Epidemiological study of mental disorders in Gharb Region (North-West) of Morocco

Abstract Survey of Moroccan Health Ministry found that 48.9% of 5600 persons in the general population had a mental disorder and 26.5% were depressed. Objectives: The objective of this epidemiological study is to identify the socioeconomic and neuropsychiatrical profiles of patients examined at the Hospital Moulay El Hassan of Kenitra city (Northwest of Morocco) for psychiatric disorders. Subjects and Methods: This research is a retrospective study conducted between February 2010 and December 2013, among 5618 patients (between 1 and 90 years of age). The study is realized on the basis of social and clinical data existing in patients' records. Results: The most important obtained results show that in 5618 cases studied, about 50% of women and about 50% of men patients had suffered from psychiatric disorders. Moreover, mood disorders were the most common reasons for hospitalization (38.24%). The other psychiatric disorders were schizophrenia and psychotic disorders (17.55%), followed by anxiety disorders (13.65%). In addition, 71% of patients don't have parents alive and 51.62% of patients suffering from mood disorders are married and 51.61% are divorced. The proportion of illiterate patients is 42.98% and inactive or unemployed patients (85.87%). Conclusion: The prevalence of mental disorders in the Gharb region is important. It affects both men and women and are more developed in some socioeconomic categories. However, deeper investigations are needed in order to identify the factors that contribute to raising of these disorders in the society

Purification, chemical characterization and evaluation of the antioxidant potential of carvacrol from <i>Thymus vulgaris</i>

This work focuses on the purification, chemical characterization and evaluation of the antioxidant activity of carvacrol in order to determine its contribution in the high antioxidant potential of Thymus vulgaris essential oil (TEO). Firstly, 68% of carvacrol was purified from TEO using chromatography on silica gel column and then chemically characterized using spectroscopic techniques (IR, MS and 1H and 13C NMR). In vitro, the antioxidant activity has been determined using DPPH, ABTS•+ and iron chelating assays. All assays proved the strong radical scavenging and reducing power of carvacrol. In vivo, antioxidant capacity towards stressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells was investigated by evaluating cell viability, antioxidant enzymes’ activity, the level of lipid peroxidation (LPO) as well as the activity of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH). Using carvacrol in a dose dependent manner (6.25-25 μg/mL), cell viability was outstandingly improved by 34.5-55% compared to stressed cells. Antioxidant enzymes (CAT, SOD, GR) activities were also brought back to values comparable to control cells along with lower LPO (0.81±0.07 nmol/mg) and SDH (1.15± 0.07 μmol/min/mg of protein) at 25 μg/mL. These findings suggest that the powerful antioxidant properties of TEO found in our previous study were mainly associated to its main component (carvacrol) that showed higher antioxidant activity compared to the other components. Therefore, carvacrol can be of a great use as a pharmacological agent against damages related to oxidative stress.</p