Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Repeated Low-Dose Organophosphate Dfp Exposure Leads To The Development Of Depression And Cognitive Impairment In A Rat Model Of Gulf War Illness, Laxmikant Deshpande, Kristin Phillips

Neurology Publications

Approximately 175,000 to 250,000 of the returning veterans from the 1991 Persian Gulf War exhibit chronic multi-symptom illnesses that includes neurologic co-morbidities such as depression, anxiety and cognitive impairments. Amongst a host of causative factors, exposure to low levels of the nerve agent Sarin has been strongly implicated for expression of Gulf War Illness (GWI). Nerve agents similar to pesticides are organophosphate (OP) compounds. There is evidence from civilian population that exposure to OPs such as in agricultural workers and nerve agents such as the survivors and first-responders of the Tokyo subway Sarin gas attack suffer from chronic neurological problems …

The Effects Of Allergies And Anaphylaxis On The Body And Mind: A Survey Of Opinions And Knowledge On These Disorders, Kathryn E. O'Brien

Honors Program: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Despite common knowledge, allergies and anaphylaxis are considered disabilities. As such, these disorders affect the daily lives of those who have them, including one's mental health. In this paper, all the nuances of allergies and anaphylaxis will be discussed as the etiology and scientific aspects of allergies, anaphylaxis, and hypersensitivity are distinguished from one another. Furthermore, the findings are reported from two surveys; an assessment of how well educated and prepared teachers are for students with allergies and whether other students with food allergies have had similar experiences to the author's and those described in research by other studies concerning …

Exercise Improves Physical Function And Mental Health Of Brain Cancer Survivors: Two Exploratory Case Studies, Gregory T. Levin, Kenneth M. Greenwood, Favil Singh, Daphne Tsoi, Robert U. Newton

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background

Malignant brain tumors are unpredictable and incurable, with 5-year survival rates less than 30%. The poor prognosis combined with intensive treatment necessitates the inclusion of complementary and supportive therapies that optimize quality of life and reduce treatment-related declines in health. Exercise therapy has been shown to be beneficial in other cancer populations, but no evidence is available for brain cancer survivors. Therefore, we report results from 2 preliminary cases.

Methods

Two female patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme and oligodendroglioma participated in a structured and supervised 12-week exercise program. The program consisted of two 1-hour resistance and aerobic exercise sessions …

Low Self-Esteem Leads To Depression Among Elderly: Case Study Of Nursing Home, Savera Aziz Ali, Nadir Suhail, Sumera Aziz Ali

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: Self-esteem is defined as “how we value our self”; it affects our trust and relationships in every part of life. Person with low self-esteem may feel powerless and incompetent about himself/herself. Moreover, low self-esteem operates as a risk factor for depression, which is most common disorder among elderly people both in developed and developing countries, causing multiple behavioral changes as well as may increase the chances of depression and suicide among the elderly people. Objective: The objective of this case study was to understand the problems faced by elderly people in the nursing home and to relate the self-esteem …

Allergic Diseases And Internalizing Behaviors In Early Childhood., Maya K. Nanda, Grace K. Lemasters, Linda Levin, Marc E. Rothenberg, Amal H. Assa'ad, Nicholas Newman, David Bernstein, Gurjit Khurana-Hershey, James E. Lockey, Patrick H. Ryan

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relationship between allergic diseases and internalizing disorders has not been well characterized with regard to multiple allergic diseases or longitudinal study. The objective of this study was to examine the association between multiple allergic diseases in early childhood with validated measures of internalizing disorders in the school-age years.

