Alcohol, cannabinoids, and opioids abuse and dependence among psychiatric inpatients

Background: While substance abuse among psychiatric patients is a widely known problem in clinical practice, there is no local study about prevalence and co-occurrence of substance abuse in north of Iran. Objectives: The present study was designed to determine the frequency of smoking, alcohol, opioid and cannabinoid substances, and prescription medicines abuse or dependence among Psychiatric Inpatients. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional 2-year case register study was conducted on all (n = 492) psychiatric inpatients of Zare Psychiatric Hospital in Sari located in north of Iran. The data were obtained by using a standardized and validated questionnaire that contained demographic information along with information on co-morbid psychiatric problems and alcohol, cannabinoids, opioids, and cigarette usage. Results: The mean (± SD) age of samples was 39.9 (± 11.9) years and male:female ratio was 3.6. Opium with or without using other illicit substances was the most frequently abused substance (67). Significant association were found between illicit substance abuse and demographic variables of male gender, a low level of literacy, living in the urban area, unemployment, cigarette smoking, and young age. There were statistically significant association between schizophrenia and substance abuse (P < 0.001). Conclusion: High prevalence of dual diagnosis warrants attention to the management of substance misuse while treating mental disorders, and should be incorporated in the holistic treatment plan of psychiatric inpatients. © 2015, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences

The Possible Impact of Obesity on Androgen, Progesterone and Estrogen Receptors (ERα and ERβ) Gene Expression in Breast Cancer Patients

Background Obesity has been associated with increased mortality from hormone dependant cancers such as breast cancer which is the most prevalent cancer in women. The link between obesity and breast cancer can be attributed to excess estrogen produced through aromatization in adipose tissue. The role of steroid hormone receptors in breast cancer development is well studied but how obesity can affect the expression pattern of steroid hormones in patients with different grades of breast cancer was the aim of this study. Methods In this case-control study, 70 women with breast cancer participated with different grades of obesity (36 none obese, BMI < 25 kg/m 2 and 34 obese, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m 2 ). The mean age of participants was 44.53 ± 1.79 yr (21–70 yr). The serum level of estrogen, progesterone and androgen determined by ELISA. Following quantitative expression of steroid hormone receptors mRNA in tumor tissues evaluated by Real-time PCR. Patients with previous history of radiotherapy or chemotherapy were excluded. SPSS 16 was used for data analysis and P < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results The difference in ERα, ERβ and PR mRNA level between normal and obese patients was significant ( P < 0.001). In addition, the expression of AR mRNA was found to be higher than other steroid receptors. There was no significant relation between ERβ gene expression in two groups ( P = 0.68). We observed a significant relationship between ERα and AR mRNA with tumor stage and tumor grade, respectively ( P = 0.023, P = 0.015). Conclusion According to the obtained results, it is speculated that obesity could paly a significant role in estrogen receptors gene expression and also could affect progression and proliferation of breast cancer cells

Treniranje u uvjetima kontinuuma otežavajućega kontekstualnog utjecaja: usporedba triju različitih načina vježbanja na satovima tjelesne i zdravstvene kulture u osnovnim školama

Few studies have explored the contextual interference effect with children. The findings from these investigations have produced inconsistent results. The purpose of this study was to investigate further how the contextual interference effect influenced children learning a fundamental motor skill in a physical education class. Elementary students (N=36) practiced overarm throwing following traditional blocked or random scheduling. They were compared to a third group of participants practicing the same tasks following a schedule with systematic increases in contextual interference. Analysis revealed that all three groups improved during practice. Post-test results revealed performance differences in favor of the group that practiced with systematic increases in contextual interference. The findings reported here extend the results of previous studies by demonstrating that children can learn a motor skill by practicing with systematic increases in contextual interference. Theoretical considerations are discussed, as well as the relevance of the findings for practitioners and avenues for future research.Premalo je istraživanja koja su ispitivala učinke kontekstualnog utjecaja na učenje motoričkih znanja u djece. Rezultati tih istraživanja bili su proturječni. Cilj ovog istraživanja bilo je daljnje istraživanje učinaka kontekstualnog utjecaja na djecu koja uče osnovna motorička znanja na nastavi tjelesne i zdravstvene kulture. Učenici osnovnih škola (N=36) vježbali su osnovno bacanja loptice jednom rukom iznad glave u uvjetima tradicionalne, blokirane ili nasumične strukture kontekstualnog utjecaja. Rezultati tih učenika uspoređeni su s rezultatima treće grupe ispitanika koji su izvodili/vježbali isti motorički zadatak u uvjetima sustavnog povećanja otežavajućega kontekstualnog utjecaja. Rezultati su pokazali da su sve tri grupe ispitanika napredovale tijekom vježbanja. Rezultati finalnog mjerenja pokazali su također da je veći napredak zabilježen u grupi koja je vježbala u uvjetima sustavnog povećanja otežavajućega kontekstualnog utjecaja. Rezultati ovog istraživanja proširuju spoznaje dosadašnjih znanstvenih istraživanja ukazivanjem na činjenicu da djeca mogu učiti motorička znanja u uvjetima sustavnog povećanja otežavajućega kontekstualnog utjecaja. U članku su raspravljene teorijske osnove eksperimenta i praktičan doprinos dobivenih znanstvenih spoznaja te su predstavljene preporuke za daljnja znanstvena istraživanja

