Prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in ulcerative colitis patients in Jordan and its relationship to patient-reported disease activity

Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with higher rates of anxiety and depression compared to the general population. We aimed to determine the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among patients with ulcerative colitis and correlation to disease activity. In this cross-sectional study, we collected data from 70 consecutive ulcerative colitis patients over one year at our inflammatory bowel disease outpatient clinic through an interview and a questionnaire containing patient demographics and disease characteristics. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were characterized using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 questionnaire and Patient Health Questionnaire-9, respectively, with ulcerative colitis disease severity assessed by the Partial Mayo scoring system. The majority of our patients were females (68.6%) and the mean age was 39.3 years. Rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms among ulcerative colitis patients were 65.7% and 58.6%, respectively. Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with patient-reported disease activity (r = 0.361; p = 0.010). Significant percentages of ulcerative colitis patients were appreciated to have anxiety and depressive symptoms, and there was a correlation between patient-reported disease activity and depressive symptoms. At this high rate of prevalence, it is justified to screen patients for the presence of psychiatric comorbidities

Reconstruction and Visualization of 5μm Sectional Coronal Views for Macula Vasculature in OptoVue OCTA

A Computerized Medical Image Processing (CMIP) method is proposed to address the current challenges of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA): 1) the need for observing the macula vasculature concerning natural curvature of the macula region; 2) the need for generating OCTA frames at successive small depths in all macula layers; and 3) the need for enhancing the visibility of blood vessels, particularly below the outer retina region. The proposed CMIP method involves image preprocessing, reconstruction, and enhancement stages. Twenty subjects were obtained from the OCTA500 dataset, which was obtained from the OptoVue OCTA machine. The 20 subjects comprise the two OCTA fields of view (FOV), right and left eyes (OD and OS), and five common macula disorders. The sequential enface OCTA images at $5\mu \text{m}$ macula depths were displayed. The presentation of the macula vasculature was enhanced at all depths. The resulting new ophthalmic views enable: 1) avoiding the superimposition of macula vasculature into a projection map; 2) enhancing the OCTA presentation of blood vessels; and 3) inspecting the macula’s 3D oval-shaped. The proposed CMIP method can generate sectional macula coronal views (MCV) for every $5\mu \text{m}$ depth, clarifying the macula’s curvature in a way that has not been presented in OCTA machines. Therefore, “tracking” the 3D propagation of the blood vessel network at all macula depths becomes possible. Furthermore, the blood vessels’ display at all macula depths, including the deep choroid layers, is enhanced. The method yields futuristic ophthalmic advantages that would allow the physician to precisely inspect the 3D localization and diffusion of the macula disorders. The method is invariant to the OCTA’s FOVs, macula disorder, and OD or OS eye

Crystal structure of 4,5-bis(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-2 H

The title compound, C20H23N3O6·CH3OH, was synthesized by [3 + 2] cycloaddition of (Z)-2,3-bis(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)acrylonitrile with sodium azide and ammonium chloride in DMF/water. The central nitrogen of the triazole ring is protonated. The dihedral angles between the triazole ring and the 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl ring planes are 34.31 (4) and 45.03 (5)°, while that between the 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl rings is 51.87 (5)°. In the crystal, the molecules, along with two methanol solvent molecules are linked into an R44(10) centrosymmetric dimer by N—H...O and O—H...N hydrogen bonds

The Effect of Antipsychotics and Their Combinations with Other Psychotropic Drugs on Electrocardiogram Intervals Other Than QTc among Jordanian Adult Outpatients

The ECG changes produced by antipsychotics and other psychotropic medications are studied mostly regarding QTc interval prolongation. This study aimed to investigate ECG changes beyond long QTc interval produced by psychotropic medications. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the effect of these agents on RR, PR, TpTe intervals and TpTe/QT ratio among Jordanian outpatients. The RR interval was significantly shorter among patients on TCAs versus those not receiving TCAs and among patients on polytherapy versus those on monotherapy (p p p < 0.01 for both). In conclusion, various ECG changes beyond QTc interval prolongation are observed in patients on antipsychotics and other psychotropic medications, in those on polytherapy. It is recommended to obtain an ECG before starting patients on psychotropic drugs known to produce electrocardiographic changes and their combinations