Effect of socio-cultural factors in therapeutic intervention

Comorbidity and presence of family dysfunction in personality disorders, namely borderline personality disorder have been found commonly with bipolar affective disorder clients. Dialectic behaviour therapy (DBT) though has shown efficacy in treatment of such conditions, at times due to the socio-cultural differences of the models adopted from the western concept, there is a felt difficulty in the formulation of the therapeutic model making it necessary to collaborate with other models for smoother formulation and improvement in the overall functioning in the clients. A 21-year-old female of bipolar affective disorder with emotionally unstable personality disorder traits was referred to a psychiatric social worker for assessment and plan of intervention inclusive of DBT and family-focused therapy (FFT). Twenty sessions, each lasting for one hour were conducted with the client and family, each on an inpatient basis to (1) Assess and grade the problems in hierarchy, (2) Understand the socio-cultural constructs in sessions, (3) Teach DBT concepts and relaxation techniques to ameliorate stress and help her to improve the relationship and dynamics with her family through FFT. At the time of discharge, the client had improved nearly 30%, and the client and family were more confident in facing social situations, emotional dysregulation, interpersonal issues, distress tolerance goals which has been explained in the context of the socio-cultural factors focusing on alliance, institutions, expectations, and cultural adaptation involved in therapy and the involvement it had in the therapeutic process.

Influence of juvenile hormone analogue on food consumption and digestive enzyme activities in Spodoptera mauritia Boisd.

Final instar larvae of S. mauritia treated topically on day 0, 1, 2 and day 3 with a daily dose of 20 microg juvenile hormone analogue (JHA) showed an increase in most of the nutritional parameters such as approximate digestibility, efficiency of conversion of ingested food, consumption index and growth rate. Also, the activities of digestive enzymes amylase, invertase, trehalase and protease increased significantly in JHA treated larvae. The supernumerary larvae formed after JHA treatments showed an increase in the activities of digestive enzymes. Neck-ligated larvae treated with 10 microg JHA exhibited a significant increase in the activities of trehalase and protease. The results demonstrate that treatments of JHA increase the activities of digestive enzymes in the last instar larvae of S. mauritia.

Macromolecular synthesis in wing discs of Spodoptera mauritia Boisd: effects of a juvenile hormone analogue.

Last instar larvae of S. mauritia treated topically on day 0, day 1, day 2 and day 3 with a daily (dose of 25 microg juvenile hormone analogue (JHA) moulted into supernumerary larvae. The imaginal discs of the supernumerary larvae especially those of mouthparts and thoracic appendages showed pupal characteristics. However the wing discs, which showed only partial differentiation, were uneverted and highly tanned. In an effort to provide an explanation to this anomaly the RNA, DNA and protein profile in the wing discs of supernumerary larvae were studied. Quantitative analysis of DNA, RNA and protein showed a considerable increase in the amount of DNA and protein and a decline in RNA level. SDS-PAGE analysis of wing disc proteins of JHA treated larvae showed a reduction in the expression of many major proteins that were predominant in the wing discs of control larvae. The results suggest that JHA induced inactivation of genes involved in the synthesis of proteins needed for evagination process may be responsible for the formation of uneverted, partially differentiated pupal wing discs in supernumerary larvae.