London, Feb 4 (IANS) Older people with severe mental disorders are at significantly increased risk of dying from Covid-19, a new study suggests.The findings indicate that among the elderly, the proportion of deaths due to Covid-19 was almost fourfold for those with severe mental disorders compared to non-mentally ill people in the same age."We see a high excess mortality due to Covid-19 among the elderly with severe mental disorders, which gives us reason to consider whether this group should be given priority for vaccines," said researcher Martin Maripuu, Associate Professor at Umea University in Sweden.For the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, the team studied data covering the entire Swedish population over the age of 20 during the period.Among citizens with severe mental disorder, 130 people died from Covid-19 during this period, which corresponded to 0.1 per cent of the group.Among people who had not been diagnosed with a severe mental disorder, the mortality rate was almost halved, 0.06 per cent.Above all, after the age of 60, people with severe mental disorders had a higher excess mortality compared with the general population of the same age.In the age group 60-79 years, death from Covid-19 was almost four times as common among people with a severe mental disorders.In the study, severe mental disorder was referred to as psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The study did not include depression or anxiety in the term, although these conditions can also be severe, the team said."It might be that severe mental disorders can lead to premature biological ageing, that the disease impairs health and the immune system in general or that this group has other risk factors such as obesity," Maripuu said."It is always important to address both, mental and physical health problems of people with these disorders," Maripuu added.--IANSvc/sdr/
London- Researchers have identified a screening tool that may help diagnose depressive symptoms and other mental disorders in early pregnancy.
The study, published in the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, indicates that questions typically asked to new mothers to screen for depression after giving birth can also help to detect mental disorders during early pregnancy.
"The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale seems to be a valuable screening tool to detect depressive symptoms as well as other mental disorders during early pregnancy," said researchers, including Caroline Lilliecreutz from the Linköping University in Sweden.
For the study, the team analysed 2,271 women with questions that are part of what's called the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.
The team found that 85 percent of women with a score of 13 or higher had one or more mental disorders or risk factors for mental disorders during early pregnancy.
In total, 149 (6.6 percent) women were found to be screen-positive. The majority (126, 85 percent) had at least one mental disorder or risk factor for mental disorder, such as depression (36.0 percent), anxiety (14.8 percent), or severe fear of childbirth (20.8 percent).
The screen-positive women were more often smokers (16.1 percent vs 1.3 percent), unemployed (19.9 percent vs 1.3 percent), or on sick leave (25.3 percent vs 14.1 percent) during pregnancy and more often used selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor during pregnancy (14.2 percent vs 2.7 percent) compared with the screen-negative women.
Among the screen-negative women only three (2 percent) presented with symptoms of depression during pregnancy. (IANS)
New York, Regardless of genetic risks, exposure to discrimination in life plays a significant role in developing anxiety and related disorders, suggests a new study.
Published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences journal, the study determined that even after controlling genetic risk for anxiety, depression and neuroticism, people reported greater discrimination experiences.
"The results demonstrate that discriminatory experiences can potentially cause stress and mental health problems regardless of the genetic constitution of the individual," said researcher Adolfo G Cuevas, an assistant professor at Tufts University in the US.
To gain insight on the connection, the research team used data from a national probability sample of nearly 1,500 non-institutionalised, all English-speaking adults between 25 to 74 years in age.
Nearly 49 per cent of the sample were women.
Three self-report scales were used to measure discrimination and other forms of social exclusion, including everyday discrimination, major discrimination and chronic job discrimination.
After accounting for increased genetic liability for anxiety, depression, neuroticism, and other potential genetic and socio-demographic factors, the researchers found a high degree of interdependence between discrimination and anxiety.
