Social but not attention-based mental training reduces cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress.

Evangelos Terpos, Ioannis P Trougakos, Maria Gavriatopoulou, Ioannis Papassotiriou, Aimilia D Sklirou, Ioannis Ntanasis-Stathopoulos, Eleni-Dimitra Dimitra Papa

Background: Circulating free plasma DNA is implicated in conditions associated with tissue injury, including exercise-induced inflammation, and thus is a potential marker for athletic overtraining.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN), also named diabetic kidney disease (DKD), is a devastating complication in patients with both type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus (T1D and T2D) and its diagnosis has been traditionally based on the presence of micro-albuminuria (MA). The aim of this article is to update, through review of the relevant medical literature, the most promising biomarkers for early DKD detection. MA has historically been employed as an early marker of microvascular complications, indicating risk for advanced CKD. However, due to the inability of MA to adequately predict DKD, especially in young patients or in non-albuminuric DKD, additional biomarkers of glomerular and/or tubular injury have been proposed to uncover early renal dysfunction and structural lesions, even before MA occurs. Defining new predictive biomarkers to use alongside urinary albumin excretion (UAE) during the initial stages of DKD would provide a window of opportunity for preventive and/or therapeutic interventions to prevent or delay the onset of irreversible long-term complications and to improve outcomes by minimizing the rates of severe cardio-renal morbidity and mortality in DKD patients.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) expression is induced in many types of human cancer, while detection of its complex with matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) is correlated with cancer disease status. We aim to evaluate the serum expression of MMP-9, NGAL and their complex (MMP-9/NGAL) during the diagnostic work-up of women with breast abnormalities and investigate their correlation with disease severity. Methods: The study included 113 women with non-palpable breast lesions undergoing vacuum-assisted breast biopsy for histological diagnosis, and 30 healthy women, which served as controls. Expression levels of MMP-9, NGAL and their complex MMP-9/NGAL were determined in peripheral blood samples with immunoenzymatic assays. Results: Women with invasive ductal carcinoma exhibited significantly increased levels of MMP-9, NGAL and MMP-9/NGAL compared to healthy controls (MMP-9: p < 0.003, NGAL: p < 0.008 MMP-9/NGAL: p < 0.01). Significant correlations were observed between MMP-9 and NGAL serum levels and breast disease severity score (r = 0.229, p < 0.006 and r = 0.206, p < 0.01, respectively), whereas a non-significant correlation was found for their complex. MMP-9, NGAL and their complex MMP-9/NGAL levels were not correlated with either Body Mass Index (BMI) or age of patients. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the serum measurement of MMP-9 and NGAL may be useful in non-invasively monitoring breast cancer progression, while supporting their potential role as early biomarkers of breast disease status.

Background: We examined the possible association of adiponectin gene polymorphisms with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and their influence on serum adiponectin and insulin resistance indexes in Greek women with PCOS.