Common Mental Disorders And The Use Of Psychoactive Drugs: The Impact Of Socioeconomic Conditions

Objective: To evaluate the infl uence of socioeconomic conditions on the association between common mental disorders and the use of health services and psychoactive drugs. Methods: This was a population-based cross-sectional study conducted in the city of Botucatu, Southeastern Brazil. The sample was probabilistic, stratifi ed and cluster-based. Interviews with 1,023 subjects aged 15 years or over were held in their homes between 2001 and 2002. Common mental disorders were evaluated using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). The use of services was investigated in relation to the fortnight preceding the interview and the use of psychotropic drugs, over the preceding three days. Logistic regression was used for multivariable analysis, and the design effect was taken into consideration. Results: Out of the whole sample, 13.4% (95% CI: 10.7;16.0) had sought health services over the fortnight preceding the interview. Seeking health services was associated with female gender (OR=2.0) and the presence of common mental disorders (OR=2.2). 13.3% of the sample (95% CI: 9.2;17.5) said they had used at least one psychotropic drug, especially antidepressives (5.0%) and benzodiazepines (3.1%). In the multivariable analysis, female gender and the presence of common mental disorders remained associated with the use of benzodiazepines. Per capita income presented a direct and independent association with the use of psychoactive drugs: the greater the income, the greater the use of these drugs was. Conclusions: Lower income was associated with the presence of common mental disorders, but not with the use of psychotropic drugs. The association of common mental disorders and the use of psychotropic drugs in relation to higher income strengthens the hypothesis that inequality of access to medical services exists among this population.424717723Ballester, D.A., Filipon, A.P., Braga, C., Andreoli, S.B., The general practitioner and mental health problems: Challenges and strategies for medical education (2005) Sao Paulo Med J, 123 (2), pp. 72-76. , doi:10.1590/ S1516-31802005000200008Beck, C.A., Williams, J.V., Wang, J.L., Kassam, A., El-Guebaly, N., Currie, S.R., Psychotropic medication use in Canada (2005) Can J Psychiatry, 50 (10), pp. 605-613Galduroz, J.C., Noto, A.R., Nappo, S.A., Carlini, E.L., First household survey on drug abuse in São Paulo, Brazil, 1999: Principal findings (2003) Sao Paulo Med J, 121 (6), pp. 231-237. , doi:10.1590/S1516-31802003000600003Harding, T.W., Arango, M.V., Baltazar, J., Climent, C.E., Ibrahim, H.H., Ladrido-Ignacio, L., Mental disorders in primary health care: A study of their frequency and diagnosis in four developing countries (1980) Psychol Med, 10 (2), pp. 231-241Hart, J.T., The inverse care law (1971) Lancet, 1 (7696), pp. 405-412Hennekens, C.H., Buring, J.E., (1987) Epidemiology in Medicine, , Boston: Little, Brown and Company;Hosmer, D.W., Lemeshow, S., (1989) Applied Logistic Regression, , New York: John Wiley & Sons;Iacoponi, E., Detecção de distúrbios emocionais pelo médico: Impacto do tipo de trabalho médico e do conceito sobre doenças mentais. 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Cardiovascular effects induced by the aqueous fraction of the ethanol extract of the stem of Solanum stipulaceum in rats

The cardiovascular effects induced by the aqueous fraction of the ethanol extract of the stem (AFS) of Solanum stipulaceum Roem. & Schult were studied in rats. In non-anesthetized rats, AFS injections produced significant and dosedependent hypotension associated with increase in heart rate. In isolated rat superior mesenteric rings, AFS was able to antagonize the contractions induced by phenylephrine and KCl. The vasorelaxant activity of AFS was not inhibited by either removal of vascular endothelium, L-NAME, atropine or indomethacine. In isolated rat atrial preparations, AFS produced concentration-related negative inotropic and chronotropic responses. These results suggest that the hypotensive effect of AFS is due to a peripheral vasodilation, which can not be attributed to the participation of vascular endothelium. Finally, AFS acts directly on the heart decreasing contractility and heart rate

Evaluation of high-concentrate diets that vary in physically effective neutral detergent fibre for finishing lambs

The objective of this research was to evaluate lamb diets with a high proportion of concentrate and various levels of physically effective neutral detergent fibre (NDF) using tropical ingredients. Four diets were formulated: D1 with 16.5% physically effective NDF (peNDF), D2 with 21.4% peNDF, D3 with 23.3% peNDF, and D4 with 24.6% peNDF. Twenty male Santa Inês lambs at four months old with an average liveweight (LW) of 18.6 ± 3.4 kg were fed for 49 days. There were no differences (P >0.05) among the diets in dry matter (DM) intake. Crude protein (CP) intake, relative to either LW or metabolic live weight (LW0.75) or LW, was greater (P ≤0.05) for D2 and D3 than for D1 or D4. Lower (P ≤0.05) NDF intake, relative to LW0.75 or LW, was lower for D1 than for the other diets. Selection indexes (SIs) were similar (P >0.05) among diets. Animals that consumed D1 had less (P ≤0.05) rumination time per bolus. Meaningful variations were not observed in performance and efficiency of finishing lambs that were related to differences in peNDF among the diets. Santa Inês lambs were able to adapt to diets with low levels of peNDF by increasing rumination time as a consequence of increased fibre consumption and greater particle size selection