scholarly journals Indirect prevention and treatment of depression: An emerging paradigm?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pim Cuijpers

Background Although depression is one of the main public health challenges of our time, the uptake of interventions aimed at the prevention and treatment is low to modest. New approaches are needed to reduce the disease burden of depression. Method Indirect prevention and treatment may be one method to increase uptake of services. Indirect interventions aim at problems related to depression but with lower stigma and prevent or treat depression indirectly. This paper describes the approach, the empirical support and limitations. Results A growing number of studies focus on indirect prevention and treatment. Several studies have examining the possibilities to prevent and treat depression through interventions aimed at insomnia. Several other studies focus on indirect interventions aimed at for example stress and perfectionism. Digital ‘suites’ of interventions may focus on daily problems of for example students or the workplace and offer a broad range of indirect interventions in specific settings. Conclusion Indirect prevention and treatment may be a new approach to increase uptake and reduce the disease burden of depression.

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (5 (Suppl.)) ◽  
pp. E83-E90 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M Kaldor ◽  
Gregory J Dore ◽  
Patricia Kl Correll

2013 ◽  
Vol 154 (30) ◽  
pp. 1188-1193 ◽  
Author(s):  
László Gulácsi ◽  
Adrienne Kertész ◽  
Irén Kopcsóné Németh ◽  
János Banai ◽  
Endre Ludwig ◽  
...  

Introduction:C. difficile causes 25 percent of the antibiotic associated infectious nosocomial diarrhoeas. C. difficile infection is a high-priority problem of public health in each country. The available literature of C. difficile infection’s epidemiology and disease burden is limited. Aim: Review of the epidemiology, including seasonality and the risk of recurrences, of the disease burden and of the therapy of C. difficile infection. Method: Review of the international and Hungarian literature in MEDLINE database using PubMed up to and including 20th of March, 2012. Results: The incidence of nosocomial C. difficile associated diarrhoea is 4.1/10 000 patient day. The seasonality of C. difficile infection is unproved. 20 percent of the patients have recurrence after metronidazole or vancomycin treatment, and each recurrence increases the chance of a further one. The cost of C. difficile infection is between 130 and 500 thousand HUF (430 € and 1665 €) in Hungary. Conclusions: The importance of C. difficile infection in public health and the associated disease burden are significant. The available data in Hungary are limited, further studies in epidemiology and health economics are required. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 1188–1193.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Mughini Gras

Abstract In the Netherlands, the Ministry of Health mandates the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) to provide annual updates of the number of illnesses, disease burden and cost-of-illness caused by an agreed-upon standard panel of 14 enteric pathogens. These pathogens are mainly transmitted by food, but also via direct contact with animals, environment-mediated and human-to-human transmission routes. The disease burden is expressed in DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years), a metric integrating morbidity and mortality into one unit. Furthermore, the cost-of-illness (COI) related to these 14 pathogens is estimated and expressed in euros. The COI estimates include healthcare costs, the costs for the patient and/or his family, such as travel expenses, as well as costs in other sectors, for example due to productivity losses. Moreover, using different approaches to source attribution, the estimated DALYs and associated COI estimates are attributed to five major transmission pathways (i.e. food, environment, direct animal contact, human-human transmission, and travel) and 11 food groups within the foodborne pathway itself. The most recent DALY and COI estimates referring to the year 2018 show that the 14 pathogens in question are cumulatively responsible for about 11,000 DALYs and €426 million costs for the Dutch population in 2018, with a share for foodborne transmission being estimated at 4,300 DALYs and €171 million costs, which is comparable to previous years. These estimates have been providing vital insights for policy making as to guide public health interventions and resource allocation for over two decades in the Netherlands. Herewith, the approach and outcomes of the burden of disease and COI estimates in the Netherlands will be presented, with a focus on how these estimates enable policy-makers and the scientific community to monitor trends, generate scientific hypotheses, and undertake public health actions.


Author(s):  
Olukayode James Ayodeji ◽  
Seshadri Ramkumar

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the biggest public health challenges of the 21st century. Many prevalent measures have been taken to prevent its spread and protect the public. However, the use of face coverings as an effective preventive measure remains contentious. The goal of the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness of face coverings as a protective measure. We examined the effectiveness of face coverings between 1 April and 31 December 2020. This was accomplished by analyzing trends of daily new COVID-19 cases, cumulative confirmed cases, and cases per 100,000 people in different U.S. states, including the District of Columbia. The results indicated a sharp change in trends after face covering mandates. For the 32 states with face covering mandates, 63% and 66% exhibited a downward trend in confirmed cases within 21 and 28 days of implementation, respectively. We estimated that face covering mandates in the 32 states prevented approximately 78,571 and 109,703 cases within 21- and 28-day periods post face covering mandate, respectively. A statistically significant (p = 0.001) negative correlation (−0.54) was observed between the rate of cases and days since the adoption of a face covering mandate. We concluded that the use of face coverings can provide necessary protection if they are properly used.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pit Shan Chong ◽  
Man-Lung Fung ◽  
Kah Hui Wong ◽  
Lee Wei Lim

Depression is a common and severe neuropsychiatric disorder that is one of the leading causes of global disease burden. Although various anti-depressants are currently available, their efficacies are barely adequate and many have side effects. Hericium erinaceus, also known as Lion’s mane mushroom, has been shown to have various health benefits, including antioxidative, antidiabetic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antihyperglycemic, and hypolipidemic effects. It has been used to treat cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Bioactive compounds extracted from the mycelia and fruiting bodies of H. erinaceus have been found to promote the expression of neurotrophic factors that are associated with cell proliferation such as nerve growth factors. Although antidepressant effects of H. erinaceus have not been validated and compared to the conventional antidepressants, based on the neurotrophic and neurogenic pathophysiology of depression, H. erinaceus may be a potential alternative medicine for the treatment of depression. This article critically reviews the current literature on the potential benefits of H. erinaceus as a treatment for depressive disorder as well as its mechanisms underlying the antidepressant-like activities.


Author(s):  
Rostam Jalali ◽  
Amin Hosseinian-Far ◽  
Masoud Mohammadi

Abstract Background Translating research into practice is a central priority within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap. The underlying aim of the NIH Roadmap is to accelerate the movement of scientific findings into practical health care provisions through translational research. Main text Despite the advances in health sciences, emerging infectious diseases have become more frequent in recent decades. Furthermore, emerging and reemerging pathogens have led to several global public health challenges. A question, and to an extent a concern, arises from this: Why our health care system is experiencing several challenges in encountering the coronavirus outbreak, despite the ever-growing advances in sciences, and the exponential rise in the number of published articles in the first quartile journals and even the ones among the top 1%? Conclusion Two responses could be potentially provided to the above question: First, there seems to be a significant gap between our theoretical knowledge and practice. And second that many scholars and scientists publish papers only to have a longer list of publications, and therefore publishing is viewed as a personal objective, rather than for improving communities’ public health.


Science ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 338 (6103) ◽  
pp. 79-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Southwick ◽  
Dennis S. Charney

Human responses to stress and trauma vary widely. Some people develop trauma-related psychological disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression; others develop mild to moderate psychological symptoms that resolve rapidly; still others report no new psychological symptoms in response to traumatic stress. Individual variability in how animals and humans respond to stress and trauma depends on numerous genetic, developmental, cognitive, psychological, and neurobiological risk and protective factors.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 205510291667810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittorio Carlo Vezzetti
Keyword(s):  

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