scholarly journals Can Lambs in Pain Identify Medicated Feed?

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danila Marini ◽  
Ian G. Colditz ◽  
Caroline Lee

Lambs in Australia undergo painful husbandry procedures as part of common husbandry. The magnitude and duration of pain are difficult to assess in lambs. Most currently used methods rely on behavioral expressions and physiological markers that may fail to detect the state of pain an animal experience. This study examined motivation of 12-week-old lambs experiencing chronic pain to self-medicate by consumption of feed containing an analgesic agent as an indicator of pain in lambs. In this study, 36 male Merino lambs were individually penned and acclimated to pelleted feed and two artificial odors: strawberry and banana. Once acclimated to odored feed, lambs were tested for their individual preference for the odors. Lambs were then assigned to one of two groups: Sham—sham handled day 0 and 7 or Ring—Ring castrated day 0 and tail docked day 7. To enable self-medication testing, lambs underwent a conditioning period (day 0–3) followed by the self-medication period (day 7–12). On day 0 lambs were castrated or sham handled, and then offered only medicated feed that contained an odor cue (either strawberry or banana). On day 7, lambs underwent tail-docking or sham handling and were offered both the conditioned medicated feed and non-medicated feed. Amount of each feed consumed was recorded 1 and 12 h after offer each day. Blood samples were taken for cortisol and white blood cell analysis and behavioral observations were recorded for 12 h following treatment. There was no difference in preference for medicated feed between Ring and Sham lambs during the self-medication phase (P = 0.18). Lambs in both groups displayed a significant preference for strawberry cued medicated feed during the self-medicated period when compared to the other testing periods (P = 0.05). Ring lambs displayed more active pain behaviors (mean = 15.1) than Sham (mean = 0.4, P < 0.05). Following castration, Ring lambs had a higher neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio at 6, 24, 48, and 72 h. This study was not able to demonstrate that lambs can self-medicate for a state of pain.

Author(s):  
Sunitha Sunitha ◽  
Dhanya Dharman ◽  
Deepa Manohar ◽  
Shaiju S Daran ◽  
Vismaya Annie Vinod ◽  
...  

Primary dysmenorrhea is one of the most common gynecological problems among adolescent females which interferes with daily activities, affecting their physical and emotional aspects and has a negative impact on the quality of life. The pain is usually in the pelvis or lower abdomen. Self-medication for primary dysmenorrhea is a very common practice. The aim of this study was to observe and evaluate self-medication practice in primary dysmenorrhea among pharmacy students. This is a cross-sectional questionnaire study to be conducted among 50 females of age group between 18-25 of pharmacy college. The self-medication practice and features of dysmenorrhea were to be assessed with a 15 pre-validated questionnaire and the data is analyzed using descriptive statistics. A total of 50 students participated in this study in which 81.8% had regular periods. Dysmenorrhea was experienced in 79.6% with mild (30.4%),moderate(23.9%) and with severe(28.3%) dysmennohea. In this study 64.3% preferred self-medication pattern. The majority were Pharm.D students. The most commonly used drug was Meftal spas (mephenamic acid+dicyclomine) and for 96.8% the treatment was found to be effective. Among the 50 students, 57.6% have experienced ADR , majority with decreased blood flow. The Self-medication practice in dysmenorrhea was more among pharmacy students probably due to the knowledge of drugs, better awareness and greater access to drug information during their curriculum. This highlights the importance of creating awareness among students to consume drugs only in severe discomfort after prescription by the registered medical practitioners.


Salmand ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-127
Author(s):  
Narjes Heshmatifar ◽  
◽  
Arezoo Davarinia Motlagh Quchan ◽  
Zohreh Mohammadzadeh Tabrizi ◽  
Leila Moayed ◽  
...  

Objectives: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis and health outcomes are among the major human social events of the 21st century. The unknown nature of the disease and the fear of contagion have caused emotional reactions, including the self-consumption of drugs in the elderly. Therefore, this study investigated factors affecting the self-consumption of drugs for COVID-19 prevention in the elderly. Methods & Materials: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed on 342 elderly in Sabzevar City, Iran, in 2020. The research units were selected as clusters from 16 health centers. The necessary data were collected by an online self-medication questionnaire. Data analysis was performed in SPSS. Results: The Mean±SD age of the study participants was 66.2±5.67 years. The frequency of self-medication to prevent COVID-19 was 190(55.5%); analgesics, vitamins, anti-cold, and antibiotics were the most common drugs used. The major factors associated with self-medication in the COVID-19 pandemic were disease prevention, home quarantine, financial problems, experiencing previous self-medication, and others’ advice. There was a significant relationship between self-medication and education and insurance coverage. No significant relationship was observed between gender, occupation, and marital status, and self-medication. Conclusion: Self-Medication in the COVID-19 epidemic is notable as a crisis threatening the elderly’s health. Controlling and monitoring how the drug is used is among the requirements for protection and health promotion in the elderly.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-369
Author(s):  
César A. Alfonso

