scholarly journals Phytoestrogens for the Management of Endometriosis: Findings and Issues

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 569
Author(s):  
Xia Cai ◽  
Min Liu ◽  
Bing Zhang ◽  
Shao-Jie Zhao ◽  
Shi-Wen Jiang

Endometriosis, a chronic disease characterized by recurrent pelvic pain and infertility, severely impacts the health and life quality of many women worldwide. Since phytoestrogens are commonly found in a variety of foods, and estrogen is a major pathological factor for the pathogenesis of endometriosis, their possible involvement cannot be ignored. This review summarizes data on the relationship between phytoestrogen intake and endometriosis risk, and analyzes the findings from in vitro experiments, rodent endometriotic models, and human intervention trials. While favorable results were often obtained from endometrial primary cultures and animal models for resveratrol, isoflavones and puerarin, only resveratrol showed promising results in human intervention trials. Critical issues concerning the current study efforts are discussed: the possible reasons beneath the discrepant observations of estrogenic/anti-estrogenic effects by phytoestrogens; the complicated interplays between phytoestrogens and endogenous estrogens; the shortage of currently used animal models; the necessity to apply reasonable doses of phytoestrogens in experiments. It is expected that the analyses would help to more properly assess the phytoestrogens’ effects on the endometriosis pathogenesis and their potential values for preventive or therapeutic applications.

Author(s):  
Tom Clifford ◽  
Jarred P. Acton ◽  
Stuart P. Cocksedge ◽  
Kelly A. Bowden Davies ◽  
Stephen J. Bailey

AbstractWe conducted a systematic review of human trials examining the effects of dietary phytochemicals on Nrf2 activation. In accordance with the PRISMA guidelines, Medline, Embase and CAB abstracts were searched for articles from inception until March 2020. Studies in adult humans that measured Nrf2 activation (gene or protein expression changes) following ingestion of a phytochemical, either alone or in combination were included. The study was pre-registered on the Prospero database (Registration Number: CRD42020176121). Twenty-nine full-texts were retrieved and reviewed for analysis; of these, eighteen were included in the systematic review. Most of the included participants were healthy, obese or type 2 diabetics. Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Assessment tool. Twelve different compounds were examined in the included studies: curcumin, resveratrol and sulforaphane were the most common (n = 3 each). Approximately half of the studies reported increases in Nrf2 activation (n = 10); however, many were of poor quality and had an unclear or high risk of bias. There is currently limited evidence that phytochemicals activate Nrf2 in humans. Well controlled human intervention trials are needed to corroborate the findings from in vitro and animal studies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 696-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Decha Dechawatanapaisal

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of organizational embeddedness in the relationship between quality of work life (QWL) and turnover under a foundation of conservation of resources theory. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 422 healthcare professionals through a questionnaire survey, and analyzed by means of a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings The results indicate that organizational embeddedness has a negative impact on employees’ intention to leave, and on actual turnover. For QWL perception, career opportunities, work life balance, and job characteristics are positive and significant predictors of organizational embeddedness. In addition, organizational embeddedness plays an intermediary role that mediates the relationship between the three components of QWL mentioned earlier and turnover intention, and also between the factor of career opportunities and actual turnover. Research limitations/implications The current research took place within two healthcare organizations. Replicating the study in a variety of business sectors or professions with a larger sample of subjects would be useful for the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications Organizations may improve their retention of employees by offering intrinsic resources that can be obtained from the social contexts of the individual through human resource management system, e.g., growth opportunities, a healthy and caring work life quality. Such motivational resources then develop a sense of obligation toward their places of employment, which influences their intention to stay or leave. Originality/value This study examines the mediating role of organizational embeddedness between employees’ perception of their work life quality and their desire and behavior to withdraw, which is an area of inquiry that has not been fully investigated in the literature.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 37-43
Author(s):  
Andriy Rybin

