Characteristics of antidepressant medication users in a cohort of mid-age and older Australians

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate antidepressant use, including the class of antidepressant, in mid-age and older Australians according to sociodemographic, lifestyle and physical and mental health-related factors. METHODS: Baseline questionnaire data on 111,705 concession card holders aged ⩾45 years from the 45 and Up Study—a population-based cohort study from New South Wales, Australia—were linked to administrative pharmaceutical data. Current- and any-antidepressant users were those dispensed medications with Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification codes beginning N06A, within ⩽6 months and ⩽19 months before baseline, respectively; non-users had no antidepressants dispensed ⩽19 months before baseline. Multinomial logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted relative risk ratios (aRRRs) for predominantly self-reported factors in relation to antidepressant use. RESULTS: Some 19% of the study population (15% of males and 23% of females) were dispensed at least one antidepressant during the study period; 40% of participants used selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) only and 32% used tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) only. Current antidepressant use was markedly higher in those reporting: severe versus no physical impairment (aRRR 3.86(95%CI 3.67–4.06)); fair/poor versus excellent/very good self-rated health (4.04(3.83–4.25)); high/very high versus low psychological distress (7.22(6.81–7.66)); ever- versus never-diagnosis of depression by a doctor (18.85(17.95–19.79)); low-dose antipsychotic use versus no antipsychotic use (12.26(9.85–15.27)); and dispensing of ⩾10 versus <5 other medications (5.97(5.62–6.34)). Sociodemographic and lifestyle factors were also associated with use, although to a lesser extent. Females, older people, those with lower education and those with poorer health were more likely to be current antidepressant users than non-users and were also more likely to use TCAs-only versus SSRIs-only. CONCLUSIONS: Use of antidepressants is substantially higher in those with physical ill-health and in those reporting a range of adverse mental health measures. In addition, sociodemographic factors, including sex, age and education were also associated with antidepressant use and the class of antidepressant used.Emily Banks and Bryan Rodgers are supported by the NHMRC (Fellowship No. 1042717 and 471429, respectively). This project was supported by the Study of Economic and Environmental Factors in health project, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) (grant reference: 402810) and NHMRC project grant 1024450

Nurses\u27 Alumnae Association Bulletin, April 1962

Staff Nurses Association Alumnae Meetings 1961 Social Committee Clara Melville Scholarship Fund Ways and Means Report Cook Book Report Bulletin Committee Private Duty Nurse\u27s Section Hospital Report and Nursing Service Federal Nursing Service Practice of Nursing Report of Student Council Activities Medical Work in Ghan

Connect 2 Cope: Stress and Coping Strategies Associated with University Honors Students

Coping and connecting are two things that college students don’t take a course in but are essential qualities they will need beyond their time in the university, in both work and life. This research sought to understand how students at Southern Illinois University, with special focus on Honors students, experience stress and view connection as a coping mechanism. It gives insights into sources of stress, including pressures that are external to university life and impact student mental health. The participants included SIUC Honors Students and SIU Non-Honors Students. I was also able to ask each group of students their perceptions of honors programs and if they feel that academic expectations of Honors programs generated a sense of competition, whether internally with oneself or externally with others

The Effectiveness of Scenario-Based Cybersecurity Day Camps in Southern Rural Appalachia

As the emphasis on cybersecurity instruction in the K12 environment continues to expand, furthering access to cybersecurity education is paramount across the United States. While designated cybersecurity courses are not available in many schools, the implementation of cybersecurity camps may help to bridge the gap and increase student interest in and awareness of cybersecurity as a field. From 2021 through 2024, cybersecurity day camps were held in a region in rural southern Appalachia with the goal of increasing student interest and access to cybersecurity topics. Through the creation and implementation of these camps, it was found that scenario-based cybersecurity day camps with a focus on experiential learning were effective in generating student interest and engagement in cybersecurity, with students attending reporting a significant increase in knowledge and interest as a result of the day camps. While the focus of this research is specifically on students in rural southern Appalachia, the findings in the research may create a pathway to assist in the creation and implementation of effective cybersecurity day camps in other regions

Worst Case and the Worst Example: An Agenda for Any Young Lawyer Who Wants to Save the World from Climate Chaos

Wherever you turn with regard to climate change, you\u27ll hear about the worst, and the worst of the worst, and the worst that will happen after that. Young lawyers should put themselves in the right frame of mind to tackle all these worsts that are headed our way. In the interest of keeping it simple, we would suggest a personal strategy for every young lawyer that would entail: (I) Honoring Knowledge and Learning; (II) Protecting Your Institutions and Loving Your Country; (III) Planning and Conducting Your Personal War on Bad Law; and (IV) Rejecting Defeatism and Impossibility Theorems. Let\u27s consider these strategies in order. Knowing your circumstance is followed by the occasion of improving your circumstance. This captures the power of positive thinking. If the flaws in human nature that are so celebrated by pessimists could stop effective action, human progress would have been stanched long ago. Despite all talk of futility, impossibility, and resignation, the entire legal scene is a frenzy of hope, effort, creative initiative, and change. That unwarranted optimism of the human species and of the legal profession appears to have seized momentary control in the rush to protect our world and our climate from unprecedented challenge. It\u27s a nice place to end a legal story. Impossible problems can only succumb to implacable convictions. Humans created the conditions for this climate change catastrophe. Perhaps they can stumble into ultimate triumph

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Biodiversity, Baking and Boiling, Endangered Species Act Turning Down the Heat

Today the Earth faces an extinction event on a scale second only to Earth\u27s largest mass extinction, the Permian-Triassic event, which occurred 250 million years ago. Upwards of 70 percent of the Earth\u27s species could be at risk of extinction with a 3.5°C (6.3°F) rise in temperature, which could occur by the end of this century. The driver is global warming, caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. As such, a rational climate policy is needed immediately to prevent the complete collapse of biodiversity. Yet, the United States—the world\u27s largest cumulative contributor to emissions—is in a state of paralysis when it comes to implementing climate solutions. This paralysis arises from a complex of cultural, political, and economic origins. It is perhaps understandable that persons, be they individual humans or corporations, would not respond readily. Humans\u27 ability to fundamentally alter our environs has far outstripped our limited ability to calculate cost/benefit in the abstract and over the long term. On the other hand, there is no excuse for inaction on the part of government. One of the primary purposes of government is social order. Implicit in the organization of society is that at a collective, governmental level we are better at calculating abstract long-term cost/benefit. The government must therefore take definitive steps in the face of the climate crisis. This article begins by providing a brief overview of biodiversity, the threats global warming poses to it, and the economic and social costs that the loss of biodiversity will exact on human society. We then review four key examples of ways in which the Endangered Species Act operates, or should operate, to address global warming and greenhouse gas emissions and confer substantial benefits on species threatened by the climate crisis: the listing process, the section 7 consultation process required of federal agencies, the designation of critical habitat, and the preparation and implementation of recovery plans