The author provides an overview of the psychodynamics of addiction, diverging from outdated conceptualizations such as orality and regression, and emphasizing the clinical relevance of the self-medication hypothesis. Rado and Bion paved the way for Khantzian's self-medication hypothesis by describing the drug user's need to escape unpleasure and seek self- containment. The author reviews research corroborating the relevance of the self-medication hypothesis and other relevant constructs such as self-deceptive attempts at adaptation, inability to prioritize self-care or delay gratification, excessive hedonism and novelty seeking, and impulsivity. Adverse childhood experiences, abuse and neglect are known to cause epigenetic changes altering gene expression, which may endure throughout life and be transmitted intergenerationally. Effective psychotherapeutic interventions have the potential to reverse DNA methylation and other epigenetic changes triggered by trauma and co-morbid psychopathology. Lastly, this editorial also introduces the psychodynamically informed clinical recommendations of Baurer and Gottdiener, further described in separate articles in this issue of Psychodynamic Psychiatry.


2019 ◽  
Vol In Press (In Press) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samaneh Mozafari ◽  
Mohsen Shamsi ◽  
Nasrin Roozbahani ◽  
Mehdi Ranjbaran

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2S) ◽  
pp. 113-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Lerissa Smith ◽  
Fengxia Yan ◽  
Mikayla Charles ◽  
Kamal Mohiuddin ◽  
Dawn Tyus ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 363-372
Author(s):  
Amila Isuru ◽  
Mahesh Rajasuriya

SUMMARYTobacco smoking among people with mental illnesses can be explained by biological, psychological and social factors. The prevalence of smoking in people diagnosed with schizophrenia is higher than in people with other mental disorders and in the general population. This article explores three current hypotheses that explain this higher prevalence of smoking in schizophrenia. The first, the self-medication hypothesis, is increasingly countered by a growing body of evidence indicating that smokers experience more severe symptoms of schizophrenia. Numerous researchers have already identified smoking as a possible risk factor for the development of schizophrenia, which is the second hypothesis. The third hypothesis (shared genetic vulnerability) identifies certain genes that confer vulnerability for both schizophrenia and nicotine dependence. Understanding the reasons behind the higher prevalence of smoking among people with schizophrenia is vital in planning effective primary, secondary and tertiary smoking prevention for these individuals.LEARNING OBJECTIVESAt the end of this article, readers will be able to: •understand the self-medication hypothesis in relation to tobacco smoking by people with schizophrenia•understand the role of tobacco smoking as a possible risk factor for causation of schizophrenia•understand the role of shared genetic vulnerability in the causation of both schizophrenia and nicotine dependence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-28
Author(s):  
Ashish Kumar Bhattarai ◽  
Prabin Kumar Karki

Background: Medical education is one of the toughest education systems where the stu­dents are under intense physical and mental pressure especially during the exam time. They have information of different drugs that can cope with their medical conditions and also aware of different cognitive enhancers. Self-medication results in wastage of resource, ad­verse effects, drug dependence and increase chances of resistance of pathogens. Hence, this study was undertaken to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of irrational drug use among the medical students during the exam time. Methods: This was descriptive cross-sectional using semi-structured questionnaire in the one of the medical school located inside Kathmandu Valley. A total of 90 students participated in the study. The data was analyzed with SPSS version 20, by using descriptive statistics. Results: Among the total respondents,20 (17.7%) were practicing self-medication during the exam time. Of the participants who practiced the self-medication, most common drug used was NDAIDs. Most of the respondents 87(96.7%) were aware of the possible adverse consequences. About 75(83.3%) participants thought the self-medication practice during the exam time is acceptable while 15(16.7%) regarded this as unacceptable. Conclusions: Although low incidence of self-medication was found among students during exam time, the false prerogative of being medical students can lead to meager practice and awful con­sequences.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document