Browsing by Subject "Anorexia"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    The Nutritional Challenges of Cancer Cachexia
    (Wiley, 2021) Gaafer, Omnia U.; Zimmers, Teresa A.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    Cancer cachexia, or progressive weight loss often despite adequate nutrition, contributes greatly to cancer morbidity and mortality. Cachexia is metabolically distinct from starvation or protein malnutrition, though many patients with cancer and cachexia exhibit lowered appetite and food consumption. Tumors affect neural mechanisms regulating appetite and energy expenditure, while promoting wasting of peripheral tissues via catabolism of cardiac and skeletal muscle, adipose, and bone. These multi-modal actions of tumors on the host suggest a need for multi-modal interventions. However, multiple recent consensus guidelines for management of cancer cachexia differ in treatment recommendations, highlighting the lack of effective, available therapies. Challenges to defining appropriate nutritional or other interventions for cancer cachexia include lack of consensus on definitions, low strength of evidence from clinical trials, and a scarcity of robust, rigorous, and mechanistic studies. However, efforts to diagnose, stage and monitor cachexia are increasing along with clinical trial activity. As well, preclinical models for cancer cachexia are growing more sophisticated, encompassing a greater number of tumor types in organ-appropriate contexts and for metastatic disease in order to model the clinical condition more accurately. It is expected that continued growth, investment, and coordination of research in this topic will ultimately yield robust biomarkers, clinically useful classification and staging algorithms, targetable pathways, pivotal clinical trials, and ultimately, cures. Here we provide an overview of the clinical and scientific knowledge and its limitations around cancer cachexia.
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    The paradoxical moderating effects of metacognition in the relationships between self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and quality of life in anorexia and bulimia
    (Eco-Vector, 2023-07-10) Springfield, Cassi R.; Bonfils, Kelsey A.; Chernov, Nikita V.; Moiseeva, Tatyana V.; Sozinova, Marta V.; Dmitryeva, Nadezhda G.; Lysaker, Paul H.; Karpenko, Olga A.; Kostyuk, George P.; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Background: Self-esteem and depressive symptoms contribute to a lower quality of life in people suffering from eating disorders. However, limited research has examined whether other factors may affect how these variables influence one another over time. Metacognition is a previously unexplored determinant that may impact the relationships between self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and quality of life in instances of eating disorders. Aim: This study sought to examine metacognitive self-reflectivity and mastery as moderators of the relationships between self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and quality of life and to determine if these relationships are different in people with anorexia compared with people with bulimia. Methods: Participants with anorexia (n=40) and bulimia (n=40) were recruited from outpatient clinics. The participants were assessed on their metacognitive ability and self-reported on measures to assess their depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and quality of life. Results: The results indicate that metacognitive self-reflectivity moderates the relationship between self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and quality of life in people with anorexia such that when self-reflectivity is high, lower self-esteem and higher depressive symptoms are associated with a lower quality of life. These relationships did not appear to be significant when self-reflectivity was low. In contrast, in the anorexia and bulimia groups, metacognitive mastery appeared to moderate the relationships between self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and quality of life such that when mastery was low, lower self-esteem and higher depressive symptoms were associated with a lower quality of life. These relationships did not appear significant when mastery was high. Conclusion: Metacognitive self-reflectivity and mastery seem to play paradoxical moderating roles in the relationships between self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and quality of life in people with anorexia and bulimia. These findings pave the way toward further research and have important clinical implications.