Changes in psychopathological symptoms during pregnancy and after delivery: A prospective-longitudinal study in women with and without anxiety and depressive disorders prior to pregnancy

Background: The role of anxiety and depressive disorders prior to pregnancy for changes in peripartum psychopathological symptoms has not been resolved yet. Methods: A regional-epidemiological sample of 306 women was prospectively followed up in seven waves from early pregnancy until 16 months postpartum. Lifetime DSM-IV anxiety and depressive disorders were assessed at baseline with the CIDI-V. Psychopathological symptoms (somatization, obsession–compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism) were measured with the BSI three times during pregnancy and three times after delivery. Results: Multilevel analyses revealed that women with versus without lifetime anxiety (β=0.22 to β=0.32) and depressive (β=0.24 to β=0.34) disorders prior to pregnancy experienced higher peripartum psychopathological symptoms. All symptoms linearly decreased during pregnancy (β=-0.02 to β=-0.07 per month). Somatization (β=-0.46) was lower, whereas paranoid ideation (β=0.26) and obsession-compulsion (β=0.21) were higher after delivery than during pregnancy. Though, obsession-compulsion linearly decreased after delivery (β=-0.02). Lifetime anxiety disorders prior to pregnancy interacted with linear changes in anxiety (β=-0.04) and phobic anxiety (β=-0.05) during pregnancy. That is, only women with but not without anxiety disorders prior to pregnancy experienced a linear decline in anxiety and phobic anxiety during pregnancy. Limitations: Lifetime anxiety and depressive disorders were assessed in early pregnancy and might be biased. Conclusions: Peripartum psychopathological symptoms are higher in women with versus without lifetime anxiety and depressive disorders prior to pregnancy, but symptom changes only slightly vary by lifetime diagnostic status.

A Case Report on Korean Medical Treatment for a Patient Hospitalized with Acute Compression Fracture

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the effects of Korean medical treatment on a patient with compression fractures.Methods: The patient was treated with herbal medicine and acupuncture for 51 days. Symptom changes were measured using the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), Range of Motion (ROM), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and European Quality of Life Five Dimensions (EQ-5D) Scale.Results: The NRS score for lower back pain decreased from 7 to 3, and the ODI score decreased from 51.11 to 22.22. Range of motion (ROM) increased meaningfully in flexion(from 30 to 60), Left/Right lateral bending(from 10/30 to 30/45), Left/Right rotation (from 10/30 to 30/45), and the EQ-5D score also increased from 0.506 to 0.677.Conclusion: The results indicate that Korean medical treatment may be effective for managing patients’ acute compression fractures.

Dynamics of Viral Shedding and Symptoms in Patients with Asymptomatic or Mild COVID-19

We conducted a prospective cohort study at a community facility designated for the isolation of individuals with asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 between 10 January and 22 February 2021 to investigate the relationship of viral shedding with symptom changes of COVID-19. In total, 89 COVID-19 adult patients (12 asymptomatic, 16 presymptomatic, 61 symptomatic) were enrolled. Symptom scores, the genomic RNA and subgenomic RNA of SARS-CoV-2 from saliva samples with a cell culture were measured. Asymptomatic COVID-19 patients had a similar viral load to symptomatic patients during the early course of the disease, but exhibited a rapid decrease in viral load with the loss of infectivity. Subgenomic RNA and viable virus by cell culture in asymptomatic patients were detected only until 3 days after diagnosis, and the positivity of the subgenomic RNA and cell culture in symptomatic patients gradually decreased in both from 40% in the early disease course to 13% at 10 days and 4% at 8 days after the symptom onset, respectively. In conclusion, symptomatic patients have a high infectivity with high symptom scores during the early disease course and gradually lose infectivity depending on the symptom. Conversely, asymptomatic patients exhibit a rapid decrease in viral load with the loss of infectivity, despite a similar viral load during the early disease course.