The aim of this research was to assess the quality of life in patients with stage III ovarian cancer during the treatment period, depending on the applied therapeutic approaches. A comparative analysis of the results of treatment of 350 patients with adenocarcinoma of the ovaries of III-IV stage, which have undergone suboptimal or non-optimal cytomelective surgery, was conducted. To assess the quality of life and to examine the relationship between changes in physical health and quality of life, patients in both groups were asked to complete the questionnaires EORTC QLQ-C30 and SF-36. According to the questionnaire of the EORTC QLQ-C30, the indicators of physical activity, the ability to do everyday affairs, were higher in the second group of patients who received differentiated treatment. The indicator of "social functioning" was also higher in the II group of patients. When evaluating the patients' liver on the scale of the questionnaire SF-36, it was found that the positive effect of differentiated therapy is maintained for 3 years. Life quality is an important criterion for evaluating the results of antitumor therapy, and when it is continuously monitored in patients with ovarian cancer the safety of treatment for patients could be improved, including at an advanced stage


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saw Simeon ◽  
Ghita Ghislat ◽  
Pedro Ballester

Background: Despite continued efforts to develop new treatments, there is an urgent need to discover new drug leads to treat tumours exhibiting primary or secondary resistance to exiting drugs. Cell cultures derived from patient-derived orthotopic xenografts are promising pre-clinical models to better predict drug response in cancer recurrence. Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the physiochemical properties of drugs and their in vitro potency as well as identifying chemical scaffolds biased towards selectivity or promiscuity of such drugs. Methods: The bioactivities of 158 drugs screened against cell cultures derived from 30 cancer orthotopic patient-derived xenograft (O-PDX) models were considered. Drugs were represented by physicochemical descriptors and chemical structure fingerprints. Supervised learning was employed to model the relationship between features and in vitro potency. Results: Drugs with in vitro potency for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma tend to have a higher number of rings, two carbon-hetero bonds and halogens. Selective and promiscuous scaffolds for these phenotypic targets were identified. Highly-predictive models of in vitro potency were obtained across these 30 targets, which can be applied to unseen molecules via a webserver (https://rnewbie.shinyapps.io/Shobek-master). Conclusion: It is possible to identify privileged chemical scaffolds and predict the in vitro potency of unseen molecules across these 30 targets This information and models should be helpful to select which molecules to screen against these primary cultures of pediatric solid tumors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Yira Annabell Vásquez Giler ◽  
Alina González Hernández ◽  
Paula Salomé Macías Moreira ◽  
Olimpia Victoria Carrillo Farnés

El Análisis de Situación de Salud es una herramienta que busca mejorar la salud y calidad de vida de poblaciones. Se diseñó una investigación transversal, descriptiva; con doble propósito: relacio- nar condiciones de vida y comportamiento del proceso salud y enfermedad en la comunidad Cerro de Guayabal y realizar ejercicio práctico-docente con estudiantes del quinto semestre de Medicina. Se encuestaron 266 familias, 1134 personas (91%) de la población total. El 71% solo alcanza nivel de formación primaria. Más de la mitad tiene viviendas en condiciones regulares y cultura sanita- ria entre regular y mal. El 87% no tiene necesidades básicas cubiertas. Más del 50% son familias disfuncionales. El 56% se dispensarizó de riesgo y 11% enfermos. Dada las condiciones de vida y ausencia de centro de salud parece existir morbilidad oculta. Existe riesgo de accidentes de tránsito y laboral. Resultó un tema crítico la recolección de residuos, el acceso a agua potable y la conta- minación ambiental. Existe imperiosa necesidad de intervenciones de salud para mejorar el estado de salud y calidad de vida de esta comunidad. Palabras clave: calidad de vida, estado de salud, salud pública. Abstract: The Health Situation Analysis is a tool that seeks to improve the health and quality of life of pop- ulations. A cross-sectional descriptive study was designed; with dual purpose: to relate living con- ditions and health behavior and disease process in the Cerro de Guayabal community and make practical-teaching practice with students of the fifth semester of Medicine. 266 families, 1134 people (91%) of the total population were surveyed. Only 71% reached primary level. More than half are in regular housing conditions and health culture fair to poor. 87% do not cover basic needs. More than 50% are dysfunctional families. 56% were risk dispensary and 11% were sick. Given the living conditions and lack of health center it seems to be hidden morbidity. There is a risk of traffic and labor accidents. Waste collection, access to drinking water and environmental pollution were critical issues. There is an urgent need for health interventions to improve the health state and quality of life of this community. Key words: life quality, health state, public health.


