Objective: To study clinical and immunological characteristics of depressive patients with high clinical risk of schizophrenia. Materials and methods: We examined 30 depressive patients with attenuated positive symptoms (APS), which indicates a clinically high risk of schizophrenia, 20 depressive patients without APS and 27 healthy volunteers with no mental disorders. APS identified according to the presence of three or more scores on at least one of the following items on the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS) positive symptoms subscale: P1 (Unusual thought content/Delusional ideas), P2 (Suspiciousness/Persecutory ideas) and P4 (Perceptual abnormalities/Hallucinations). The psychometric assessment was carried out on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), SOPS, and the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). The activity of leukocyte elastase (LE) and α1-proteinase inhibitor (α1-PI), the autoantibodies to neoantigens S100B and myelin basic protein, and the ratio of LE and α1-PI activity or Leukocyte Inhibitory Index (LII) were determined. Results: The activity of inflammatory markers LE and α1-PI was increased in patients in both clinical groups compared with controls. In the total group of patients, the associations between LII and the score on the positive subscale SOPS, and between LII and the score on the negative subscale SOPS and SANS scale with the most pronounced association with the SANS subscales «Affective Flattening or Blunting» and «Alogia» were established. Conclusion: The identified correlations between immune response features and positive and negative symptoms in depressive patients may have prognostic value for establishing a high risk of schizophrenia.

The birth of a high-risk infant such as an extremely premature infant can represent an important traumatic experience for mothers. Perinatal Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire (PPTSDQ) explores retrospectively maternal post-traumatic stress reaction. This shelf-rating questionnaire explores the potential for experiencing posttraumatic symptoms related to childbirth and the ensuing post-natal period. The PTSD questionnaire was originally developed by DeMier and Hynan and their colleagues at the University of Wisconsin and has been widely used in research and in clinical practice for identifying mothers experiencing significant emotional distress during the post-natal period, so they may be referred for mental health services. The present study aims to introduce this tool in perinatal settings as an early intervention. It has been widely used with other measures of post-traumatic stress and depression, such as the Openness Scale from the NEO-PR, the self-report measure of depression BDI-II, the IES (Impact Event Scale) and the EPDS (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale). Although already a useful clinical instrument the current study used the revised version. This modification refines the response options from dichotomous choices to a Likert scale format by Callahan Borja and Hynan. Numerous qualitative and quantitative studies state that premature delivery is a highly stressful event and document the full range of post-traumatic sequelae, such as intrusive recollections, behavioral avoidance, and hyperarousal, as well as attachment difficulties following childbirth. Furthermore, the severity of neonatal complications and gestational age have been found to be predictive of PTSD symptomatology in parents as measured by the PPQ. For this reason, the current study aims to give increased focus to mothers having a premature birth and often expecting their children to die. The sample comprises 25 mothers of prematurely born infants hospitalized in the NICU and 25 mothers of full-term infants born in the maternity ward of the same Greek hospital who responded to the Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire and equally the PERI a postnatal complication rating inventory and the clinical interview for parents CLIP. Mothers of high-risk infants present post-traumatic stress reactions related to prematurity. The Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire identifies postnatal maternal distress but should not substitute a clinical interview, yet findings indicate that equally identifies pre-existing distress symptoms associated with maternal personality traits that emerged with the traumatic event of the unexpected birth. Due to the consistency of the population of the experimental group, who come mostly from the provinces, the possibility of a follow- up of the cases is quite limited.

Background: More than 1 million intravenous chemotherapy infusions are given worldwide each day which leads to extravasation. Health professionals must know the drugs that cause tissue injury and take the necessary measures to prevent extravasation. Objectives: The study aimed to assess the knowledge regarding the management of extravasation of chemotherapeutic drugs before and after the implementation of a structured teaching program among staff nurses. Method: The pre-experimental group pre-test and post-test designs were adopted for the study. The convenience sampling technique was used to obtain 30 staff nurses of Ramaiah Medical College Hospital, India. Both Pre-test and Post-test were performed using the same structured knowledge questionnaire followed by 45 minutes of the structured teaching program. Data were processed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: More than half of the subjects were female (66.7%) and 36.7% of the subject had more than 10 years of professional experience. Most of the subjects (70%) had inadequate knowledge during the pretest. The mean knowledge score was 15.33 ± 4.003 and 24.67 ± 5.384 in pre-test and post-test respectively. There was a significant difference in pre-test and post-test knowledge scores regarding the management of extravasation of chemotherapeutic drugs. Conclusion: The Study concluded that the structured teaching program was significantly effective in improving the knowledge regarding the management of extravasation of chemotherapeutic drugs among nurses.

