Impact of bariatric surgery on depression and anxiety symptons, bulimic behaviors and quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: To assess psychiatric symptoms, substance use, quality of life and eating behavior of patients undergoing bariatric surgery before and after the procedure. METHODS: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study of 32 women undergoing bariatric surgery. To obtain data, the patients answered specific, self-administered questionnaires. RESULTS: We observed a reduction in depressive and anxious symptoms and also in bulimic behavior, as well as an improved quality of life in the physical, psychological and environmental domains. There was also a decrease in use of antidepressants and appetite suppressants, but the surgery was not a cessation factor in smoking and / or alcoholism. CONCLUSION: a decrease in psychiatric symptoms was observed after bariatric surgery, as well as the reduction in the use of psychoactive substances. In addition, there was an improvement in quality of life after surgical treatment of obesity.

Impact of bariatric surgery on depression and anxiety symptons, bulimic behaviors and quality of life / O impacto da cirurgia bariátrica nos sintomas depressivos e ansiosos, comportamento bulímico e na qualidade de vida

OBJECTIVE: To assess psychiatric symptoms, substance use, quality of life and eating behavior of patients undergoing bariatric surgery before and after the procedure. METHODS: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study of 32 women undergoing bariatric surgery. To obtain data, the patients answered specific, self-administered questionnaires. RESULTS: We observed a reduction in depressive and anxious symptoms and also in bulimic behavior, as well as an improved quality of life in the physical, psychological and environmental domains. There was also a decrease in use of antidepressants and appetite suppressants, but the surgery was not a cessation factor in smoking and / or alcoholism. CONCLUSION: a decrease in psychiatric symptoms was observed after bariatric surgery, as well as the reduction in the use of psychoactive substances. In addition, there was an improvement in quality of life after surgical treatment of obesity. .

OBJETIVO: avaliar a sintomatologia psiquiátrica, o uso de substâncias, a qualidade de vida e o comportamento alimentar de pacientes submetidos a cirurgia bariátrica antes e após o procedimento. MÉTODOS: estudo longitudinal prospectivo com 32 mulheres submetidas à cirurgia báriatrica. Para a obtenção de dados, as pacientes responderam a questionários específicos, autoaplicados. RESULTADOS: foi identificada uma redução na sintomatologia depressiva e ansiosa e também no comportamento bulímico, bem como uma melhora na qualidade de vida nos domínios físico, psíquico e ambiental. Houve diminuição do uso de antidepressivos e de moderadores de apetite, porém a cirurgia não foi um fator determinante na cessação do tabagismo e/ou etilismo. . CONCLUSÃO: foi observada uma diminuição da sintomatologia psiquiátrica após a cirurgia bariátrica, bem como redução do uso de substâncias psicoativas. Além disso, houve melhora na qualidade de vida após o tratamento cirúrgico da obesidade. .

Neural bases of pharmacological treatment of nicotine dependence - insights from functional brain imaging: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Nicotine dependence is difficult to treat, and the biological mechanisms that are involved are not entirely clear. There is an urgent need to develop better drugs and more effective treatments for clinical practice. A critical step towards accelerating progress in medication development is to understand the neurobehavioral effects of pharmacotherapies on clinical characteristics associated with nicotine dependence. OBJECTIVES: This review sought to summarize the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) literature on smoking cessation with the aim to better understand the neural processes underlying the effects of nicotinic and non-nicotinic pharmacological smoking cessation treatments on specific symptoms of nicotine dependence and withdrawal. DATA SOURCES: We conducted a search in Pubmed, Web of Science and PsycINFO databases with the keywords 'fMRI' or 'functional magnetic resonance imaging' and 'tobacco' or 'nicotine' or 'smok*'. The date of the most recent search was May 2012. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS: The original studies that were included were those of smokers or nicotine-dependent individuals, published in the English language, with pharmacological treatment for nicotine dependence and use of fMRI with blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) imaging or continuous arterial spin labelling (CASL). No date limit was applied. STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS: Two of the authors read the abstracts of all studies found in the search (n = 1,260). The inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, and 1,224 articles were excluded. In a second step, the same authors read the remaining 36 studies. Nineteen of the 36 articles were excluded. The results were tabulated by the number of individuals and their mean age, the main sample characteristics, smoking status, study type and methodology, and the main fMRI findings. RESULTS: Seventeen original fMRI studies involving pharmacological treatment of smokers were selected. The anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex, ventral striatum, amygdala, thalamus and insula are heavily involved in the maintenance of smoking and nicotine withdrawal. The effects of varenicline and bupropion in alleviating withdrawal symptoms and decreasing smoking correlated with modulation of the activities of these areas. Nicotine replacement therapy seems to improve cognitive symptoms related to withdrawal especially by modulating activities of the default-network regions; however, nicotine replacement does not necessarily alter the activities of neural circuits, such as the cingulate cortices, that are associated with nicotine addiction. LIMITATIONS: The risk of bias in individual studies, and across studies, was not assessed, and no method of handling data and combining results of studies was carried out. Most importantly, positron emission tomography (PET) studies were not included in this review. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATION OF KEY FINDINGS: fMRI studies delineate brain systems that contribute to cognitive deficits and reactivity to stimuli that generate the desire to smoke. Nicotinic and non-nicotinic pharmacotherapy may reduce smoking via distinct neural mechanisms of action. These findings should contribute to the development of new medications and discovery of early markers of the therapeutic response of cigarette smokers.

