The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 8: Its Psychometric Evaluation Among Women with Chronic Non-Cancer Pelvic Pain

Psychiatric comorbidity and abusive experiences in chronic pelvic pain (CPP) conditions may prolong disease course. This study investigated the psychometrics of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 8 (DASS-8) among women with CPP (N = 214, mean age = 33.3 ± 12.4 years). The DASS-8 expressed excellent fit, invariance across age groups and menopausal status, good discriminant validity (differentiating women with psychiatric comorbidity from those without comorbidity: U = 2018.0, p = 0.001), excellent reliability (alpha = 0.90), adequate predictive and convergent validity indicated by strong correlation with the DASS-21 (r = 0.94) and high values of item-total correlations (r = 0.884 to 0.893). In two-step cluster analysis, it classified women into low and high distress clusters (n = 141 and 73), with significantly higher levels of distress, pain severity and duration, and physical symptoms in cluster 2. The DASS-8 correlated with pain severity/duration, depression/anxiety symptoms, sexual assault, fatigue, headache severity, and physical symptoms at the same level expressed by the parent scale, or even greater. Accordingly, distress may represent a target for early identification of psychiatric comorbidity, CPP severity, sexual assault, fatigue, etc. Therefore, the DASS-8 is a useful brief measure of mental symptoms among women with CPP.

Mental Health Status of the Professionals Working With Covid-19 atHospital in Dhaka

Background:The recent COVID-19 pandemic caused by the new strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was first diagnosed in Wuhan, China in late December of 2019. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has a large negative psychological effect and mental health issues worldwide due to its high morbidity and mortality rates. The unexpectedly rapid spread of COVID -19 endowed HCWs with increased work burden, lack of personal protective equipment, high risk of exposure and contracting the diseases, as well as increased mortality amongst HCWs. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carry out to assess the Mental Health status of the professionals working with Covid-19 at Hospital in Dhaka. Primary data were collected through field survey including the observation and interview method. This survey, were covered doctors, nurses and Medical technicians in all clinical departments of Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital, Uttara, Dhaka between 1st May to July 30th, 2021. Mental health variables were assessed via Somatic Symptom scale-8 (SSS-8).

The Effect of Medication Remainder Application (MRA) on The Level of Knowledge and Compliance of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients in Universitas Sumatera Utara Hospital, Indonesia

Effect of MRA on the level of knowledge and compliance of patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in hospital of Universitas Sumatera Utara. This Cohort Study was conducted in August - November 2018 at the hospital of Universitas Sumatera Utara with a total of 30 respondents. The research subjects were one group pretest-posttest given intervention in the form of a digital MRA application on a patient's smartphone. to measure the level of patients knowledge by using the Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire-24 (DKQ-24) questionnaire while the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS-8) questionnaire was used to measure compliance. The data obtained were collected and then analyzed by using Microsoft Excel and Spearman test statistics. Based on the Spearman Test the Sig (2-tailed) value was 0.301 (p≤0.05), the knowledge is positively correlated with the compliance rate of 0.195 which has a low correlate level. Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that the MRA influences to increase the knowledge and compliance of patients with type 2 DM.

Relation of Volume of Hemorrhage With Mortality Within First 48 Hours in Hemorrhagic Stroke

Background: Hemorrhagic stroke accounts for 10-15% of all strokes with higher mortality rates than cerebral infarction. Intracerebral hemorrhage has a reported 30-day mortality of 44% to 51%, with almost half of the death occurs within the first 48 hours. Advanced age, low level of consciousness, large volume of hemorrhage has been linked with poor outcome. Objectives: To predict early outcome of hemorrhagic stroke patient in relation with age, Glasgow Coma Scale, volume of hemorrhage and ventricular extension. Materials and Methods: Hospital based prospective study carried out in hundred hemorrhagic stroke patients. The formula of ABC/2 was used to calculate hemorrhage volume in bedside by using CT scan. Results: 1st month mortality rates of hemorrhagic stroke was 44% with 45.45% of patients died within the first 48 hours of onset. Mean age of patients of hemorrhagic stroke was 61.2 ± 13.88 years. Mortality rate of intracerebral hemorrhage after age of 60 was 51.06% in 1st month. Volume of intracerebral hemorrhage was the strongest predictor of both 48 hours and 30 days mortality. Using three categories of intracerebral hemorrhage (X for < 30 ml, Y for 30 - 50 ml and Z for > 50 ml group) calculated by ABC/2 formula showed 100% mortality rate in Z group, 50% in Y group and only 12% mortality rate in X group in 1st month. Among all death, 61.5% of Z group 25% of Y group and 16.67% of patients of X group died within 48 hours. Two categories of Glasgow Coma Scale (≤ 8 and ≥ 9) were used and shown death rates 80.77% in GCS ≤ 8 and 4.55% in GCS ≥ 9 in 1st month. Conclusion: Volume of intracerebral hemorrhage in combination with advanced age, initial Glasgow Coma Scale is a powerful and easy to use in both 48 hours and 1st month mortality in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. KYAMC Journal. 2021;12(3): 127-132

The Relationship between the Fear, the Perceived Risk of COVID-19 and Compliance with Standard Precautions of Nurses

