Family Unity, Family Health: How Family-Focused Immigration Reform Will Mean Better Health for Children and Families

This report builds on a body of evidence on the impact of immigration policy on communities, paying particular attention to the health and mental health of children and families.Using existing research, predictive quantitative analysis and data from a convenience survey and two focus groups, this reportshines a light on the consequences of a continued policy of detention and deportation on: physical health, mental health, educational and behavioral outcomes among children; adult health status and lifespan; and economic hardship and food access in households

Virtual reality-based interventions for patients with paranoia:A systematic review

Background and objective: Paranoia is an important psychiatric symptom with a remarkable effect on daily life. Virtual reality (VR)-based treatments are influential and safe for patients with paranoia. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness, and define the clinical and technical characteristics of available VR strategies for the treatment of patients with paranoia. Materials and methods: Studies published up to 25/11/2021 reporting VR-based interventions for the treatment of patients with paranoia were reviewed in five databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Scopus. Results: Out of 302 initial search results, eight were included in the present study based on the inclusion criteria. Six studies were randomized clinical trials with the interventions in the experimental group being based on VR, compared to routine interventions as controls. Two were before-after studies. The most commonly used hardware and software were head-mounted display and Unity3D, respectively. Interventions had a range of 1-16 sessions with follow-up durations of 0-6 months. All investigations showed positive results in the main target, including improved social participation, reduced level of anxiety, as well as diminished suspicious ideas and paranoid symptoms. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that VR-based interventions are effective treatments. Although the use of VR technology is limited for a variety of reasons, such as cost, it improves symptoms in patients with paranoia

Functional constipation in children: does maternal personality matter?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To identify personality dimensions of mothers with a constipated child and compare it with those mothers of children without defecation problems.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We compared mothers of 150 children with functional constipation to mothers of 150 children with no such a problem attending to pediatric hospital of Tabriz University of medical sciences. Personality dimensions were evaluated by NEO five factor inventory after excluding any psychiatric disorders by an interview.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean age (SD) was 28.8(18.6) months in constipated children and 20.0(19.3) months in controls, 54.6% of constipated children and 56.7% of controls were male. Mean age (SD) was 30.9(7.1) years in mothers of children with functional constipation and 30.1(7.6) years in controls.</p> <p>Mothers of children with functional constipation scored lower in neuroticism and scored higher in extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness. Conscientiousness was the dominant dimension of personality in both groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest the maternal personality as a factor to directly influence toileting behavior of their children resulting in functional constipation.</p

Global environmental risk factors of schizophrenia:A study protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a chronic, complex and severe psychiatric disorder affecting millions of people every year and inflicting different costs to the individual, family and community. A growing body of evidence has introduced several genetic and environmental factors and their interactions as aetiological factors of schizophrenia. The goal of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to present an updated representation of the global environmental risk factors of schizophrenia.Method and analysis: This protocol is developed and reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols guideline. We will systematically search the databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO and Embase until 30 September 2022. We include Cohort studies that have reported one or more risk factors of schizophrenia. We will also search Google Scholar search engine and references lists of included articles. Extracting the relevant data and assessing the quality of the included studies will be independently performed by different authors of our team. The risk of bias for the included studies will be evaluated using Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Subgroup analysis, meta-regression or sensitivity analysis will be our solution to deal with heterogeneity between studies. We will use a funnel diagram as well as Begg and Egger tests to check for possible publication bias.Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval is not required because there will be no primary data collection or human involvement. The results of this study will be published in an international peer-reviewed journal.PROSPERO registration number CRD42022359327.</p

Psychometric properties of hits screening tool (Hurt, insult, threaten, scream) in detecting intimate partner violence in Iranian women

Background: Absence of a screening tool for domestic violence seriously influences clinical practice and research in Iran. Objectives: In this study, a four-item Hurt-Insult-Threaten-Scream (HITS) screening tool was translated into Persian and evaluated in the Iranian women. Methods: The HITS was translated into Persian, evaluated, and finalized by a panel of experts, with acceptable face and content validity. Married women who referred to Psychiatry Clinic and family practice offices of Tabriz and Kermanshah Universities of Medical Sciences first answered Farsi HITS and then underwent a psychiatric interview. The results of these two evaluations were compared. The participants were invited to answer HITS four weeks later again to evaluate the reliability. Results: A total of 269 participants (Azeri, Kurdish and Fars ethnicity) were included with a mean age ± standard deviation of 34.96 ±9.83 years. Based on reports of the psychiatric interview, 58 women (21.5%) were victimized by domestic violence. The ROC curve analysis, reported the best cut-off point for the Persian version of HITS to be 9, giving a sensitivity of 91.4% and a specificity of 94.3%. About 75% showed up for the second time, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for testing the consistency of answers for all questions of Farsi HITS showed acceptable reliability. Conclusions: The Persian version of HITS is now available as a valid tool for screening domestic violence in Iranian women with acceptable validity and reliability

