Correlation between depression and burden observed in informal caregivers of people suffering from dementia with time spent on caregiving and dementia severity

[Abstract] OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to compare data on the examined population of informal caregivers of people suffering from dementia with previous studies, as well as to assess the correlation between (i) depression determined on the basis of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and (ii) caregiver burden measured by means of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale and some chosen parameters, such as total time devoted to caregiving, time of caregiving in hours per week and level of dementia severity measured by Global Deterioration Scale. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 41 informal caregivers of people suffering from dementia from different backgrounds were evaluated using the Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Demographic data about the time devoted to caregiving and the number of hours spend on caregiving weekly were gathered. The type of dementia and its stage were registered using the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS). With the aid of the Statistica StatSoft program, mutual correlations between the parameters were measured. The study was conducted within the framework of AAL UnderstAID – a platform that supports and helps to understand and assist caregivers in the care of a relative with dementia. The international project is co-founded by the Joint Programme Ambient Assisted Living (Grant code: ESR-aal 2012 5 107). RESULTS: No significant correlations between the level of depression severity evaluated in caregivers and the total time of taking care of a demented person or time of caregiving in hours per week were observed. Similarly, no significant correlation between depression severity level and dementia severity level measured on the GDS scale were noted. There was also no significant correlation between Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale scores and the above-mentioned parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The level of depression among caregivers do not depend on socio-demographic factors

Happiness and health behaviours in Chilean college students: A cross-sectional survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Happiness has been associated with a range of favourable health outcomes through two pathways: its relationship with favourable biological responses to stress and with healthy lifestyles and prudent health behaviours. There are a substantial number of cross-cultural studies about happiness, but none of them has studied the association of happiness with perceived stress and health behaviours in Latin American samples. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the association between general happiness and these variables in a Latin American sample.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a survey to examine the status of 3461 students aged between 17 and 24 years old (mean age = 19.89; SD = 1.73) who attended University of Santiago de Chile during 2009. The healthy behaviours indexes assessed were the frequency of daily physical exercise, fruits/vegetables intake, breakfast and lunch intake, smoking, alcohol and other drugs consumption. We also included the assessment of perceived stress and Body Mass Index. All of them were evaluated using a self-report questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses showed that being female and younger was related to a higher happiness, as well as that people self-reporting daily physical activity, having lunch and fruits and vegetables each day had a higher likelihood (OR between 1.33 and 1.40) of being classified as "very happy". Those who informed felt stressed in normal circumstances and during tests situations showed a lower likelihood (0.73 and 0.82, respectively) of being considered "very happy". Regarding drug consumption, taking tranquilizers under prescription was negative related to "subjective happiness" (OR = 0.62), whereas smoking was positive associated (OR = 1.20).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings of this study mainly support the relationship between happiness and health outcomes through the two pathways previously mentioned. They also underscore the importance of that some healthy behaviours and person's cognitive appraisal of stress are integrated into their lifestyle for college students. Additionally, highlight the importance of taking into account these variables in the design of strategies to promote health education in university setting.</p

The Possibilities of the Improvement Language Competencies in Children with Dyslexia. The Evaluation of the Tomatis Therapy in Children Aged 6–10 years of Age

Audio psycho–phonological stimulation training is a method based on listening to various musical sounds by way of a special device called electronic ear. The goal of this therapy is to enhance damaged hearing and consequently facilitate greater stimulation of central nervous system and improve cognitive functions i.e. attention and learning abilities. The second goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Tomatis method in the treatment of cognitive functions in children with developmental dyslexia. Data were collected from forty children (age range 6–10 all of whom had various lexical impairments and diagnosed as dyslexia. All children IQ ranged 78–110. All subjects underwent therapy based on the Tomatis method. The relevance group constituted, by healthy ones. Further assessment included reaction time, over sensitivity of hearing sense, verbal fluency, attention, abilities of verbal learning and learning memory–immediate and long term. The effects of the therapy were measured after 9 months of stimulation. Statistically relevant improvement of most evaluated functioning parameters, including shorter time of adequate reaction to presented stimuli was observed. Not only did the patients have lower threshold of sensitivity of hearing sense, ability to localize sources of sound significantly improved (P 0.05) also. Subjects’ verbal fluency, attention and immediate verbal memory were enhanced. The phonological abilities improved. Tomatis training significantly improved subjects’ cognitive functioning. We could demonstrate its efficiency in relation to such parameters as reaction time, localization of sources of sound and over sensitivity to audio stimuli. The Tomatis method is a useful way of the speech treatment impediments.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.</jats:sec

Czy chrom obniża poziom glukozy we krwi dzieci z epilepsją?

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder. It affects 50 million people worldwide, over half of which are children. Many children who suffer from epilepsy are also affected by metabolic disorders, characterized by obesity as well as intolerance and deficient transport of glucose. Recently, many researchers have indicated chromium (+3) as an essential trace mineral which probably plays an important role in metabolism of glucose and insulin. There are no data about chromium alterations in the body of epileptic patients. The purpose of this study was to find possible correlation between chromium (+3) concentration and the glucose level in children with epilepsy. Material and methods: Twenty-three untreated epileptic children with idiopathic generalized tonic-clonic seizures (9 girls and 14 boys) aged 13.4±2.7 years and 25 healthy children (sex-age-matched) served as a control were recruited to this study. The chromium blood and serum concentrations were determined as well as serum glucose level. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between epileptic and healthy children in the mean chromium (+3) blood concentration as well as according to sex in both analyzed groups of children. The mean serum chromium concentration in epileptic children was significantly lower than in healthy subjects generally (p<0.001), as well as in boys group (p<0.001) and girls (p<0.001). Although, the negative statistically significant correlation between serum glucose and chromium concentrations was found in epileptic children (p<0.01), we have not found so associations in whole blood and in healthy children. Conclusions: Our research has shown that during epilepsy the concentration of serum chromium was lower than in healthy subjects what was associated with glucose abnormalities. These preliminary results suggest that the detail research on the chromium in epilepsy are necessary