Cyberchondria Severity and Quality of Life Among Lebanese Adults: The Moderating Effect of Emotions.

Objective: To examine the correlation between cyberchondria and quality of life (QOL) among Lebanese adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking into consideration the moderating role of emotions (emotion regulation and positive and negative affect). The following questions were examined: (1) Do greater cyberchondria severity and fear of COVID-19 lead to poorer quality of physical and mental health? (2) How is positive and negative affect related to physical and mental QOL? and (3) How do emotion suppression and cognitive reappraisal correlate with physical and mental QOL, particularly in those with higher cyberchondria?Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed between December 2020 and January 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study enrolled 449 participants who completed an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included sociodemographic questions and the following scales: Cyberchondria Severity Scale, Quality of Life Short Form-12 Health Survey, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule.Results: The results showed that more positive affect (B = 0.17) and negative affect (B = 0.19) were positively correlated with higher physical QOL scores. More positive affect (B = 0.33) and cognitive reappraisal (B = 0.09) were significantly associated with higher mental QOL scores. The interactions between cyberchondria severity by cognitive reappraisal and cyberchondria severity by emotion suppression were significantly associated with mental QOL (P < .001 for both). In people with high cyberchondria severity, having high cognitive reappraisal was strongly correlated with better mental QOL. In people with high cyberchondria severity, having low emotion suppression was significantly correlated with better mental QOL (P < .001).Conclusions: Exposure to copious amounts of information, whether from verifiable sources or not, can instigate anxious symptoms in individuals who lack adaptive emotion regulation ability. Further studies are needed to identify factors related to health crisis response and their moderators, which can be useful to better understand the incidence and development of anxiety and allow health professionals to develop and implement preventive and therapeutic interventions.

Impact of COVID-19 on Workload and Workflow in Echocardiography Unit in a Tertiary Care University Hospital: A Monocentric Observational Study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a new unexpected worldwide condition with a heavy burden on health-care institutions and health-care workers. Objective: We sought to examine the impact of COVID-19 on workload and workflow in the echocardiography unit in a tertiary care university hospital. Methods: We conducted a monocentric observational study, evaluating workload and workflow during the COVID-19 year relative to the previous year. Results: The findings show a substantial reduction in workload (55.20%) along with significant changes in workflow in the echocardiography unit during the pandemic. Changes in workflow involved measures implemented for protection, changes in echo indications which became more selective, changes in echo pattern, reduction in human flow in echocardiography laboratory, delays in reporting and archiving, and changes in training and teaching. Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on the echocardiography unit, with a significant reduction in workload and considerable changes in workflow. In the future, it is essential to be better prepared as individuals, health-care workers, health-care institutions, and the general community, to deal better with any potential "invisible enemy."

A cross-sectional study of current and lifetime sexual hallucinations and delusions in Lebanese patients with schizophrenia: frequency, characterization, and association with childhood traumatic experiences and disease severity.

BACKGROUND: Till that date, a sparse body of research has been dedicated to perusing psychotic symptoms of sexual type, particularly in psychiatric populations. Our study's objective was to delineate psychotic symptoms with a sexual content, namely sexual delusions and hallucinations, among inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia in Lebanon, and scrutinize their relationships with the severity of schizophrenia symptoms and childhood abusive events. METHODS: We conducted structured interviews with 167 chronic schizophrenia patients, who completed the Questionnaire for Psychotic Symptoms with a Sexual Content, the Child Abuse Self-Report Scale, and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. RESULTS: 36.5% and 50.3% of the participants screened positive for current and lifetime episodes of sexual delusions and/or hallucinations, respectively. Alcohol drinking (aOR (adjusted odds ratio)current = 2.17; aORLifetime = 2.86) and increased psychological (aORcurrent = 1.09; aORLifetime = 1.09) and sexual (aORcurrent = 1.23; aORLifetime = 1.70) abuse were significantly associated with higher chances of experiencing current and lifetime sexual hallucinations and/or delusions. Additionally, an increased severity of schizophrenia symptoms (aOR = 1.02) was significantly associated with higher chances of current sexual hallucinations and/or delusions, whereas having a university level of education compared to primary (aOR = 0.15) was significantly associated with lower odds of current sexual hallucinations and/or delusions. CONCLUSION: In sum, our findings suggest that sexual psychotic symptoms are prevalent in chronic schizophrenia patients, providing support for their associations with antecedents of childhood traumatic experiences, illness severity, and substance use disorders. They endorse the vitalness of preventive measures against abuse, in order to circumvent such phenomenological outcomes. Our study offers the first data on sexual hallucinations and delusions in a non-Western psychiatric population, thus allowing clinicians and researchers to draw featural comparisons across different cultural settings.