METHODS: Children enrolled in the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study underwent skin testing and examinations at ages 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 years. At age 7, parents completed the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2), a validated measure of childhood behavior and emotion. …

Depression And Anxiety: A Snapshot Of The Situation In Pakistan, Bilaal Ahmed, Syed Faaiz Enam, Zafar Iqbal, Ghulam Murtaza, Shahid Bashir

Medical College Documents

Background: Depression is a great cause of morbidity around the world. Not one person seems to escape the hollow dread that the disease can bring forth.
Aims: Although living in a large extended family which serves as a social support is common in Pakistan, why we still suffer from anxiety and depression just as often if not more than those in other countries?
Method: We checked studies conducted in different localities of Pakistan over the past 10 years to find prevalence values of anxiety and depression. Results: The values of anxiety and depression ranging from 22% to as high as …

The Happy Older Latinos Are Active (Hola) Health Promotion And Prevention Study: Study Protocol For A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, Daniel E. Jimenez, Charles F. Reynolds, Margarita Alegría, Philip Harvey, Stephen Bartels

Dartmouth Scholarship

Results of previous studies attest to the greater illness burden of common mental disorders (anxiety and depression) in older Latinos and the need for developing preventive interventions that are effective, acceptable, and scalable. Happy Older Latinos are Active (HOLA) is a newly developed intervention that uses a community health worker (CHW) to lead a health promotion program in order to prevent common mental disorders among at-risk older Latinos. This pilot study tests the feasibility and acceptability of delivering HOLA to older, at-risk Latinos.

Methods/Design: HOLA is a multi-component, health promotion intervention funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). …

Mindfulness: Being Present In The Moment, Stephanie Ann Stathas, Christine Frazer

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

This article serves to enlighten childbirth educators’ knowledge about mindfulness and the mother-baby benefits associated with incorporating mindfulness- based interventions into practice. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who developed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, brought the concept of mindfulness into the world of healthcare and mainstream society. Mindfulness is the practice of bringing awareness to the here and now using a variety of methods. Nancy Bardacke has taken the practice of mindfulness further and developed a program for expecting mothers, known as Mindfulness Based Childbirth and Parenting. This program has been shown to reduce stress responses that may be harmful to a …

Support After Brain Tumor Means Different Things: Family Caregivers' Experiences Of Support And Relationship Changes, T. Ownsworth, E. Goadby, Suzanne K. Chambers

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Shorter hospital stays and greater emphasis on outpatient care means that family members have the primary responsibility for supporting a person with brain tumor to manage the physical, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional effects of the illness and its treatment. Given the integral role of family caregivers, it is essential to understand their experience of the impact of brain tumor and their own support needs. Accordingly, this qualitative study aimed to investigate family caregivers' experiences of support and relationship changes in the context of brain tumor. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 family caregivers (8 spouse/partner, 3 parents) of people with …

Pregnancy Anxiety And Prenatal Cortisol Trajectories, Heidi S. Kane, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Laura M. Glynn, Calvin J. Hobel, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Pregnancy anxiety is a potent predictor of adverse birth and infant outcomes. The goal of the current study was to examine one potential mechanism whereby these effects may occur by testing associations between pregnancy anxiety and maternal salivary cortisol on 4 occasions during pregnancy in a sample of 448 women. Higher mean levels of pregnancy anxiety over the course of pregnancy predicted steeper increases in cortisol trajectories compared to lower pregnancy anxiety. Significant differences between cortisol trajectories emerged between 30 to 31 weeks of gestation. Results remained significant when adjusted for state anxiety and perceived stress. Neither changes in pregnancy …

Chronic Behavioral And Cognitive Deficits In A Rat Survival Model Of Paraoxon Toxicity, Laxmikant Sudhir Deshpande, Kristin Phillips, Beverly Huang, Robert J. Delorenzo

Neurology Publications

Organophosphate (OP) compounds, including paraoxon (POX), are similar to nerve agents such as sarin. There is a growing concern that OP agents could be weaponized to cause mass civilian causalities. We have developed a rodent survival model of POX toxicity that is being used to evaluate chronic morbidity and to screen for medical countermeasures against severe OP exposure. It is well known that the survivors of nerve gas and chronic OP exposure exhibit neurobehavioral deficits such as mood changes, depression, and memory impairments. In this study we investigated whether animals surviving severe POX exposure exhibited long-term neurological impairments. POX exposure …

