Antenatal preparedness for motherhood and its association with antenatal anxiety and depression in first time pregnant women from India.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Pregnancy is a developmental period demanding special adjustments. Psychologically, pregnancy can be associated with positive preparedness in some and fear of childbirth or doubts of mothering role in others. Anxiety and depression during pregnancy can have negative implications on its outcome. The current study aims to provide insight into factors influencing maternal preparedness for motherhood. METHODOLOGY: Hundred first time pregnant women were enrolled after written informed consent and ethical approval. The Pregnancy Experiences Scale-Brief Version was used to study maternal rating of uplifts and hassles experiences specific to pregnancy, indicating affective valence toward the pregnancy. Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire (PRAQ-R) helped to identify pregnancy-specific anxiety and depressive symptoms were screened using Whooley's Questions. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 15.30 (170107). RESULTS: The mean age of the women was 23.1 years. More than half of the pregnancies were unplanned, and the mean duration of pregnancy was 6.8 months. The positive experience was reported more than a negative experience. Negative valence increased in the presence of psychosocial stressors. On PRAQ-R, anxiety symptoms were reported by 52% of the patients, especially high on the domain of "fear of giving birth" and increased with trimester. Depressive symptoms were reported by 23% of the women. CONCLUSION: Advanced gestation, presence of stressors, past psychiatric illness, ANC complications, and the presence of anxiety/depression influence maternal preparedness for motherhood. There is a need of sensitizing the doctors, nurses, health-care workers, and relatives regarding screening, referral of unmet psychological needs of pregnant women to help new mothers to adjust with their motherhood positively.

Identification of a Small Molecule Anti-biofilm Agent Against Salmonella enterica.

Biofilm formation is a common strategy utilized by bacterial pathogens to establish persistence in a host niche. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, the etiological agent of Typhoid fever, relies on biofilm formation in the gallbladder to chronically colonize asymptomatic carriers, allowing for transmission to uninfected individuals. S. enterica serovar Typhimurium utilizes biofilms to achieve persistence in human and animal hosts, an issue of both clinical and agricultural importance. Here, we identify a compound that selectively inhibits biofilm formation in both S. Typhi and S. Typhimurium serovars at early stages of biofilm development with an EC50 of 21.0 and 7.4 µM, respectively. We find that this compound, T315, also reduces biofilm formation in Acinetobacter baumannii, a nosocomial and opportunistic pathogen with rising antibiotic resistance. T315 treatment in conjunction with sub-MIC dosing of ciprofloxacin further reduces S. enterica biofilm formation, demonstrating the potential of such combination therapies for therapeutic development. Through synthesis of two biotin-labeled T315 probes and subsequent pull-down and proteomics analysis, we identified a T315 binding target: WrbA, a flavin mononucleotide-dependent NADH:quinone oxidoreductase. Using a S. Typhimurium strain lacking WrbA we demonstrate that this factor contributes to endogenous S. enterica biofilm formation processes and is required for full T315 anti-biofilm activity. We suggest WrbA as a promising target for further development of anti-biofilm agents in Salmonella, with potential for use against additional bacterial pathogens. The development of anti-biofilm therapeutics will be essential to combat chronic carriage of Typhoid fever and thus accomplish a meaningful reduction of global disease burden.

2-Aminobenzimidazoles as antibiofilm agents against Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium.

Serovars within the species Salmonella enterica are some of the most common food and water-borne pathogens worldwide. Some S. enterica serovars have shown a remarkable ability to persist both inside and outside the human body. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi can cause chronic, asymptomatic infection of the human gallbladder. This organism's ability to survive inside the gallbladder centers around its ability to form biofilms on gallstone surfaces. Currently, chronic carriage of S. Typhi is treated by invasive methods, which are not well suited to areas where Salmonella carriage is prevalent. Herein, we report 2-aminobenzimidazoles that inhibit S. enterica serovar Typhimurium (a surrogate for S. Typhi) biofilm formation in low micromolar concentrations. Modifications to the head, tail, and linker regions of the original hit compound elucidated new, more effective analogues that inhibit S. Typhimurium biofilm formation while being non-toxic to planktonic bacterial growth.

Stigma experienced by patients with severe mental disorders: A nationwide multicentric study from India.

This study aimed to evaluate the stigma and its correlates among patients with severe mental disorders. Patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia (N = 707), bipolar disorder (N = 344) and recurrent depressive disorder (N = 352) currently in clinical remission from 14 participating centres were assessed on Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale (ISMIS). Patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia experienced higher level of alienation, sterotype endorsement, discrimination experience and total stigma when compared to patients with bipolar disorder and recurrent depressive disorder. Patients with bipolar disorder experienced higher stigma than those with recurrent depressive disorder in the domain of stigma resistance only. Overall compared to affective disorder groups, higher proportion of patients with schizophrenia reported stigma in all the domains of ISMIS. In general in all the 3 diagnostic groups' stigma was associated with shorter duration of illness, shorter duration of treatment and younger age of onset. To conclude, this study suggests that compared to affective disorder, patients with schizophrenia experience higher self stigma. Higher level of stigma is experienced during the early phase of illness. Stigma intervention programs must focus on patients during the initial phase of illness in order to reduce the negative consequences of stigma.

Stigma experienced by caregivers of patients with severe mental disorders: A nationwide multicentric study.

BACKGROUND: Stigma is very common among caregivers of patients with severe mental disorder; however, there is lack of national level data from India. AIM: To assess affiliate stigma and its correlates among caregivers of patients with severe mental disorders. METHOD: For this, caregivers of patients with schizophrenia ( N = 707), bipolar disorder ( N = 344) and recurrent depressive disorder ( N = 352) were assessed on Stigma scale for Caregivers of People with Mental Illness and General Health Questionnaire. RESULTS: Caregivers of patients with schizophrenia reported significantly higher stigma than patients with bipolar disorder and recurrent depressive disorder. Caregiver of patients with bipolar disorder reported significantly greater stigma than the caregivers of patients with recurrent depressive disorder. Higher caregiver stigma in all the diagnostic groups was associated with higher psychological morbidity in caregivers. Higher stigma in caregivers of schizophrenia was seen when the patient had younger age of onset and longer duration of treatment. In the bipolar disorder group, higher stigma in caregivers was seen when patient had higher residual manic symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that caregivers of patients with schizophrenia experience higher stigma than the caregivers of patients with bipolar disorder and recurrent depressive disorder. Higher stigma is associated with higher psychological morbidity in the caregivers. Therefore, the clinicians managing patients with severe mental disorders must focus on stigma and psychological distress among the caregivers and plan intervention strategies to reduce stigma.

Prevalence of parent-rated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and associated parent-related factors in primary school children of Navi Mumbai--a school based study.

OBJECTIVES: To study the prevalence of parent-rated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and associated parent-related factors in primary school children of Navi Mumbai. METHODS: One hundred twenty two children including both boys and girls aged between 6 y and 11 y were selected from a school at Navi Mumbai and their parents were given the National Innovative for Children's Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) Vanderbilt Assessment Scale to be filled and returned, which was subsequently analyzed using SPSS (version 16). RESULTS: The prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was 12.3 % with boy to girl ratio of 3:2. It was more prevalent in nuclear type of family and in families where a single parent was working especially where the father was the sole breadwinner and doing semi-skilled or unskilled type of work. No significant relation was found between the numbers of work-related hours when parents were away from children and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is prevalent in the primary school-going population of Navi Mumbai, especially in boys. The increased prevalence in nuclear families and families with single working parent should further be explored. Further studies with larger sample size and longer period of follow up may be recommended. The study also recommends screening of school children for symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for early diagnosis and treatment.