Metabolic syndrome in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia: dietary and lifestyle factors compared to the general population

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106836/1/bdi12160.pd

Changes in Physical Performance and their Association with Health Related Quality of Life in a Mixed Non-ischemic Cardiac Population

Purpose: Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves physical performance and healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL). However, whether improvements in physical performance are associated with changes in both generic and disease-specific HRQoL has not been adequately investigated in a non-ischemic cardiac population. Methods Patients who were ablated for atrial fibrillation, who underwent heart valve surgery or who were treated for infective endocarditis and who participated in one of three randomised control rehabilitation trials were eligible for the current study. Change in physical performance and HRQoL were measured before and after a 12-week exercise intervention. Physical performance was assessed using a cardiopulmonary exercise test, a 6-min walk test and a sit-to-stand test. HRQoL were assessed using the generic Short-Form-36 and the disease-specific HeartQoL questionnaire. Spearman’s correlation coefficient (rho) and linear regressions quantified the association between changes in physical outcome measures and changes in HRQoL. Results A total of 344 patients were included (mean age 60.8 (11.6) years and 77% males). Associations between changes in physical outcome measures and HRQoL ranged from very weak to weak (Spearman’s correlation coefficient = -0.056-0.228). The observed associations were more dominant within physical dimensions of the HRQoL compared to mental or emotional dimensions. Adjusted for sex, age and diagnosis changes in physical performance explained no more than 20% of the variation in the HRQoL. Conclusion Our findings show that the positive improvement in HRQoL from exercise-based CR cannot simply be explained by an improvement in physical performance

Depresión: un trastorno frecuente en pacientes con enfermedades coronarias

Este producto forma parte de una serie de infografías de divulgación científica que buscan reseñar algunas de las investigaciones más importantes en las que ha tenido participación la Universidad EAFIT, publicadas en las revistas especializadas más prestigiosas del mund

Spirituality and mental health

In many contexts, emotional ailments have been considered problems of religious or spiritual origin. Historically, religious groups were often the primary providers of mental health care. This changed over time with advances in medicine and Freud’s writings framing religion/spirituality (R/S) as a sign of neurosis. In the early- to mid-twentieth century, mental health and R/S were often viewed by Western clinicians and patients as separate and antithetical. Recent decades have been marked by another shift in thought, with increased interest in the overlap between mental health and R/S, and recognition that R/S may in fact serve protective and healing roles in the face of emotional suffering. There has been a concomitant increase in research investigating the connections between R/S and mental health, along with increased development and application of clinical interventions addressing the two in combination. In this narrative review, we summarize the history of how mental health and R/S have been viewed as relating to one another, recent research evidence on the effects of R/S on mental health, and clinical implications of these findings. We conclude with a discussion of ongoing challenges and opportunities in the study and application of how mental health and R/S affect one another