scholarly journals Chemokines as Potential Biomarkers for PTSD in Military Population

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Xianzhang Hu ◽  
Xiaoxia Li ◽  
Robert J. Ursano
Keyword(s):  
Military Personnel ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Military Population ◽  
Mental Health Concern ◽  
As Stress ◽  
Education And Development

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious mental health concern worldwide among civilians and military personnel. Gaps in our understanding of its biological basis create significant obstacles for accurate diagnosis and assessment of therapeutic interventions. In light of this, investigation of biological factors associated with possible molecular cues of inflammation or neuroimmune disorders, could provide new surrogate markers for PTSD or PTSD treatment response. Analyses to date in deployed military personnel have suggested that sets of chemokines may be useful as biomarkers for PTSD acquired in military operations. Specifically, studies to date suggest that CCL2, CCL15, CCL22, CCL25, CXCL2, and CXCL12 are associated with PTSD onset, while CCL13, CCL20, and CXCL6 are correlated to PTSD risk; CX3CL1 are associated with resilience; CCL3; CXCL11, and CXCL16 are associated with stress response. CCL11, CCL13, CCL20, and CCL25 are correlated with the severity of PTSD symptoms. This chapter reviews the current understanding of potential chemokine markers for PTSD, and the potential chemokines associated with PTSD onset, risk, resilience, as well as stress responses in service members. Although the proposed biomarkers require further validation, these findings may lead to additional knowledge for the education and development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for PTSD, not only benefiting military personnel, but civilians as well.

scholarly journals Respiratory Viral Pathogens Among U.S. Military Personnel at a Medical Treatment Facility in Hawaii From 2014 to 2019

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes S Montgomery ◽  
Michael B Lustik ◽  
Susan A Reichert-Scrivner ◽  
Ronald L Woodbury ◽  
Milissa U Jones ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Military Personnel ◽  
Influenza A ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Medical Center ◽  
Signs And Symptoms ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Military Population ◽  
Viral Pathogens ◽  
Viral Pathogen ◽  
Medical Treatment Facility

ABSTRACT Introduction Acute respiratory diseases account for a substantial number of outpatient visits and hospitalizations among U.S. military personnel, significantly affecting mission readiness and military operations. We conducted a retrospective analysis of respiratory viral pathogen (RVP) samples collected from U.S. military personnel stationed in Hawaii and tested at Tripler Army Medical Center from January 2014 to May 2019 in order to describe the etiology, distribution, and seasonality of RVP exposure in a military population. Materials and Methods Samples were analyzed by viral culture or multiplex PCR. Distribution of respiratory viruses over time was analyzed as well as subject demographic and encounter data. Presenting signs and symptoms were evaluated with each RVP. Results A total of 2,576 military personnel were tested, of which 726 (28.2%) were positive for one or more RVP. Among positive tests, the three most common viral pathogens detected were influenza A (43.0%), rhinovirus (24.5%), and parainfluenza (7.6%). Symptoms were generally mild and most frequently included cough, fever, and body aches. Conclusion Our study evaluated respiratory virus prevalence, seasonality, and association with clinical symptoms for military personnel in an urban tropical setting in Oahu, HI, over a 5-year period. We show that viral prevalence and seasonality in Hawaii are distinct from those of the CONUS. Results contribute to the broader understanding of seasonality, clinical manifestation, and demographics of RVP among active duty military personnel stationed in Hawaii.

scholarly journals Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A mental health concern in Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 841-844
Author(s):  
Mohammad Asim ◽  
Edwin Van Teijlingen ◽  
Brijesh Sathian
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
Ptsd Symptoms ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Mental Health Concern ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
National Mental Health

The sudden outbreak of Coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) is transforming the psychology and interpersonal relationships of millions across the globe. In Nepal, there is a need for national mental health surveys post COVID-19. This pandemic can cause traumatic experiences to the patients, caregivers, those quarantined and frontline healthcare providers which may lead to PTSD. Special attention should be focused on high-risk individuals, including policies to implement regular screening of PTSD symptoms. 

