Comparing the COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms between psychiatric patients and healthy subjects: an observational retrospective study from Northern Italy.

COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on mental health, both in the general population and psychiatric patients. Little is known about the difference between these two populations in perceiving the pandemic as a traumatic event. The aim of the study was to compare psychiatric patients and healthy controls (HC) in terms of change over time of post-traumatic (PTSD) symptoms. Demographic and clinical variables were collected. Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R) scores were registered at T1 as lockdown period (March-April 2020) and T2 as restarting (May-June 2020). Descriptive analyses and linear regression models were performed. A total of 166 outpatients and 57 HC were recruited. Time (F = 15.76; p < 0.001) and diagnosis (F = 4.94; p < 0.001) had a significant effect on the change of IES-R scores, which resulted T1 > T2 (p < 0.001), except for subjects affected by Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Overall, IES-R scores were < in patients than in HC (p = 0.02), particularly in the schizophrenia (SKZ) subgroup (p < 0.001). IES-R scores of subjects with personality disorders (PDs) resulted to be > HC, although not statistically significant. The lockdown period was perceived as more traumatic than the reopening phase by both groups, with the exception of OCD patients, probably because of the clinical worsening associated with the urge of control against risks of contamination. Overall, HC reported more PTSD symptoms than psychiatric patients did, particularly SKZ ones. PD patients, in contrast, may be more vulnerable to PTSD symptoms probably as a result of poor coping skills. Together with OCD patients, subjects with PDs may need closer monitoring during the different phases of the pandemic. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04694482.

Psychological Impact Among Newly Diagnosed Covid-19 Positive Cases

Background: India was one of the worst affected countries during the second wave of COVID-19 infection. The pandemic brought in a multitude of psychological problems leading to a negative impact on the mental health of affected individuals. Several studies across the globe have assessed the psychological impact of this pandemic in general and vulnerable populations with a scanty data in the assessment of those found positive for this condition. Material(s) and Method(s): This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and observational study conducted at a tertiary health care centre involved in the management of COVID-19 cases. Cases were assessed using a semi structured proforma for socio demographic and clinical details, Impact of Events Scale Revised (IES-R) and Patient Health Questionnaire- 9 S6(PHQ-9) to assess psychological impact. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Result(s): A total of 60 individuals participated in the study. The mean age of the participants was 50.8 +/- 14.10 years, with a majority of males (65%). More than half (53%) of the individuals had minimal severity on IES-R while about 9% showed moderate to severe levels. About 32% had minimal depression while 25% had moderately severe or severe depression on PHQ-9 score. A significant positive correlation was observed between number of deaths due to COVID-19 infection in the family and IES-R scores. Conclusion(s): Higher levels of stress and depression were found among those found positive for COVID-19. This highlights the need for early assessment of psychological problems and timely intervention to avoid long term psychiatric sequelae to those affected by COVID-19 infection.

COVID-19 pandemic impact on mental health and quality of life among general population in Pakistan

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychosocial impact during the current epidemic situation of COVID-19 in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 1,149 respondents were recruited in the study. Mental health status and psychological impact of COVID-19 outbreak were measured by impact of events scale-revised (IES-R) instrument and depression, anxiety and stress scales (DASS-21), respectively. Findings: Results of IES-R revealed moderate or severe psychological impact in 13.05% respondents (score > 33). DAAS score revealed that severe and extremely severe depression (score: 21-42), anxiety (score: 15-42) and stress (score: 27-42) were reported in 6.35%, 6.87% and 2.78% respondents, respectively. Higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression were recorded in female gender, student, medical professionals, farmer and daily wages employed, exhibiting significant (p < 0.05) association with psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Majority of respondents received increased support, shared feeling and family care. Originality/value: Mild to moderate psychological impact on mental health status was recorded in this study, which enables further planning and opportunities for health authorities to design psychological interventions for the improvement of negative psychological impact of COVID-19 epidemic in vulnerable groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Impact on Healthcare Workers of Past SARS and Current COVID-19 Outbreak: A Global Review

