Rural residence is not a risk factor for frequent mental distress: a behavioral risk factor surveillance survey

BACKGROUND: Residents of rural areas may be at increased risk of mental health problems. If so, public health programs aimed at preventing poor mental health may have to be customized for delivery to rural areas. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between residing in a rural area and frequent mental distress, which is one indicator of poor mental health. METHODS: The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey for the state of Texas was the source of information about obesity, demographic characteristics, and frequent mental distress (FMD). FMD was defined as poor self-rated mental health during at least half of the days in the last month. Adjusted odds for FMD were computed for rural and suburban respondents relative to urban respondents. RESULTS: FMD was found to be independently associated with lower education, being younger, being non-Hispanic, being unmarried, and being female. FMD also was associated with being obese or underweight and suburban residence (relative to metro-central city). FMD was not more common among rural respondents than in the metro-central city. CONCLUSION: Rural respondents were not at greater risk of frequent mental distress than urban respondents in this sample. Programs seeking to improve community mental health should target persons with less education and extremes in body weight, along with women and single persons, regardless of whether they live in rural or urban areas

Self-esteem, stress and self-rated health in family planning clinic patients

BACKGROUND: The independent effects of stress on the health of primary care patients might be different for different types of clinic populations. This study examines these relationships in a low-income female population of patients attending a family planning clinic. METHODS: This study investigated the relevance of different sources of personal stress and social support to self-rated health, adjusting for mental health, health behavior and demographic characteristics of subjects. Five hundred women who attended family planning clinics were surveyed and 345 completed the form for a response rate of 72 percent. RESULTS: Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that liking oneself was related to good self-rated health (Odds ratio = 7.11), but stress or support from children, parents, friends, churches or spouses were not significant. White non-Hispanic and non-white non-Hispanic respondents had lower odds of reporting good self-rated health than Hispanic respondents (odds ratios were 2.87 and 2.81, respectively). Exercising five or more days per week also was related to good self-rated health. Smoking 20 or more cigarettes per day, and obese III were negatively related to good self-rated health (odds ratios were .19 and .22, respectively with corresponding p-values equal to .0043 and .0332). CONCLUSIONS: Among younger low-income women, addressing low self-esteem might improve health status

Psychosocial risk factors for obesity among women in a family planning clinic

BACKGROUND: The epidemiology of obesity in primary care populations has not been thoroughly explored. This study contributes to filling this gap by investigating the relationship between obesity and different sources of personal stress, mental health, exercise, and demographic characteristics. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey using a convenience sample. Five hundred women who attended family planning clinics were surveyed and 274 provided completed answers to all of the questions analyzed in this study. Exercise, self-rated mental health, stress, social support, and demographic variables were included in the survey. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: After adjusting for mental health, exercise, and demographic characteristics of subjects, analysis of the data indicated that that being having a large family and receiving no support from parents were related to obesity in this relatively young low-income primary care sample, but self-reported stress and most types of social support were not significant. CONCLUSION: Obesity control programs in primary care centers directed at low-income women should target women who have large families and who are not receiving support from their parents

Patterns of alcohol drinking and its association with obesity: data from the third national health and nutrition examination survey, 1988–1994

BACKGROUND: Recent reports suggest that alcohol use may have a protective effect on obesity. This study explores association between obesity and alcohol consumption in the non-smoking U.S. adult population. METHODS: We analyzed data on a total of 8,236 respondents who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Body mass index (weight-kg/height-m(2)) was derived from measured height and weight data and categorized into: normal weight, overweight, and obese. Alcohol consumption was measured using following measures: history of drinking, binge drinking, quantity of drinks/day, frequency of drinking, and average volume of drinks/week. RESULTS: Mean body mass index in this sample of non-smokers was 26.4 (95% CI: 26.1, 26.7). Approximately 46% of respondents were classified as current drinkers. Current drinkers had lower odds of obesity (Adjusted odds ratio = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.55, 0.97) as compared to non-drinkers. The odds of overweight and obesity were significantly greater among binge drinkers and those consuming four or more drinks/day. However, those who reported drinking one or two drinks per day had 0.46 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.62) and 0.59 (95% CI: 0.41, 0.86) times the odds of obesity, respectively. Similarly, the odds of obesity were significantly lower among those who reported drinking frequently and consuming less than five drinks per week. The association between overweight and other alcohol measures was less pronounced. CONCLUSION: The results suggest further exploring the possible role of moderate alcohol drinking in controlling body weight in adults

The relationship between obesity, hyperglycemia symptoms, and health-related quality of life among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white children and adolescents

