The association between depression and anti-Müllerian hormone in premenopausal women with secondary amenorrhea

BackgroundMood disturbance has been described in women with menstrual abnormalities.AimsTo access the prevalence of depression in patients with secondary amenorrhea (SA), and investigate the relationship between depressive scores and serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels among these women. Methods Sixty-six women with SA completed the Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Rating Scales (CES-D) and Hamilton-Depression Rating Scales (HAM-D) in a university hospital. Clinical and biochemical parameters were measured in all individuals, and their associations with depressive scores were analysed.Results Among the 66 patients with SA, 42 (63.6 per cent) were diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome, followed by 14 patients (21.2 per cent) with unexplained chronic anovulation, and the remaining 10 (15.2 per cent) were identified as primary ovarian insufficiency or low ovarian reserve. In the analysis of CES-D Scales, 21 (31.8 per cent) women had scores indicative of depression. Serum AMH levels and antral follicle counts were lower in patients with depressive symptoms than those in patients without depressive symptoms. (4.76±4.77ng/ml vs. 10.49±7.52ng/ml (P=0.003), 10.67±6.20 vs. 14.78±7.35 (P=0.030), respectively). The CES-D and HAM-D scores also correlated negatively with serum AMH levels after adjusting age, body mass index and androgen level (γ=-0.429, P=0.001 and γ=-0.428, P=0.001).ConclusionThis cross-sectional study showed that the prevalence of depression in SA patients was high and higher depressive scores were associated with lower serum AMH levels. This observation suggests that decreased AMH level may possibly be linked to a particular spectrum of depression in patients with SA

COMPARISON OF THE RISK FACTORS OF KOREAN ADOLESCENT SUICIDE RESIDING IN HIGH SUICIDAL REGIONS VERSUS THOSE IN LOW SUICIDAL REGIONS

Background: The suicide rate of the youth in South Korea has been increasing, and suicide of the youth still has been the most common cause of death since 2007. We aimed to determine the trends and the regional risk factors of youth suicide in South Korea from 2001 to 2010. Subjects and Methods: We used the data from the National Statistical Office to calculate the standardized suicide rates and various regional data including population census, employment, and labor. To calculate the effect of individual risk factors, we used the data from the fourth Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBWS-VI). Conditional autoregressive model for regional standardized mortality ratio (SMR) using inter-regional spatial information was fitted. Results: Suicide rates of adolescents aged 12 to 18 was from 3.5 per 100,000 people in 2001 and 5.3 per 100,000 in 2010. There were no significant gender difference in suicide rates, however, the number of suicides among adolescents aged 15-18 accounted for four times than those of adolescents ages 12-14. High proportion of late adolescents, higher number of recipients of national basic livelihood, and higher number of adolescents who treated with depression were related to elevated suicide rate of adolescent. Total sleep time of adolescents and regional unemployment rate were negatively associated with the suicide risk of respective regions. Conclusions: Age distribution, economic status, total sleep time, and the number of adolescent patients with depression were different between those in low and in high adolescent suicidal regions in Korea. Our findings suggest that preferential appliance of adolescent suicide prevention program for regions by considering those factors may be important steps to reduce adolescent suicide in Korea

Characteristics of pediatric rhabdomyolysis and the associated risk factors for acute kidney injury: a retrospective multicenter study in Korea

Background The clinical features of pediatric rhabdomyolysis differ from those of the adults with rhabdomyolysis; however, multicenter studies are lacking. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of pediatric rhabdomyolysis and reveal the risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in such cases. Methods This retrospective study analyzed the medical records of children and adolescents diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis at 23 hospitals in South Korea between January 2007 and December 2016. Results Among 880 patients, those aged 3 to 5 years old composed the largest subgroup (19.4%), and all age subgroups were predominantly male. The incidence of AKI was 11.3%. Neurological disorders (53.6%) and infection (39.0%) were the most common underlying disorder and cause of rhabdomyolysis, respectively. The median age at diagnosis in the AKI subgroup was older than that in the non-AKI subgroup (12.2 years vs. 8.0 years). There were no significant differences in body mass index, myalgia, dark-colored urine, or the number of causal factors between the two AKI-status subgroups. The multivariate logistic regression model indicated that the following factors were independently associated with AKI: multiorgan failure, presence of an underlying disorder, strong positive urine occult blood, increased aspartate aminotransferase and uric acid levels, and reduced calcium levels. Conclusions Our study revealed characteristic clinical and laboratory features of rhabdomyolysis in a Korean pediatric population and highlighted the risk factors for AKI in these cases. Our findings will contribute to a greater understanding of pediatric rhabdomyolysis and may enable early intervention against rhabdomyolysis-induced AKI

