There are few quantitative studies on art therapy for the treatment of depression. The objective of this study was to evaluate if art therapy is beneficial as an adjuvant treatment for depression in ...the elderly.
A randomized, controlled, single-blind study was carried out in a sample of elderly women with major depressive disorder (MDD) stable on pharmacotherapy. The experimental group (EG) was assigned to 20 weekly art therapy sessions (90 min/session). The control group (CG) was not subjected to any adjuvant intervention. Patients were evaluated at baseline and after 20 weeks, using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and cognitive measures.
Logistic regression analysis adjusted for age revealed that women in EG (n=31) had significant improvement in GDS (p = 0.007), BDI (p = 0.025), and BAI (p = 0.032) scores as compared with controls (n=25). No difference was found in the cognitive measures.
Art therapy as an adjunctive treatment for MDD in the elderly can improve depressive and anxiety symptoms.
RBR-2YXY7Z.
Pharmacotherapy and behavioral treatments for alcohol use disorder are limited in their effectiveness, and new treatments with innovative mechanisms would be valuable. In this pilot study, the ...authors tested whether a single subanesthetic infusion of ketamine administered to adults with alcohol dependence and engaged in motivational enhancement therapy affects drinking outcomes.
Participants were randomly assigned to a 52-minute intravenous administration of ketamine (0.71 mg/kg, N=17) or the active control midazolam (0.025 mg/kg, N=23), provided during the second week of a 5-week outpatient regimen of motivational enhancement therapy. Alcohol use following the infusion was assessed with timeline followback method, with abstinence confirmed by urine ethyl glucuronide testing. A longitudinal logistic mixed-effects model was used to model daily abstinence from alcohol over the 21 days after ketamine infusion.
Participants (N=40) were mostly middle-aged (mean age=53 years SD=9.8), predominantly white (70.3%), and largely employed (71.8%) and consumed an average of five drinks per day prior to entering the study. Ketamine significantly increased the likelihood of abstinence, delayed the time to relapse, and reduced the likelihood of heavy drinking days compared with midazolam. Infusions were well tolerated, with no participants removed from the study as a result of adverse events.
A single ketamine infusion was found to improve measures of drinking in persons with alcohol dependence engaged in motivational enhancement therapy. These preliminary data suggest new directions in integrated pharmacotherapy-behavioral treatments for alcohol use disorder. Further research is needed to replicate these promising results in a larger sample.
Repeated drug consumption may progress to problematic use by triggering neuroplastic adaptations that attenuate sensitivity to natural rewards while increasing reactivity to craving and drug cues. ...Converging evidence suggests a single sub-anesthetic dose of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine may work to correct these neuroadaptations and restore motivation for non-drug rewards. Using an established laboratory model aimed at evaluating behavioral shifts in the salience of cocaine now vs money later, we found that ketamine, as compared to the control, significantly decreased cocaine self-administration by 67% relative to baseline at greater than 24 h post-infusion, the most robust reduction observed to date in human cocaine users and the first to involve mechanisms other than stimulant or dopamine agonist effects. These findings signal new directions in medication development for substance use disorders.
Aim
To evaluate whether venlafaxine‐extended release (VEN‐XR) is an effective treatment for cannabis dependence with concurrent depressive disorders.
Design
This was a randomized, 12‐week, ...double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial of out‐patients (n = 103) with DSM‐IV cannabis dependence and major depressive disorder or dysthymia. Participants received up to 375 mg VEN‐XR on a fixed‐flexible schedule or placebo. All patients received weekly individual cognitive–behavioral psychotherapy that primarily targeted marijuana use.
Settings
The trial was conducted at two university research centers in the United States.
Participants
One hundred and three cannabis‐dependent adults participated in the trial.
Measurements
The primary outcome measures were (i) abstinence from marijuana defined as at least two consecutive urine‐confirmed abstinent weeks and (ii) improvement in depressive symptoms based on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale.
Findings
The proportion of patients achieving a clinically significant mood improvement (50% decrease in Hamilton Depression score from baseline) was high and did not differ between groups receiving VEN‐XR (63%) and placebo (69%) (χ12 = 0.48, P = 0.49). The proportion of patients achieving abstinence was low overall, but was significantly worse on VEN‐XR (11.8%) compared to placebo (36.5%) (χ12 = 7.46, P < 0.01; odds ratio = 4.51, 95% confidence interval: 1.53, 13.3). Mood improvement was associated with reduction in marijuana use in the placebo group (F1,179 = 30.49, P < 0.01), but not the VEN‐XR group (F1,186 = 0.02, P = 0.89).
Conclusions
For depressed, cannabis‐dependent patients, venlafaxine‐extended release does not appear to be effective at reducing depression and may lead to an increase in cannabis use.
Within the field of electric power systems, the study of electrical equipment can be frustrating and demotivating because of the lack of a clear vision of how this equipment functions and operates in ...a real environment. The use of virtual reality can provide a more concrete representation for students, who rarely have the opportunity to visit a power substation or generating plant to acquire an understanding of how the equipment operates when integrated into an actual system. This paper describes work undertaken to improve the classroom study of such equipment , and to motivate students, by providing a clear overview of the equipment, approximating theory and practical functions, and simulating real situations that would be encountered on the equipment in an actual system. A virtual reality authoring tool was developed to provide students with a visualization of an autotransformer installed in an electric power substation, and to allow them to perform virtual maintenance and operating procedures on it. The influence of the software on students' levels of motivation and their performance was evaluated using questionnaires and reports. Finally, a framework is proposed that can help others create virtual reality trainings.