Aim: it was aimed to examine the correlation between the fear of COVID-19 and the perceived risk of COVID-19 and compliance with standard precautions of nurses working in pandemic clinics. Materials and Methods: The study conducted in a cross-sectional research design. The sample consists of 194 participants who worked in COVID-19 clinics between November 2020 - January 2021 in an Education and Research Hospital in Ankara, and met the inclusion criteria. Data collection form consisted of the Introductory Information Form (18 questions), the The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (7 items), the Perceived COVID-19 Risk Scale (8 items) and the Standard Precautions Scale (20 items). The data were collected by considering the pandemic conditions, using an online questionnaire. Mann Whitney U Test and Kruskal Wallis Variance Analysis were used to compare continuous data. Spearman Correlation Analysis was used to determine the correlation between the scales’ scores. Results: The mean age of the participants was 29.01 ± 6.73. Participants’ mean scores were on the The Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Perceived COVID-19 Risk Scale, and Standard Precautions Scale were 19.83 ± 6.36, 29.89 ± 5, and 14.05 ± 2.81, respectively. It was determined that there was a moderate and positive significant correlation between the The Fear of COVID-19 Scale mean scores of the participants and the Perceived COVID-19 Risk Scale (r = 0.619; p = 0.001). There was no statistically significant correlation between the mean scores of the Compliance with Standard Precautions Scale and the mean scores of the The Fear of COVID-19 Scale and Perceived COVID-19 Risk Scale (p>0.05). Conclusion: In line with the results obtained in the study, it was determined that the nurses’ fear of COVID-19 and the perceived risk of COVID-19 were above average. However, it was revealed that fear of COVID-19 and perceived risk were not related to Compliance with Standard Precautions.

Measuring Voluntary Control Over Hallucinations: The Yale Control Over Perceptual Experiences (COPE) Scales

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) frequently cause significant distress and dysfunction, and may be unresponsive to conventional treatments. Some voice-hearers report an ability to fully control the onset and offset of their AVH, making them significantly less disruptive. Measuring and understanding these abilities may lead to novel interventions to enhance control over AVH.52 voice-hearers participated in the pilot study. 318 participants with frequent AVH participated in the validation study. A pool of 59 items was developed by a diverse team including voice-hearers and clinicians. After the pilot study, 35 items were retained. Factorial structure was assessed with exploratory (EFA, n = 148) and confirmatory (CFA, n = 170) factor analyses. Reliability and convergent validity were assessed using a comprehensive battery of validated phenomenological and clinical scales. CFA supported two factors for a Methods of Control Scale (5 items each, average ω = .87), and one factor for a Degree of Control Scale (8 items, average ω = .95). Correlation with clinical measures supported convergent validity. Degree of control was associated with positive clinical outcomes in voice-hearers both with and without a psychosis-spectrum diagnosis. Degree of control also varied with quality of life independently of symptom severity and AVH content.The Yale COPE Scales are the first measure of voice-hearers’ control over AVH and exhibit sound psychometric properties. Results demonstrate that the capacity to voluntarily control AVH is independently associated with positive clinical outcomes. Reliable measurement of control over AVH will enable future development of interventions meant to bolster that control.

Evaluating lubiprostone for effective bowel preparation before colonoscopy

Background Colon preparation is a fundamental step for performing a successful colonoscopy. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of administering lubiprostone (LB) added to a single dose of oral polyethylene glycol (PEG) solution in achieving satisfactory colon cleanliness and decreasing the side effects. Results One-hundred percent of the control group patients reported that the experienced taste was worse than expected, while in the intervention group half of the patients (50%) said that the taste was natural and 48% experienced taste worse than expected (p<0.0001). Regarding Boston bowel preparation scale (BBPS), there was a significant difference in the overall Boston scale (p=0.02) with more efficacy in the intervention group as 66% of patients in the intervention group had good bowel preparation (5–7) and 24% excellent preparation (8–9). On the other hand, the overall Boston scale in the control group showed that 54% of patients were between 5 and 7, and only 16% of patients had overall Boston scale 8–9. In terms of the side effects of the preparation in both arms, the majority of cases in the intervention arm did not complain of any side effects (78%), while the majority of the complaints were vomiting in 16% of the intervention cases. Conclusion The current evidence suggested that adding LB to the colon preparation significantly improved the tolerability and efficacy.

A hospital-based study on etiology and prognosis of bacterial meningitis in adults

Bacterial meningitis is a neurological emergency with high morbidity and mortality. We herein investigated clinical features, etiology, antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, and prognosis of bacterial meningitis in adults from a single tertiary center. We retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients with laboratory-confirmed bacterial meningitis from 2007 to 2016. Patients with recent neurosurgery, head trauma, or indwelling neurosurgical devices were classified as having healthcare-related meningitis. Causative microorganisms were identified by analyzing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood cultures, and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were evaluated. We performed multiple logistic regression analysis to identify factors associated with unfavorable outcomes. We identified 161 cases (age, 55.9 ± 15.5 years; male, 50.9%), of which 43 had community-acquired and 118 had healthcare-related meningitis. CSF and blood culture positivity rates were 91.3% and 30.4%, respectively. In community-acquired meningitis patients, Klebsiella pneumoniae (25.6%) was the most common isolate, followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (18.6%) and Listeria monocytogenes (11.6%). The susceptibility rates of K. pneumoniae to ceftriaxone, cefepime, and meropenem were 85.7%, 81.3%, and 100%, respectively. Among healthcare-related meningitis patients, the most common bacterial isolates were coagulase-negative staphylococci (28.0%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (16.1%) and Enterobacter spp. (13.6%). Neurological complications occurred in 39.1% of the patients and the 3-month mortality rate was 14.8%. After adjusting for covariates, unfavorable outcome was significantly associated with old age (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00–1.06), neurological complications (OR 4.53, 95% CI 1.57–13.05), and initial Glasgow coma scale ≤ 8 (OR 19.71, 95% CI 4.35–89.40). Understanding bacterial pathogens and their antibiotic susceptibility may help optimize antimicrobial therapy in adult bacterial meningitis.