DDRGK1 in urine indicative of tubular cell injury in intensive care patients with serious infections

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the cause of death in patients who died within 30 days after the first dose of immunotherapy. Methods: The data of 1432 patients treated with immu...

Introduction: The current study aims to evaluate the OX40, TIM-3, LAG-3, and PD-L1 targeted pathways in the regulation of T-cell activity in sarcoma patients to determine their relationship with overall survival (OS). Method: This study included one hundred and eleven patients with bone and soft tissue sarcoma diagnosed in two centers between 2010 and 2020. OX40, LAG-3, TIM-3 and PD-L1 expression levels were evaluated immunohistochemically from pathology preparations. Results: PD-L1 staining was detected in tumor cells, OX40, LAG-3, TIM-3 staining was detected in inflammatory cells in tumor tissue. In univariate analysis, no significant relationship was found between OX40, TIM-3, LAG-3, and PD-L1 staining and overall survival (respectively: p = 0.12, p = 0.49, p = 0.31, p = 0.95). When grade and stage at diagnosis, which were found to be significant in univariate analysis, along with OX-40, TIM-3, LAG-3, and PD-L1, were evaluated in multivariate analysis, a positive effect of OX-40 staining on overall survival was determined (p = 0.009). Considering the correlation between PDL-1 and OX40, TIM-3, and LAG-3 staining, a significant positive correlation was found between PDL-1 and TIM-3 and LAG-3 staining (respectively; p = 0.002, p = 0.001). Conclusions: There was no significant relationship between the PDL-1 staining percentage of tumor cells and OX40, TIM-3, and LAG-3 staining in inflammatory cells with the OS of sarcoma patients. However, detecting a significant positive correlation between PDL-1 staining and TIM-3 and LAG-3 staining also holds promise for finding effective targetable combination therapies that can prolong survival in sarcoma patients in the future.

Depression, anxiety, or both are common in women with early-stage breast cancer (BC). A relationship is known between low perceived social support (PSS) and depression. We aimed to investigate the relationships between alexithymia, PSS, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score in patients diagnosed with early-stage BC. A demographic and medical information form, BDI, the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Multidimensional Scale of PSS (MSPSS) were given to 200 early-stage BC patients to respond. Two subgroups were created as group A (BDI score < 17) and group B (BDI score ≥ 17) and compared in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, TAS-20, and MSPSS scores. Twenty-six (18.1%), 48 (33.3%), and 26 (18.1%) patients were with high BDI scores, in low PSS status, and alexithymic, respectively. The median ages of the participants in group A and group B were 53.4 (interquartile range (IQR): 46-60.7) and 46 (IQR: 41.5-59) years, respectively (p = 0.083). The rates of single participants (26.9% versus 11%, p = 0.055), alexithymic participants (42.3% versus 12.7%, p = 0.001), low PSS levels (57.7% versus 28%, p = 0.018), psychiatric treatment history (46.2% versus 22%, p = 0.025), and patients with low income (57.7% versus 22.9%, p = 0.001) were higher in group B than in group A. In the multivariate regression model that contains the parameters mentioned above, psychiatric treatment history (odds ratio (OR): 2.758, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.034-7.356, p = 0.043), low-income status (OR: 3.503, 95% CI: 1.336-9.182, p = 0.011), and alexithymia (OR: 3.482, 95% CI: 1.229-9.867, p = 0.019) were independent predictive factors for a high BDI. Alexithymia and low PSS are significantly common in patients with prominent depressive symptoms in early-stage BC patients. Alexithymia may be associated with depression and may also have a role in depression pathogenesis in early-stage BC patients. New studies are needed to investigate whether there is a causal relationship between alexithymia and depression.

Introduction: A cancer diagnosis is often met with fear and distress in the patient and their family. Cancer also presents many psychosocial challenges for the patient and family caregiver. We aimed to investigate the relationships between health anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty regarding the quality of life in caregivers of cancer patients.Methods: A total of 83 cancer patients’ caregivers were included in the study. A sociodemographic information form, Health Anxiety Scale (HAS), Quality of Life Scale – Family Version (QoL-FV), and Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS-12), were given to participants to respond. Correlations between the study scale and sub-scale scores were evaluated. Two groups were formed as those with HAS scores greater than and less than the median. It was evaluated whether these groups differed in terms of IUS-12, QoL-FV-Total and QoL-FV subscale scores.Results: Median (IQR) scores of HAS, QoL-FV-Total and IUS-12 were 18.0 (10.0-25.0), 173.0 (145.0-206.0), and 29.0 (23.0-42.0), respectively. There was a significant positive correlation (r=0.469, p<0.001) between HAS scores and IUS-12 scores and a significant negative correlation (r=-0.328, p=0.002) between QoL-FV-Total scores. There was no significant correlation (r=-0.084, p=0.452) between QoL-FV-Total and IUS-12 scores. The IUS-12 score (median (IQR); 24.0 (20.0-27.0) vs 39.5 (31.5-45.0), p<0.001) was significantly lower and the QoL-FV-total score (median (IQR); 206.0 (157.5-263.5) vs 157.5 (142.25-176.0), p<0.001) and QoL-FV subscale scores were significantly higher in the HAS-low group than in the HAS-high group.Conclusions: Health anxiety may be one of the negative factors for quality of life in caregivers of cancer patients. More research is needed to explore the factors that predict and protect against health anxiety, which is thought to affect the quality of life of caregivers of cancer patients. Also, psychological intervention studies aiming at the relationship between health anxiety and the quality of life in caregivers of cancer patients are needed.Keywords: Caregivers, Uncertainty, Health Behavior, Anxiety, Quality of Life