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Background: The treatment of cancer is a current challenge for public health, causing high rates of morbidity and mortality around the world. Doxorubicin (DOX) and cisplatin (CP) are two well-known chemotherapeutic agents approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of cancer patients. However, there are two problems associated with DOX and CP, namely, drug resistance and adverse impact. Resveratrol (Res) belongs to the stilbene class and possesses a variety of health-promoting effects, such as antioxidant, an-ti-inflammatory, anticancer, hepatoprotective, and neuroprotective effects. Objective: The aim of the present review is to give special attention towards the therapeutic impacts of Res in potentiating DOX and CP’s antitumor activities as well as reducing their side effects. Methods: PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar were used to search articles for the current manuscripts. Results: Co-administration of Res can prevent chemoresistance and potentiate the induction of apoptosis as well as cell cycle arrest in cancer cells. Res can enhance the sensitivity of can-cer cells to DOX and CP chemotherapy, via inhibiting the migration and metastasis of cancer cells. Simultaneously, Res, owing to its therapeutic actions, ameliorates the adverse impacts of DOX and CP on normal cells and organs, including the liver, kidney, brain, and testes. As Res suffers from poor bioavailability, to improve its antitumor activity and protective effects, nanoformulations have been developed with promising results. Conclusion: Conclusion: Based on preclinical studies, it is obvious that Res is a promising adjuvant for CP and DOX chemotherapy and its benefits can be utilized in the clinical course. more...

Aim Meta-cognitive skills training (MST) is a frequent component of cognitive remediation programmes for individuals with psychosis. However, no study has investigated whether incorporating such activities produces increased clinical benefits compared with computerized cognitive remediation alone. Methods Individuals with first-episode psychosis who completed computerized cognitive remediation with concurrent meta-cognitive skills training (CCR + MST) were compared with a historical control group who received computerized cognitive remediation alone (CCR) and did not differ from the CCR + MST group with regard to pre-intervention cognition, diagnosis, age, duration of psychotic illness or sex. Participants completed assessments of cognition and real-world functioning before and after 6 months of treatment. Results Individual receiving CCR + MST experience greater gains in cognition and real-world functioning than individuals who received CCR. Conclusions MST may be an important component within cognitive remediation programmes for first-episode psychosis. more...

Topic Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concern for youth. Unfortunately, a substantial number of children and adolescents do not respond positively to current evidence-based interventions and/or relapse. As pediatric anxiety disorders are fundamentally a systemic phenomenon, focusing on the ways in which parents become involved in their children's anxiety symptoms may be a promising alternative approach to treatment. Purpose To inform psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) about the phenomenology, associated neurobiology, and assessment of family accommodation (FA) as well as clinical interventions targeting FA. FA refers to ways that parents adapt their own behaviors to reduce their children's anxiety-related distress. Sources Used A literature search was performed using Psyc-INFO and PubMed. Conclusions Current findings indicate a high prevalence of FA associated with pediatric anxiety disorders. FA has a potentially deleterious impact on course of illness and treatment response and is associated with greater caregiver burden. Potential neurobiological underpinnings of FA include dysregulation of parent cortico-limbic circuitry and the oxytocinergic system. PMHNPs are in a unique position to identify families engaged in problematic FA, educate their clientele, provide psychotherapy services with the goal of reducing FA, and consult with multidisciplinary team members. more...

This pragmatic study evaluated the effectiveness of a collaborative assessment intervention as an approach to midtherapy consultation, which has yet to be empirically tested. Ten adult participants in ongoing psychotherapy with a variety of presenting concerns, primarily consisting of general mood and adjustment issues, received a brief assessment-based intervention based on Finn's (2007) Therapeutic Assessment model. Following the collection of assessment questions and the administration of a multimethod assessment battery, clients and therapists participated in a joint feedback session with the assessor. Clients were then followed as their psychotherapy continued. The results of idiographic and aggregate analytic approaches revealed significant reductions in client-reported symptomatic distress, as evidenced by a medium effect size (d = -.50) and a significant change in the trajectory of distress. Client reports of the process of psychotherapy revealed a significant increase in the clients' ratings of the working alliance. The findings suggest that a midtherapy consultation using collaborative/therapeutic assessment methods is beneficial but that further rigorous investigation is needed. more...

Industrial biomass is collected from liquid side streams of wood industry as well as from pulp and paper industry. For instance, crude tall oil (CTO) is a potential feedstock obtained from Kraft pulping process. CTO and its fractions such as tall oil fatty acid (TOFA) and distilled tall oil (DTO) are catalytically upgraded into value added hydrocarbons, these high value products can be regarded as a potential feedstock for steam crackers. This research work mainly addresses the pilot scale upgrading (HDO) study of TOFA and DTO over commercial NiMo catalyst., Proceedings of the 20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 18-22 June 2012, Milan, Italy, pp. 1532-1535 more...

Family-school collaboration related to children's physical development has become increasingly important as childhood obesity rates continue to rise. The present study described the development and implementation of a literacy-based, family component of a school-based health education program and investigated its viability, acceptability, and effectiveness. Interactive children's books were the mechanism by which students, parents, and teachers received consistent messages at home and school regarding nutrition information. The home-school intervention served to bridge home and school cultures in an urban population. Preliminary process evaluation results indicated that the interactive children's books were feasible to implement in the school context. Parents, children, and teachers had positive perceptions of the books. Parents who received the books demonstrated increased knowledge of 5 a Day, the primary nutrition message communicated in the program. Although not statistically significant, after the first and second years of intervention, parents in the experimental group reported that their children were eating 0.54 and 0.36 additional servings of fruit and vegetables per day compared with children in the control group. The program did not seem to impact the availability and accessibility of fruits and vegetables at home. more...

Cognitive remediation (CR) has shown significant promise in addressing the cognitive deficits that accompany serious mental illness. However, this intervention does not appear to completely ameliorate the cognitive deficits that accompany these illnesses. D-cycloserine (DCS), an NMDA receptor partial agonist, has been shown to enhance the therapeutic benefits of learning-based psychosocial interventions for psychiatric disorders. Thus, the goal of this study is to examine the utility of combining cognitive remediation and d-cycloserine in the treatment of cognitive deficits among individuals with bipolar disorder. Approximately forty individuals with bipolar disorder will be recruited to participate in this study. Participants will be randomized to one of two study arms: CR + DCS or CR + placebo. The primary outcome for this study is change in cognitive functioning. We will also examine several secondary outcomes, including the rate of change of cognitive functioning, social functioning, and symptomatology. Cognitive deficits are a rate-limiting factor in functional recovery among individuals with bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, treatment options for these deficits are limited. The results of the proposed study may reveal a valuable intervention strategy (i.e., CR with concurrent DCS) to improve cognitive functioning among individuals with bipolar disorder. Ultimately, this treatment strategy may prove useful in addressing the cognitive deficits that are ubiquitous across serious mental illnesses. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01934972 . more...