BACKGROUND: The current study was conducted to evaluate the effects of overweight, hyperglycemia symptoms, Hispanic ethnicity, and language barriers on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among children and adolescents. METHODS: Parents'/guardians of a population based sample of 5530 children between ages 3 and 18 were administered the parents' version of the KINDL(® )survey instrument to assess HRQoL in children and adolescents. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess relationships between HRQoL, body mass index, and hyperglycemia symptoms categories. RESULTS: The mean age of children was 10.6 (SD = 4.3). The mean KINDL(® )total score was 79.7 (SD = 11.6) and the mean physical functioning score was 81.9 (SD = 20.3). Male children exhibited better physical health as compared to the female children (p < 0.001). Overweight children had lower overall HRQoL (p = 0.008). However, the association was not significant for the four of the six subscales including the physical health domain. Children with hyperglycemia symptoms and a family history of diabetes also had significantly lower overall and physical health HRQoL (p < 0.05). Children diagnosed with diabetes and in lower income strata also had significantly lower overall HRQoL (p < 0.05). No significant association between the Hispanic ethnicity and HRQoL was observed. However, those who reported mostly speaking Spanish exhibited significantly lower overall HRQoL (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Results suggest that overweight may reduce overall quality of life among children, though it does not directly influence physical functioning. However, hyperglycemia symptoms may affect both overall health and physical functioning. Findings also suggest the need for developing programs directed at overcoming language barriers that may face Spanish-speaking children or their parents. Furthermore, targeting children who have hyperglycemia symptoms with public information campaigns may be more appropriate than targeting overweight children

Apraxia and motor dysfunction in corticobasal syndrome

Background: Corticobasal syndrome (CBS) is characterized by multifaceted motor system dysfunction and cognitive disturbance; distinctive clinical features include limb apraxia and visuospatial dysfunction. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to study motor system dysfunction in CBS, but the relationship of TMS parameters to clinical features has not been studied. The present study explored several hypotheses; firstly, that limb apraxia may be partly due to visuospatial impairment in CBS. Secondly, that motor system dysfunction can be demonstrated in CBS, using threshold-tracking TMS, and is linked to limb apraxia. Finally, that atrophy of the primary motor cortex, studied using voxel-based morphometry analysis (VBM), is associated with motor system dysfunction and limb apraxia in CBS.   Methods: Imitation of meaningful and meaningless hand gestures was graded to assess limb apraxia, while cognitive performance was assessed using the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination - Revised (ACE-R), with particular emphasis placed on the visuospatial subtask. Patients underwent TMS, to assess cortical function, and VBM.   Results: In total, 17 patients with CBS (7 male, 10 female; mean age 64.4+/2 6.6 years) were studied and compared to 17 matched control subjects. Of the CBS patients, 23.5% had a relatively inexcitable motor cortex, with evidence of cortical dysfunction in the remaining 76.5% patients. Reduced resting motor threshold, and visuospatial performance, correlated with limb apraxia. Patients with a resting motor threshold <50% performed significantly worse on the visuospatial sub-task of the ACE-R than other CBS patients. Cortical function correlated with atrophy of the primary and pre-motor cortices, and the thalamus, while apraxia correlated with atrophy of the pre-motor and parietal cortices.   Conclusions: Cortical dysfunction appears to underlie the core clinical features of CBS, and is associated with atrophy of the primary motor and pre-motor cortices, as well as the thalamus, while apraxia correlates with pre-motor and parietal atrophy

Challenges in Ceramic Science: A Report from the Workshop on Emerging Research Areas in Ceramic Science

In March 2012, a group of researchers met to discuss emerging topics in ceramic science and to identify grand challenges in the field. By the end of the workshop, the group reached a consensus on eight challenges for the future:—understanding rare events in ceramic microstructures, understanding the phase-like behavior of interfaces, predicting and controlling heterogeneous microstructures with unprecedented functionalities, controlling the properties of oxide electronics, understanding defects in the vicinity of interfaces, controlling ceramics far from equilibrium, accelerating the development of new ceramic materials, and harnessing order within disorder in glasses. This paper reports the outcomes of the workshop and provides descriptions of these challenges

ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries

This review summarizes the last decade of work by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, a global alliance of over 1400 scientists across 43 countries, studying the human brain in health and disease. Building on large-scale genetic studies that discovered the first robustly replicated genetic loci associated with brain metrics, ENIGMA has diversified into over 50 working groups (WGs), pooling worldwide data and expertise to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and genetics. Most ENIGMA WGs focus on specific psychiatric and neurological conditions, other WGs study normal variation due to sex and gender differences, or development and aging; still other WGs develop methodological pipelines and tools to facilitate harmonized analyses of "big data" (i.e., genetic and epigenetic data, multimodal MRI, and electroencephalography data). These international efforts have yielded the largest neuroimaging studies to date in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More recent ENIGMA WGs have formed to study anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sleep and insomnia, eating disorders, irritability, brain injury, antisocial personality and conduct disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Here, we summarize the first decade of ENIGMA's activities and ongoing projects, and describe the successes and challenges encountered along the way. We highlight the advantages of collaborative large-scale coordinated data analyses for testing reproducibility and robustness of findings, offering the opportunity to identify brain systems involved in clinical syndromes across diverse samples and associated genetic, environmental, demographic, cognitive, and psychosocial factors