Anxiety and depression symptoms, and lack of emotional support among the general population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A prospective national study on prevalence and risk factors.

BACKGROUND: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and emotional support among the general population are unclear. We therefore assessed if the prevalence of high Anxiety and Depression Symptoms (ADS) levels and lack of Emotional Support (ES) increased, and if risk factors of ADS and ES changed. METHODS: Data was extracted from surveys conducted with the Dutch longitudinal population-based LISS panel (N = 3,983). ADS and ES were assessed in March 2019 and 2020. Risk factors for ADS and ES were extracted from surveys in November 2018 and 2019. These were: ADS, gender, education, domestic situation, employment, age, ethnicity, lung and heart problems, and diabetes. RESULTS: The prevalence of high ADS levels and lack of ES did not increase compared to the pre-outbreak prevalence. ADS, non-native ethnic background, (partial) work disabilities and lung problems were predictive of both ADS and lack of ES in March 2019 and 2020. Job seekers, students and those who take care of housekeeping were more at risk for ADS in March 2020, but not in 2019. While 35-49 years old respondents were less at risk for ADS in March 2019, they were more at risk in 2020. Parents with child(ren) at home and those who take care of housekeeping more often lacked ES in March 2020, but not in 2019. LIMITATIONS: No other mental health problems were assessed. CONCLUSIONS: No increase in the prevalence of ADS and lack of ES was found. Some risk factors remained significant after the outbreak, while others changed notably.

Vitamin B12 status in patients of Turkish and Dutch descent with depression: a comparative cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown a clear relationship between depressive disorders and vitamin B12 deficiency. Gastroenteritis and Helicobacter pylori infections can cause vitamin B12 deficiency. Helicobacter pylori infections are not uncommon among people of Turkish descent in The Netherlands. AIM: To examine the frequency of vitamin B12 deficiency in depressive patients of Turkish descent and compare it to the frequency of vitamin B12 deficiency in depressive patients of Dutch descent. METHODS: The present study is a comparative cross-sectional study of 47 patients of Turkish descent and 28 of Dutch descent. The depressive disorder diagnosis and differential diagnosis were made using the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition text revision (SCID). The severity of the depressive symptoms was determined using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-21). Serum baseline vitamin B6 and B12, folic acid and total serum homocysteine (tHcy) levels were measured. RESULTS: The average ages of the patients of Turkish and Dutch descent were 40.57 and 44.75 years, respectively. There were no demonstrable differences between the serum vitamin B6, folic acid and tHcy levels in the two groups. The serum vitamin B12 levels were however clearly lower in the patients of Turkish descent than in those of Dutch descent. Vitamin B12 deficiency was however observed in 14 patients of Turkish descent and 1 of Dutch descent. This difference was significant. On the BDI, the patients of Turkish descent scored significantly higher than those of Dutch descent. Patients with vitamin B12 deficiency and those with hyperhomocysteinaemia had a significantly higher BDI score than patients with normal vitamin B12 and homocysteine levels. No relationship was observed with vitamin B12 and tHcy. CONCLUSION: Vitamin B12 deficiency occurs more frequently in depressive patients of Turkish than of Dutch descent. This is why it is advisable to test the vitamin B12 serum level in depressive patients of Turkish descent.

MeioSeed: a CellProfiler-based program to count fluorescent seeds for crossover frequency analysis in Arabidopsis thaliana.

BACKGROUND: The formation of crossovers during meiosis is pivotal for the redistribution of traits among the progeny of sexually reproducing organisms. In plants the molecular mechanisms underlying the formation of crossovers have been well established, but relatively little is known about the factors that determine the exact location and the frequency of crossover events in the genome. In the model plant species Arabidopsis, research on these factors has been greatly facilitated by reporter lines containing linked fluorescence marker genes under control of promoters active in seeds or pollen, allowing for the visualization of crossover events by fluorescence microscopy. However, the usefulness of these reporter lines to screen for novel modulators of crossover frequency in a high throughput manner relies on the availability of programs that can accurately count fluorescent seeds. Such a program was previously not available in scientific literature. RESULTS: Here we present MeioSeed, a novel CellProfiler-based program that accurately counts GFP and RFP fluorescent Arabidopsis seeds with adjustable detection thresholds for fluorescence intensity, making use of a robust seed classifier which was trained by machine learning in Ilastik. Using the previously published reporter line Col3-4/20 as an example, we explain the use of MeioSeed and the steps taken to optimize the thresholding settings of the program to fit the published model for recombination frequency and transgene segregation. The use of MeioSeed is illustrated by investigating salt stress as a novel abiotic trigger for changes in crossover frequency in Col3-4/20 (♂) × Ler-0 (♀) F1 hybrids. Salt stress was found to trigger increases in crossover frequency between the marker genes of up to 70% compared to the control treatment without salt stress. Genotyping of control and salt treated populations revealed that the changes in crossover frequency were not limited to the region between the marker genes, but that fluctuations in crossover frequency are likely to occur genome-wide after treatment with high salt concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: MeioSeed allows for the high throughput recognition and counting of fluorescent Arabidopsis seeds and can facilitate the screening for novel abiotic and biotic modulators of crossover frequency using reporter lines in Arabidopsis.

Mental health problems among search and rescue workers deployed in the Haïti earthquake 2010: a pre-post comparison.

Search and rescue workers play an important role in rescuing trapped disaster victims. However, it is unclear whether they are at risk for post-disaster mental health problems. For this purpose we prospectively examined pre- and post-deployment health among Dutch search and rescue workers (USAR NL) deployed in the devastating Haiti earthquake disaster (2010). The evening before departure (T1, response=100%) and 3 months post-deployment (T2, response=91%), Search and rescue workers were administered standardized questionnaires assessing health (SCL-90-R, RAND-36), including use of substances and mental health services utilization (N=51). At T2 event-related PTSD-symptoms (IES) and coping self-efficacy (CSE), and experiences during and after deployment were examined. At both surveys health problems were almost absent and no significant increases in health problems and use of substances were found. PTSD-symptomatology was very low and coping self-efficacy rather high. Protective factors such as good team functioning, recognition and job satisfaction were clearly present, while risk factors such as sustained injuries or death of a co-worker were absent. Findings suggest that post-disaster health problems may (partly) be prevented by enhancing or restoring protective factors.