) guidelines and traditional medical treatments in a cystic fibrosis (CF) population. Adherence behaviors are consistently suboptimal in chronic illness populations, particularly pulmonary diseases; understanding the factors related to adherence behaviors in CF can aid in the development of interventions to promote adherence. METHOD: Participants consisted of 74 individuals with CF ages 9 years and above. Participants were asked to complete questionnaires designed to assess demographic data, treatment adherence, and health beliefs. RESULTS: With respect to IC guidelines, chi-square analyses revealed significant age differences in adherence behaviors such that the young adult subsample was least adherent to IC (χ2 = 15.10, df = 6, P = 0.020). Next, a 4 (age: child, adolescent, young adult, adult) × 2 (gender) completely between subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted on medical treatment adherence. There was a significant main effect for age [F(3, 65) = 2.940, P = 0.040, ηP2 = 0.119] indicating that the adolescent subsample had the most adherence challenges. Gender was nonsignificant across both adherence types. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings are suggestive of age-related differences in adherence behaviors across both IC and medical regimens and support the use of developmentally sensitive approaches to assessment and interventions addressing adherence.

Zymosan: induction of sickness behavior and interaction with lipopolysaccharide.

The yeast particulate zymosan (Zy) activates innate immune system cells and induces cytokine secretion. There is also evidence that Zy can affect biologic responses to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and that the pathways by which these two agents act upon immune cells are only partially distinct. The present experiments assessed the ability of Zy to elicit CNS-mediated sickness symptoms and to alter their responses to LPS. In Experiment 1, Zy induced elements of the sickness behavior syndrome dose-responsively in Long-Evans rats, as indicated by reductions in consumption of a highly palatable bait and in body temperature. In Experiment 2, Zy exerted a priming effect, sensitizing animals to subsequent LPS as measured by reductions in bait consumption, 24-h laboratory chow intake, and body temperature. Experiment 3 failed to provide evidence for LPS-to-Zy cross-tolerance but did indicate that the administration of Zy disrupts previously acquired LPS tolerance. These results suggest that the specifics of exposure to microbially derived innate immune activators have to be taken into account in investigating the biologic bases of sickness behaviors and developing models of coinfection.