The team said the findings demonstrate that alleviating the impact of discrimination has the potential to improve mental health within the overall population. (Agency)
New York, Jan 6 (IANS) Researchers have found that a novel form of a drug used to treat osteoporosis that comes with the potential for fewer side effects may provide a new option for patients.For the study, published in the journal Biophysical Journal, a team of researchers developed a stabilized form of human calcitonin, which is a peptide drug already used for people with osteoporosis."The technology can help make these calcitonin drugs safer and more effective," said Elizabeth Topp, Professor, Purdue University in the US.The team created a prodrug form of the peptide hormone to increase its effectiveness as an osteoporosis treatment.In humans, calcitonin is the hormone responsible for normal calcium homeostasis. When prescribed to osteoporosis patients, calcitonin inhibits bone resorption, resulting in increased bone mass.Unfortunately, human calcitonin undergoes fibrillation in aqueous solution, leading to reduced efficacy when used as a therapeutic. As a substitute, osteoporosis patients are prescribed salmon calcitonin. It does not fibrillate as rapidly but suffers from low potency and the potential for several adverse side effects."Our approach will increase the therapeutic potential of human calcitonin, promising a more effective option to replace salmon calcitonin for osteoporosis and related disorders," Topp added.To decrease the fibrillation propensity and increase the therapeutic benefit of human calcitonin, Purdue researchers phosphorylated specific amino acid residues."This technology provides a way to stabilize them in a reversible way so that the stabilizing modification comes off when the drug is given to the patient," Topp said.--IANSvc/rt
New York, Jan 2 (IANS) A team of researchers has created a nanoparticle platform to facilitate successful delivery of therapeutic agents to the brain, which could open possibilities for the treatment of numerous neurological disorders.Although researchers have in the past decade identified biological pathways leading to neurodegenerative diseases and developed promising molecular agents to target them, delivering therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and into the brain has been a challenge.The newly created nanoparticle platform can facilitate therapeutically effective delivery of encapsulated agents in mice with a physically breached or intact blood-brain barrier, said the study published in the journal Science Avances.In a mouse model of traumatic brain injury (TBI), they observed that the delivery system showed three times more accumulation in brain than conventional methods of delivery and was therapeutically effective as well.The researchers believe that the study could open possibilities for the treatment of numerous neurological disorders.Previously developed approaches for delivering therapeutics into the brain after traumatic brain injury rely on the short window of time after a physical injury to the head, when the blood-brain barrier is temporarily breached.However, after the blood-brain barrier is repaired within a few weeks, physicians lack tools for effective drug delivery."It's very difficult to get both small and large molecule therapeutic agents delivered across the BBB," said corresponding author Nitin Joshi from Brigham and Women's Hospital in the US."Our solution was to encapsulate therapeutic agents into biocompatible nanoparticles with precisely engineered surface properties that would enable their therapeutically effective transport into the brain, independent of the state of the BBB."The technology could enable physicians to treat secondary injuries associated with traumatic brain injury that can lead to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other neurodegenerative diseases, which can develop during ensuing months and years once the blood-brain barrier has healed.--IANSgb/in
Anxiety: It is a normal human emotion that everyone experience sometimes. Many of the people feel anxious/ nervous when faced with certain problems at work/ making an important decision and many more. Anxiety disorders are something different that interferes with a person ability to lead a normal life and cause distress. It is a serious mental illness, occur in some stages. People with anxiety disorder have constant, overwhelming and crippling worry and fear.
SYMPTOMS
Feelings of panic/fear/ uneasiness.
uncontrollable and obsessive thoughts.
palpitations
shortness of breath
muscle tension
sleeping problems.
nightmares
cold/sweaty hands/ feet
dry mouth/ nausea/ dizziness
inability to be still and calm
lack of concentration
repeated thoughts/flashbacks of traumatic experiences
some ritualistic behaviors
unwanted thoughts
nervousness/being tense
trembling/muscle twitching
weakness & lethargy
WHEN TO SEE YOUR DOCTOR FOR ANXIETY DISEASE?
When anxiety signs and symptoms appear and long lasts, then without any delay you should consult doctor. It may be a problem for you if-
anxiety feelings are strong/ last for a long time.
fear/ worries are out of the proportion to the situation.
when you avoid situations that might cause you to feel anxious and more anxious.
worries feel very distressing/ hard to control.
facing regular symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks.
you find it hard to go about your everyday life/ do things you enjoy.
CAUSES AND RISK FACTORS
Anxiety problems are cause by lots of factors involved in it like-
1) Past/ childhood experience- physical/emotional abuse/neglect/ losing a parent/ being bullied/ being socially excluded childhood experiences.
2) Your current life situations- exhaustion/ build up of stress, long working hours, being out of work, feeling under pressure while studying/ in work, having money problems, homelessness/ housing problems, losing someone close to you, you may feeling lonely/ isolated, being bullied, harassed/ abused.
3) Physical/ Mental Health problems - ongoing/life threatening physical health conditions which trigger anxiety living./ Depression/ Stress.
4) Drugs and Medications- - psychiatric medications, physical health problem medications, recreational drugs/ alcohol. Sometimes, some sugar and caffeine related food/drink can trigger symptoms of anxiety.
