Preventing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the general population induced by trauma during the COVID pandemic: A simple brief intervention based on cognitive science that could be delivered digitally.

Most of the recent studies indicated the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) are increasing after the COVID pandemic around the world. Bo et al. reported PTSS prevalence of 96.2% among the COVID-19-infected people. The sociocultural and individual vulnerability and protective factors may influence onset and maintenance of the symptoms. However, there is significant lack in understanding the risk factors and preventive factors that influence the maintenance of Post-Traumatic Stress symptoms that defines Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The digital technology gives us the unique opportunity to assess this risk, to monitor and track this evolution longitudinally. In this research project we aimed to design and develop a smartphone application for longitudinal data collection enabling to (1) predict and follow the evolution of PTSS toward PTSD, (2) assess the relative efficacy of several methods to prevent the evolution of PTSS right after exposure to trauma (1-24 h), (3) educate people about psychological effects that can occur during and after trauma, normalize acute distress and refer to professional help if a disorder is constituted. We hope that this research project will help to understand how to maximize the self help support during the acute phase (golden hours) after trauma to prevent the transition from PTSS to PTSD. A video abstract can be found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZJehj3J8go&feature=emb_title.

HBsAg, Anti-HCV and Anti-HIV Seroprevalance Among Drug Users: a Retrospective Assessment.

INTRODUCTION: Drug abuse and co-occurring infections are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In regions with high rates of drug usage, infections like hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are highly prevalent. Epidemiological studies on HBV, HCV and HIV infections among users of illicit drugs are scarce in Turkey. The primary aim of this cross-sectional and retrospective study was to determine the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-HCV antibody (anti-HCV) and anti-HIV antibody (anti-HIV) seroprevalences in drug users who applied to a psychiatric outpatient clinic of drug addiction of a university hospital. Secondarily, the assessment of HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV parameters among intravenous drug users was aimed. METHODS: Serum samples of all patients on probation who applied to a psychiatric outpatient clinic of drug addiction of a university hospital between 2013-2017 and sent to the department of medical microbiology for routine serologic testing were included in the study. The serologic results were obtained retrospectively from laboratory records. For the statistical analysis of the data IBM SPSS 20.0 program was used. RESULTS: Among the studied individuals, the ELISA results demonstrated the existence of HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV in 94 out of 4357 patients (2.2%), 27 out of 4451 patients (0.6%) and 10 (0.2%) out of 4464 patients, respectively. According to the records, 17 of the patients reported intravenous drug usage. Among this patient group, three patients were found to be anti-HCV positive and one patient was found to be anti-HIV positive. CONCLUSION: In our study, the prevalence of HCV and HIV was increased in patients with intravenous drug usage, whereas in non-intravenous drug users the prevalence is similar to the normal population. In order to plan prevention and harm reduction services for this high-risk population, more national data is needed on HBV, HCV and HIV rates among this group.