Background
The COVID‐19 pandemic in Ireland resulted in a nationwide quarantine on March 27, 2020. This study represents the first assessment of rates of anxiety and depression in the general ...population of Ireland during the pandemic.
Aims
Our first aim was to estimate the probable prevalence rates of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and depression and to identify sociodemographic risk factors associated with screening positive for GAD or depression. Our second aim was to determine if COVID‐19 related anxiety was highest amongst those in society at greatest risk of morality from COVID‐19.
Method
Self‐report data were collected from a nationally representative Irish sample (N = 1041) online between March 31 and April 5; the first week of the nationwide quarantine measures. Recognized cut‐off scores on the GAD‐7 and PHQ‐9 were used to estimate rates of GAD and depression. Correlates of screening positive for GAD or depression were assessed using logistic regression analysis.
Results
GAD (20.0%), depression (22.8%) and GAD or depression (27.7%) was common. Screening positive for GAD or depression was associated with younger age, female sex, loss of income due to COVID‐19, COVID‐19 infection and higher perceived risk of COVID‐19 infection. Citizens aged 65 and older had significantly higher levels of COVID‐19 related anxiety than adults aged 18–34.
Conclusions
Initial results from this multi‐wave study monitoring changes in population anxiety and depression throughout the pandemic indicate that GAD and depression were common experiences in the population during the initial phase of the COVID‐19 pandemic.
Objectives Inflammation is critical in the pathogenesis of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease. Combined18 F-fludeoxyglucose (18 F-FDG) positron emission tomography with computed tomography ...(PET-CT) and ultrasmall superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide (USPIO)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are non-invasive methods of assessing tissue inflammation. The aim of this study was to compare these techniques in patients with AAA. Materials and methods Fifteen patients with asymptomatic AAA with diameter 46 ± 7 mm underwent PET-CT with18 F-FDG, and T2*-weighted MRI before and 24 hours after administration of USPIO. The PET-CT and MRI data were then co-registered. Standardised uptake values (SUVs) were calculated to measure18 F-FDG activity, and USPIO uptake was determined using the change in R2*. Comparisons between the techniques were made using a quadrant analysis and a voxel-by-voxel evaluation. Results When all areas of the aneurysm were evaluated, there was a modest correlation between the SUV on PET-CT and the change in R2* on USPIO-enhanced MRI ( n = 70,345 voxels; r = .30; p < .0001). Although regions of increased18 F-FDG and USPIO uptake co-localised on occasion, this was infrequent (kappa statistic 0.074; 95% CI 0.026–0.122).18 F-FDG activity was commonly focused in the shoulder region whereas USPIO uptake was more apparent in the main body of the aneurysm. Maximum SUV was lower in patients with mural USPIO uptake. Conclusions Both18 F-FDG PET-CT and USPIO-MRI uptake identify vascular inflammation associated with AAA. Although they demonstrate a modest correlation, there are distinct differences in the pattern and distribution of uptake, suggesting a differential detection of macrophage glycolytic and phagocytic activity respectively.
Hesitance and resistance to COVID-19 vaccination poses a serious challenge to achieving adequate vaccine uptake in the general population. Cross-sectional data from the early months of the pandemic ...indicates that approximately one-third of adults in multiple nations are hesitant or resistant to a vaccine for COVID-19. Using longitudinal data, we tracked changes in attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination during the pandemic.
This is a quantitative, longitudinal design.
Nationally representative samples of the adult general population of the Republic of Ireland (N = 1041) and the United Kingdom (N = 2025) were assessed for their attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination at three points from March to August 2020.
Statistically significant increases in resistance to COVID-19 vaccination were observed in Irish (from 9.5% to 18.1%) and British (from 6.2% to 10%) adults.
Resistance to vaccination has significantly increased in two European nations as the pandemic has progressed. Growing resistance to COVID-19 vaccination will pose a challenge to public health officials responsible for ensuring sufficient vaccine coverage.
The authors describe what is, to the best of their knowledge, the first quantitative hemoglobin concentration images of the female breast that were formed with model-based reconstruction of ...near-infrared intensity-modulated tomographic data. The results in 11 patients, including two with breast tumors with pathologic correlation, are summarized. Hemoglobin concentration appears to correlate with tumor vascularity without the need for exogenous contrast material and thereby has intrinsic diagnostic value.
Psychiatric co-morbidity is complex and ubiquitous. Our aim was to describe the extent, nature and patterning of psychiatric co-morbidity within a representative sample of the adult population of ...England, using latent class analysis.
Data were used from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a two-phase national household survey undertaken in 2007 comprising 7325 participants aged 16 years and older living in private households in England. The presence of 15 common mental health and behavioural problems was ascertained using standardized clinical and validated self-report measures, including three anxiety disorders, depressive episode, mixed anxiety depressive disorder, psychosis, antisocial and borderline personality disorders, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit disorder, alcohol and drug dependencies, problem gambling and attempted suicide.
A four-class model provided the most parsimonious and informative explanation of the data. Most participants (81.6%) were assigned to a non-symptomatic or 'Unaffected' class. The remainder were classified into three qualitatively different symptomatic classes: 'Co-thymia' (12.4%), 'Highly Co-morbid' (5.0%) and 'Addictions' (1.0%). Classes differed in mean numbers of conditions and impairments in social functioning, and these dimensions were correlated.
Our findings confirm that mental disorders typically co-occur and are concentrated in a relatively small number of individuals. Conditions associated with the highest levels of disability, mortality and cost--psychosis, suicidality and personality disorders--are often co-morbid with more common conditions. This needs to be recognized when planning services and when considering aetiology.
