Sources of stress, coping strategies and counselling needs, among university students in Kingdom of Bahrain

The aim of this study was: (1) to identify the main sources of stress that affect students' level of stress, students' coping strategies and their counselling needs. (2) To identify the relationship between sources of stress and coping strategies. (3) The effect of gender and Locality on sources of stress, level of stress, coping strategies and counselling needs. This study utilised both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Two hundred university students, represented by 80 female and 120 males, completed a constructed and standardised sources of stress questionnaire. A constructed and standardised questionnaire was used to measure students' needs for counselling. In addition, a translated and standardised Coping Strategies questionnaire by Lazarus and Folkman (1988) was used to measure the types of coping strategies used by the students. A translated standardised Perceived Stress questionnaire by Cohen et at (1983) was used to measure the level of stress. Reliability analysis revealed that the overall instrument demonstrated high reliability and validity. Findings revealed the different levels of importance that each source of stress and coping strategy was perceived to have had on students, this result indicated that students identified time management as the most frequent sources of stress, followed by religious and ethical, then the academic domains. The family domain was considered to be the source of least stress experienced by university students. In addition, the coping strategies reported to be used most by these students is accepting responsibility followed by positive reappraisal, then problem solving. Escape avoidance and distancing strategies were reported as less used strategies. It was found that financial issues had a significant effect on social support and problem solving coping strategies. Religion had a significant effect on the strategy of accepting responsibilities. Personal issues had a significant effect on the escape avoidance strategy. While, academic stress, in particular, has a significant effect on several coping strategies. Gender had a significant effect on level of stress from two sources of stress: Religious/Ethical and Personal stress, and one coping strategy: Escape avoidance. Females reported higher levels of stress, higher levels of sources of stress, and higher reported coping strategy use than males. Locality had a significant effect on counselling needs; Non- Homestudents experience more need for counselling than Home- students. Locality had a significant effect on. The mean use of coping strategies was greater for non- home students than Home- students. The results from this study suggest that university students do experience a significant level of stressful life events. Therefore, it is important that counsellors and teachers address the impact of stressful life events on a university student's well being. Conducting ongoing assessments of the level of stress experienced by university students might help counsellors or teachers intervene earlier and hence target better services to the population of students. Also, considering the unique sources for minority students, counsellors or teachers more appropriately should target unique interventions to meet their needs. The study also provides information that could help to reduce stress among university setting as it might be used as a reference point for counsellors, teachers, researcher when investigating university students stress and coping experience in Kingdom of Bahrain or any other Arabic country. The current constructed stress sources and counselling needs questionnaire could be also used by the researcher interested in this area.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceUniversity of BahrainGBUnited Kingdo

A novel form of recessive limb girdle muscular dystrophy with mental retardation and abnormal expression of alpha-dystroglycan

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The limb girdle muscular dystrophies are a heterogeneous group of conditions characterized by proximal muscle weakness and disease onset ranging from infancy to adulthood. We report here eight patients from seven unrelated families affected by a novel and relatively mild form of autosomal recessive limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD2) with onset in the first decade of life and characterized by severe mental retardation but normal brain imaging. Immunocytochemical studies revealed a significant selective reduction of α-dystroglycan expression in the muscle biopsies. Linkage analysis excluded known loci for both limb girdle muscular dystrophy and congenital muscular dystrophies in the consanguineous families. We consider that this represents a novel form of muscular dystrophy with associated brain involvement. The biochemical studies suggest that it may belong to the growing number of muscular dystrophies with abnormal expression of α-dystroglycan. © 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V

The role of apolipoprotein N-acyl transferase, Lnt, in the lipidation of factor H binding protein of Neisseria meningitidis strain MC58 and its potential as a drug target

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The level of cell surface expression of the meningococcal vaccine antigen, Factor H binding protein (FHbp) varies between and within strains and this limits the breadth of strains that can be targeted by FHbp-based vaccines. The molecular pathway controlling expression of FHbp at the cell surface, including its lipidation, sorting to the outer membrane and export, and the potential regulation of this pathway have not been investigated until now. This knowledge will aid our evaluation of FHbp vaccines. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH A meningococcal transposon library was screened by whole cell immuno-dot blotting using an anti-FHbp antibody to identify a mutant with reduced binding and the disrupted gene was determined. KEY RESULTS In a mutant with markedly reduced binding, the transposon was located in the lnt gene which encodes apolipoprotein N-acyl transferase, Lnt, responsible for the addition of the third fatty acid to apolipoproteins prior to their sorting to the outer membrane. We provide data indicating that in the Lnt mutant, FHbp is diacylated and its expression within the cell is reduced 10 fold, partly due to inhibition of transcription. Furthermore the Lnt mutant showed 64 fold and 16 fold increase in susceptibility to rifampicin and ciprofloxacin respectively. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS We speculate that the inefficient sorting of diacylated FHbp in the meningococcus results in its accumulation in the periplasm inducing an envelope stress response to down-regulate its expression. We propose Lnt as a potential novel drug target for combination therapy with antibiotics

