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Background and Objectives: Post-transplant kidney recipients may experience psychological concerns which have been associated with negative health behaviors. Illness acceptance might have an important role in this process. In line with the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), the current study aimed to examine the relationship between coping flexibility, attachment patterns and illness acceptance among post-transplant kidney recipients, and to evaluate whether attachment patterns moderate the link between coping flexibility and illness acceptance.Design: The study employed a cross-sectional design.Methods: Ninety-four post-transplant kidney recipients completed questionnaires assessing demographic and medical characteristics, illness acceptance, coping flexibility and attachment patterns.Results: Our results indicated that coping flexibility was positively associated with illness acceptance. Moreover, attachment moderated this link, as high coping flexibility was associated with increased illness acceptance among individuals with low levels of attachment anxiety, a finding which was not significant when high levels of anxiety were reported.Conclusions: This study highlights the potential importance of building greater flexibility in order to enhance illness acceptance among kidney transplants recipients. Moreover, the role of insecure attachment patterns in health-related outcomes among kidney transplants recipients is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role that body image plays in the psychological adjustment of kidney-transplant recipients is an understudied issue. In the current study, the association between three variables – (a) body-image dissatisfaction, (b) quality of life (QOL), and (c) psychological distress – was investigated. The research participants were 45 kidney-transplant recipients who were under follow-up care at the Transplant Unit of the Tel-Aviv Medical Center (Israel). Body image, psychological distress, and QOL were measured using self-report questionnaires [Body-Image Ideals Questionnaire (BIIQ), Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI), and SF-12]. Medical and background data were collected from medical and administrative records. The findings indicated an association between higher level of body-image dissatisfaction and a decrease in several quality-of-life dimensions (role emotional, physical pain, general health, and social functioning), and with an increase in psychological distress. These findings highlight the importance of body-image dissatisfaction as a factor that is associated with QOL and psychological distress among kidney-transplant recipients. Body image warrants further attention and should be screened and treated among those who demonstrate high levels of dissatisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dysregulation of brain iron homeostasis is central to early neuropathological events in Alzheimer's disease (AD), including oxidative stress, inflammatory processes, amyloid deposition, tau phosphorylation, and neuronal cell cycle regulatory failure, leading to apoptosis. Also, there is a direct link between iron metabolism and AD pathogenesis, demonstrated by the presence of an iron-responsive element in the 5' UTR of the amyloid precursor protein transcript. As a consequence of these findings, a new paradigm is emerging that includes the development of iron-chelating neuroprotective-neurorescue drugs with multimodal functions, acting at various pathological brain targets. This concept is challenging the widely held assumption that "silver bullet" agents are superior to "dirty drugs" in drug therapy for neurodegenerative diseases. At best, the so-called magic bullets exhibit moderate symptomatic activity without modifying the course of disease progression. The present review elaborates on conventional and novel therapeutic targets of various multifunctional iron-chelating drugs (e.g., chemically designed compounds; natural polyphenols) that address multiple central nervous system etiologies in AD, aimed at preventing or slowing disease evolution. A similar approach in drug design is being investigated for treatment of cancer, AIDS, cardiovascular diseases, and depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulation of iron at sites where neurons degenerate in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is thought to have a major role in oxidative stress induced process of neurodegeneration. The novel non-toxic lipophilic brain- permeable iron chelators, VK-28 (5- [4- (2- hydroxyethyl) piperazine-1-ylmethyl]- quinoline- 8- ol) and its multi-functional derivative, M-30 (5-[N-methyl-N-propargylaminomethyl]-8-hydroxyquinoline), as well as the main polyphenol constituent of green tea (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which possesses iron metal chelating, radical scavenging and neuroprotective properties, offer potential therapeutic benefits for these diseases. M-30 and EGCG decreased apoptosis of human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells in a neurorescue, serum deprivation model, via multiple protection mechanisms including: reduction of the pro-apoptotic proteins, Bad and Bax, reduction of apoptosis-associated Ser139 phosphorylated H2A.X and inhibition of the cleavage and activation of caspase-3. M-30 and EGCG also promoted morphological changes, resulting in axonal growth-associated protein-43 (GAP-43) implicating neuronal differentiation. Both compounds significantly reduced the levels of cellular holo-amyloid precursor protein (APP) in SH-SY5Y cells. The ability of theses novel iron chelators and EGCG to regulate APP are in line with the presence of an iron-responsive element (IRE) in the 5'-untranslated region (5'UTR) of APP. Also, EGCG reduced the levels of toxic amyloid-beta peptides in CHO cells over-expressing the APP "Swedish" mutation. The diverse molecular mechanisms and cell signaling pathways participating in the neuroprotective/neurorescue and APP regulation/processing actions of M-30 and EGCG, make these multifunctional compounds potential neuroprotective drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as PD, AD, Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.