Avaliação do impacto do suporte familiar e da espiritualidade no aconselhamento genético de portadores da Síndrome de Li-Fraumeni e Li-Fraumeni Like / Evaluation of the impact of family support and spirituality in genetic counseling of patients with Li-Fraumeni and Li-Fraumeni Like Syndromes

O Glioblastoma (GBM) é o tumor de células gliais mais comum e agressivo dentre os tumores cerebrais primários. Caracterizar mecanismos moleculares associados com a progressão desse tumor pode auxiliar no desenvolvimento de novas estratégias para seu tratamento e garantir a maior sobrevida de pacientes. A proteína STAT3 (Proteína transdutora de sinal e ativadora de transcrição 3) é um fator de transcrição ativado por fosforilação e conhecido por seu importante papel na gliomagênese. Com o uso de microarranjos de tecidos (TMAs) avaliamos a expressão total e a localização nuclear de STAT3 e de suas formas fosforiladas pSTAT3 (Y705) e pSTAT3(S727) em astrocitomas e tecido cerebral não tumoral. STAT3 possui uma localização nuclear aumentada em GBMs humanos, quando comparada com astrocitomas de menor grau ou tecido cerebral não tumoral. Interessantemente, o aumento da localização nuclear de STAT3 nos GBMs não está associado com o incremento de suas formas fosforiladas. Além disso, altos níveis de STAT3 nuclear em GBM estão correlacionados com o menor tempo livre de recidiva e a uma menor sobrevida nesses pacientes. Esse perfil não foi visto para as formas fosforiladas, indicando que outros mecanismos de ativação de STAT3, que não a via canônica de fosforilação, podem estar presentes nos GBMs. A identificação dessas modificações pode representar uma nova estratégia terapêutica para a abordagem desses tumores uma vez que as drogas disponíveis atualmente têm como alvo os domínios fosforilados de STAT3. Uma modificação pós-traducional que poderia contribuir para a translocação nuclear de STAT3 é a SUMOilação. A proteína PIAS1 (Proteína inibidora da atividade de STAT1) está envolvida neste mecanismo por mediar a adição de SUMO (Pequena proteína modificadora relacionada à ubiquitina) às proteínas-alvo. Nossos dados mostraram que PIAS1 apresenta maior localização nuclear em GBM quando comparado ao tecido não tumoral. Além disso, PIAS1 promove o acúmulo nuclear...

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor. This work was conducted to characterize molecular mechanisms associated with GBM progression that could assist in developing of new strategies for its treatment and ensure better overall survival of these patients. STAT3 (Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3) is a transcription factor activated by phosphorylation and known for its important role in gliomagenesis. Using tissue microarrays (TMAs) we evaluated the total expression and nuclear localization of STAT3 and its phosphorylated forms, pSTAT3 (Y705) and pSTAT3 (S727) in astrocytomas and non-tumor brain tissue. GBMs showed higher levels of nuclear STAT3 compared to lower grade astrocitomas or non-tumor brain tissue. Interestingly, increased nuclear STAT3 in GBMs is not associated with the improvement of its phosphorylated forms. Moreover, high levels of nuclear STAT3 in GBMs correlate with lower free-recurrence survival and overall survival of these patients. This profile followed by its phosphorylated forms, indicating that other activation mechanisms besides than the canonical STAT3 phosphorylation is present in GBM. The identification of these post-translation modifications may represent new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of these tumors since the currently available drugs target only the phosphorylation sites of STAT3. A posttranslational modification that could contribute to nuclear translocation of STAT3 is the SUMOylation although we were unable to see this interaction in cultured cells. On the other hand, GBMs have a higher nuclear PIAS1 compared to non-tumor brain tissue. PIAS1 protein (Protein Inhibitor of Activity of STAT1) is involved in protein SUMOylation by mediating the addition of SUMO to target proteins. Moreover, PIAS1 promotes nuclear retention of the co-chaperone STI1/Hop (Stress inducible protein 1/Hsp70- Hsp90 organizing protein) in astrocytes treated with gamma radiation, which may...