The effect of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has produced significant health concerns negatively impacting individuals. As the ongoing and constantly changing nature of SARS-CoV-2 continues, the unique characteristics of this pandemic trend toward anxiety and loneliness as significant behavioral health outcomes. Furthermore, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has significantly impacted the utilization of social media platforms such as Twitter. Utilizing over 1.6 million tweets from approximately 988,760 Twitter users geolocated in Washington state from the University of Pennsylvania’s publicly available Twitter database (from March 2020 to March 2021), this study evaluated the impact of SARS-CoV-2 by using expressions of loneliness and anxiety to predict mental and physical symptoms. Bivariate correlations revealed expressions of loneliness were correlated to trouble breathing while expressions of anxiety were correlated to skin lesions, body aches, flu-like, seasonal cold, trouble breathing, nausea or diarrhea, fever, chills, and cough. Multiple multivariate linear regressions were completed, and a significant regression equation was found in predicting trouble breathing symptoms on expressions of loneliness and anxiety, however, the proportion of variance was 8% of the observed variation in the model. Further implications revealed the importance of understanding mental and physical well-being during a public health crisis as well as the use of social media platforms as primary and supplementary stimuli.

Bipolar disorder (formerly called manic-depressive illness or manic depression) is a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. During mood swings, there may be features of psychosis (delusions and hallucinations) that are mood-congruent. Although psychotic symptoms are seen only in a minority of patients, they explain the early terminology of manic–depressive psychosis. Stage 1a is defined as mild or non-specific symptoms of mood disorder and intervened as formal mental health literacy; family psychoeducation; substance abuse reduction; cognitive behavioral therapy. Euphoric means the experience of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music, and dancing, can induce a state of euphoria. Racing thoughts are consistent, persistent, often intrusive thoughts that come in rapid succession. There is a direct link between depression and anxiety and racing thoughts. Whereas jumping from topic to topic as in the flight of ideas can be observed by others, ascertainment of racing thoughts requires asking the child whether his or her thoughts seem to be going too fast.

Background: Many institutional factors predispose University students to mental health issues, including depression. However, with no central database for depression in Uganda, literature on depression and associated institutional factors among undergraduate students is scarce. This study examined the prevalence of and institutional factors associated with depression among undergraduate students at Gulu University. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey among 452 undergraduate students at Gulu University in the academic year 2018/2019 in February and March 2019. A stratified simple random sampling was used to identify the participants. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, including mean and frequency, were used. We conducted a bivariate analysis to determine the association between variables employing Pearson’s chi-square test or Fischer’s exact test. We conducted a multivariate analysis with factors that had significant P-values of less than 0.05. Results: The average age of the respondents was 22.4 (SD - 2.4), more than half (53.1%) were male and 38.50% were in the second year. The results show that 31.19% reported depression. After controlling for age and sex, the results showed that there was a statistically significant correlation between depression and faculty (aOR - 1.15), year of study (aOR - 0.77), happiness with the course (aOR - 0-0.49), satisfaction with academic performance (aOR - 0.45), and satisfaction with academic quality (aOR - 0.61). The results indicated that the predictors of depression among undergraduate students were faculty, year of study, satisfaction with academic performance, and satisfaction with academic quality. Conclusion: A substantial proportion of Gulu University undergraduate students reported high levels of depression. The results, therefore, showed that depression in undergraduate students is an identifiable disorder that needs diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Faculty, year of study, satisfaction with academic performance, satisfaction with academic quality were predictors of depression. Thus there is an urgent need for counseling, psychoeducation, and preventive mental health services as an essential part of the university setup.

“Class is part of the meaninglessness of reality,” says Lacan. An abundance of narratives concerning post-communist Romanian camps may be found. In a sense, Derrida’s essay on education suggests that the goal of the artist’s social comment, given that art is interchangeable with a lack of joy. The characteristic theme of educator’s model of roles camp is a self-sufficient reality, leading to depression and anxiety. But the subject is contextualized into a cultural Marxism that includes art as a whole. Popescu examines the teacher’s camp; in The Crying of Lot, however, he denies the education system’s fault. In this article, we determine the factors, leading to depression and anxiety during the current shutdown of schools in permanenting constructional underestimation of teacher´s formation. Maybe, the current situation is better in the way it was than it was. The future will tell.

