The association between changes in the university educational setting and peer relationships: effects in students' depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: Abrupt life changes imposed by the lockdown measures, with a direct impact on teaching methodology and social interactions, as well as sleeping patterns, harmed university students' mental health. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between satisfaction with online teaching, social interaction with depression, anxiety symptomatology, and to analyze the effects of the pandemic and the lockdown in mental care access. Methods: The online survey collected demographic data, satisfaction with online teaching, and social interaction. We evaluated the depression and anxiety symptomatology using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder, respectively. For the PHQ-9, we used the cut-off 15 for moderately severe depressive symptoms, whereas for GAD-7, we recurred to the cut-off 10 for moderately severe anxiety symptoms. This study used three data points: October 2019, June 2020, and March 2021. Findings: The study included n = 366 participants from all university study fields, with a mean age of 21.71 (SD = 1.42) in the last survey, and 71.3% were women. Depressive symptoms increased significantly from October 2019 to June 2020, and the mean scores grew until March 2021. Anxiety symptoms also significantly increased from October 2019 to June 2020; however, from June 2020 to March 2021, there was a non-significant decrease in the proportion. Mean scores for satisfaction with online teaching were 38.23% in June 2020 and 34.25% in March 2021, a non-significant difference. Satisfaction with social interaction significantly decreased from 37.35% in 2020 to 24.41% in 2021. Participants with scores above the cut-off of moderately severe and severe depressive and anxiety symptoms showed significantly lower satisfaction with online teaching than students with lower depression and anxiety scores. Despite the significant increase in clinical symptomatology, help-seeking behaviors did not change accordingly, and more than 50% of the students with mild or severe depressive and anxiety symptomatology did not get treatment during the pandemic. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that most students are dissatisfied with online teaching and the type of social interaction they were forced to adopt because of the pandemic. The severity of depressive and anxiety symptomatology significantly increased between October 2019 and March 2021, but help-seeking behaviors did not increase accordingly

Apresentação

Apresentação da 15ª edição da Revista Argumento

Rapid identification of Aspergillus fumigatus within the section Fumigati

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>New fungal species that are morphologically similar to <it>Aspergillus fumigatus </it>were recently described and included in section <it>Fumigati</it>. Misidentification of such fungal species, particularly of the human pathogens, <it>Aspergillus lentulus</it>, <it>Neosartorya fischeri</it>, <it>Neosartorya hiratsukae</it>, <it>Neosartorya pseudofischeri </it>and <it>Neosartorya udagawae</it>, has been increasingly reported by numerous clinical labs. Nevertheless, <it>A. fumigatus </it>still accounts for more than 90% of all invasive aspergillosis cases. The purpose of the present study was to develop a rapid method for the molecular identification of <it>A. fumigatus </it>to distinguish it from other species within the section <it>Fumigati</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A multiplex PCR was developed using prior information based on β-tubulin (βtub) and rodlet A (rodA) partial gene sequences. PCR amplification of βtub and rodA fragments resulted in a distinctive electrophoretic pattern in <it>A. fumigatus </it>and <it>N. udagawae</it>. The polymorphisms found in the smallest amplified sequence of βtub (153 bp) and rodA (103 bp) genes were then compared among and within species of this taxonomic section. βtub was able to differentiate among 13 individual species and two groups of species that included the pathogenic fungus <it>A. lentulus</it>. A more limited number of sequences were available for rodA; nevertheless, we were able to distinguish <it>Aspergillus viridinutans, N. hiratsukae </it>and <it>N. udagawae</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The assay described in the present study proved to be specific and highly reproducible, representing a fast and economic way of targeting molecular identification of the relevant mould, <it>A. fumigatus</it>, in clinical laboratories.</p

A new viewpoint on the etiopathogenesis of depression : insights from the neurophysiology of deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's Disease and treatment-resistant depression

Copyright © 2021 Silva-dos-Santos, Sales, Sebastião and Gusmão. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.In this opinion article, we humbly propose a new viewpoint on the etiopathogenesis of depression. We base the model on our interpretation of selected recent neurophysiological findings, mainly regarding Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) to treat Parkinson’s Disease and also DBS to treat Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD). We coin the idea a mental kindling-like mechanism. However, future clinical research, possibly complemented with human laboratory research or animal experiments, will be needed to test the validity of our proposed model. On the current manuscript framework, following the first and introductory section, we will set the stage by presenting selected studies and insights mainly from DBS to treat TRD and PD, on the second and middle section. Finally, we will discuss the proposed viewpoint on the third and last section of the present work.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sudden and Transient Block of Left Brain Hemisphere Activity in Catatonic Patients Undergoing Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