Author(s):  
Inga Zeide ◽  
Indra Odiņa

The article addresses comparative qualitative content analysis as a part of the grounded theory research to explore the relationship between English language proficiency of economically active adults and their quality of life. Using comparative qualitative content analysis of the policy documents in respect of lifelong learning as main data collection method, the authors of the article aim to identify the relationship between the 21st century skills and indicators of life quality by comparing the sources that define the 21st century skills and analysing them in the context of the “8+1” dimensions of life quality offered by the European Union. The following research questions have been proposed: how 21st century skills are defined in the policy documents and how they relate to the quality of human life. The analysis of European Parliament, Council of the European Union, Word Economic Forum and Eurostat policies, models, strategies and their implementation in respect of lifelong learning reveals existing gaps and points at the urgent need in profiling the development of human skills to enhance human well-being and life quality in Europe. Besides, developing new skills and improving existing ones can be a tool for improving the quality of life in the future, whereas the dimensions of life quality can serve as a prerequisite for skills development.  


2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e30411124771
Author(s):  
Elaine Izabel da Silva Cruz ◽  
Aline Helena da Silva Cruz ◽  
Rômulo Alberto Silva Marques ◽  
Rodrigo da Silva Santos ◽  
Angela Adamski da Silva Reis

Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity in the globe, with more than half of patients reporting pain as a result of the disease. By reducing cancer-related pain, dance has the potential to redefine the life of patients independently of their cure prognosis. This review investigated the benefits of dance as adjuvant, non-pharmacological therapy for cancer treatment. To identify studies related to this topic, we searched the Cochrane Library, PUBMED, Scielo, BVS, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO databases. However, we found few published systematic reports investigating the effects of dance in cancer treatment. The numbers are even smaller when we considered the relationship between dance and cancer pain. Although there is a small number of publications on this theme, we reviewed studies that indicate that there is a positive relationship between dance practice and cancer pain management. Moreover, we found that the decline of pain contributed to the better life quality of patients with cancer. We concluded that dance is a physical practice that may improve patients’ quality of life. Regarding the estimations of cancer diagnosis and pain during disease development and therapy, it is fundamental new studies and clinical trials that integrate dance as adjuvant therapy for improving cancer pain and patient’s life quality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. M. Brouwer ◽  
Aleksandar Antanasijevic ◽  
Zachary Berndsen ◽  
Anila Yasmeen ◽  
Brooke Fiala ◽  
...  

Abstract The development of native-like HIV-1 envelope (Env) trimer antigens has enabled the induction of neutralizing antibody (NAb) responses against neutralization-resistant HIV-1 strains in animal models. However, NAb responses are relatively weak and narrow in specificity. Displaying antigens in a multivalent fashion on nanoparticles (NPs) is an established strategy to increase their immunogenicity. Here we present the design and characterization of two-component protein NPs displaying 20 stabilized SOSIP trimers from various HIV-1 strains. The two-component nature permits the incorporation of exclusively well-folded, native-like Env trimers into NPs that self-assemble in vitro with high efficiency. Immunization studies show that the NPs are particularly efficacious as priming immunogens, improve the quality of the Ab response over a conventional one-component nanoparticle system, and are most effective when SOSIP trimers with an apex-proximate neutralizing epitope are displayed. Their ability to enhance and shape the immunogenicity of SOSIP trimers make these NPs a promising immunogen platform.


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