Five personality dimensions in patients with irritable bowel syndrome

Alireza Farnam, Mohammad H Somi, Firouz Sarami, Sara FarhangLiver and Gastrointestinal Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IranAim: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) as a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract has been related to psychological factors. Aim of this study is to study the differences of personality factors between IBS patients compared to our general population.Methods: This study was performed in clinics of Tabriz Medical University during 2006&amp;ndash;2007. IBS was diagnosed using the Rome II diagnostic criteria after exclusion of organic bowel pathology. The entry of each patient was confirmed following a psychiatric interview and after any comorbid psychiatry disorder was ruled out. Personality traits and score of each factor was evaluated using NEO five factor personality inventory compared to results of a previous study on general population of Iran.Results: One hundred and sixty six patients were studied. The mean age (&amp;plusmn;SD) of them was 33.6(&amp;plusmn;11.4) years (60.8% female). Our study population had their symptoms for a mean interval of 47.3 month. The bowel problems were provoked by distress in more than 80% of patients. Pain in female patients was reported to be more frequent but both gender described the association between stressors and their symptoms. NEO Five-Factor Inventory showed a significantly higher level of neuroticism and conscientiousness and lower level of openness and agreeableness in theses nonpsychiatric IBS patients. Women with IBS had significantly higher levels of openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion compared to men.Conclusion: Differences were observed between IBS patients and general population. Patients with IBS may benefit from psychological interventions.Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome, personality, five-factor mode

Psychotic experiences in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder. A cross sectional clinical study

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with heterogeneous and diverse symptoms. A diagnosis is challenging when patients experience psychotic symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate the pattern of psychotic symptoms in patients with OCD. Methods: Using semi-structured clinical interviews, 185 patients meeting the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for OCD were selected. The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Positive/Negative Symptoms (SAPS/SANS) were used to measure the OCD severity and insight levels and the pattern of psychotic symptoms, respectively. Characteristics of patients with and without psychotic experiences were compared. Results: A total of 38 patients (20.5%) displayed psychotic symptoms. Delusions were observed in 63.2% of these patients, while in 13.2% of them, delusions were accompanied with negative symptoms. Men, those aged between 18 and 34 years, less educated, and singles displayed significantly higher rates of psychotic symptoms. The mean Y-BOCS score (26.42 +/- 5.07) was significantly higher in patients with psychotic symptoms than in those without (24.97 +/- 6.38). Conclusion: The results showed that in OCD patients, psychotic symptoms are more common in young

Expression Analysis of Ermin and Listerin E3 Ubiquitin Protein Ligase 1 Genes in the Periphery of Patients with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe mental disorder with an unknown etiology. Recent researches indicate that correct myelination and translational regulation play a role in the pathogeny of SCZ. This study evaluated the expression pattern of Ermin (ERMN) and Listerin E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1 (LTN1) genes, which play a role in myelination and ribosome quality control, respectively. The expression of the ERMN and LTN1 genes in the peripheral blood (PB) of 50 SCZ patients (male/female: 22/28, age (mean ± standard deviation (SD)): 35.9 ± 5.6) and 50 matched healthy controls (male/female: 23/27, age (mean ± SD): 34.7 ± 5.4) were assessed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, we used a bioinformatics approach based on microarray dataset analysis to examine the expression of these two genes in olfactory epithelium (OE) specimens. The expression of ERMN demonstrated no significant differences in PB samples among SCZ patients and healthy controls (adjusted P-value = 0.101). The expression of LTN1 was significantly higher in PB samples obtained from female patients compared with sex-matched controls (posterior beta = 1.734, adjusted P-value < 0.0001). Significant correlations were found between expression of the mentioned genes in PB samples both among SCZ patients and among healthy controls (r = 0.485, P < 0.001 and r = 0.516, P < 0.001, respectively). According to our in silico findings, the ERMN expression levels in OE samples of SCZ were statistically higher than those in controls (log2FC = 1.93, adj.P.Val = 9.66E-15). On the contrary, LTN1 expression levels in OE samples were statistically lower in SCZ cases versus controls (log2FC = − 0.77, adj.P.Val = 2.14E-06). Besides, a significant correlation was found between the expression of the mentioned genes in OE samples (r = − 0.60, P < 0.001). In conclusion, the present study is the first evidence to highlight the expression of the ERMN and LTN1 genes in the periphery of SCZ patients. Our findings may provide light on the SCZ’s pathogeny