Prenatal muscle development in a mouse model for the secondary dystroglycanopathies

The defective glycosylation of α-dystroglycan is associated with a group of muscular dystrophies that are collectively referred to as the secondary dystroglycanopathies. Mutations in the gene encoding fukutin-related protein (FKRP) are one of the most common causes of secondary dystroglycanopathy in the UK and are associated with a wide spectrum of disease. Whilst central nervous system involvement has a prenatal onset, no studies have addressed prenatal muscle development in any of the mouse models for this group of diseases. In view of the pivotal role of α-dystroglycan in early basement membrane formation, we sought to determine if the muscle formation was altered in a mouse model of FKRP-related dystrophy

Stroke secondary prevention, a non-surgical and non-pharmacological consensus definition : results of a Delphi study

OBJECTIVE: Evidence supporting lifestyle modification in vascular risk reduction is limited, drawn largely from primary prevention studies. To advance the evidence base for non-pharmacological and non-surgical stroke secondary prevention (SSP), empirical research is needed, informed by a consensus-derived definition of SSP. To date, no such definition has been published. We used Delphi methods to generate an evidence-based definition of non-pharmacological and non-surgical SSP. RESULTS: The 16 participants were members of INSsPiRE (International Network of Stroke Secondary Prevention Researchers), a multidisciplinary group of trialists, academics and clinicians. The Elicitation stage identified 49 key elements, grouped into 3 overarching domains: Risk factors, Education, and Theory before being subjected to iterative stages of elicitation, ranking, discussion, and anonymous voting. In the Action stage, following an experience-based engagement with key stakeholders, a consensus-derived definition, complementing current pharmacological and surgical SSP pathways, was finalised: Non-pharmacological and non-surgical stroke secondary prevention supports and improves long-term health and well-being in everyday life and reduces the risk of another stroke, by drawing from a spectrum of theoretically informed interventions and educational strategies. Interventions to self-manage modifiable lifestyle risk factors are contextualized and individualized to the capacities, needs, and personally meaningful priorities of individuals with stroke and their families

Th1 Disabled Function in Response to TLR4 Stimulation of Monocyte-Derived DC from Patients Chronically-Infected by Hepatitis C Virus

Background: Lack of protective antibodies and inefficient cytotoxic responses are characteristics of chronic hepatitis C infection. A defect in dendritic cell (DC) function has thus been suspected, but this remains a controversial issue. Methods and Findings: Here we show that monocyte-derived DC (MoDC) from chronically-infected patients can mature in response to TLR1/2, TLR2/6 or TLR3 ligands. In contrast, when stimulated with the TLR4 ligand LPS, MoDC from patients show a profound defect in inducing IFNc secretion by allogeneic T cells. This defect is not due to defective phenotypic maturation or to the presence of HCV-RNA in DC or monocytes but is correlated to reduced IL-12 secretion by DC. Restoration of DC ability to stimulate IFNc secretion can be obtained by blocking MEK activation in DC, indicating that MEK/ ERK pathway is involved in the Th1 defect of MoDC. Monocytes from HCV patients present increased spontaneous secretion of cytokines and chemokines, especially MIP-1b. Addition of MIP-1b on healthy monocytes during differentiation results in DC that have Th1 defect characteristic of MoDC from HCV patients, suggesting that MIP-1b secretion by HCV monocytes participates in the Th1 defect of DC. Conclusions: Our data indicate that monocytes from HCV patients are activated in vivo. This interferes with their differentiation into DC, leading to deficient TLR4 signaling in these cells that are enable to induce a Th1 response. Thi

The impact of pre‐operative intravenous iron on quality of life after colorectal cancer surgery: outcomes from the intravenous iron in colorectal cancer‐associated anaemia (IVICA) trial