Recommendations For High-Priority Research On Cancer-Related Fatigue In Children And Adults., Andrea M. Barsevick, Michael R. Irwin, Pamela Hinds, Andrew Miller, Ann Berger, Paul Jacobsen, Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Bryce B Reeve, Karen Mustian, Ann O'Mara, Jin-Shei Lai, Michael Fisch, David Cella

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Over the past decades, some scientific progress has been made in understanding and treating cancer-related fatigue (CRF). However, three major problems have limited further progress: lack of agreement about measurement, inadequate understanding of the underlying biology, and problems in the conduct of clinical trials for CRF. This commentary reports the recommendations of a National Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Planning Meeting and an ongoing National Cancer Institute working group to address these problems so that high-priority research and clinical trials can be conducted to advance the science of CRF and its treatment. Recommendations to address measurement issues included revising the current …

Noise-Induced Tinnitus Using Individualized Gap Detection Analysis And Its Relationship With Hyperacusis, Anxiety, And Spatial Cognition, Edward Pace, Jinsheng Zhang

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Research Publications

Tinnitus has a complex etiology that involves auditory and non-auditory factors and may be accompanied by hyperacusis, anxiety and cognitive changes. Thus far, investigations of the interrelationship between tinnitus and auditory and non-auditory impairment have yielded conflicting results. To further address this issue, we noise exposed rats and assessed them for tinnitus using a gap detection behavioral paradigm combined with statistically-driven analysis to diagnose tinnitus in individual rats. We also tested rats for hearing detection, responsivity, and loss using prepulse inhibition and auditory brainstem response, and for spatial cognition and anxiety using Morris water maze and elevated plus maze. We …

Frequency And Associated Factors For Anxiety And Depression In Pregnant Women: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study., Niloufer Sultan Ali, Iqbal Azam Syed, Badar S. Ali, Ghurnata Tabbusum, Sana S. Moin

Department of Family Medicine

Antepartum anxiety and/or depression is a major public health problem globally. The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of antepartum anxiety and/or depression among pregnant women. This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary care hospital among pregnant women. A total of 165 pregnant women were interviewed by a clinical psychologist using HADS for assessing anxiety and/or depression and also collected information regarding sociodemographic, obstetric, family relationships, and home environment. Out of the total of 165 pregnant women about 70 percent of them were either anxious and/or depressed. The increasing age of women (P-value = 0.073), …

Coping Styles In Patients With Anxiety And Depression, Pashtoon Murtaza Kasi, Haider Ali Naqvi, Abaseen Khan Afghan, Talha Khawar, Farooq Hasan Khan, Umber Zaheer Khan, Urooj Bakht Khuwaja, Jawad Kiani, Hadi Mohammad Khan

Department of Psychiatry

Different individuals use different coping styles to cope with their problems. In patients with anxiety and/or depression, these have important implications. The primary objective of our study was to estimate the frequency of different coping mechanisms used by patients with symptoms of anxiety and depression. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was conducted and patients with symptoms of anxiety and depression were identified using the Aga Khan University's Anxiety and Depression Scale (AKUADS). Coping styles were determined by using the 28-item Brief COPE inventory. We were able to recruit 162 people. The prevalence of anxiety and depression was found to be 34%. …

Depression And Anxiety In Patients With Epilepsy, With Or Without Other Chronic Disorders., A A Asadi-Pooya, M R Sperling

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Most people with epilepsy lead a normal emotional and cognitive life, however neurobehavioral problems can be found in a large number of patients. This study evaluates the prevalence of depression and anxiety among patients with epilepsy and determines whether having other chronic somatic illnesses increases the prevalence.

