Studies have shown that stress-related catecholamines may affect cancer progression. However, little is known about catecholamine secretion profiles in head and neck cancer patients. The present study investigated plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine levels in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients and patients with oral leukoplakia, as well as their association with clinicopathological and biobehavioral variables and anxiety symptoms. A total of 93 patients with HNSCC and 32 patients with oral leukoplakia were included. Plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine levels were measured by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ED), and psychological anxiety levels were measured by the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine concentrations were significantly higher in patients with oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) compared to non-cancer patients. Oral SCC patients displayed plasma norepinephrine levels about six times higher than oropharyngeal SCC patients, and nine times higher than oral leukoplakia patients (p < .001). Plasma epinephrine levels in oral SCC patients were higher compared to the oropharyngeal SCC (p = .0097) and leukoplakia (p < .0001) patients. Oropharyngeal SCC patients had higher plasma norepinephrine (p = .0382) and epinephrine levels (p = .045) than patients with oral leukoplakia. Multiple regression analyses showed that a history of high alcohol consumption was predictive for reduced plasma norepinephrine levels in the oral SCC group (p < .001). Anxiety symptom of “hand tremor” measured by the BAI was an independent predictor for higher plasma norepinephrine levels in HNSCC patients (β = 157.5, p = .0377), while the “heart pounding/racing” symptom was independently associated with higher plasma epinephrine levels in the oropharyngeal SCC group (β = 15.8, p = .0441). In oral leukoplakia patients, sleep deprivation and worse sleep quality were independent predictors for higher plasma norepinephrine levels, while severe tobacco consumption and higher anxiety levels were factors for higher plasma epinephrine levels. These findings suggest that head and neck cancer patients display sympathetic nervous system hyperactivity, and that changes in circulating catecholamines may be associated with alcohol consumption, as well as withdrawal-related anxiety symptoms.

Abstract:Background: Syphilis cases have increasing worldwide recently, indicating a resurgence

Worldwide, children and adolescents are exposed to violence every day and in countless contexts, whether in the family, at school, or in the community. Child multiple victimization has been the subject of extensive international research because of the impact on child and youth development. A quantitative and comparative study aiming to understand child multiple victimization and/or polyvictimization from the perspective of children is presented. Two groups were studied, with and without psychological counselling, with 20 children each, aged 12–18 years old. All the participants answered to juvenile victimization questionnaire (JVQ). The study was approved by the University Ethics Committee responsible for the study in Portugal, and it was initiated after the obtained consent of the children’s legal guardians. The results indicated that young people frequently experience violent situations, with particular emphasis on conventional crimes, e.g., theft, robbery, vandalism, and assault with or without a weapon, with sexual victimization being less common. The results also show that there is a cumulative experience of violence, which evidences multiple victimization and polyvictimization of the child/adolescent throughout their life. These phenomena are not necessarily more common between populations with clinical follow-up. When the types of violence were compared, multiple victimization and polyvictimization, this study found no differences between the samples with and without psychological counselling. It can be concluded that the multiple victimization or polyvictimization problem is not unusual among the population in the studied age range. It is important to alert to the phenomenon of child/adolescent multiple victimization, aiming at a more effective assessment and intervention among these populations. Raising awareness of the phenomenon of multiple child and youth victimization or polyvictimization is of particular importance for preventing violence at all stages of development.

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The present case denotes that OLR should be considered in the differential diagnosis of oral white plates in children and artificially colored sweets can be its causal agent.

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<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Road mobility is evolving driven by environmental and energy constraints. The pursuit of cleaner and more efficient drivetrain systems has resulted in significant R&amp;D work in the areas of fuels, engine efficiency, and pollutant control. It is essential to reduce the environmental impacts of internal combustion engines due to the overwhelming presence of vehicles equipped with these engines in today’s fleet, so the need to develop fuels with the potential to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions is obvious. The main objective of this work is to understand the behavioral effects in the engine when fueled with different biofuel percentages blended in conventional diesel (B7, B15 and HVO15). This was accomplished by several experimental tests carried out on a dynamometer using a vehicle equipped with a common-rail Diesel engine, considering performance analysis (power and torque) and WLTP cycles to realize fuel consumption and emission data. Additionally, to understand the way the engine perceives the use of different fuels the in-chamber pressure and the fuel injector behavior were measured, considering different load and engine speed conditions. It was observed that B7 was the most efficient fuel, presenting fuel consumption values of 5.94 kg/100km, lower than 6.10 kg/100km for HVO15 and 5.99kg/100km for B15. The differences in performance for B7 and HVO15 were almost unnoticeable. Nevertheless, some consistent differences in injector opening times and in-cylinder pressure were noted, which supports the observed engine performance and efficiency results, allowing to detect the relation of engine adaptation to different fuel properties, its energetic and environmental effects.</div></div>

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