Eradicating war memories: Neuroscientific reality and ethical concerns

2018 ◽  
Vol 101 (910) ◽  
pp. 69-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marijn C. W. Kroes ◽  
Rain Liivoja
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Current Treatment ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Military Population ◽  
Traumatic Memories ◽  
Memory Modification ◽  
War Memories ◽  
Moral Duties ◽  
Clinical Potential

AbstractTraumatic memories of war can result in mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is characterized by intrusive trauma memories and severe stress responses with devastating personal and societal consequences. Current treatments teach patients to regulate trauma memories, but many experience a return of symptoms even after initially successful treatment. Neuroscience is discovering ways to permanently modify trauma memories and prevent the return of symptoms. Such memory modification techniques (MMTs) have great clinical potential but also important ethical, legal and social implications. In this article, the authors describe PTSD, the role of memory in PTSD, its effects on the brain, and the limitations of current treatment methods. Then, the state of the art of the neuroscience of MMTs is presented. Within this realistic scientific framework the authors will discuss the ethical, legal and social implications of MMTs for the treatment of war-induced PTSD, especially in a military population. Three major sets of issues will be focused on: safety and social justice concerns, concerns about threats to authenticity and identity, and the possible legal and moral duties to retain certain memories. Finally, the article concludes that within scientific reality, concerns are limited and do not outweigh the potential benefits of developing treatments for patients.

304 The relationship between basic personality, subjective sleep duration, and psychological distress during a military deployment

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A121-A121
Author(s):  
Walter Sowden ◽  
Alexxa Bessey ◽  
Julie Merrill ◽  
Ashlee Mckeon ◽  
Jake Choynowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Sleep Duration ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Military Personnel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Medicine Research ◽  
Subjective Sleep ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Introduction Extended, overseas operations (deployments) increase the likelihood that military personnel will experience psychological distress. Reduced sleep during deployments is a key correlate of psychological distress. Thus, it is imperative to identify mechanisms that adaptively modulate the relationship between insufficient sleep and psychological distress. Research has recently connected basic personality traits (i.e., the Big Five: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness) to more sleep. The current project aimed to examine the relationship between basic personality traits, subjective sleep duration (SSD), and psychological distress during an operational deployment. Methods 488 soldiers took surveys both prior to and half-way through a nine-month deployment. The pre-deployment survey included the Big Five Index, and three standardized measures of psychological distress commonly used to screen military personnel for anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder; GAD-7), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire; PHQ-8), and post-traumatic stress (Posttraumatic Symptom Disorder Checklist; PCL-4). The mid-deployment survey included an item from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index measuring SSD and the same psychological distress measures from the pre-deployment survey. General linear models were used to test the interaction between SSD and each basic personality trait on each measure of psychological distress at mid-deployment while accounting for psychological distress at pre-deployment. Results Of the Big Five, conscientiousness was the only trait to significantly moderate the relationship between SSD and anxiety, t = 2.11, p = .035, where higher conscientiousness weakened the relationship. Further only agreeableness attenuated the relationship between depression and SSD, t = 2.10, p = .036. Interestingly, the only Big Five trait that moderated the relationship between SSD and PTS was openness, insomuch that openness strengthened the relationship, t = -1.92, p = .055. Conclusion The relationship between SSD and psychological distress was uniquely impacted by different personality traits. These results reinforce the age-old concept that behavior is the product of a complex, nuanced, and puzzling interaction between the individual and the environment. The current research motivates further research into personality as an adaptive mechanism for optimizing military wellbeing. Support (if any) Support for this study came from the Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP) of the United States Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

scholarly journals Exploring the Use of Hip Hop-Based Music Therapy to Address Trauma in Asylum Seeker and Unaccompanied Minor Migrant Youth

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salih Gulbay
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Intervention Models ◽  
Migrant Youth ◽  
Trauma Informed

There are numerous young asylum seekers and unaccompanied migrant minors around the globe. A comprehensive literature review revealed that post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the most common disorder that affects the asylum seeker youth and migrant minor populations. Many of these individuals struggle with PTSD and show resilience in their daily lives while also learning, discovering, and surviving. Accordingly, therapeutic interventions directed to them must be trauma-informed, phased, engaging, empowering, and impactful to support the needs of these young people. A seven-month-long music therapy intervention experience that was applied to young asylum seekers in Spain, and found that the most effective intervention tools were Hip Hop Therapy-related interventions. This study resulted in a new intervention model, The Integral Hip Hop Methodology. This paper highlights the importance that intervention models be engaging and considerate to the necessities and preferences of the addressed population and presents The Integral Hip Hop Methodology as an example.