METHODS: Adults with epilepsy were recruited in either the inpatient epilepsy monitoring unit or the Outpatient Epilepsy Clinic at Thomas Jefferson University in 2006. Patients anonymously filled out a questionnaire, included data about age, sex, education, having other chronic illnesses, and degree of seizure control. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale was …

Prenatal Maternal Stress Programs Infant Stress Regulation, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Laura M. Glynn, Feizal Waffarn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: Prenatal exposure to inappropriate levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) and maternal stress are putative mechanisms for the fetal programming of later health outcomes. The current investigation examined the influence of prenatal maternal cortisol and maternal psychosocial stress on infant physiological and behavioral responses to stress.

Methods: The study sample comprised 116 women and their full term infants. Maternal plasma cortisol and report of stress, anxiety and depression were assessed at 15, 19, 25, 31 and 36 + weeks' gestational age. Infant cortisol and behavioral responses to the painful stress of a heel-stick blood draw were evaluated at 24 hours after …

Anxiety And Depression Among Outpatients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Multi-Centre Study Of Prevalence And Associated Factors., Ali Khan Khuwaja, Saima Lalani, Raheem Dhanani, Iqbal Syed Azam, Ghazala Rafique, Franklin White

Department of Family Medicine

Background: Anxiety and depression contribute to poor disease outcomes among individuals with diabetes. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of anxiety and depression and to identify their associated factors including metabolic components among people with type 2 diabetes. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, multi-center study in four out-Patient clinics in Karachi, Pakistan. In all, 889 adults with type-2 diabetes were included in this study. Anxiety and depression were measured by using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Multivariable analysis using multiple logistic regression was carried out to evaluate the combined effect of various factors associated with anxiety and …

Spontaneous Recovery From Depression In Women: A Qualitative Study Of Vulnerabilities, Strengths And Resources, S Naeem, Badar Sabir Ali, A Iqbal, S Mubeen, A Gul

Department of Psychiatry

Objective: To gain insight into the perceived vulnerability and restitution factors for anxiety/or depression.Methods: Focus group discussion of seven married women recovered spontaneously from anxiety and/or depression, belonging to a lower middle class semi-urban community of Karachi.Results: Poverty, unemployment, abuse and on going difficulties were perceived as risk factors for depression. A reliable social support system, positive thinking approach, faith, prayers, and experiencing a "turning point" event were reported as factors that promoted recovery from anxiety and/or depression.CONCLUSION: Individual vulnerabilities, strengths and resources can have an important role in recovery from anxiety and/or depression in women.

The Transformative Effect Of Training In Counselling And Its Application, On The Community Counsellors Themselves, S Naeem, Badar S. Ali, S Mubeen, Iqbal Azam

Department of Psychiatry

Objective: To identify the changes in community counsellors' own level of anxiety and depression as a result of learning counselling skills and to explore their subjective experiences after learning and providing counselling.Design: Quantitative: Repeated Measures. / Qualitative: Focus Group Discussions.SETTING: A lower middle class semi urban community of Karachi, Pakistan.PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one self selected women from the community.Results: Reduction was seen in the post training scores of anxiety and/or depression in the trainees. As a result of learning and then providing counselling the community counsellors' self esteem, self confidence and sense of competence were enhanced and they developed a more positive …

The Minds Of Mothers: Maternal Mental Health In An Urban Squatter Settlement Of Karachi., Fauziah Rabbani, Furqan Farooq Raja

Community Health Sciences

BACKGROUND:

Community-based information on maternal mental health in developing countries is meager and nearly non-existent in Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE:

To determine the proportion of probable cases of women with mental disorders and examine the associated conditions and risk factors which contribute to maternal mental ill-health.

METHODS:

With convenient sampling 260 mothers in an urban squatter settlement of Karachi were interviewed. The tools consisted of a household questionnaire collecting information on basic demographic and other characteristics and the Aga Khan University Anxiety and Depression Scale (AKUADS), an instrument to assess psychiatric morbidity.

RESULTS:

The proportion of probable cases of mental disorder was …