Perceptions of and attitudes toward antidepressants: stigma attached to their use--a review.

The aim of this study was to ascertain whether there is any evidence of stigma related to the use of antidepressants. Using the PubMed and MEDLINE databases, we searched for the terms stigma, antidepressants, and depression. A protocol was developed to extract information from the papers, which were identified and explored further. Thirty-two papers were identified. We found that the stigma against depression differs from stigma against the use of antidepressants. Stigma against depression does not impact on therapeutic adherence to antidepressant use. Stigma related to antidepressant use appears to be linked with perceived emotional weakness, severity of illness, an inability to deal with problems, and a lack of belief in the therapeutic efficacy of antidepressants. Stigma against medication can be a useful target for interventions, just like the stigma related to depression. However, clinicians must be careful in avoiding the medicalization of symptoms.

Avaliação de um programa pedagógico para internos de pediatria em atuação comunitária / Evaluation of a learning program for pediatrics interns in community activities

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a opinião do interno de Medicina sobre o seu aprendizado e a importância de ter participado do "Programa de aprendizado médico através de visitas domiciliares junto aos agentes comunitários da região de Capuava". MÉTODO: Estudo quali-quantitativo prospectivo, com avaliação feita por meio de questionários de autopreenchimento, relatórios de experiências relevantes, discussões abertas e observação participante. RESULTADOS: Na opinião dos alunos, a contribuição da visita domiciliar ao seu conhecimento foi considerada: ruim (2,8 por cento), regular (14,1 por cento), boa (50,7 por cento) e ótima (32,5 por cento). Houve contribuição das visitas ao componente afetivo em 91,3 por cento, ao cognitivo em 62 por cento e ao psicomotor em 56,3 por cento. O aspecto positivo mais citado foi o fato de essas visitas mostrarem a realidade da população (70,8 por cento); e o mais negativo foi o pequeno tempo de estágio (19,4 por cento). Os internos expressaram suas percepções em relação à comunidade, ao valor do agente comunitário e às falhas do ensino médico tradicional. CONCLUSÕES: Na opinião dos alunos, as visitas domiciliares contribuíram para seu conhecimento da prática médica. Essa contribuição foi mais expressiva no que se refere ao domínio afetivo. As percepções sobre a comunidade podem auxiliar na futura atuação médica.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the opinion of medical students about their learning process and about the importance of having participated in a program involving household visits together with health agents in the community of Capuava, a district of Santo André. METHOD: Qualitative-quantitative prospective study. Data were generated by means of questionnaires and reports of important experiences made during internship, discussions and observation. RESULTS: In the opinion of the students the contribution of community health activities to their medical education was poor (2.8 percent), regular (14.1 percent), good (50.7 percent) and very good (32.5 percent). 91.3 percent, believe that the visits contributed to the emotional, 62 percent to the cognitive and 56,3 percent to the psychomotor component. The aspect considered the most positive was that the visits showed the real living conditions of the population (70.8 percent) and the aspect considered most negative was the short duration of this experience (19.4 percent). CONCLUSIONS: The students realized that their participation in household visits contributed to their medical knowledge. This contribution seems to be more substantial with regard to the emotional component. Their perception of the community should contribute to their practicing medicine in the future.

Assessment of medical courses in Brazil using student-completed questionnaires. Is it reliable?

INTRODUCTION: Debates about the quality of medical education have become more evident in the recent past, and as a result several different assessment methods have been refined for that purpose. The use of questionnaires filled out by medical students to assess the quality of lectures is one of the most common methods employed in our milieu. However, the reliability of this investigation method has not yet been systematically tested. The authors present the reliability of a specific form applied to the fourth grade medical students during the clinical psychiatry course. METHOD: Eighty-one fourth grade medical students were instructed to complete a form immediately after each clinical psychiatry lecture. Thirty-four students (42 percent) failed to turn in the forms after the final lecture. These students were given an identical form to assess the lectures in a retrospective fashion. The grades given by both groups of students for each performed lecture and the number of students who have graded an unperformed lecture were compared. Statistical significance for both groups was determined by means of the chi-square test (p< 0.05). RESULTS: Eighteen out of the 34 students who filled out the forms retrospectively (53 percent) rated the unperformed lecture, whereas only 5 out of the 47 students who filled out the forms during the course (11 percent) did so. This is statistically significant (p< 0.05). There was no statistical difference for the grades given to the lectures that were actually performed. DISCUSSION: The authors concluded the low reliability rate of the retrospective evaluation warrant a continuous assessment method during the course