The association between weekly hours of physical activity and mental health: A three-year follow-up study of 15–16-year-old students in the city of Oslo, Norway

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mental health problems are a worldwide public health burden. The literature concerning the mental health benefits from physical activity among adults has grown. Adolescents are less studied, and especially longitudinal studies are lacking. This paper investigates the associations between weekly hours of physical activity at age 15–16 and mental health three years later.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Longitudinal self-reported health survey. The baseline study consisted of participants from the youth section of the Oslo Health Study, carried out in schools in 2000–2001 (<it>n </it>= 3811). The follow-up in 2003–2004 was conducted partly at school and partly through mail. A total of 2489 (1112 boys and 1377 girls) participated in the follow-up. Mental health was measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire with an impact supplement. Physical activity was measured by a question on weekly hours of physical activity outside of school, defined as exertion 'to an extent that made you sweat and/or out of breath'. Adjustments were made for well-documented confounders and mental health at baseline.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In boys, the number of hours spent on physical activity per week at age 15–16 was negatively associated with emotional symptoms [B (95%CI) = -0.09 (-0.15, -0.03)] and peer problems [B (95%CI) = -0.08 (-0.14, -0.03)] at age 18–19 after adjustments. In girls, there were no significant differences in SDQ subscales at age 18–19 according to weekly hours of physical activity at age 15–16 after adjustments. Boys and girls with five to seven hours of physical activity per week at age 15–16 had the lowest mean scores for total difficulties and the lowest percentage with high impact score at age 18–19, but the differences were not statistically significant after adjustments.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Weekly hours of physical activity at age 15–16 years was weakly associated with mental health at three-year follow-up in boys. Results encourage a search for further knowledge about physical activity as a possible protective factor in relation to mental health problems in adolescence.</p

Mental health problems in youths committed to juvenile institutions: prevalences and treatment needs

Many international studies show that adolescents in coercive institutional care display high prevalences of mental disorders, especially in the form of disruptive behavior disorders [including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder], anxiety disorders, and mood disorders. High degrees of overlap across mental disorders have also been reported. In addition, institutionalized adolescents are often traumatized. Despite this well-documented psychiatric morbidity, the mental health care needs of detained adolescents are often overlooked. The main objective of this study is to assess prevalences of psychiatric disorders, results of intelligence tests, and previous contacts with child and adolescent psychiatric services among adolescents in institutional care. DSM-IV diagnoses, mental health contacts, substance abuse, neurocognitive abilities, and school performance were registered in 100 adolescents (92 boys, 8 girls) aged 12–19 years (mean age 16.0; SD ± 1.5) consecutively committed to Swedish juvenile institutions between 2004 and 2007. At least one psychiatric disorder was diagnosed in 73% of the subjects: 48% met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for AD/HD, 17% for an autism spectrum disorder, and 10% for a mental retardation. The collapsed prevalence for psychiatric disorders requiring specialist attention was 63%. Our data indicate that systematic diagnostic procedures are crucial in the treatment planning for institutionalized adolescents. Adequate treatment strategies need to be designed and implemented to meet the extensive mental health care needs of this vulnerable population

The Help for Hay Fever community pharmacy-based pilot randomised controlled trial for intermittent allergic rhinitis

Management of intermittent allergic rhinitis (IAR) is suboptimal in the UK. An Australian community pharmacy-based intervention has been shown to help patients better self-manage their IAR. We conducted a pilot cluster RCT in 12 Scottish community pharmacies to assess transferability of the Australian intervention. Trained staff in intervention pharmacies delivered the intervention to eligible customers (n = 60). Non-intervention pharmacy participants (n = 65) received usual care. Outcome measures included effect size of change in the mini-Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (miniRQLQ) between baseline, 1-week and 6-week follow-up. Trial procedures were well received by pharmacy staff, and customer satisfaction with the intervention was high. The standardised effect size for miniRQLQ total score was −0.46 (95% CI, −1.05, 0.13) for all participants and −0.14 (95% CI,−0.86, 0.57) in the complete case analysis, suggesting a small overall treatment effect in the intervention group. A full-scale RCT is warranted to fully evaluate the effectiveness of this service

Economic Impact of Dengue Illness and the Cost-Effectiveness of Future Vaccination Programs in Singapore

Dengue illness is a tropical disease transmitted by mosquitoes that threatens more than one third of the worldwide population. Dengue has important economic consequences because of the burden to hospitals, work absenteeism and risk of death of symptomatic cases. Governments attempt to reduce the disease burden using costly mosquito control strategies such as habitat reduction and spraying insecticide. Despite such efforts, the number of cases remains high. Dengue vaccines are expected to be available in the near future and there is an urgent need to evaluate their cost-effectiveness, i.e. whether their cost will be justified by the reduction in disease burden they bring. For such an evaluation, we estimated the economic impacts of dengue in Singapore and the expected vaccine costs for different prices. In this way we estimated price thresholds for which vaccination is not cost-effective. This research provides useful estimates that will contribute to informed decisions regarding the adoption of dengue vaccination programs

