Image of Electroconvulsive Therapy in YouTube Videos.

OBJECTIVES: Image of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in TV shows and movies have been studied before. However, there is no study about image of ECT on YouTube as one of the most commonly used social media platforms for disseminating health information. Our study aims to study the image of ECT in YouTube videos. METHODS: Key word "Electroconvulsive therapy and ECT" were used to search on Youtube.com and only videos over 50,000 view counts and in English were selected. Above videos were reviewed by an ECT physician and were classified into neutral, negative, and positive groups based on the image of ECT. RESULTS: There were 41 YouTube videos selected based on the criteria as stated above, among which 14 were unrelated with ECT treatment, 8 were neutral, 9 were positive, and 10 were reflecting negative image about ECT. There was no significant difference among view counts of the positive, negative and neutral videos (χ = 2.746, P = 0.253). Furthermore, the most viewed 3 videos showed negative image of ECT. Additionally, only 6 videos showed the modified ECT and one showed both modified and nonmodified ECT. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study conducted on image of ECT in YouTube videos. We found the stigma against ECT may persist in digital video platforms, such as YouTube.

Serum soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor levels in male patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia.

Inflammatory abnormalities have been shown in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a protein that is measurable in the circulating blood and reflects the inflammation in the body. We aimed to investigate serum suPAR levels in patients with schizophrenia who were in acute state and to compare with healthy controls. Forty five patients and 43 healthy controls were included in the study. We found no significant difference in suPAR levels between patients and controls, suggesting that suPAR as an inflammatory marker does not have a role in the inflammatory process of acute schizophrenia.

Neutrophil-lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratios as inflammation markers for bipolar disorder.

In the present study we investigated the involvement of inflammatory cells and their ratios as inflammation markers in Bipolar Disorder. We have enrolled 61 manic, 55 euthymic patients and 54 control subjects to the study. Neutrophil-lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratios were found significantly higher in both manic and euthymic patients compared to control group. These findings suggest that the inflammatory cells have a role in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder manic and even in euthymic state.

Level of plasma thioredoxin in male patients with manic episode at initial and post-electroconvulsive or antipsychotic treatment.

AIM: Oxidative stress is defined as exposure to excessive oxidants and/or decrease in antioxidant capacity. Several studies have shown the effects of free radicals and antioxidant defense systems in bipolar disorder. We aimed to investigate the role of thioredoxin (TRX), which is a novel oxidative stress marker in patients with bipolar disorder. METHODS: Sixty-eight hospitalized bipolar patients who were in manic episode were included in the study. As a control group, 30 healthy people were elected. Two groups were formed. The first group consisted of patients who were undergoing electroconvulsive treatment + antipsychotic treatment (haloperidol+quetiapine) and members of the other group were taking only antipsychotic treatment. Plasma thioredoxin levels were measured before and after treatment. RESULTS: Pretreatment plasma TRX levels of patients were significantly lower than the controls (P < 0.05). Comparing pre- and post-treatment plasma TRX levels of all patients, post-treatment plasma TRX levels were significantly lower than the pre-treatment plasma TRX levels (P < 0.05). When we compared TRX levels between the electroconvulsive treatment + antipsychotic treatment group and the antipsychotic treatment group (P > 0.05) and within groups (P > 0.05) we did not find any statistically significant difference. CONCLUSION: Oxidative balance is impaired in bipolar disorder manic episode in favor of the oxidants. Decreased plasma TRX levels in the manic episode probably mean that antioxidant capacity is decreased in the bipolar disorder patients in the manic episode. Further studies in euthymic and depressive states are also needed to gain more insight into the role of TRX in bipolar disorder.