Adversity and working class vulnerability to minor affective disorder

In this paper, we examine the proposition that members of lower social classes are more likely than those from higher classes to develop minor affective disorders in the face of adverse experiences. This was examined using data from a psychiatric survey of the general population of Camberwell, S.E. London, U.K. Working class subjects experienced significantly more adversity than their middle class counterparts. However, the relationship between life events and psychiatric disorder was consistent and considerable in the working class group. It was attenuated or non-existent in middle class subjects, depending on the particular categorisation of the data. Log-linear analyses suggested that the basis of this finding was unclear. Both the results and the underlying reasons for them merit further investigation.     

Behavioral and hypnotic treatments for insomnia subtypes

This investigation compared progressive muscle relaxation plus cognitive distraction (PMR/CD), hypothesized to better improve sleep onset, versus sleep restriction and stimulus control (SR/SC), hypothesized to better improve sleep maintenance, versus a flurazepam (Dalmane) positive contrast condition (MED) and a sleep hygiene education minimal treatment control condition (SHE). Participants with chronic insomnia (N = 53), completed 2 baseline weeks of sleep diaries, and were randomly assigned to a treatment group for 2 more weeks. In the second phase, PMR/CD participants were assigned to 2 weeks of PMR/CD + SR/SC + SHE while SHE participants continued SHE. Results indicated that PMR/CD had greater effect upon sleep onset than SR/SC and SHE, SR/SC had greater effect on sleep maintenance than PMR/CD, and MED was better than the other treatments. In the second phase, the treatment package produced modest additional improvements and SHE performed superior to expectations.     

Health-related quality of life in children with cerebral palsy and their families

Objective

To determine the health-related quality of life in children with cerebral palsy and their families.

Methods

One hundred children (3–10 years of age) receiving regular rehabilitation therapy for cerebral palsy for last 1 year at a Child Development Centrer were enrolled and the Lifestyle assessment questionnaire — cerebral palsy was administered to the parents.

Results

9% had good, 24% had mildly-affected, 37% had moderately-affected and 30% had severely-affected healthrelated quality of life. The physical independence, mobility and social integration dimensions were much more severely affected than the clinical burden, economic burden and schooling dimensions.

Conclusion

Health-related quality of child is affected in most children with cerebral palsy.     

Influence of polycystic ovary syndrome on the periodontal health of Indian women visiting a secondary health care centre

Objectives

Periodontal disease and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) share risk factors like obesity, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia, along with evidence of chronic inflammation in the two conditions. Evaluating the influence of PCOS on periodontal health would, therefore, identify a possible association.

Materials and methods

Sixty women, divided into equal groups of PCOS and healthy patients, were clinically examined for periodontal parameters like probing depth (PD), plaque index (PI), modified gingival index (mGI), and bleeding on probing (BOP). Fasting blood sugar (FBS), insulin (FI), triglycerides (TG), and free testosterone along with serum and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) were the biochemical parameters evaluated.

Results

Women with PCOS had statistically significant differences in mGI, PI, testosterone, FBS, and TG when compared with healthy women (p < 0.05). MDA levels in serum and GCF between women with PCOS and controls were also significantly different. BOP and mGI showed a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.45 and 0.44) with serum levels of MDA. Relatively greater gingival inflammation was observed in patients with PCOS compared to healthy controls, independent of the risk factors present.

Conclusion

PCOS seemed to have an impact on gingival inflammation, in addition to the effect of dental plaque and other local factors in the oral cavity, in PCOS patients when compared with healthy individuals.

Clinical relevance

Women diagnosed with PCOS may have probabaility of co-existing gingival inflammation. Therefore, emphasis on medical treatment for PCOS and periodic screening for periodontal disease may be warranted.

