Study of quality of life in patients with premature graying of hair in Western Indian population

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Quality of life in patients with premature graying of hair is an under studied topic in Indian population. Its onset in adolescence may have a significant effect on the developing psyche of an individual sufferer impairing academic and work related performance and can be associated with low self esteem, low confidence which can further be associated with depression. Aim was<strong> </strong>to objectively evaluate the impact of premature canities on QoL and early identification of patients in need of medical and psychological intervention.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The impact on QoL was calculated with the help of a modified and prevalidated questionnaire based on the dermatology life quality index proposed by Finley and Kahn. One hundred patients with onset of canities before the age of 25 years were enrolled, after approval by the institutional ethical committee.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The mean modified DLQI score recorded was 14.3±6.76. Total of 71% patients were found to have a very large to extremely large effect on the QoL. Guilt, mood fluctuation and need for medical intervention were reported frequently. The comparison between DLQI scores of boys and girls was not significant.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Patients of premature canities were found to have profound impact on their QoL, attributable to their perception of the disease. Considering the age group affected, it could have a long‑term detrimental effect on their psychological and social wellbeing.</p><p class="abstract"> </p>

Propofol Induces Postoperative Depression and Inhibits Microglial Function in Mice

Many patients experience excellent physical recoveries after surgery; however, there are some of them who from suffer mood fluctuation, even depression. Postoperative depression may be resulted from cognitive dysfunction, pain, and a compromised immune system during the surgery. But there is a higher possibility that general anaesthesia may be responsible for the development of depression. Here, we employed one of the most used anaesthetics, propofol, in a mouse model to investigate whether this intravenous anaesthetic compound could cause depressive-like behavioural performance in mice. We found a single dose of propofol caused significant abnormal behavioural performance in tail suspension, forced swimming, and open field tests. We also examined the brain section of these mice and revealed that there was significant reduced expression of the CD11b protein, which demonstrated an inhibition of propofol on microglial function. We investigated the effect of propofol on synaptic protein, SYP, and found there was no notable influence on the protein expression. These above results suggested that propofol treatment might promote the depressive-like behaviours in mice via influencing the microglial cell function. Furthermore, we found the level of the IL-6 cytokine was significantly increased in the brain tissue, which might subsequently cause the activation of the transcriptional factor, STAT3. Our finding may provide a new perspective of further understanding the mechanism of anaesthetic drugs and deciphering the underlying mechanism of postoperative depression.

Mood fluctuation in Antarctic expeditioners: does one size fit all?

It has long been argued that mood fluctuation patterns in Antarctic expeditioners are largely homogeneous. This research investigated mood fluctuation patterns throughout all the stages of Antarctic deployment using latent class growth analysis. Utilising advanced statistical methods, such as latent class growth analysis, can greatly help in identifying if mood fluctuation patterns experienced by Antarctic expeditioners are homogenous, and provide insight into mood fluctuation patterns, which was not possible with traditional group-based quantitative methods. Gaining a greater insight into mood fluctuation patterns in Antarctic expeditioners can assist with the development, and implementation of, strategies to assist with expeditioner well-being. The analysis was conducted on 423 expeditioner from the Australian Antarctic program between the 2005-2009 Antarctic deployment seasons. The results supported the notion that mood fluctuation patterns in expeditioners within the Australian-Antarctic programme were largely homogeneous, as a 1-class cubic latent class growth model was identified as being the optimal fit for the dataset. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in relation to research and prevention and intervention strategies.

Case Report Klinefelter Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis as the Cause of Psychosis

Introduction and goalsForty-three-year-old male diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome and showing radiological findings suggesting a demyelinating pathology who presents several psychiatric manifestations including megalomaniacal ideation, delusion, lack of impulse control and behavioral alterations.Clinical caseForty-three-year-old male diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome at the age of 31, presenting several psychiatric pathologies since adolescence: delusions, megalomania, mood fluctuation, and high impulsiveness. The patient had a poor therapeutic response to anti-psychotic drugs and ECT. He was hospitalized up to 9 times, but the full control of the symptomatology was not achieved. During his last hospitalization, a MRI revealed lesions compatible with a demyelinating pathology.DiscussionA higher prevalence of schizophrenia spectrum disorders has been described among patients suffering from Klinefelter syndrome, which might explain the role of the X chromosome in the susceptibility to psychiatric disorders, particularly to psychosis. Furthermore, the brain structure alterations presented by patients suffering from Klinefelter syndrome are similar to those described among schizophrenic patients: small brain volume, lateral cerebral ventricular enlargement and reduced temporal gyrus, amygdala, insula and cingulate cortex. Patients suffering from multiple sclerosis are more prone to psychiatric disorders, such as mood swing, aggressiveness or psychosis, which are not concurrent with the physical progression of the disease, sometimes being its first manifestation. Even when being patchy and multifocal, demyelination seems to be concentrated in the frontal lobes, related to the cognitive and affective functions and the personality.ConclusionsBoth multiple sclerosis and Klinefelder syndrome may alter the brain structure, mainly in the frontal lobe, and predispose to psychiatric disorders.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Network Science: A New Method for Investigating the Complexity of Musical Experiences in The Brain

Network science is a rapidly emerging analysis method for investigating complex systems, such as the brain, in terms of their components and the interactions among them. Within the brain, music affects an intricate set of complex neural processing systems. These include structural components as well as functional elements such as memory, motor planning and execution, cognition and mood fluctuation. Because music affects such diverse brain systems, it is an ideal candidate for applying network science methods. Using as naturalistic an approach as possible, the authors investigated whether listening to different genres of music affected brain connectivity. Here the authors show that varying levels of musical complexity affect brain connectivity. These results suggest that network science offers a promising new method to study the dynamic impact of music on the brain.

RECURSIVE PREFERENCE, MOOD FLUCTUATION AND WELFARE COST OF REDUCED GROWTH

This paper studies the mood fluctuation of a typical consumer with recursive preference and the welfare cost of reduced growth and business cycle. We estimate the welfare cost using discrete recursive function as well as conduct simulation in order to compare our results with other existing research findings. Our findings are in line with traditional literature whereby the welfare cost of reduced growth is larger than that of business cycle; but our results show that these past measures understate the welfare cost of reduced growth and business cycle.