Catholic University of the Sacred Heart

About: Catholic University of the Sacred Heart is a education organization based out in Milan, Lombardia, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 13592 authors who have published 31048 publications receiving 853961 citations.

Association of work-related stress with mental health problems in a special police force unit

Abstract: Objectives Law and order enforcement tasks may expose special force police officers to significant psychosocial risk factors. The aim of this work is to investigate the relationship between job stress and the presence of mental health symptoms while controlling sociodemographical, occupational and personality variables in special force police officers. Method At different time points, 292 of 294 members of the ‘VI Reparto Mobile’, a special police force engaged exclusively in the enforcement of law and order, responded to our invitation to complete questionnaires for the assessment of personality traits, work-related stress (using the Demand–Control–Support (DCS) and the Effort–Reward–Imbalance (ERI) models) and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and burnout. Results Regression analyses showed that lower levels of support and reward and higher levels of effort and overcommitment were associated with higher levels of mental health symptoms. Psychological screening revealed 21 (7.3%) likely cases of mild depression (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI≥10). Officers who had experienced a discrepancy between work effort and rewards showed a marked increase in the risk of depression (OR 7.89, 95% CI 2.32 to 26.82) when compared with their counterparts who did not perceive themselves to be in a condition of distress. Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that work-related stress may play a role in the development of mental health problems in police officers. The prevalence of mental health symptoms in the cohort investigated here was low, but not negligible in the case of depression. Since special forces police officers have to perform sensitive tasks for which a healthy psychological functioning is needed, the results of this study suggest that steps should be taken to prevent distress and improve the mental well-being of these workers.

Nicotinamide blocks proliferation and induces apoptosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells through activation of the p53/miR-34a/SIRT1 tumor suppressor network.

Abstract: Because of its relatively indolent clinical course, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) offers a versatile model for testing novel therapeutic regimens and drug combinations. Nicotinamide is the main NAD(+) precursor and a direct inhibitor of four classes of enzymes, including the sirtuins. SIRT1, the main member of the sirtuin family, inactivates p53 by deacetylating a critical lysine residue. In this study, we showed that CLL cells express high levels of functional SIRT1, which is inhibited by exogenous nicotinamide. This agent blocks proliferation and promotes apoptosis selectively in leukemic cells that express wild-type (wt) p53. Nicotinamide modulates the p53-dependent genes p21, NOXA, BAX, and Mcl-1, indicating an activation of the p53 pathway and of caspase-3. DNA-damaging chemotherapeutics, such as etoposide, activate a functional loop linking SIRT1 and p53 through the induction of miR-34a. When leukemic cells are simultaneously exposed to nicotinamide and etoposide, we observe a significant increase in miR-34a levels with a concomitant inhibition of SIRT1. Furthermore, p53 acetylation levels are higher than with either agent used alone. Overall, treatment with both nicotinamde and etoposide shows strongly synergistic effects in the induction of apoptosis. We therefore concluded that nicotinamide has the dual property of inhibiting SIRT1 through a noncompetitive enzymatic block (p53 independent) and at the same time through miR-34a induction (p53 dependent). These observations suggested the therapeutic potential of nicotinamide, a novel, safe, and inexpensive drug, to be used in addition to chemotherapy for CLL patients with wt p53.