BackgroundHealth-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important indicator for designing care and treatment services for patients with diabetes. This is especially true given its rapid increase among the elderly population in Vietnam. HRQoL data in elderly diabetic Vietnamese are currently limited. This study aimed to 1) measure the HRQoL of elderly patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in Vietnam and 2) identify related factors and their relationship with HRQoL.Patients and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted. We recruited 171 patients aged ≥60 years with T2DM at the Outpatient Department, National Geriatric Hospital from June to November 2015. Patients were asked to evaluate their health status using the EuroQol Five Dimensions Three Levels (EQ-5D-3L) and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Sociodemographic, diabetic treatment, and management characteristics were collected. Multivariate Tobit regression was used to determine which factors were associated with HRQoL, and the strength of this relationship.ResultsPatients reported some problems in all areas of the EQ-5D: pain/discomfort (50.9%), mobility (33.3%), anxiety/depression (24.0%), usual activities (21.1%), and self-care (10.5%). The mean EQ-5D index score was 0.80 (SD=0.20), and the mean EQ-VAS was 57.5 (SD=14.4). Patients who were male, lived in an urban area, could afford treatment, were taking fewer medications, and monitored blood pressure often (1–4 times a week) had a higher EQ-5D index when compared to other groups. Meanwhile, a longer duration of diabetes and older age were negatively associated with the EQ-5D index. Patients with any comorbidity had lower VAS scores than their counterparts.ConclusionThe presence of diabetes and comorbidity were responsible for a significant decrease in HRQoL. Screening and identifying health problems, providing prompt treatment, and facilitating self-management among patients have the potential to increase diabetic patients’ HRQoL.
Uterine serous carcinoma, one of the most aggressive types of endometrial cancer, is characterized by poor outcomes and mutations in the tumor suppressor p53. Our objective was to engender synthetic lethality to paclitaxel, the frontline treatment for endometrial cancer, in tumors with mutant p53 and enhance therapeutic efficacy using polymeric nanoparticles. First we identified the optimal nanoparticle formulation through comprehensive analyses of release profiles, cellular uptake and cell viability studies. Not only were paclitaxel-loaded nanoparticles superior to paclitaxel in solution, but the combination of paclitaxel-loaded nanoparticles with the antiangiogenic molecular inhibitor, BIBF-1120, promoted synthetic lethality specifically in cells with loss of function p53 mutation. In a xenograft model of endometrial cancer, this combinatorial therapy resulted in marked inhibition of tumor progression and extended survival. Together, our data provide compelling evidence for future studies of BIBF-1120- and paclitaxel-loaded nanoparticles as a therapeutic opportunity for loss of function p53 cancers.
Controlled drug delivery systems, that include sequential and/or sustained drug delivery, have been utilized to enhance the therapeutic effects of many current drugs by effectively delivering drugs in a time-dependent and repeatable manner. In this study, with the aid of 3D printing technology, a novel drug delivery device was fabricated and tested to evaluate sequential delivery functionality. With an alginate shell and a poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) core, the fabricated tubes displayed sequential release of distinct fluorescent dyes and showed no cytotoxicity when incubated with the human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cell line or bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSC). The controlled differential release of drugs or proteins through such a delivery system has the potential to be used in a wide variety of biomedical applications from treating cancer to regenerative medicine.
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