scholarly journals Host-directed therapies against early-lineage SARS-CoV-2 retain efficacy against B.1.1.7 variant

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Kathrin Reuschl ◽  
Lucy G. Thorne ◽  
Lorena Zuliani-Alvarez ◽  
Mehdi Bouhaddou ◽  
Kirsten Obernier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Elongation Factor ◽  
Therapy Resistance ◽  
P38 Map Kinase ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Map Kinase Cascade ◽  
New Variant ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Kinase Cascade

AbstractCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has resulted in millions of deaths worldwide and massive societal and economic burden. Recently, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, known as B.1.1.7, was first detected in the United Kingdom and is spreading in several other countries, heightening public health concern and raising questions as to the resulting effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutic interventions. We and others previously identified host-directed therapies with antiviral efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Less prone to the development of therapy resistance, host-directed drugs represent promising therapeutic options to combat emerging viral variants as host genes possess a lower propensity to mutate compared to viral genes. Here, in the first study of the full-length B.1.1.7 variant virus, we find two host-directed drugs, plitidepsin (aplidin; inhibits translation elongation factor eEF1A) and ralimetinib (inhibits p38 MAP kinase cascade), as well as remdesivir, to possess similar antiviral activity against both the early-lineage SARS-CoV-2 and the B.1.1.7 variant, evaluated in both human gastrointestinal and lung epithelial cell lines. We find that plitidepsin is over an order of magnitude more potent than remdesivir against both viruses. These results highlight the importance of continued development of host-directed therapeutics to combat current and future coronavirus variant outbreaks.

scholarly journals Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Following COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
Heba A. Fouad ◽  
M. Alanazey, Mohammed Amer ◽  
K. Alruwaili, Anfal Farhan ◽  
M. Alanazi, Fahad Inad ◽  
A. Bamousa, Ahmed Khalid ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Study Association ◽  
As Stress

COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on the quality of life (QoL) of the young people by affecting their psychological stress and suspicion of diagnosis with post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD. In response to this global health crisis, quarantine and lock down measures were implemented by international and government health organizations to contain the rapid spread of the virus. Such a period of health crisis has significant repercussions on human health and welling, accompanied by psychological distress and related symptoms such as stress, panic and anxiety in the general population specifically students. Therefore, this study aimed to study association between COVID-19 pandemic and lock down with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Is autonoetic recollection of threat in PTSD related to impaired inhibitory skills?

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S360-S360
Author(s):  
A.C. Tudorache ◽  
W. El-Hage ◽  
G. Tapia ◽  
N. Goutaudier ◽  
S. Kalenzaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Disturbances ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Experimental Methodology ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Memory Impairments ◽  
Memory Functioning ◽  
Inhibitory Deficits ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Competing Interest

IntroductionIntrusive traumatic reminiscences are among the most distressing and salient characteristics of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Associated with involuntary onsets, emotional disturbances and consciousness-related impairments, such symptoms suggest that memory functioning could be impaired in PTSD. While there is a growing body of research on experimental assessments of memory in patients with PTSD, inconsistent results remain.ObjectiveUsing an experimental methodology, this study aims to measure memory in PTSD in consideration of central features of intrusive symptoms, especially emotional, inhibitory and consciousness-related memory impairments.Method34 patients diagnosed with PTSD were compared with 37 non-PTSD controls on an item-cued directed forgetting paradigm for emotional words combined with a remember/know recognition procedure.ResultsResults confirmed prior findings of an increased and peculiarly conscious recognition of trauma-related words in PTSD. Interestingly, our results showed that, despite general memory inhibitory deficits, PTSD patients, if requested, presented a preserved ability to inhibit this improved recollection of trauma-related words.ConclusionWhile our findings highlight a biased memory functioning in favour of threatening stimuli in PTSD, inhibitory deficits for such information was not reported to play a role on this effect. Conversely, it seems that instead of inhibitory deficits, patients presented a preferential treatment of threat concordant with vigilant-avoidant models of information processing. Focusing on memory impairment in treatment for PTSD appears of prime importance. Our findings regarding preserved inhibitory skills for threat memories in the disorder could be an interesting clue for therapeutic interventions on intrusive symptoms.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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