Tag: 9/11/21

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Social Media Overuse Impacts Easily Distracted People Harder

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Tracy le Blanc from Pexels
Photo by Tracy le Blanc from Pexels

People who are easily distracted are more susceptible to psychological distress and mental health issues from high levels of social media use, according to a study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. The study tracked the phone data of 69 participants ranging from 18 to 58 year-olds to see their usage of popular apps including Instagram and Reddit over a week period.

Using an eye gaze test, the researchers tracked participants’ levels of distraction and inattention. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, a well-known psychological scale, was used to measure and quantify measures of distress.

Lead researcher Tamsin Mahalingham, Master’s student at Curtin University, said that the results showed a strong connection with low levels of attention control and high social media use negatively impacting mental health.

“Past research has flagged concerns about the negative mental health effects from high levels of social media use, but there isn’t clear evidence about why this is, or who might be most at risk,” Miss Mahalingham said.

“Our findings suggest that if you are a very distractable person, high levels of social media use may be particularly bad for your mental health. Study results revealed that those who showed lower levels of attention control were particularly at risk of negative mental health effects of heavy social media use.”

“This inability to stay focussed may lead to exposure to more irrelevant and distracting information and potentially longer durations of social media use. On the other hand, those with higher levels of attention control may be able to more easily ignore irrelevant and potentially damaging information in news feeds such as advertising.”

Supervising researcher, Dr Patrick Clarke, said that the increased follow-on effects of greater social media use that could negatively impact emotional wellbeing.

“Social media apps are designed to draw us in and keep us engaged and the longer we spend on social media, the more we can be exposed to including negative content, or content leading to self-comparison to unattainable ideals, like those often illustrated by influencers,” Dr. Clarke said.

“More time on social media also means less time doing other, possibly more important or more productive tasks, which can also increase feelings of depression and anxiety.

“Our research helps to understand who is most at risk from the adverse mental health effects of social media use and suggests that improving attention may minimize those risks.”

Source: Curtin University

Categories : Ethics and LawTags :

Healthcare Organisations Urge Review of Culpable Homicide Law

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

Nine of South Africa’s leading healthcare organisations have joined together in urging the Government to begin a review of culpable homicide law and its application in a healthcare setting.

In a letter to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Hon Ronald Lamola, the coalition said there is a very low threshold in South African law for blameworthiness when a patient dies while under medical care, which has resulted in errors of judgement in complex healthcare environments being criminalised, and healthcare professionals being convicted regardless of their intent.

The joint letter calls for the review to be carried out by the South Africa Law Reform Commission, due to the complexity of criminal law in a healthcare setting and the importance of achieving a long-term solution for healthcare professionals and patients alike.

The letter says: “It is hard to see who benefits from the current system. As well as families losing a loved one through tragic circumstances, doctors risk losing their career and liberty, and the fear of criminal charges also has a negative knock-on effect on patient care. The current system stands in the way of patients receiving an early apology and a full explanation of events, and thereby denies closure.

In a recent survey of 500 doctors, 88% are worried about investigations after an adverse patient outcome, and 90% think the prospect of criminal investigation affects their mental health. Due to the prospect of criminal investigation means nearly half of all doctors in South Africa have considered leaving the profession. The letter further notes that  4 in 5 doctors surveyed think the criminal justice system in South Africa has an inadequate understanding of medical practice.

Pointing out the need for a “long-term solution”, they write: “Healthcare professionals need to be held accountable, however, criminalising errors of judgement – particularly in this fast moving and complex healthcare environment – seems unreasonably severe. Criminalisation in the absence of any clear intention to cause harm is overly punitive, leaving healthcare professionals vulnerable to criminal charges. Lessons can be learned from other jurisdictions – for example, in Scotland, where charges are only brought against doctors if an act is proved to be intentional, reckless, or grossly careless.

“Our organisations are committed to the highest level of safety for all patients in South Africa. This will however require replacing the current culture of blame and fear with one of learning, where healthcare professionals feel able to apologise and learn from mistakes, which will help to reduce the number of errors and thus enable progress on improving patient safety. When healthcare professionals are allowed and supported to learn from mistakes, lessons are learnt, and patients are better protected in the future.

Highlighting the complexity of these matters, “Patients and clinicians want the same thing, for those in need to receive the best care,” the letter concludes.

The letter was signed by Medical Protection Society, Association of Surgeons of South Africa, Federation of South Africa Surgeons, Radiological Society of South Africa, South African Medical Association, South African Medico-Legal Association, South African Private Practitioners Forum, South African Society of Anaesthesiologists and South African Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Source: Medical Protection Society

Categories : Cancer Metabolic DisordersTags :

Dasatinib May Have Potential as an Antidiabetic Drug

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Dasatinib, a drug that often is used to treat certain types of leukaemia, may have significant potential as an antidiabetic drug, according to new research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Dasatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor used to treat tumours and malignant tissue, as well as chronic myelogenous leukaemia. Dasatinib is a senolytic drug, which target senescent cells that accumulate in many ageing tissues and at sites of pathology in chronic diseases. Senolytic drugs appear to delay, prevent or alleviate age-related changes, chronic diseases and geriatric syndromes in animal studies.

“Our findings suggest that dasatinib or related senolytic drugs may become diabetic therapies,” said senior author Robert Pignolo, MD, PhD. “More study is needed to determine whether these findings also are observed in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus but without underlying malignant disease.”

