Intervenção com procedimentos de autossugestão na autoeficácia e controlo da dor

Introdução – A dor predomina em muitas patologias médicas e acarreta diversas implicações para o doente. O presente estudo visou avaliar a eficácia de uma intervenção autossugestiva, como complemento ao tratamento médico, no aumento da autoeficácia e controlo da dor. Metodologia – Para a concretização deste objetivo, 205 pacientes adultos com dor foram distribuídos aleatoriamente por dois grupos que se distinguiram quanto à intervenção recebida durante 12 semanas, nomeadamente IAS (intervenção autossugestiva) e ISAS (intervenção sem autossugestão). Os dois grupos foram comparados quanto à evolução da autoeficácia e do controlo da dor ao longo desse período. Resultados e discussão – Os resultados mostraram um aumento estatisticamente significativo destas variáveis no grupo IAS mas não no grupo ISAS, sugerindo a eficácia da intervenção autossugestiva. Este estudo representa, assim, um importante contributo para a prática clínica com os doentes com dor.

Helical tomotherapy versus 3D conformal radiotherapy in dosimetric planning for patients with localized prostate cancer

Radiotherapy is one of the therapeutics selected for localized prostate cancer, in cases where the tumour is confined to the prostate, penetrates the prostatic capsule or has reached the seminal vesicles (T1 to T3 stages). The radiation therapy can be administered through various modalities, being historically used the 3D conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT). Other modality of radiation administration is the intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), that allows an increase of the total dose through modulation of the treatment beams, enabling a reduction in toxicity. One way to administer IMRT is through helical tomotherapy (TH). With this study we intent to analyze the advantages of helical tomotherapy when compared with 3DCRT, by evaluating the doses in the organs at risk (OAR) and planning target volumes (PTV).

Synthesis and characterization of rabies virus glycoprotein-tagged amphiphilic cyclodextrins for siRNA delivery in human glioblastoma cells: in vitro analysis

In man brain cancer is an aggressive, malignant form of tumour, it is highly infiltrative in nature, is associated with cellular heterogeneity and affects cerebral hemispheres of the brain. Current drug therapies are inadequate and an unmet clinical need exists to develop new improved therapeutics. The ability to silence genes associated with disease progression by using short interfering RNA (siRNA) presents the potential to develop safe and effective therapies. In this work, in order to protect the siRNA from degradation, promote cell specific uptake and enhance gene silencing efficiency, a PEGylated cyclodextrin (CD)-based nanoparticle, tagged with a CNS-targeting peptide derived from the rabies virus glycoprotein (RVG) was formulated and characterized. The modified cyclodextrin derivatives were synthesized and co-formulated to form nanoparticles containing siRNA which were analysed for size, surface charge, stability, cellular uptake and gene-knockdown in brain cancer cells. The results identified an optimised co-formulation prototype at a molar ratio of 1:1.5:0.5 (cationic cyclodextrin:PEGylated cyclodextrin:RVG-tagged PEGylated cyclodextrin) with a size of 281±39.72nm, a surface charge of 26.73±3mV, with efficient cellular uptake and a 27% gene-knockdown ability. This CD-based formulation represents a potential nanocomplex for systemic delivery of siRNA targeting brain cancer.