     

Making smart drugs smarter: The importance of linker chemistry in targeted drug delivery

Smart drugs, such as antibody-drug conjugates, for targeted therapy rely on the ability to deliver a warhead to the desired location and to achieve activation at the same site. Thus, designing a smart drug often requires proper linker chemistry for tethering the warhead with a vehicle in such a way that either allows the active drug to retain its potency while being tethered or ensures release and thus activation at the desired location. Recent years have seen much progress in the design of new linker activation strategies. Herein, we review the recent development of chemical strategies used to link the warhead with a delivery vehicle for preferential cleavage at the desired sites.     

Synthesis of high surface area porous carbon from anaerobic digestate and it's electrochemical study as an electrode material for ultracapacitors

The remnants of the anaerobic digestion process, ‘the digestate,’ mainly consist of fibrous lignin and cellulose like molecules, as a significant carbon repository along with some other inorganic impurities. The present work demonstrates the potential use of anaerobically treated fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) as a source of porous carbon for supercapacitor electrode materials. This work suggests that the FVW digestate can inherit silicon (Si) and calcium (Ca) based inorganic impurities, which play an essential role as structure directing agents for digestate derived carbon. These contaminants act as hard templates during carbonization to create hierarchical pores and contribute to an enhancement in surface area. Different batches from an anaerobic biogas digester plant are converted to porous carbon and examined as a potential supercapacitor electrode material. A maximum capacitance of 235 F g⁻¹ is achieved from DDHPC-4kh carbon with a specific surface area of 2502 m² g⁻¹ at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹ in an acidic aqueous electrolyte. The results are significant in comparison to other bio-sourced precursors studied previously.

The remnants of the anaerobic digestion process, ‘the digestate,’ mainly consist of fibrous lignin and cellulose like molecules, as a significant carbon repository along with some other inorganic impurities.     

Effect of a New Social Support Program by Voluntary Organization in Pediatric Oncology Department in a Developing Country

Comprehensive childhood cancer treatment in the modern era means not only strenuous treatment regimens and meticulous nursing care, it also implies attention to social, psychological, and financial aspects of disease and treatment. In a developing country like ours, though it is possible to provide good medical and nursing care in government set-up, there is always shortage of workforce and financial support, leading to nonadherence to treatment regimens by patients and parents, resulting in suboptimal treatment outcomes. Overcrowding of pediatric cancer patients along with general patients for lab tests and other hospital services, poor drug compliance, treatment abandonment, and lost to follow-up, lack of funding to meet nonmedical expenses and inadequate facility for providing psychological support were some of the major reasons we could identify as lacunas in our pediatric oncology division (POD). We introduced a new social support program with the help of additional staff supported by a nongovernmental agency, and new quality improvement services were introduced. The impact was demonstrable as reduction in waiting time in the hospital, allayed anxiety of painful procedures, better drug compliance, less treatment abandonment, and improved follow-up. This can be emulated in similar other resource-limited centers.     

Relation of childhood malnutrition to parental education and mothers’ nutrition related KAP

Severely malnourished children (26), weight for age 55.27±3.17, were identified in a colony of predominantly Muslim urban slum dwellers of low economic status. An equal number of normally nourished children matched for age, sex and per capita income were identified. A strong relation was found between nutritional status of the subjects and educational level of their mothers (P<0.025). Father's education was unrelated to childrens' nutritional status. A thirty seven point questionnaire was administered to the mothers to record their nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP). Analysis revealed that better KAP in relation to 16 of these 37 questions was not associated with better nutritional status. Seven questions were found to have only a weak association. The remaining 14 questions were identified as important for a nutrition education programme. Comparison of nutritional KAP score based on these 14 questions in case of mothers of normal and severely malnourished children revealed a significantly higher score in the former. Questions related to growth monitoring and breast feeding were not found to be important. No significant association was found between mothers' KAP and educational level. It is concluded that (i) Maternal education and KAP are significantly and independently associated with childrens' nutritional status. (ii) The content areas of knowledge, attitudes and practices significantly associated with nutritional status pertain to nutritional requirements of children, nutritional value of foods, immunisation, hygiene, oral rehydration and diarrhea.