DIAGNOSIS
To diagnosis anxiety, a complete physical examination is essential. It helps doctor to rule out other illnesses that may cause your symptoms to appear. A complete personal history is required for proper diagnosis of anxiety. During the physical examination, many things contribute to anxiety such as certain illneses, alcohol consumption, coffee consumption, medications, hormones, other medical conditions like shortness of breath, shaking, sweating, chills, chest pain, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, frequent urination, etc; is noted by doctor. Doctor may also rule out some medical conditions that resembles anxiety symptoms.
Your doctor may also use one/ more of the following tests to assess your level of anxiety :-
Zung self-rating anxiety scale
Hamilton Anxiety Scale ( HAM-A)
Beck Anxiety Inventory ( BAI)
Social Phobia Inventory ( SPIN)
Penn State Worry Questionnaire
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale
Yale-Brown Obsessive- Compulsive Scale ( YBOCS)
GENERAL TIPS
Include exercise in your daily routine.
Pay attention to sleep for brain to function properly.
Avoid excessive consumption of caffeine/ alcohol.
Deep breathe.
Help out in your community.
Look for triggers, it will help you to know the causes of your anxiety, that can help you put your worries into perspective.
Try to do your hobby.
Listen music
Practice yoga
Try to meditate
Avoid procrastination
Talking therapies and regular counselling
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Do activities which make you happy and positive.
WHAT TO AVOID?
Curd/heavy/ too cold foods/ constipating diets.
Alcohol/ caffeine
Aged/ fermented/ cultured foods
Preservatives
Added sugars
WHAT TO EAT ?
Dark chocolate
Green Tea
Chamomile
Salmon
Selenium rich diet
Omega-3 rich food
Egg yolk
Turmeric
Yogurt
Vitamin - E rich foods
Spinach/ swiss chard
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q.1) How do I know if I am experiencing anxiety?
Ans.- When signs and symptoms like feeling nervous, restless, increased heart rate, breathing rapid, sweating, weakness/ tiredness appear, difficulty controlling worry, trouble sleeping etc. Tends to appear for long time by influencing daily life activities, then it may be result of anxiety.
Q.2) What is Anxiety?
Ans.- Normal emotion that causes increased alertness/ fear/ physical signs such as rapid heart rate. Intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations occurs and with this fast heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating and feeling tired may occur.
Q.3) How severe is Anxiety?
Ans.- It becomes severe when panic attacks occur several times. Panic attack, can happen without any specifiable trigger & their symptoms are far more severe than the symptoms of anxiety. Consistent and Frequent attacks may lead to severe conditions.
Q.4) What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder ( GAD) ?
Ans.- It is generally characterized by persistent and excessive worry about a no. Of different things. People who will face such a condition are overly concerned about money, health, family, work, or other issues. They find difficult to control their worry.
Q.5) Does breathing help anxiety?
Ans.- Yes, it may help to overcome hyperventilation. During Anxiety, shortness of breath occur which may lead to condition called hyperventilation. Shifting breathing rate and pattern can stimulate the body’s parasympathetic response, helps in relaxation and makes you calm.
Q.6) What triggers Anxiety?
Ans.- Drinking too much caffeine/ Family history conditions/ personality factors/ ongoing stressful events/ physical health problems, and many more factors are responsible for Anxiety.
Q.7) How to stop triggers of Anxiety?
Ans.-
Schedule your time to avoid your worry time.
Practice Yoga and exercise.
Improve sleep cycle.
Limit caffeine intake.
OTC drugs
Get into your hobbies.
Avoid amphetamines/alcohol/excessive caffeine.
Routine changes, etc.
Q.8) How long are Anxiety attacks?
Ans.- Attacks can last for 10-30 mins, but they make you much worry and stressful that you may feel like you are about to die/ totally lose control.
Q.9) What is the age distribution of anxiety attacks?
Ans.- Most anxiety disorders begin in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. Separation anxiety is an anxiety disorder that commonly begins in childhood and often includes anxiety related to going to school according to DSM-5. Panic disorder, demonstrated a bimodal age of onset in the NCS study in the age groups of 15-24 years and 45-54 years under age distribution.
Q.10) What is the difference between Anxiety and OCD(Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) ?
Ans.- Anxiety is different for different people. People who are facing severe anxiety and GAD(Generalized Anxiety Disorder) tend to jump from one anxiety to another throughout their day, whereas someone with OCD is more likely to obsess on a particular anxiety and devote excessive attention to it. In OCD, anxieties are largely irrational.
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