Transdiagnostic treatment of co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive disorders based on repetitive negative thinking: A case series

Objective: The transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral treatments for treating the coexistence of anxiety and mood disorders received useful empirical supports in the recent years. However, these treatments still have moderate efficacy. Following the improvements and developments in transdiagnostic protocols and considering the importance of repetitive negative thinking as a core transdiagnostic factor in emotional disorders, this study examined a new form of transdiagnostic treatment based on Repetitive Negative Thinking (TTRNT) of co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive disorders. Methods: Treatment efficacy was assessed using single case series with multiple baselines. Three patients meeting the criteria for co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive disorders were selected using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV. The patients were treated individually for 12 weekly sessions. Participants completed the standardized outcome measures during the baseline, treatment and one-month follow-up. Results: At post-treatment, all participants showed significant clinical changes on a range of standardized outcome measures, and these gains were largely maintained through the one-month follow-up both in the principle and co-principal diagnosis. Conclusions: Although the results of this preliminary investigation indicated that TTRNT could be a time effective and efficient treatment for individuals with co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive disorders, further controlled clinical trials are necessary to examine this new treatment approach

Meiofauna and macrofauna community structure in relation with environmental factors at South of Caspian Sea

Biodiversity and distribution of benthic Meiobenthos in the sediments of the Southern Caspian Sea) Mazandaran) was studied in order to introduce and determine their relationship with the environmental factors. From 12 stations (ranging in depths 5, 10, 20 and 50 meters), sediment samples were gathered in four seasons (2012). Environmental factors of water near the bottom including temperature, salinity, dissolved Oxygen and pH were measured during sampling with CTD instrument(conductivity, temperature and Depth)    and the grain size and total organic matter percentage and calcium carbonate were measured in the laboratory. From the 4 group animals (Foraminfera, Crustacea, Worms and Mollusca), 40 species were identified belonging to 29 genera of 25 families belonging to meiofauna and 15 species belonging to 15 genera of 13 belonging to macrofauna. Among seven parameters evaluated, Pearson correlation showed that there is a negative correlation between density of meiobenthos, TOM and depth and there is not a correlation between macrofauna and environmental factors. However, according to the results of One Way ANOVA, the density of  meiofauna was significantly different from station, season and depth,  and macrofaunain was also significantly different from station and season (P<0.05). Maximum Shannon–Wiener index was observed in winter

Water Policies and Conflict Resolution of Public Participation Decision-Making Processes Using Prioritized Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) Operators

[EN] There is a growing interest in environmental policies about how to implement public participation engagement in the context of water resources management. This paper presents a robust methodology, based on ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators, to conflict resolution decision-making problems under uncertain environments due to both information and stakeholders' preferences. The methodology allows integrating heterogeneous interests of the general public and stakeholders on account of their different degree of acceptance or preference and level of influence or power regarding the measures and policies to be adopted, and also of their level of involvement (i.e., information supply, consultation and active involvement). These considerations lead to different environmental and socio-economic outcomes, and levels of stakeholders' satisfaction. The methodology establishes a prioritization relationship over the stakeholders. The individual stakeholders' preferences are aggregated through their associated weights, which depend on the satisfaction of the higher priority decision maker. The methodology ranks the optimal management strategies to maximize the stakeholders' satisfaction. It has been successfully applied to a real case study, providing greater fairness, transparency, social equity and consensus among actors. Furthermore, it provides support to environmental policies, such as the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), improving integrated water management while covering a wide range of objectives, management alternatives and stakeholders.Llopis Albert, C.; Merigó-Lindahl, JM.; Liao, H.; Xu, Y.; Grima-Olmedo, J.; Grima-Olmedo, C. (2018). Water Policies and Conflict Resolution of Public Participation Decision-Making Processes Using Prioritized Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) Operators. 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