A Pilot Study of Barriers to Psychiatric Treatment among Japanese Healthcare Workers

Background: The medical service industry has the highest number of industry-classified workers’ compensation claims related to mental disorders. They are a group of people who particularly need mental health care.Aims: To investigate the barriers to seeking psychiatric treatment among healthcare workers. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted for healthcare workers. We assessed the relationship between barriers to psychiatric treatment, stress perception, coping methods, and demographic variables.Results: There were 91 respondents in the final analysis (participants’ mean age was 34.73±11.41). Factor analysis identified three factors that affect resistance to seeking treatment (?=0.83): 1) anxiety toward psychiatric medicine, 2) resistance to psychiatric visits, and 3) lack of belief in the effectiveness of psychiatric treatment. Correlation analysis indicated that resistance to psychiatric treatment increased with age (r=0.21, p<0.05). In addition, women scored significantly higher than men concerning resistance toward psychiatric visits, and doctors scored lower than those in other occupations on this measure. Conclusion: These results indicated that a main component of resistance was related to resistance toward the word “psychiatric”. It may be useful to avoid using the word “psychiatric” with individuals belonging to groups with high resistance to psychiatric treatment when suggesting that they consult a psychiatrist

A hydroxypropyl methylcellulose plaque assay for human respiratory syncytial virus

ウイルスの研究において感染性のあるウイルス粒子を正確に定量することは，病原性の評価のみならずウイルスに対する新規治療薬の効果を客観的に評価するために極めて重要な手技である．プラークアッセイ法はウイルス粒子を定量するために不可欠な技術であるが，Respiratory syncytial virus（RSV）において，プラークアッセイ法を安定して行うことはしばしば困難である．今回我々は，overlay material（充填化合物）が細胞増殖に与える影響を中心にRSVおよびhuman metapneumovirus（hMPV）におけるプラークアッセイ法の最適化の検討を行った

Genetic variation in the tau protein phosphatase-2A pathway is not associated with Alzheimer's disease risk

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tau abnormal hyperphosphorylation and the formation of neurofibrillary tangles in AD brain is the result of upregulation of tau kinases and downregulation of tau phosphatases.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a group of 729 Spanish late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and 670 healthy controls, we examined variations into a set of candidate genes (PPP2CA, PPP2R2A, ANP32A, LCMT1, PPME1 and PIN1) in the tau protein phosphatase-2A (PP2A) pathway, to address hypotheses of genetic variation that might influence AD risk.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were no differences in the genotypic, allelic or haplotypic distributions between cases and controls in the overall analysis or after stratification by age, gender or APOE ε4 allele.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our negative findings in the Spanish population argue against the hypothesis that genetic variation in the tau protein phosphatase-2A (PP2A) pathway is causally related to AD risk</p

Fluvoxamine alleviates paclitaxel-induced neurotoxicity

Paclitaxel (Px) is an effective chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of various cancers. However, it is often associated with neurological side effects, including chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment (CACI), such as “chemobrain”. Previously, we reported that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is involved in Px-induced neurotoxicity, and immunoglobulin heavy chain binding protein (BiP) inducer X (BIX) alleviates Px-induced neurotoxicity. However, BIX has not been used in clinical practice yet. We recently reported that fluvoxamine (Flv) alleviates ER stress via induction of sigma-1 receptor (Sig-1R). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Flv could alleviate Px-induced neurotoxicity in vitro. SK-N-SH cells were pre-treated for 12 h with or without 10 μg/ml Flv followed by treatment with 1 μM Px with or without co-existence of 10 μg/ml Flv for 24 h. To investigate the involvement of Sig-1R in alleviation effect on Px-induced neurotoxicity, 1 μM NE100, an antagonist of Sig-1R, was added for 24 h. Neurotoxicity was assessed using the MTS viability assay and ER stress-mediated neurotoxicity was assessed by evaluating the expression of C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), cleaved caspase 4, and cleaved caspase 3.　Pre-treatment with Flv significantly alleviated the induction of CHOP, cleaved caspase 4, and cleaved caspase 3 in SK-N-SH cells. At the same time, pre-treatment with Flv significantly induced Sig-1R in SK-N-SH cells. In addition, viability was significantly higher in Flv-treated cells than in untreated cells, which was reversed by treatment with NE100.　Our results suggest that Flv alleviates Px-induced neurotoxicity in part through the induction of Sig-1R. Our findings should contribute to one of the novel approaches for the alleviation of Px-induced neurotoxicity, including chemobrain