Correlation between Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Level and Depression among Korean Women with Secondary Amenorrhea: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study

Vitamin D deficiency is considered a major public health problem worldwide and has been reported as having an association with depression. However, studies on the association between vitamin D deficiency and depressive symptoms in secondary amenorrhea (SA) patients are still scarce. This study examined the relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and depressive symptoms among Korean women with SA. In this cross-sectional observational study, 78 patients with SA were initially recruited. Clinical and biochemical parameters, including serum 25(OH)D level, were measured. Data from 63 SA patients who met the study inclusion criteria and completed psychiatric assessments were finally analyzed. We analyzed their association with depression using a hierarchical regression model. The average serum 25(OH)D level was 34.40 ± 24.02 ng/mL, and 41.3% of the women with SA were vitamin D-deficient (<20 ng/mL). The total score of the Korean version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (K-HDRS) was negatively related to serum 25(OH)D levels, free testosterone, and serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) after adjusting for age and BMI (r = −0.450, p < 0.001; r = −0.258, p = 0.045; and r = −0.339, p = 0.006, respectively). Serum 25(OH)D levels and AMH levels were the most powerful predictors of depressive severity when using the K-HDRS in SA patients (β = −0.39, p < 0.005; β = −0.42, p < 0.005, respectively). This study showed that low serum 25(OH)D levels were associated with the severity of depressive symptoms in SA patients. This observation suggests that the evaluation of vitamin D deficiency for the risk of depression may be necessary in patients with SA

Care Farming Program for Family Health: A Pilot Study with Mothers and Children

We designed a pilot study to develop a family interaction model-integrated a care farming program with mother-child pairs as the participants. In this pilot study, we aimed to assess the effects of the care farming program on communication skills and psychological health in families. Sixteen mother-child pairs in Sejong, South Korea participated in this study. The families participated in a care farming program once a week for six weeks (90 min per session) between May and July 2018. The care farming program was developed based on parenting education skills, strengths-based cognitive behavioral therapy, and the emotional intelligence model; the result was a family interaction model intended to improve communication and psychological health among mothers and children. The program consisted of gardening activities such as making a garden plot, planting transplants, harvesting, and cooking the harvested crops. Upon completion of the six-session program, we evaluated communication with the Parent-Children Communication Inventory, depression with the Beck Depression Inventory, and resilience with the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale among the mothers. We also evaluated emotional intelligence among the children with the Emotional Intelligence Scale. According to post-intervention results, mothers showed significantly increased resilience, improved communication skills with their child, and decreased depression, while children showed significantly improved emotional intelligence (p < 0.05). Despite the study’s limitation in establishing causality between the care farming program and the observed effects on family health, the care farming program clearly contributed to the observed improvements of mother-child communication skills, mothers’ psychological health, and children’s emotional intelligence, which in turn improved overall family health

Antifungal Activity of Thymol against Aspergillus awamori and Botrytis aclada Isolated from Stored Onion Bulbs

AbstractThe antifungal activity of thymol against Aspergillus awamori F23 and Botrytis aclada F15 in onions was examined through direct treatment with amended media and gaseous treatment with I-plates (plastic plates containing central partitions). The protective and curative control efficacy of thymol was examined 24 h before and after the inoculation of onion bulbs with the fungal isolates. Mycelial growth, sporulation, and spore germination of the isolates were inhibited on potato dextrose agar amended with various concentrations of thymol or acetic acid (positive control). Overall, thymol produced a stronger inhibitory effect on the mycelial growth and development of the isolates than acetic acid. Following gaseous treatment in I-plates, mycelial growth, sporulation, and spore germination of the isolates were inhibited at higher concentrations of thymol or acetic acid; however, acetic acid showed a little effect on the sporulation and spore germination of the isolates. Following the treatment of onion bulbs with 1000 mg L−1 of thymol 24 h before and after fungal inoculation, lesion diameter was greatly reduced compared with that following treatment with 0.5% ethanol (solvent control). Onion bulbs sprayed with thymol 24 h before fungal inoculation generally showed reduced lesion diameters by isolate F23 but not in isolate F15 compared with those sprayed 24 h after fungal inoculation. Collectively, thymol effectively inhibited the growth and development of A. awamori and B. aclada on amended media and in I-plates. In addition, spraying or fumigation of thymol is more desirable for effectively controlling these postharvest fungal pathogens during long-term storage conditions