The role of spirituality and religiosity on the suicidal ideation of medical students.

BACKGROUND: There is solid evidence that spirituality and religiousness may reduce the suicidal ideation of individuals. However, studies are scarce on medical students. AIMS: To investigate the relationship between spirituality, religiousness, and suicidal ideation among Brazilian medical students. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study including Brazilian medical students. Sociodemographic and health variables, suicidal ideation (item 9 of the Beck Depression Inventory - BDI), spiritual and religious Coping (Brief SRC), religiousness (Duke Religion Index), spiritual well-being - Meaning, Peace and Faith (FACIT SP-12), and depressive (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7) symptoms were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 353 medical students were included, 62.0% presented significant depressive symptoms, 44.2% presented significant anxiety symptoms, and 14.2% presented suicidal ideation. In the adjusted Logistic Regression models, meaning (OR = 0.90, p = .035) and faith (OR = 0.91, p = .042) were associated with lower suicidal ideation, while negative spiritual and religious coping was associated with greater suicidal ideation (OR = 1.08; p = .006). CONCLUSION: There was a high prevalence of suicidal ideation among Brazilian medical students. Spirituality and religiousness were associated with suicidal ideation in two different directions. These findings could help educators and health professionals to understand suicidal ideation among medical students, helping in the development of preventive strategies to mitigate such problem.

Effects of swimming exercise on the extinction of fear memory in rats.

We investigated the relation between swimming exercise and fear memory extinction. Rats that performed regular swimming exercise over 6 wk underwent fear conditioning. Twenty-eight days later, they were submitted to extinction tests. Swimming rats had enhanced extinction process throughout the 5 days of the extinction test compared with sedentary rats. This suggests that the swimming exercise accelerated the process of aversive memory extinction, reducing the expression of conditioned fear behavior. These results encourage further studies addressing the anxiolytic effects of exercise, with potential implications for anxiety disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We have shown that rats that performed regular swimming exercise over 6 wk had enhanced extinction process compared with sedentary animals. The swimming exercise may accelerate the process of aversive memory extinction, reducing the expression of conditioned fear behavior.

Effects of the swimming exercise on the consolidation and persistence of auditory and contextual fear memory.

Exposure to negative environmental events triggers defensive behavior and leads to the formation of aversive associative memory. Cellular and molecular changes in the central nervous system underlie this memory formation, as well as the associated behavioral changes. In general, memory process is established in distinct phases such as acquisition, consolidation, evocation, persistence, and extinction of the acquired information. After exposure to a particular event, early changes in involved neural circuits support the memory consolidation, which corresponds to the short-term memory. Re-exposure to previously memorized events evokes the original memory, a process that is considered essential for the reactivation and consequent persistence of memory, ensuring that long-term memory is established. Different environmental stimuli may modulate the memory formation process, as well as their distinct phases. Among the different environmental stimuli able of modulating memory formation is the physical exercise which is a potent modulator of neuronal activity. There are many studies showing that physical exercise modulates learning and memory processes, mainly in the consolidation phase of the explicit memory. However, there are few reports in the literature regarding the role of physical exercise in implicit aversive associative memory, especially at the persistence phase. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between swimming exercise and the consolidation and persistence of contextual and auditory-cued fear memory. Male Wistar rats were submitted to sessions of swimming exercise five times a week, over six weeks. After that, the rats were submitted to classical aversive conditioning training by a pairing tone/foot shock paradigm. Finally, rats were evaluated for consolidation and persistence of fear memory to both auditory and contextual cues. Our results demonstrate that classical aversive conditioning with tone/foot shock pairing induced consolidation as well as persistence of conditioned fear memory. In addition, rats submitted to swimming exercise over six weeks showed an improved performance in the test of auditory-cued fear memory persistence, but not in the test of contextual fear memory persistence. Moreover, no significant effect from swimming exercise was observed on consolidation of both contextual and auditory fear memory. So, our study, revealing the effect of the swimming exercise on different stages of implicit memory of tone/foot shock conditioning, contributes to and complements the current knowledge about the environmental modulation of memory process.

Ser diabético na família e na sociedade: a avaliação do adolescente em Itajubá, Minas Gerais, Brasil / Being diabetic in the family and society: the evaluation of adolescents in Itajubá, Minas Gerais, Brazil / Ser diabético en la familia y en la sociedad: la evaluación de los adolescentes en Itajubá, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Objetivo: Investigar a realidade de adolescentes com diabetes mellitus tipo 1 no convívio familiar e social na cidade de Itajubá, Minas Gerais. Métodos: O presente estudo utiliza uma abordagem qualitativa e transversal. Para a coleta dos dados foi realizada uma entrevista semiestruturada com 20 adolescentes, de 11 a 20 anos de idade, de ambos os gêneros, entre os meses de julho e setembro de 2011. Resultados: Identificamos uma diversidade de ideias em relação a como os adolescentes convivem com a doença no contexto familiar, as quais variam entre "difícil", "ruim", "complicado", "normal", "bom", "acostumado" e "fácil". Em relação à doença e ao convívio social, os resultados variam entre "difícil", "normal", "acostumado", "complicado", "ruim" e "depende". Tanto para o contexto familiar como para o contexto social, a ideia mais citada foi "difícil". Conclusões: Os resultados destacam que, na família, tais dificuldades são superadas quando comparadas às dificuldades no contexto social. Concluindo que o suporte do ambiente familiar é fundamental para um bom desenvolvimento do adolescente com diabetes frente aos problemas da doença.

Objective: To investigate the reality of adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus, in relation to their family and social life, in the municipality of Itajubá, state of Minas Gerais. Methods: The present study used a qualitative and transversal approach. For data collection, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 adolescents, 11 to 20 years old, of both genders, between the months of July and September of 2011. Results: A range of ideas was identified about adolescents living with the disease in the family context, they varied from "hard", "bad", "complicated", "normal", "good", "accustomed to", to "easy." In relation to the social background of the disease, the results varied from "hard", "normal", "accustomed to", "complicated", "bad", to "it depends on." In both family and social contexts, the idea most frequently cited was "difficult". Conclusions: the results highlight that, in the family, such difficulties are overcome when compared to the difficulties in the social context. It was possible to conclude that family support is crucial for the successful development of adolescents with diabetes facing problems of the disease.

Objetivo: Investigar la realidad de los adolescentes con diabetes Mellitus tipo 1, en la vida familiar y social en la ciudad de Itajubá, Minas Gerais. Métodos: En este estudio utiliza un enfoque cualitativo y transversal. Para la recolección de datos se llevó a cabo una entrevista semiestructurada con 20 adolescentes, de 11 a 20 años de edad, de ambos sexos, entre los meses de julio a septiembre de 2011. Resultados: se identificó pluralidad de ideas acerca de cómo los adolescentes conviven con la enfermedad en el contexto familiar, que varió entre "difícil", "malo", "complejo", "normal", "bueno", "acostumbrado" y "fácil". En relación con la enfermedad y la interacción social, los resultados variaron entre "difícil", "normal", "acostumbrado", "complejo", "malo" y "depende". Tanto para el contexto familiar como para el social la idea más citada fue "difícil". Conclusiones: Los resultados plantean que las dificultades de convivir con diabetes son más fácilmente superadas en el contexto familiar que en el social. Se concluye que el apoyo del entorno familiar es esencial para el adecuado desarrollo de los adolescentes con diabetes frente a los problemas de esa enfermedad.