ACNU-based chemotherapy for recurrent glioma in the temozolomide era

No standard of care for patients with recurrent glioblastoma has been defined since temozolomide has become the treatment of choice for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. This has renewed interest in the use of nitrosourea-based regimens for patients with progressive or recurrent disease. The most commonly used regimens are carmustine (BCNU) monotherapy or lomustine (CCNU) combined with procarbazine and vincristine (PCV). Here we report our institutional experience with nimustine (ACNU) alone (n = 14) or in combination with other agents (n = 18) in 32 patients with glioblastoma treated previously with temozolomide. There were no complete and two partial responses. The progression-free survival (PFS) rate at 6 months was 20% and the survival rate at 12 months 26%. Grade III or IV hematological toxicity was observed in 50% of all patients and led to interruption of treatment in 13% of patients. Non-hematological toxicity was moderate to severe and led to interruption of treatment in 9% of patients. Thus, in this cohort of patients pretreated with temozolomide, ACNU failed to induce a substantial stabilization of disease in recurrent glioblastoma, but caused a notable hematotoxicity. This study does not commend ACNU as a therapy of first choice for patients with recurrent glioblastomas pretreated with temozolomide

Patterns of Parental Rearing Styles and Child Behaviour Problems among Portuguese School-Aged Children

The majority of studies investigating the effects of parental behaviour on the child’s adjustment have a dimensional approach. We identified the existence of various patterns in parental rearing styles and analysed the relationship between different parenting patterns and behavioural problems in a group of school-aged children. A longitudinal, multi-informant study was conducted. The sample consisted of 519 school-aged children from the Portuguese general population. Parental rearing styles were measured using the EMBU-C, a questionnaire that evaluates children’s perception of parental rearing dimensions. The assessment of child behavioural problems included the evaluation of internalizing and externalizing problems, and data from multiple reporters (parents and teacher). One year later, after a school transition, the adjustment of a sub-sample of 220 children was evaluated again. Cluster analysis identified four types of parental rearing styles: low support, supportive-controller, rejecting-controller, and supportive. In both assessment periods, low support and rejecting-controller parenting patterns showed higher levels of behavioural problems than the supportive and supportive-controller parenting patterns. These patterns show significant differences between them regarding behavioural problems and have a higher predictive value regarding externalizing problems (versus internalizing problems)

Perceptions of parenting styles and their associations with mental health and life satisfaction among urban Indonesian adolescents

The study aimed at investigating the association between maternal and paternal parenting styles and psychological well-being among Indonesian adolescents. The Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ), General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), and the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, were administered to 500 adolescents. We were unable to replicate the three-factor solution of the PAQ using confirmatory factor analysis. The permissive subscale demonstrated poor psychometric properties; it was therefore not included in any further analysis. Mothers were perceived to be more authoritative than fathers; on the other hand, fathers were perceived to be more authoritarian than mothers. Both maternal and paternal authoritative parenting styles were positively associated with outcomes. Authoritarian parenting was not associated with any outcome. Scores computed to represent perceived differences between maternal and paternal use of various parenting styles were associated with reported GHQ-12 and life satisfaction scores. Our results confirm Western findings on the positive effects of authoritative parenting, but do not replicate the negative associations of authoritarian parenting. Future studies that examine different parenting styles at the construct level are needed to elucidate the association between parenting styles and adolescent psychological functioning in the Indonesian and other similar contexts