Hidden costs of Europe's deforestation policy Fernandes, Geraldo W; Oliveira, Hernani F M; Bergallo, Helena G ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
01/2023, Letnik:
379, Številka:
6630
Journal Article
The agonist substitution strategy, starting with methadone maintenance treatment discovered in the 1960s, has been a major advance in pharmacotherapy for opioid use disorder, converting an often ...refractory, chronic relapsing disorder with a high mortality rate into a disorder that is manageable. Multiple clinical trials and a meta-analysis have demonstrated the efficacy and effectiveness of mu-opioid partial agonist buprenorphine as a treatment for opioid use disorder. As a partial agonist with high receptor affinity, buprenorphine has a more favorable safety profile than methodone. Buprenorphine produces less opioid-like effects and tolerance than full agonists like methadone, and less opioid adverse effects including, importantly, less suppression of respiration. Buprenorphine is somewhat less effective than the full agonist methadone for treatment of opioid use disorder as evidenced by, for example, higher rates of dropout from treatment on buprenorphine. However, methadone maintenance is restricted to tightly regulated clinics, which are not acceptable to many patients and is not even available in many regions of the United States. In contrast, buprenorphine can be prescribed for treatment of opioid use disorder in the United States by any physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, who has taken modest additional training. With the epidemic of opioid use disorder and overdose deaths expanding in the United States., expanding prescribing of buprenorphine is a critical component of the US response to the epidemic.
The gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa, poses a significant global threat to Eucalyptus cultivation, by causing substantial economic losses. The objective of this study was to differentiate between ...resistant and susceptible genotypes by morphological characteristics using image analysis based on the damage caused by the gall wasp. In addition, consensus sequences derived from transposable elements (TEs) and the genome of Eucalyptus spp. Were identified by in silico analysis. Furthermore, another objective was to discriminate Eucalyptus genotypes in response to Leptocybe invasa by conducting molecular analyses involving transposable elements and inter simple sequence markers. For image analysis, the GroundEye ® system was used to collect images of 60 leaves from six genotypes, three of which were resistant and three susceptible. Eucalyptus spp. sequences were obtained from the GenBank database by in silico analysis and pairwise alignments with TE sequences were conducted using BLASTN. Multiple sequence alignment was performed with Clustal Omega, followed by the identification of conserved regions in Jalview. A motif signature was generated using Weblogo. For molecular characterization using ISSR markers and TEs, samples of young leaves were obtained from a total of 80 Eucalyptus seedlings, of which 50 were classified as resistant and 30 as susceptible to L. invasa. It was possible to distinguish gall wasp susceptible and resistant genotypes by image analysis. In silico analysis enabled the identification of conserved regions in the Eucalyptus spp. genome, which were associated with proteins involved in secondary metabolite production, e.g., terpenes, which play a role in the response to L. invasa. The discrimination capacity of TEs and ISSR primers was demonstrated and bands were generated that could be used to identify resistant genotypes. However, increasing the number of markers required to discriminate genotypes in both cases is suggested.The gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa, poses a significant global threat to Eucalyptus cultivation, by causing substantial economic losses. The objective of this study was to differentiate between resistant and susceptible genotypes by morphological characteristics using image analysis based on the damage caused by the gall wasp. In addition, consensus sequences derived from transposable elements (TEs) and the genome of Eucalyptus spp. Were identified by in silico analysis. Furthermore, another objective was to discriminate Eucalyptus genotypes in response to Leptocybe invasa by conducting molecular analyses involving transposable elements and inter simple sequence markers. For image analysis, the GroundEye ® system was used to collect images of 60 leaves from six genotypes, three of which were resistant and three susceptible. Eucalyptus spp. sequences were obtained from the GenBank database by in silico analysis and pairwise alignments with TE sequences were conducted using BLASTN. Multiple sequence alignment was performed with Clustal Omega, followed by the identification of conserved regions in Jalview. A motif signature was generated using Weblogo. For molecular characterization using ISSR markers and TEs, samples of young leaves were obtained from a total of 80 Eucalyptus seedlings, of which 50 were classified as resistant and 30 as susceptible to L. invasa. It was possible to distinguish gall wasp susceptible and resistant genotypes by image analysis. In silico analysis enabled the identification of conserved regions in the Eucalyptus spp. genome, which were associated with proteins involved in secondary metabolite production, e.g., terpenes, which play a role in the response to L. invasa. The discrimination capacity of TEs and ISSR primers was demonstrated and bands were generated that could be used to identify resistant genotypes. However, increasing the number of markers required to discriminate genotypes in both cases is suggested.
Dry residue of cassava was studied on the digestibility, performance, intestinal measurements, with or without inclusion of carbohydrases, of slow-growing broilers. 160 Label Rouge broiler chickens, ...21-d-old, were distributed in a randomized, 2x5 factorial arrangement (male and female x 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% residue) (metabolism trial). 1,100 male chicks were distributed in a 2x5 factorial arrangement (with/without carbohydrases x 0; 2.5; 5.0; 7.5; and 10.0% residue), with five replicates (performance trial). Increasing residue levels led to increases in energetic values. Feed intake from 1-21-d-old and 1-63-d-old decreased linearly. At 42 d-old, feed intake and weight gain levels exhibited a quadratic response, which predicted a highest value at 3.32% and 4.77%, respectively, for diets without carbohydrases. For 21- and 42-d-old chickens, the inclusion of carbohydrases reduced the weight and length of the small intestine. The energetic values of the diets were positively influenced by the residue and had similar digestibility values for both sexes. Inclusion of up to 10% of residue in slow-growing broiler diets does not impaired performance and intestinal morphology. The addition of carbohydrases reduced the viscosity of the digesta but it was not enough to improve the performance of the birds.
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