Variability in prevalence estimation of intellectual disability has been attributed to heterogeneity in study settings, methodologies, and intellectual disability case definitions. Among studies ...based on national household survey data specifically, variability in prevalence estimation has partly been attributed to the level of specificity of the survey questions employed to determine the presence of intellectual disability.
Using standardised difference scoring, and 'intellectual disability' survey data from the 2007 Northern Ireland Survey on Activity Limitation and Disability (NISALD) (N=23,689) and the 2011 Northern Ireland Census (N=1,770,217) the following study had two aims. First, we aimed to demonstrate the effects of survey question specificity on intellectual disability prevalence estimation. Second, we aimed to produce reliable estimates of the geographic variation of intellectual disability within private households in Northern Ireland while also assessing the socio-demographic, health-related and disability characteristics of this population.
Prevalence estimates generated using the more crudely classified intellectual disability Census data indicated a prevalence of 2% for the overall population, 3.8% for children aged between 0 and 15 years, and 1.5% for citizens aged 16 years or older. Intellectual disability prevalence estimates generated using the more explicitly defined 2007 NISALD data indicated a population prevalence of 0.5% for the overall population, 1.3% for children aged between 0 and 15 years, and 0.3% for citizens aged 16 years or older. The NISALD estimates were consistent with most recent international meta-analysis prevalence estimates. According to the NISALD data, the majority of those with an intellectual disability were male, lived outside Belfast, and experienced severe intellectual disability, with multiple comorbid health conditions.
The current findings highlight the importance of survey question specificity in the estimation of intellectual disability prevalence and provide reliable prevalence estimates of intellectual disability in Northern Ireland. The findings also demonstrate the utility of administrative data for detecting and understanding intellectual disability, and inform recommendations on how to maximise use of future intellectual disability Census data.
The interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor gamma chain (IL-2R gamma) is a component of high and intermediate affinity IL-2 receptors that is required to achieve full ligand binding affinity and ...internalization. We have localized the IL-2R gamma gene to human chromosome Xq13. Genetic linkage analysis indicates that the IL-2R gamma gene and the locus for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) appear to be at the same position. Moreover, we demonstrate that each of three unrelated patients with XSCID has a different mutation in his IL-2R gamma gene resulting in a different premature stop codon and predicted C-terminal truncation. These data establish that XSCID is associated with mutations of the IL-2R gamma gene product. Since XSCID is characterized by absent or markedly reduced numbers of T cells, our findings imply that IL-2R gamma plays a vital role in thymic maturation of T cells. These results also have important implications for prenatal and postnatal diagnosis, carrier female detection, and gene therapy for XSCID.
NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductases (NQOs) are flavoproteins that catalyze the oxidation of NADH or NADPH by various quinones and oxidation-reduction dyes. We have previously described a complementary ...DNA that encodes a dioxin-inducible cytosolic form of human NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1). In the present report we describe the nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid sequence for a cDNA clone that is likely to encode a second form of NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQO2) which was isolated by screening a human liver cDNA library by hybridization with a NQO1 cDNA probe. The NQO2 cDNA is 976 nucleotides long and encodes a protein of 231 amino acids (Mr = 25,956). The human NQO2 cDNA and protein are 54% and 49% similar to human liver cytosolic NQO1 cDNA and protein, respectively. COS1 cells transfected with NQO2 cDNA showed a 5-7-fold increase in NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase activity as compared to nontransfected cells when either 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol or menadione was used as substrate. Western blot analysis of the expressed NQO1 and NQO2 cDNA proteins showed cross-reactivity with rat NQO1 antiserum, indicating that NQO1 and NQO2 proteins are immunologically related. Northern blot analysis shows the presence of one NQO2 mRNA of 1.2 kb in control and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) treated human hepatoblastoma Hep-G2 cells and that TCDD treatment does not lead to enhanced levels of NQO2 mRNA as it does for NQO1 mRNA. Southern blot analysis of human genomic DNA suggests the presence of a single gene approximately 14-17 kb in length. The NQO2 gene locus is highly polymorphic as indicated by several restriction fragment length polymorphisms detected with five different restriction enzymes.
Abstract Background Invariant item ordering (IIO) is defined as the extent to which items have the same ordering (in terms of item difficulty/severity — i.e. demonstrating whether items are difficult ...rare or less difficult common) for each respondent who completes a scale. IIO is therefore crucial for establishing a scale hierarchy that is replicable across samples, but no research has demonstrated IIO in scales of psychological distress. We aimed to determine if a hierarchy of distress with IIO exists in a large general population sample who completed a scale measuring distress. Methods Data from 4107 participants who completed the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) from the Northern Ireland Health and Social Wellbeing Survey 2005–6 were analysed. Mokken scaling was used to determine the dimensionality and hierarchy of the GHQ-12, and items were investigated for IIO. Results All items of the GHQ-12 formed a single, strong unidimensional scale (H = 0.58). IIO was found for six of the 12 items (H-trans = 0.55), and these symptoms reflected the following hierarchy: anhedonia, concentration, participation, coping, decision-making and worthlessness. Limitations The cross-sectional analysis needs replication. Conclusions The GHQ-12 showed a hierarchy of distress, but IIO is only demonstrated for six of the items, and the scale could therefore be shortened. Adopting brief, hierarchical scales with IIO may be beneficial in both clinical and research contexts.
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