The emergence of novel severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, China during late 2019 spread quickly and creating international emergency and tremendous challenges for healthcare workers (HCWs) including dental and oral healthcare professionals. The brisk spread of this new viral disease forced HCWs to suffer from different types of stress including mortality and morbidity, delayed patient dealing, scarcity of complete personal protective equipment (PPE), and fear of being COVID-19 virus target and carriers to their family members. The dental and oral HCWs were also advised to apply mobility restrictions and social distancing measures. All of a sudden, most of the regular medical check-ups including dental clinic appointments were cancelled, reducing the number of patients flow. The abrupt cancellation of appointments put a sudden break on medical profession including dental practice. Different scales like progression of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Chinese Health Questionnaire-12 (CHd-12), Davidson Trauma Scale-Chinese (DTS-C), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Impact of Event Scale (IES), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) etc. have been devised in different countries to assess the overall mental health status. The reports from earlier SARS outbreak in 2007 had also put a psychological impact on HCWs but least has been learned from this out break. The reports from previous Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreaks and early COVID-19 pandemic have a considerable negative impact (short and long-term) on mental status of HCWs. Different types of negative impacts on mental health like depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and distress were reported in HCWs during COVID-19 pandemic. The current COVID-19 pandemic given a broader understanding of how much, how far and how fast an outbreak can occur and affect HCWs psychologically. In this review, authors summarize the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the psychology of HCWs, as reported from different countries.Copyright © 2022, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Event Scale-Revised: Examining Its Cutoff Scores among Arab Psychiatric Patients and Healthy Adults within the Context of COVID-19 as a Collective Traumatic Event.

The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) is the most popular measure of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It has been recently validated in Arabic. This instrumental study aimed to determine optimal cutoff scores of the IES-R and its determined six subscales in Arab samples of psychiatric patients (N = 168, 70.8% females) and healthy adults (N = 992, 62.7% females) from Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic as a probable ongoing collective traumatic event. Based on a cutoff score of 14 of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 8-items (DASS-8), receiver operator curve (ROC) analysis revealed two optimal points of 39.5 and 30.5 for the IES-R in the samples (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.86 & 0.91, p values = 0.001, 95% CI: 0.80-0.92 & 0.87-0.94, sensitivity = 0.85 & 0.87, specificity = 0.73 & 0.83, Youden index = 0.58 & 0.70, respectively). Different cutoffs were detected for the six subscales of the IES-R, with numbing and avoidance expressing the lowest predictivity for distress. Meanwhile, hyperarousal followed by pandemic-related irritability expressed a stronger predictive capacity for distress than all subscales in both samples. In path analysis, pandemic-related irritability/dysphoric mood evolved as a direct and indirect effect of key PTSD symptoms (intrusion, hyperarousal, and numbing). The irritability dimension of the IES-R directly predicted the traumatic symptoms of sleep disturbance in both samples while sleep disturbance did not predict irritability. The findings suggest the usefulness of the IES-R at a score of 30.5 for detecting adults prone to trauma related distress, with higher scores needed for screening in psychiatric patients. Various PTSD symptoms may induce dysphoric mood, which represents a considerable burden that may induce circadian misalignment and more noxious psychiatric problems/co-morbidities (e.g., sleep disturbance) in both healthy and diseased groups.

Economical synthesis of oxygen to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The whole world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and oxygen demand is greater than ever, but the supply is expectedly short. People in need of this oxygen are not able to receive it, especially those who cannot afford it. In addition to these issues, the oxygen from production plants is not getting delivered to hospitals on a timely basis due to insufficient availability of tankers and cylinders. It is therefore crucial to enable access of oxygen beds and cylinders to the public by developing economical methods for medical oxygen generation. Conventional methods like oxygen concentrators, the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Technique and Air Separation Units (ASUs) are either too expensive, energy intensive or feasible only on a small scale. This indicates the need to exploit methods that have not been utilized fully yet, such as Integrated Energy Systems (IES). However, reducing the cost of a process is not enough. It needs to be scaled up to have a real impact on the situation at hand. Ion Transport Membranes (ITM) are promising in this aspect as they can produce large volumes of extremely high-purity oxygen at low costs. All these methods along with their economic aspects have been discussed and then compared to identify the most feasible one.

