Biomedical subjects

M Soderstrom

Publications and source records attributed to M Soderstrom.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

The relationship of hardiness, coping strategies, and perceived stress to symptoms of illness.

We proposed a conceptual model based on research supporting the relationship between symptoms of illness and the determinants of hardiness, coping strategies, and perceived stress. In this model, hardiness, avoidance coping, and approach coping have paths to perceived stress, perceived stress has a path to symptoms of illness, and hardiness also has a path to symptoms of illness. We examined the goodness of fit of this model using path analysis and tested its stability, as well as the presence of gender effects, in corporate (N = 110) and university (N = 271) samples. The proposed model was a good fit for the data in the corporate sample, and no gender effects were found. The proposed model was not a good fir for the data in the university sample, therefore we added two paths that have received some support in the research: from approach coping to symptoms of illness and from avoidance coping to symptoms of illness. This model was a good fit for the data in the university sample, however, the path from approach coping to symptoms of illness had a critical ratio < 2.0, thus we removed this path and ran the model again. The final model was a good fit for the data, and no gender effects were found. Implications for the relationship of hardiness, coping strategies, and perceived stress to health are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1998

Influence of IFN-beta1b (Betaferon) on cytokine mRNA profiles in blood mononuclear cells and plasma levels of soluble VCAM-1 in multiple sclerosis.

Inflammatory cell infiltration within the central nervous system (CNS) and upregulation of both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines are characteristic for multiple sclerosis (MS). Treatment with interferon-beta 1b (IFN-beta1b) reduces the number and severity of MS relapses. To examine whether treatment with IFN-beta1b affects levels of cytokine mRNA expressing blood mononuclear cells (MNC) we employed in-situ hybridization with synthetic oligonucleotide probes to detect and enumerate IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-10, TGF-beta and perforin mRNA expressing cells in MS patients before treatment with IFN-beta1b and during treatment for 3-6 weeks and for 3-6 months. Numbers of blood MNC spontaneously expressing TNF-alpha and IL-10 mRNA were lower after 3-6 months of treatment, while numbers of IFN-gamma, TGF-beta and perforin mRNA expressing MNC were not affected by treatment. IFN-beta1b had no influence on levels of MBP-reactive IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, TGF-beta, IL-10 or perforin mRNA expressing blood MNC determined after 3-6 weeks or 3-6 months of treatment. Parallel measurements of plasma concentrations of soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) revealed elevated levels after 3-6 weeks of treatment and these levels remained higher after 3-6 months of treatment. The results suggest that IFN-beta1b treatment upregulates plasma levels of sVCAM-1, but has little effects on numbers of blood MNC expressing mRNA of the pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines under study.Copyright Lippincott-Raven Publishers

Journal Article↗

PubMed1997

Glutathione transferase isoenzyme patterns in the rat ovary.

This study was designed to investigate the expression of different isoenzymes of glutathione transferase (GST) in the rat ovary and to follow possible changes in the pattern of expression during maturation and the different stages of the oestrus cycle. The GST subunits present in the rat ovary (as analyzed by HPLC of affinity-purified GSTs) were A3, A4, M1, M2, M3 and P1. The most abundant subunit in the ovary was A3, but the mu enzymes demonstrated the largest increase (3.5-fold) when the mature ovary was compared to the immature organ. An overall decrease in GST isoenzyme content during dioestrus was observed, but there were no other recurrent changes during the oestrus cycle. Treatment of immature rats with pregnant mare's serum gonadotropin clearly demonstrated that the mu and alpha isoenzymes are up-regulated by gonadotropin stimulation, i.e. a 4-6 fold increase was seen. This treatment also elevated the P1 subunit 3-fold. At present, it is only possible to speculate concerning the mechanism(s) underlying these variations in ovarian GST expression in connection with hormonal changes. The functional significance of these variations is not yet known.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Quality: how do we define it?

When U.S. industry, in the 1980s, woke up to the fact they were losing ground to foreign companies, their first attempts to woo consumers back to the fold revolved around cutting costs to lower prices. It didn't work. But someone finally took notice of the work Edwards Deming and Joseph Jurand were doing to add quality to the value formula for products and services in Japan. A few U.S. companies tried this approach, and it worked. Today everybody is on the quality bandwagon. Pick up any publication--from national news weeklies to small trade newsletters--and there it is.

Health Services Research↗