Considering the geographical complexity and adversity, online communication and consultation are viable method in Nepal. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the already starting trend of use of these technologies in medicine. In BPKIHS, telemedicine efforts were already initiated; lockdown rather warranted its maximum use. Here is an account of the observation made in telepsychiatry service provided by a consultant psychiatrist of its department of psychiatry. It is an institute-based observation noted for all the telepsychiatry consultations in 9 random duty days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Basic necessary information was noted down in a semi-structured proforma, like: socio-demographic, clinical information and advice provided. There were 104 subjects; 73 follow-up and 31 new: 60 male and 44 female cases. Clients of multi-ethnic groups were the most from urban, then semi-urban and least from rural areas. More consultations were for young age-groups and from nearby districts of Sunsari. Mood, somatic (sleep), anxiety were the top presenting complaints and 8/104 clients had suicidal symptoms. Maximum follow-up cases were improving. The most common diagnoses were: Mood (Depression and Bipolar), Anxiety, Psychosis and Substance use disorders. Most common treatment advices included: Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Benzodiazepines and Counseling/psycho-education. Telepsychiatry is a viable method of delivering service even during the pandemic.

Objective: To investigate the occurrence of depressive and anxiety disorders in patients remitted for endovascular treatment of renal artery stenosis (RAS), and whether symptoms of depression and anxiety can be reduced after the treatment of RAS with percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA). Methods Patients: Selected for renal angiography with pressure measurement in the renal arteries due to suspected RAS were invited to participate in the study. 37 patients agreed to answer a questionnaire. Eighteen patients also agreed to a clinical psychiatric examination including the International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I. 6.0) to be diagnosed according to the DSM-IV. Results: Twenty-one of the 37 patients completing the questionnaire were found to have a pressure gradient of ≥ 10 mmHg at angiography, indicating significant stenosis. Ten of the 18 examined patients met the criteria for current DSM-IV anxiety diagnosis and two patients had a current depression. Three of the 18 examined patients had previously made a suicide attempt. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that patients with suspected RAS have a high psychiatric comorbidity, as 56% of the patients undergoing psychiatric examination met the DSM-IV criteria for a current anxiety disorder.

Background/aim: Amitriptyline belongs to class of known as tricycline antidepresant (TCA) that is being used to treat anxiety and depressive states. It may help improve mood and feelings of well-being, relieve anxiety and tension, help to improve sleep and increase energy level. The study investigated the effect of amitriptyline on learning and memory using eighteen (18) healthy Swiss mice of both sexes weighing 16 – 25 g. Method: The animals were divided into three (3) groups consisting of six (6) animals each. Group 1 served as the control group, Group 2 was administered with amitriptyline at a dose of 3 mg/kg body weight dissolved in 3 mls of distilled water, and used to test for learning, while Group three was also given similar administration like Group 2, but used to test for memory. All the animals were tested for learning and memory performance using Novel object recognition task and Morris water maze test. Results: The results obtained from the Novel object recognition task showed that there was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in total object approach in acquisition trial of amitriptyline treated group when compared to the acquisition trial of the control group. There was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in retention trial of amitriptyline group when compared to retention trial in the control group. There was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in total duration exploring objects in acquisition trial of amitriptyline treated group when compared to the acquisition trial of the control group. There was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in total duration exploring objects in retention trial of amitriptyline treated group when compared to the retention trial of the control group. There was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the index of habituation of amitriptyline treated group when compared to the control group. The index of discrimination showed a significant increase (p < 0.05) in amitriptyline treated group when compared to the control group and a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in amitriptyline group when compared to the control group. In the Morris water maze test, Day 1 – 3 were for acquisition training, day 4 – 6 reversal training, day 7 the probe trial day and day 8 the visible platform day. During acquisition training in the Morris water maze test, there was no significant difference in Swim latencies in day 1 and 2. However in day 3, there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in swim latency of group compared to control group and a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in swim latency of amitriptyline treated group compared to the control group. During reversal training in day 1, 2 and 3, there was no significant difference in swim latency among the three groups. Results for the retention quadrant in the probe trials showed a significant decrease (p < 0.01) in amitriptyline group when compared to the control group. Conclusion: Results suggest that amitriptyline impairs learning and memory functions.