A comparative study on depression and anxiety of mice (Mus musculus) on a prebiotic-supplemented diet versus a standard diet during Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress (UCMS)

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Background.</strong> Anxiety and depression are becoming increasingly prevalent today and are often aggravated by day-to-day stresses. Because current management strategies are usually accompanied by unpleasant side effects, there is a need to look into alternative treatment regimens - such as prebiotics - that may provide equally effective anxiolytic and antidepressant effects.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objective.</strong> Therefore, the study aims to determine the effect of a combined fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and galactooligosaccharide (GOS) supplemented diet on anxiety and depression levels in mice subjected to Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress (UCMS).</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Methods.</strong> Forty male BALB/C mice were subjected to UCMS under a pretest-posttest control group design where the treatment group received prebiotic supplementation throughout the study. Repeated measures ANOVA was run to evaluate between, within, and time interactions of the measured anxiety parameters using the light-dark box test, and depression parameter using the fur coat state assessment.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Results.</strong> Results show that (1) the FOS + GOS treatment did not give the treatment group an advantage over the control group during UCMS, (2) both groups grew more anxious and depressed over time, and (3) the treatment group grew more anxious with time in relation to control in terms of the total time spent in the light side.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusion.</strong> These imply that the UCMS protocol was successful in inducing stress in mice, but the FOS + GOS regimen failed to provide anxiolytic and antidepressant effects on male BALB/C mice exposed to UCMS.</p>

Kangaroo mother care implementation at the Philippine General Hospital: A quality assurance initiative

Background@#The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) implemented the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) Program in 2014, recognizing its benefits in helping low birth weight (LBW) infants survive. @*Objective@#To determine the acceptability and compliance of the stakeholders to the KMC program after one year from implementation. @*Method@#Data were obtained from the NICU Annual statistics, KMC data forms, logbooks, and questionnaires to the stakeholders-doctors rotating at the NICU, NICU nurses, and mothers enrolled in the KMC program. @*Results@#One year into the KMC program implementation, the KMC enrollment increased from 57% in 2014 to 75% in 2015. All mothers enrolled in the program said that they received their KMC knowledge from the health providers and firmly believed that KMC benefited them and their infants. The mothers also became more confident in taking care of their babies after each KMC encounter. Although only 50% said they would continue KMC at home, 85% proceeded. Furthermore, both doctors and nurses believed that KMC was beneficial to both mothers and infants, decreased hospital cost and nursing workload. KMC provision was 0.5-6 hours/day. Also, less than half of the data forms were accomplished. The KMC program was acceptable to all stakeholders who believed in the benefits of KMC to preterm infants. The mothers were very receptive and continued KMC even after discharge. However, there was sub-optimal engagement provided by the health providers with the mothers. There was also low adherence to recommended duration of KMC per day provided by the mothers. KMC data records were frequently not accomplished. PGH has instituted strategies to improve the KMC implementation by providing dedicated KMC rooms and supplying meals to mothers to increase KMC duration and frequency. A computer-based program for data entry was developed for the health providers, and a dedicated encoder was assigned. @*Conclusion@#KMC acceptability was high among stakeholders. Compliance increased after one year, with enrolment going up to 75%. However, adherence to the recommended KMC duration per day and accomplishment of data forms were still sub-optimal.