Stigma among doctors towards people with mental illness

Background: Stigma towards adults with mental illness is a longstanding and widespread phenomenon. Stigmatizing attitudes are prevalent not only among the general population but also among doctors. Negative stereotyping of people with mental illness (PMI) leads to prejudice and discrimination, affecting all aspects of their medical care and well-being. The present study attempted to explore stigmatizing attitudes among doctors towards PMI.Methods: The research was observational and cross-sectional in design carried out on doctors in a medical college. Socio-demographic data including field of specialization, experience, and academic post were recorded. The community attitudes towards mental illness (CAMI) and social distance scale were administered. Social desirability bias was corrected for by using the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale.Results: Around 54 doctors from the specializations of medicine (n=24), surgery (n=19), and non-clinical fields (n=11) participated. We found no significant differences in attitudes towards mentally ill and social distance between medical specializations (p-values >0.05) even after adjusting for the effects of social desirability bias. Years of specialization experience (p=0.037) and having a family member or close friend with mental illness (p=0.012) were significantly associated with higher scores in the community mental health ideology sub-scale of CAMI. Higher social restrictiveness (p=0.014) and lower community mental health ideology (p=0.008) were associated with greater social distance from PMI.Conclusions: Doctors are not immune to biases and stigmatizing attitudes towards PMI. These attitudes are present across all fields of medical specialization and must be addressed by mental health professionals to ensure optimal care of this vulnerable population.

A Study on Problematic Internet Use and Sleepiness amongst Students of a Medical College in Sikkim

Background: Problematic Internet use (PIU) has become a global social issue and can be regarded as an individual’s inability to control Internet usage which results in negative impact in daily life. Individuals who spent more time on surfing the Internet are likely to sleep late night and this further increases the level of tiredness. The present study was commenced to determine relationship between Internet uses and sleep patterns among medical college students. Methods: The present study was commenced among 149 undergraduate students studying at Sikkim Manipal Medical College. The severity of addiction to Internet was measured using Young’s Internet addiction test. Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) which consists of subjective sleepiness scale comprising of eight items was used to measure daytime sleepiness. Significance of association of Internet addiction and sleep disturbance was done by Fisher’s 2 sample t- test and a value of less than 0.05 was considered as significant value. Results: The proportions of boys who were pathological Internet addicts (moderate to severe) were 9.5%. For girls, the corresponding proportions were 7.5%. The prevalence of Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) was 20.1%. This study estimated the prevalence of pathological Internet using was 8.05%. Present study found an association between problematic Internet use and excessive daytime sleepiness. The association was statistically significant (p= 0.016). Conclusion: The present study shows that Internet overuse was strongly associated with EDS and other sleep problems in adolescents. Because the number of Internet addicts will continue to grow, clinicians should consider examining Internet addiction in adolescent cases of EDS.

Alcohol abuse-duration dependent decrease in plasma testosterone and antioxidants in males.

Ethanol is a testicular toxin and it causes fertility abnormalities with low sperm count and impaired sperm motility in men. The present study was designed to investigate plasma testosterone level and hypothalamic pituitary gonadal (HPG) axis function in alcoholic men and also effect of ethanol on systemic oxidative stress. Forty six male alcohol abusers in the age group 20-40 years were selected. Fifty five, males in the same age group served as control. Alcohol abusers had significantly low plasma testosterone with low luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone. In addition they had significantly high thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), superoxide dismutase and glutathione S-transferase, and low glutathione, ascorbic acid, catalase, glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase. Moreover, serum testosterone level in alcoholics negatively correlated with duration of alcohol abuse, and TBARS. Duration dependent decreased serum testosterone level in alcohol abusers might be due to 1) increased oxidative stress which can damage Leydig and supporting Sertoli cells and 2) impaired HPG axis.

Effect of exogenous lecithin on ethanol-induced testicular injuries in Wistar rats.

Infertility is well-established harmful effect in chronic alcoholism and so far, there is no effective treatment for this condition. The study was conducted to determine the effects of lecithin, a known hepatoprotective on ethanol induced testicular injuries in male albino rats of Wistar strain. Five groups (n=6) of animals were used. Group I served as control. Group II received daily 1.6 g ethanol/kg body weight/day for 4 weeks orally. Group III received 1.6 g ethanol + 500 mg lecithin/kg body weight/day for four weeks orally. Group IV received 1.6 g ethanol/kg body weight for/day 4 weeks and followed by 500 mg lecithin/kg body weight/ day for four weeks orally. Group V received 1.6 g ethanol/kg body weight/ day orally for 4 weeks, followed by 4 weeks abstinence. Twenty-four hours after the last treatment the rats were sacrificed using anesthetic ether. Testes were removed and used for the estimation of extent of lipid peroxidation and tissue levels of antioxidants and steroidogenic enzymes. Lecithin protected testes from ethanol induced oxidative stress. However, the drug did not show any considerable effect on the activities of testicular delta5, 3beta-HSD and 17beta-HSD. In conclusion, ethanol induced oxidative stress can be reversed by treatment with lecithin. However the effect of lecithin on steroidogenesis was not promising.

Effect of chronic ethanol administration on testicular antioxidant system and steroidogenic enzyme activity in rats.

In order to find out the effect of chronic ethanol administration on testicular antioxidant system and steroidogenic enzyme activity, male rats fed with ethanol 1.6g/kg body weight per day for four weeks were studied. Besides a drastic reduction in body and testis weight, there was decrease in ascorbic acid, reduced glutathione and activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase in the testicular tissue of the treated animals. Simultaneously, there was increase in lipid peroxidation and glutathione S-transferase activity. Activities of 3 beta-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase and 17 beta-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase were also found decreased in the treated animals. The results indicate that chronic ethanol administration resulted in increase in oxidative stress and decrease in the activities of steroidogenic enzymes in the rat testes.

Experimental therapeutic intervention with ascorbic acid in ethanol induced testicular injuries in rats.

Ascorbic acid treatment significantly increased the activities of testicular delta5, 3beta-HSD and 17beta-HSD. Moreover, the treatment was also associated with significant decrease in oxidative stress in the testis. Ethanol induced oxidative stress and decreased steroidogenesis can be reversed by treatment with ascorbic acid.