Anaemia is associated with a reduction in quality of life, and is common in patients with colorectal cancer . Werecently reported thefindings of the intravenous iron in colorectal cancer-associated anaemia (IVICA) trialcomparing haemoglobin levels and transfusion requirements following intravenous or oral iron replacement inanaemic colorectal cancer patients undergoing elective surgery. In this follow-up study, we compared theefficacy of intravenous and oral iron at improving quality of life in this patient group. We conducted amulticentre, open-label randomised controlled trial. Anaemic colorectal cancer patients were randomlyallocated at least two weeks pre-operatively, to receive either oral (ferrous sulphate) or intravenous (ferriccarboxymaltose) iron. We assessed haemoglobin and quality of life scores at recruitment, immediately beforesurgery and at outpatient review approximately three months postoperatively, using the Short Form 36,EuroQoL 5-dimension 5-level and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Anaemia questionnaires. Werecruited 116 anaemic patients across seven UK centres (oral iron n=61 (53%), and intravenous iron n=55(47%)). Eleven quality of life components increased by a clinically significant margin in the intravenous irongroup between recruitment and surgery compared with one component for oral iron. Median (IQR [range])visual analogue scores were significantly higher with intravenous iron at a three month outpatient review (oraliron 70, (60–85 [20–95]); intravenous iron 90 (80–90 [50–100]), p=0.001). The Functional Assessment ofCancer Therapy–Anaemia score comprises of subscales related to cancer, fatigue and non-fatigue itemsrelevant to anaemia. Median outpatient scores were higher, and hence favourable, for intravenous iron on theFunctional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Anaemia subscale (oral iron 66 (55–72 [23–80]); intravenous iron 71(66–77 [46–80]); p=0.002), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Anaemia trial outcome index (oral iron108 (90–123 [35–135]); intravenous iron 121 (113–124 [81–135]); p=0.003) and Functional Assessment ofCancer Therapy–Anaemia total score (oral iron 151 (132–170 [69–183]); intravenous iron 168 (160–174 [125–186]); p=0.005). Thesefindings indicate that intravenous iron is more efficacious at improving quality of lifescores than oral iron in anaemic colorectal cancer patients

Dietary L-Tryptophan Consumption Determines the Number of Colonic Regulatory T cells and Susceptibility to Colitis via GPR15

Environmental factors are the major contributor to the onset of immunological disorders such as ulcerative colitis. However, their identities remain unclear. Here, we discover that the amount of consumed L-Tryptophan (L-Trp), a ubiquitous dietary component, determines the transcription level of the colonic T cell homing receptor, GPR15, hence affecting the number of colonic FOXP3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells and local immune homeostasis. Ingested L-Trp is converted by host IDO1/2 enzymes, but not by gut microbiota, to compounds that induce GPR15 transcription preferentially in Treg cells via the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. Consequently, two weeks of dietary L-Trp supplementation nearly double the colonic GPR15+ Treg cells via GPR15-mediated homing and substantially reduce the future risk of colitis. In addition, humans consume 3–4 times less L-Trp per kilogram of body weight and have fewer colonic GPR15+ Treg cells than mice. Thus, we uncover a microbiota-independent mechanism linking dietary L-Trp and colonic Treg cells, that may have therapeutic potential

Evaluation of gut modulatory and bronchodilator activities of Amaranthus spinosus Linn.

Background The aqueous-methanolic extract of Amaranthus spinosus (A. spinosus Linn.,) whole plant, was studied for its laxative, spasmolytic and bronchodilator activities to validate some of its medicinal uses. Methods The crude extract of A. spinosus was studied in-vivo for bronchodilator and laxative activities and in-vitro using isolated tissue preparations which were mounted in tissue baths assembly containing physiological salt solutions, maintained at 37°C and aerated with carbogen, to assess the spasmolytic effect and to find out the possible underlying mechanisms. Results In the in-vivo experiments in mice, the administration of A. spinosus increased fecal output at doses of 100 and 300 mg/kg showing laxative activity. It also inhibited carbachol-induced bronchospasm in anesthetized rats at 1, 3, 10 and 30 mg/kg indicative of bronchodilator activity. When tested on isolated gut preparations, the plant extract showed a concentration-dependent (0.01-10.0 mg/ml) spasmogenic effect in spontaneously contracting rabbit jejunum and guinea-pig ileum. The spasmogenic effect was partially blocked in tissues pretreated with atropine (0.1 μM). When tested on K+ (80 mM)-induced sustained contractions in isolated rabbit jejunum, the plant extract caused complete relaxation and also produced a shift in the Ca++ concentration-response curves (CRCs) towards right, similar to diltiazem. In rabbit trachea, the plant extract completely inhibited K+ (80 mM) and carbachol (CCh, 1 μM)-induced contractions at 1 mg/ml but pretreatment of tissue with propranolol (1 μM), caused around 10 fold shift in the inhibitory CRCs of the plant extract constructed against CCh-induced contraction. The plant extract (up to 0.3 mg/ml) also increased both force and rate of spontaneous contractions of isolated guinea-pig atria, followed by relaxation at higher concentration (1.0-5.0 mg/ml). The cardio-stimulant effect was abolished in the presence of propranolol, similar to that of isoprenaline. Activity-directed fractionation revealed that the spasmolytic component(s) was separated in the organic fraction, whereas the spasmogenic component was concentrated in the aqueous fraction. Conclusion These results indicate that A. spinosus possesses laxative activity partially mediated through cholinergic action. The spasmolytic effect was mediated through calcium channel blocking (CCB), while bronchodilator activity through a combination of β-adrenergic and CCB pathways, which may explain the traditional uses of A. spinosus in gut and airways disorders