Researchers used records for a total of 9.3 million individuals from 1994 to 2019 who were screened for use of either dasatinib or imatinib, another tyrosine kinase inhibitor that was approved for treatment of a type of leukemia in 2001 but with weak senolytic activity. Of those patients, 279 were treated with imatinib and 118 with dasatinib, and after further screening, a total of 48 patients were included in the study.
The findings show that dasatinib lowers serum glucose in patients with pre-existing type 2 diabetes to a greater extent than imatinib and comparable to first-line diabetic medications such as metformin and sulfonylureas.

More work is needed to determine whether the antidiabetic effect of dasatinib is due largely to its senolytic properties, explained Dr Pignolo. If it is, the effectiveness of combining dasatinib with another senolytic drug such as quercetin may be greater than with dasatinib alone.

“This study was really the first proof-of-concept that a senolytic drug may have substantial long-term beneficial effects in humans,” Dr Pignolo says. “According to research in animal models, it is not necessary to give senolytic drugs continuously, and so patients may need only take a drug such as dasatinib every few weeks, reducing possible side effects.”

Source: EurekAlert!

Categories : Injury & TraumaTags :

Exploring how Ischaemia-reperfusion Injuries Heal

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Researchers from Japan have discovered the role of interleukin-36 receptor antagonists in healing skin wounds from ischaemia-reperfusion injuries.

Ischaemia is a medical condition in which the blood supply is cut off to different parts of the body. In patients who are bed-ridden, ischemia can manifest as pressure ulcers. Else, it could be the Raynaud’s phenomenon in someone under severe stress. Ischaemia, from the Latin “staunching of blood”, is a condition can be rescued by blood reperfusion to the affected areas. However, ischaemia-reperfusion (I/R) injuries where tissue damage caused by blood returning to tissues after a period of oxygen deprivation, are a risk.

Skin-based I/R injuries can be exacerbated by inherited immunological mechanisms, for instance in patients who are otherwise showing signs of slow wound healing. To understand the immunological mechanisms underlying the development of this condition better, decided to narrow down their investigation to interleukin-36 receptor antagonist (IL-36Ra), a protein that plays a pivotal immunomodulatory role in wound healing.

Lead researcher Mr Yoshihito Tanaka from Fujita Health University School of Medicine explained the motivation behind the research, “We wanted to understand the immunological mechanisms involved in the healing of wounds from cutaneous ischaemia-reperfusion injuries, such as pressure ulcers and Raynaud’s phenomenon, to narrow down possible therapeutic targets. Drawing from experience, IL-36Ra appeared to be a promising candidate for kickstarting our investigation.”

The scientists used mice knocked out for the IL-36Ra receptor, and induced cutaneous I/R injuries in the knockout and control mice. Then, they studied corresponding immunological responses in both groups of animals, including wound healing time, infiltration of neutrophils/macrophages  to the site of the wounds, apoptotic skin cells, and activation of other unwanted immunological defense mechanisms. Their findings appear in the Journal of The European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

They found that the absence of IL-36Ra, indeed, significantly slows down wound healing in cutaneous I/R injuries, through increased apoptosis, or ‘suicide’ of useful skins cells, excessive recruitment of inflammatory cells, and employment of unnecessary proinflammatory mechanisms.

Additionally, they demonstrated the role of Cl-amidine, a protein-arginine deiminase inhibitor as effective in normalizing exacerbated I/R injury in IL-36Ra mice. Based on these observations, the scientists assert their findings are the first conclusive report of the involvement of IL-36Ra in cutaneous I/R injury.

The researchers believe IL-36Ra is a good therapeutic candidate against cutaneous I/R injuries. As Mr. Tanaka optimistically adds, “Our research may lead to the development of therapeutic agents for wound healing of various other refractory skin diseases too.”

The quest for novel therapeutic targets in skin wound healing might just have been empowered by these findings of the team and the future indeed looks brighter for alleviating the painful burden of cutaneous I/R injuries.

Source: Fujita Health University School of Medicine

Categories : Diet and NutritionTags :

A Sweet Protein Makes A Novel Sugar Substitute

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The European Union’s EIT Food organisation’s “Innovation Impact Award” was won by a project that developed a novel sugar substitute based on the smart enhancement of sweet proteins found in tropical fruits.

One of the project collaborators, Amai Protein, produces designer proteins using computational protein design and production through precise fermentation. Since these proteins are 4000 to 11 000 times sweeter than sugar, they can be used in tiny amounts, thereby being cheaper than sugar per sweetness unit. Furthermore, they have glycaemic value of 0 and do not adversely affect the population of intestinal bacteria (the microbiome).

The winning technology is based on adding natural food ingredient agents – termed MicroPatching agents – or other food ingredients to produce a protein flavour as close to sugar’s as possible. This should result in significantly reduced sugar consumption, and in turn its health and environmental impacts.

The researchers tackled several challenges including improving the taste and eliminating an aftertaste; protein stability; competitive pricing and adverse health effects. According to the research leader, Professor Yoav D. Livney at the Israel Institute of Technology, “winning the Impact Award will help us advance towards commercialization of the technology and consequently reduce sugar consumption in Israel and around the world.”

Source: Technion Israel Institute of Technology