Prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated socio-demographic factors among recruits during military training.

BACKGROUND: Military training is a stressful and unusual event. It may predispose individuals towards mental health problems. The stress of military training has been shown to result in depressive symptoms that can potentially influence the combat ability of a soldier. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among recruits during military training in Northern Pakistan and analyse the associated socio-demographic factors. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: The study was carried out at the Mujahid Force Center, Bhimber, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in the North of Pakistan. This is one of the training institutes of the Pakistan Army. The sample population comprised of 313 adult men undergoing military training at Bhimber AJK. General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ-12) was used to screen for any psychiatric illness, and those with a score>4 were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to record the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. Age, service type (general duty soldier, cook or clerk), education, level of family income, marital status, tobacco smoking, use of naswar (tobacco based substance), worrying about future and social support status were correlated with depressive symptoms to evaluate the association of these factors with depression in the study population. RESULTS: Out of 313 recruits screened with GHQ-12, 232 were found to have a score of 4 or more as an indicator of the presence of psychiatric morbidity, and had the BDI administered. Of these 232 recruits, 31.5% had no depressive symptoms, 41.4% had mild, 17.7% had moderate and 9.5% had severe depressive symptoms. With logistic regression, we found significant correlation among depressive symptoms and level of family income, worrying about future and lack of social support. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of depressive symptoms was high among recruits. Special attention should be paid to recruits from low socioeconomic background and those who lack social support and who worry about the future.

Quantitation of pharmacologically-induced penile erections: the value of radionuclide phallography in the objective evaluation of erectile haemodynamics.

This study combines the pharmacologically-induced penile erection (PIPE) technique with radionuclide phallography (RNP) for the non-invasive study of penile haemodynamic changes during erection. Penile erections produced by the intracavernosal injections of two different vasoactive drugs, prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) and papaverine HCl (PPV) were assessed by quantitation of the dynamic RNP and parameters of erection were defined and compared. PGE1 intracavernosal injections were seen to elicit a better erectile response than PPV. Dynamic radionuclide phallography was performed using 99Tcm-labelled autologous RBCs in five normally potent volunteers, sixteen patients with psychogenic impotence, seven patients with vasculogenic impotence (three arteriogenic, four venous leakage) and one patient with neurogenic impotence. Physical parameters of erection including the penile length and circumference changes during erection and the erectile angle were compared with the indices of penile blood flow and volume derived through quantitation of the RNP. There was a close correlation between the penogram index (an index of penile blood volume) and penile circumference increase during erection (r = 0.77, p less than 10(-6). The erectile angle, a measure of penile rigidity, correlated strongly (r = 0.82, p less than 10(-6) with the flow index, a measure of penile blood volume. Patterns specific to various categories of impotence were observed and these aided in the diagnosis, especially in equivocal cases with a suboptimal clinical response to the intracavernosal injection. Quantitative RNP offers a non-invasive method which allows direct objective assessment of the erectile response providing several quantitative parameters for analysis.

Assessment of total antioxidant capacity and the use of vitamin C in the treatment of non-smokers with chronic periodontitis.

BACKGROUND: Several recent studies have indicated that total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) of plasma seems to be compromised in chronic periodontitis (ChP). The aim of this study is to investigate plasma TAOC in patients with ChP and to assess the effects of vitamin C as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment. METHODS: The study population consisted of 60 subjects: 30 diagnosed with ChP and 30 matched controls. Furthermore, patients from the ChP group were randomly allocated into ChP1 (15 patients received non-surgical treatment with adjunctive dose of vitamin C) and ChP2 (15 patients received non-surgical periodontal treatment alone). Plasma TAOC levels were measured by an ABTS assay at baseline and 1 month post-therapy. RESULTS: Plasma TAOC levels were significantly lower in ChP patients than controls (P <0.001). The periodontal therapy resulted in increasing plasma TAOC and improvements in clinical measures among both ChP1 and ChP2 groups (P <0.001). However, the adjunctive dose of vitamin C did not offer additional effect (P >0.05). CONCLUSIONS: ChP is significantly associated with lower levels of plasma TAOC. The non-surgical periodontal therapy seems to reduce the oxidative stress during the periodontal inflammation. However, the use of adjunctive vitamin C still needs further investigation.