Ketamine induces a robust whole-brain connectivity pattern that can be differentially modulated by drugs of different mechanism and clinical profile

Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist, has been studied in relation to the glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia and increases dissociation, positive and negative symptom ratings. Ketamine effects brain function through changes in brain activity; these activity patterns can be modulated by pre-treatment of compounds known to attenuate the effects of ketamine on glutamate release. Ketamine also has marked effects on brain connectivity; we predicted that these changes would also be modulated by compounds known to attenuate glutamate release. Here, we perform task-free pharmacological magnetic resonance imaging (phMRI) to investigate the functional connectivity effects of ketamine in the brain and the potential modulation of these effects by pre-treatment of the compounds lamotrigine and risperidone, compounds hypothesised to differentially modulate glutamate release. Connectivity patterns were assessed by combining windowing, graph theory and multivariate Gaussian process classification. We demonstrate that ketamine has a robust effect on the functional connectivity of the human brain compared to saline (87.5 % accuracy). Ketamine produced a shift from a cortically centred, to a subcortically centred pattern of connections. This effect is strongly modulated by pre-treatment with risperidone (81.25 %) but not lamotrigine (43.75 %). Based on the differential effect of these compounds on ketamine response, we suggest the observed connectivity effects are primarily due to NMDAR blockade rather than downstream glutamatergic effects. The connectivity changes contrast with amplitude of response for which no differential effect between pre-treatments was detected, highlighting the necessity of these techniques in forming an informed view of the mechanistic effects of pharmacological compounds in the human brain

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a non-neoplastic pulmonary disease that is characterized by the formation of scar tissue within the lungs in the absence of any known provocation. IPF is a rare disease which affects approximately 5 million persons worldwide. The prevalence is estimated to be slightly greater in men (20.2/100,000) than in women (13.2/100,000). The mean age at presentation is 66 years. IPF initially manifests with symptoms of exercise-induced breathless and dry coughing. Auscultation of the lungs reveals early inspiratory crackles, predominantly located in the lower posterior lung zones upon physical exam. Clubbing is found in approximately 50% of IPF patients. Cor pulmonale develops in association with end-stage disease. In that case, classic signs of right heart failure may be present. Etiology remains incompletely understood. Some environmental factors may be associated with IPF (cigarette smoking, exposure to silica and livestock). IPF is recognized on high-resolution computed tomography by peripheral, subpleural lower lobe reticular opacities in association with subpleural honeycomb changes. IPF is associated with a pathological lesion known as usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP). The UIP pattern consists of normal lung alternating with patches of dense fibrosis, taking the form of collagen sheets. The diagnosis of IPF requires correlation of the clinical setting with radiographic images and a lung biopsy. In the absence of lung biopsy, the diagnosis of IPF can be made by defined clinical criteria that were published in guidelines endorsed by several professional societies. Differential diagnosis includes other idiopathic interstitial pneumonia, connective tissue diseases (systemic sclerosis, polymyositis, rheumatoid arthritis), forme fruste of autoimmune disorders, chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis and other environmental (sometimes occupational) exposures. IPF is typically progressive and leads to significant disability. The median survival is 2 to 5 years from the time of diagnosis. Medical therapy is ineffective in the treatment of IPF. New molecular therapeutic targets have been identified and several clinical trials are investigating the efficacy of novel medication. Meanwhile, pulmonary transplantation remains a viable option for patients with IPF. It is expected that, during the next decade, considerable progress will be made toward the understanding and treatment of this devastating illness

SHANK3 controls maturation of social reward circuits in the VTA.

Haploinsufficiency of SHANK3, encoding the synapse scaffolding protein SHANK3, leads to a highly penetrant form of autism spectrum disorder. How SHANK3 insufficiency affects specific neural circuits and how this is related to specific symptoms remains elusive. Here we used shRNA to model Shank3 insufficiency in the ventral tegmental area of mice. We identified dopamine (DA) and GABA cell-type-specific changes in excitatory synapse transmission that converge to reduce DA neuron activity and generate behavioral deficits, including impaired social preference. Administration of a positive allosteric modulator of the type 1 metabotropic glutamate receptors mGluR1 during the first postnatal week restored DA neuron excitatory synapse transmission and partially rescued the social preference defects, while optogenetic DA neuron stimulation was sufficient to enhance social preference. Collectively, these data reveal the contribution of impaired ventral tegmental area function to social behaviors and identify mGluR1 modulation during postnatal development as a potential treatment strategy