A study to evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of junior doctors of a Government Medical College in West Bengal

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had posed huge challenges to junior doctors as they had to work as frontline health workers during this emergency. Objectives: To evaluate the mental health status of junior doctors during the present pandemic using Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and impact of even scale-revised (IES-R) scale scores. Methods and Participants: This longitudinal study was conducted over a time period of 8 months after taking Institutional Ethical Clearance and informed consent of 220 participants. This online survey was conducted using Google Forms and DASS-21 and IES-R scores were evaluated twice in an interval of 6 months. Results: Depression scores, anxiety scores, and stress scores were significantly increased on the second assessment. Gradation of depression, anxiety, and stress in month 1 among participants were as follows: Depression scores (normal;mild;moderate;severe;extremely severe): 82;40;52;33;13. Anxiety scores (normal;mild;moderate;severe;extremely severe): 113;21;55;16;15. Stress scores (normal;mild;moderate;severe;extremely severe): 137;33;41;8;1. ISE-R scores: <24 = 98;24-32 = 39;33-36 = 15;≥37 = 68. Gradation of depression, anxiety, and stress in month 6 were the following: Depression scores (normal;mild;moderate;severe;extremely severe): 50;19;63;26;62. Anxiety scores (normal;mild;moderate;severe;extremely severe): 34;5;67;25;89. Stress scores (normal;mild;moderate;severe;extremely severe): 61;12;42;38;67. ISE-R Scores: <24 = 73;24-32 = 34;33-36 = 11;≥37 = 102. Conclusions: Junior doctors working during the COVID-19 pandemic developed increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression with the progression of the pandemic. They were the major frontline health workers to combat COVID-19 which may be the cause of their decreased psychological resilience resulting in mental health issues. Psychological counseling sessions can be used among these young doctors to build up their mental resilience. © 2022 by the Author(s).

COVID-19 pandemic impact on mental health and quality of life among general population in Pakistan

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychosocial impact during the current epidemic situation of COVID-19 in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 1,149 respondents were recruited in the study. Mental health status and psychological impact of COVID-19 outbreak were measured by impact of events scale-revised (IES-R) instrument and depression, anxiety and stress scales (DASS-21), respectively. Findings: Results of IES-R revealed moderate or severe psychological impact in 13.05% respondents (score > 33). DAAS score revealed that severe and extremely severe depression (score: 21-42), anxiety (score: 15-42) and stress (score: 27-42) were reported in 6.35%, 6.87% and 2.78% respondents, respectively. Higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression were recorded in female gender, student, medical professionals, farmer and daily wages employed, exhibiting significant (p < 0.05) association with psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Majority of respondents received increased support, shared feeling and family care. Originality/value: Mild to moderate psychological impact on mental health status was recorded in this study, which enables further planning and opportunities for health authorities to design psychological interventions for the improvement of negative psychological impact of COVID-19 epidemic in vulnerable groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

DOCTORAL WRITERS’ RESILIENCY IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Aim/Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown required doctoral writers to demonstrate resiliency to continue their culminating projects. This study examines the socioecological factors that fostered that resiliency. Background Resiliency is a key factor in determining whether doctoral writers continue with their culminating projects. Thus far, studies on doctoral student experiences during the pandemic have yet to investigate doctoral students’ adaptive strategies to continue with their projects. Methodology The qualitative study uses in-depth interviews to document the narrative journeys of four research participants pre-pandemic and in-pandemic. Those narratives are analyzed using an infectious disease resilience framework as a metaphor to highlight the resilience within each participant’s writing ecology. Contribution The study seeks to reframe the approach to doctoral writing beyond the individual student toward a broader ecological system to better serve those students and the knowledge produced, regardless of a disruptive crisis. Findings The disruptions that the four participants experienced are documented through their narratives. The participants described their coping strategies related to their workspace, technology, loss of connection, and their breaking point. Recommendations The resilience shown by the four participants demonstrates areas where institufor Practitioners tions can provide assistance to alleviate the pressures placed on doctoral writers. Reframing the dissertation writing process as a socioecological system rather than a cognitive one allows for solutions to problems that are not limited to individual writers. Recommendations Extending the socioecological systems metaphor, further research should invesfor Researchers tigate other stakeholders in a writer’s ecology to obtain different perspectives on a particular system. Impact on Society The pandemic has presented an opportunity for educational institutions to reassess how they can cultivate students’ resilience to positively impact their socioecological balance. Future Research It would be worthwhile to document the post-pandemic experiences of doctoral writers to find out how they seek balance in their ecology as they continue to deal with the post-pandemic fallout. © 2022 Informing Science Institute. All rights reserved.