Cutoff criteria for the placebo response: a cluster and machine learning analysis of placebo analgesia

Computations of placebo effects are essential in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for separating the specific effects of treatments from unspecific effects associated with the therapeutic intervention. Thus, the identification of placebo responders is important for testing the efficacy of treatments and drugs. The present study uses data from an experimental study on placebo analgesia to suggest a statistical procedure to separate placebo responders from nonresponders and suggests cutoff values for when responses to placebo treatment are large enough to be separated from reported symptom changes in a no-treatment condition. Unsupervised cluster analysis was used to classify responders and nonresponders, and logistic regression implemented in machine learning was used to obtain cutoff values for placebo analgesic responses. The results showed that placebo responders can be statistically separated from nonresponders by cluster analysis and machine learning classification, and this procedure is potentially useful in other fields for the identification of responders to a treatment.

Does preoperative bladder compliance affect long-term functional outcomes after laser prostatectomy?

Introduction: We assessed the effects of preoperative bladder compliance on the long-term functional outcomes, especially focused on postoperative storage symptom changes, after laser prostatectomy. Materials and Methods: From January 2008 to March 2014, 1608 men who underwent laser prostatectomy, including holmium laser enucleation or photo-vaporization of the prostate, were included in the analysis. We divided patients into 3 groups according to bladder compliance on a baseline urodynamic study: < 12.5; 12.5–25.0; ≥25 mL/cm H2O. A multivariable analysis was performed to determine the impact of bladder compliance on long-term functional outcomes after laser prostatectomy. Results: Bladder compliance was less than 12.5 ml/cm H2O in 50 (3.1%), 12.5-25 ml/cm H2O in 232 (14.4%) patients. As bladder compliance decreased, the baseline International Prostate Symptom (I-PSS) total score and storage sub-score were increased; the voiding sub-score remain unchanged. At postoperative 36 months, improvements in the I-PSS total score and storage sub-score were significantly higher in < 12.5 mL/cm H2O group compared to other groups, although those were equivalent at postoperative 1 and 12 months. On the multivariable analysis, decreased bladder compliance < 12.5 mL/cm H2O was significantly associated with superior improvement in storage sub-score at postoperative 36 months, although it was not associated with voiding sub-score. Conclusion: In patients with preoperative bladder compliance < 12.5 mL/cm H2O, storage symptoms could be further improved at 36 months after laser prostatectomy compared to others. Thus, laser prostatectomy could be a considerable treatment option for patients with severely decreased bladder compliance

Experimental and clinical evaluation of mefloquine effectiveness against the infection caused by SARS-CoV-2

The efficacy of mefloquine has not been studied in the in vivo experiments and clinical trials involving COVID-19 patients. The study was aimed to assess the effects of mefloquine on the SARS-CoV-2 accumulation in the lungs of infected animals and to study the efficacy and safety of mefloquine compared to hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19. During the experiment, a total of 96 Syrian hamsters were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Accumulation of the virus in lungs was compared in the groups of animals treated with mefloquine and ribavirin and in the control group. During the clinical trial, the mefloquine and hydroxychloroquine safety and efficacy in patients with mild and moderate COVID-19 (172 individuals) was assessed based on the symptom changes over time and the computed tomography results. The experiment showed that the SARS-CoV-2 accumulation in the lungs of Syrian hamsters 6 days after infection and mefloquine treatment was 2.2 ± 0.18 lg PFU/g, which was lower (p < 0.05) than in the control group (3.5 ± 0.21 lg PFU/g) and ribavirin group (5.2 ± 0.05 lg PFU/g). During the clinical trial, it was found that 50.0% of patients in the mefloquine group and 32.4% in the hydroxychloroquine group (р < 0.05) developed a mild disease, and the completely resolved respiratory failure was registered in 76.5% and 44.6%, respectively (р < 0.001). Adverse events were observed in 86.7 % and 77% of patients in the mefloquine and hydroxychloroquine groups, respectively (р > 0.05). Thus, during the experiment, mefloquine contributed to the faster virus titer reduction in the lungs. During the clinical trial, the mefloquine efficacy was non-inferiority or, based on a number of indicators, higher compared to hydroxychloroquine, with comparable safety.