Introduction: In the last 21 years, there has been an increase in studies on visual and quantitative EEG (qEEG). Although new findings have been reported, such as the extreme delta brush waves in anti-NMDA receptors encephalitis, there are still undocumented visual EEG alterations. In Psychiatry, these new findings are harder to detect because most patients do not undergo routine EEG. In this work, we report for the first time an EEG finding of a sudden and transient block of left brain hemisphere activity in two patients who underwent treatment with ECT. Methods: The EEG activity of the two patients undergoing ECT treatment was recorded using a Thymatron System IV device. Patient number 1: 23 year-old man with severe major depressive disorder with psychotic features and catatonia. Patient number 2: 48 year-old woman with bipolar disorder with mixed features and catatonia. Results and Discussion: The EEG recording of these two patients during their ECTs sessions showed a sudden and transient block (or arrest) of the left brain hemisphere activity. These findings are not attributed to background noise, electrode disconnection or device malfunction. Also, they were detected in two different patients. In patient 2 in two distinct admissions, two hospitals, utilizing two devices and by two different observers. After clinical improvement, these EEG alterations were not detected. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first report of a sudden and transient block of the left brain hemisphere activity in psychiatric patients. Although the exact meaning of this finding remains unknown, a comparison can be made between this transient bradypsychia/block (arrest) of brain activity and bradycardia events in cardiology. We acknowledge the need for further studies to better understand these findings, particularly studies addressing different EEG abnormalities and the clinical traits they are associated with.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Presence of cells of the cervical transicional zone in cervicovaginal smears in women older than 40 years old

OBJETIVO: avaliar a frequência de células da junção escamo-colunar (JEC) em esfregaços cérvico-vaginais de mulheres com 40 anos ou mais. MÉTODOS: foi realizado um estudo retrospectivo, com revisão de 24.316 laudos colpocitológicos realizados no período de janeiro de 2005 a dezembro de 2008, para avaliação dos casos sem material da JEC. Os critérios de exclusão foram: hiterectomia total, esfregaços com atrofia intensa ou insatisfatórios para análise, casos sem visualização do colo uterino ou com o orifício externo do colo uterino fechado ao exame e aqueles sem a idade da paciente. Foram incluídas neste estudo 21.866 citologias cérvico-vaginais. Avaliou-se a relação entre a presença de material da JEC e uso de terapia de reposição hormonal (TRH) nas pacientes com 40 anos ou mais e a relação entre presença de material da JEC e processo inflamatório moderado a intenso nas pacientes com idade inferior ou igual a 39 anos. Para análise estatística utilizou-se o teste do &#967;2 e o teste de razão de chances. RESULTADOS: apenas 11,2% das pacientes com idade inferior a 40 anos não apresentavam material da JEC em seus esfregaços, enquanto nas pacientes com 40 anos ou mais, 47% não apresentavam (p=0,0001). A maioria das pacientes com 40 anos ou mais (92,1%) não fazia uso de TRH e este não foi um fator preditor da incidência de material da JEC nestas pacientes (p>0,05). Em contrapartida, a maioria das pacientes com idade inferior a 40 anos sem material da JEC (74,5%) apresenta inflamação exuberante no esfregaço (p=0,0001). CONCLUSÃO: pacientes com 40 anos ou mais apresentam uma menor incidência de material da JEC em esfregaços cérvico-vaginais, e inflamação é um fator que contribui para ausência de material da JEC nos esfregaços das pacientes com idade inferior a 40 anos.PURPOSE: to evaluate the frequency of cells of the cervical transitional zone (CTZ) in cervicovaginal smears of women older than 40 years. METHODS: we conducted a retrospective study with review of 24,316 Pap smear reports during the period from January 2005 to December 2008, to evaluate the cases without material of the CTZ. Exclusion criteria were: total hysterectomy, smears with severe atrophy or unsatisfactory for analysis, cases without visualization of the cervix or the external orifice of the cervix closed during examination and records without the patient's age. A total of 21,866 cervical-vaginal cytology reports were included in this study. We evaluated the relationship between the presence of material of the CTZ and use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in patients aged 40 years or more and the relationship between presence of material of the CTZ and a moderate to intense inflammatory process in patients aged 39 years or less. Data were analyzed statistically by the &#967;2 test and Odds Ratio. RESULTS: only 11.2% of patients younger than 40 years had no material from the CTZ in their smears, while 47% patients older than 40 years had no material from the CTZ (p=0.0001). Most patients aged 40 years or more (92.1%) did not use HRT and this was not a predictor of incidence of CTZ material in these patients (p> 0.05). In contrast, most patients younger than 40 years without CTZ material (74.5%) had abundant inflammation in the smears (p=0.0001). CONCLUSION: patients aged 40 years or more had a lower incidence of material from the CTZ in cervicovaginal smears, and inflammation was a factor that contributed to the absence of CTZ material in the smears from patients younger than 40 years

Uma breve revisão de literatura sobre os idosos, o envelhecimento e saúde / A brief literature review on elderly, aging and health

O envelhecimento é um processo fisiológico que acontece ao longo do tempo permeado de mudanças biológicas, psicossociais e culturais. Mediante o aumento da expectativa de vida e consequentemente do envelhecimento populacional a nível mundial as instituições asilares ganham destaque no cuidar desses idosos, fazendo-se necessário assim conhecer como é a vida dos idosos neste ambiente