Rasch Modeling and Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis for the Usability of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Several instruments are currently used to assess Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) -induced psychological distress, including the 22-item Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). The IES-R is a self-administered scale used to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study aimed to examine the construct validity of the IES-R, based on the Rasch model, with COVID-19-related data, as well as to test the multilevel construct validity of the IES-R within and among countries during the pandemic crisis. METHODS: A multi-country web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted utilizing the 22-item IES-R. A total of 1020 participants enrolled in our survey, of whom 999 were included in the analyses. Data were analyzed using Rasch modeling and multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA). RESULTS: The Rasch modeling results of the IES-R demonstrated that the IES-R is a satisfactory instrument with the five-point Likert scale, asserting that its 22 items are significant contributors to assessing PTSD as a unidimensional construct covered by the items of the IES-R. The MCFA confirmed that the 22-item IES-R, with its three factors, including intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal, demonstrates adequate construct validity at the within- and among-country levels. However, the results of the Akaike information criterion (AIC) model determined that the 16-item IES-R is better than the 22-item IES-R. CONCLUSION: The results suggested that the 22-item IES-R is a reliable screening instrument for measuring PTSD related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and can be utilized to provide timely psychological health support, when needed, based on the screening results.

A study of the Mental health assessment among COVID 19 patients: A hospital based study

Background: People's mental health has been impacted by the novel corona virus COVID 19. According to studies, a significant percentage of people who have recovered from the infection have mental health problems. The research was carried out on people who had recovered from COVID 19 in the previous year. Participants were contacted a month after being discharged from the hospital and encouraged to complete a questionnaire that included the DASS and IES scales. Anxiety, depression, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder were all examined in the results (PTSD). Those with scores that indicated severe levels were encouraged to see a psychiatrist for proper treatment and therapy. The results of the DASS revealed that 2.5 percent of the participants had scores indicative of severe stress, 25.3 percent had scores indicative of severe anxiety, and 7.3 percent had scores indicative of severe depression. According to the results of the IES, 15.1 percent of the participants said the event had a significant impact on their mental health, and 17.2 percent of the participants had scores that indicated the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. There is a strong link between IES scores and the severity of lung involvement. Conclusion: People who have recovered from COVID 19 are at risk for anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). © 2022 Universidad Tecnica de Manabi. All Rights Reserved.

Development and Application of Global Health Events-Mental Stress Scale for Assessment of Medical Staff?s Acute Mental Stress Responses

Background: Medical workers have been increasingly involved in emergent public health events, which can lead to severe stress. However, no standardized, officially recognized, unified tool exists for mental distress measurement in medical workers who experienced the public health events. Purpose: In the present study, we propose the Global Health Events-Mental Stress Scale (GHE-MSS), as a revised version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revision (IES-R), for assessment of medical workers' acute mental stress responses within one month and their chronic mental stress responses within six months after major health events. Patients and methods: The IES-R was slightly modified, developed, and its reliability and validity were tested using the Delphi survey, primary survey with 115 participants, formal survey with 300 participants, and clinical evaluation with 566 participants. Results: Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a promising validity of the scale. The values of Cronbach's alpha coefficient, the Spearman-Brown coefficient, and the retested Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale applied for the clinical evaluation were 0.88, 0.87, and 0.98, respectively, which confirmed a good internal consistency and stability. The results of the goodness-of-fit test indicated a good adaptation of the model. A correlation analysis was conducted to assess the correlation between the GHE-MSS and the PCL-C, which had a correlation coefficient of 0.68 (P < 0.01). Conclusion: GHE-MSS can be applied with a promising reliability and validity for the assessment of the acute mental stress response of medical workers experiencing public health events. This method can also be used for the screening of mental stress-associated disorders.

Measurement of risk and stressors of post-traumatic stress disorder during the first lockdown period of COVID-19 among Industrial workers, Hyderabad, India

Introduction: Post-traumatic stress disorder usually occurs after a traumatic event and the COVID-19 pandemic has affected mental health to a great extent. While there is extensive research being conducted about this aspect among the general population, the most neglected were the industrial workers during the first lockdown period. The aim of the study was to assess the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms using the impact of event scale-revised (IES-R), their main stressors and coping measurements among the industrial workers of Hyderabad. Methods: A telephonic interview schedule was adopted to fill the online questionnaire among industrial workers of age group 20-55 years during the lockdown period. Hundred and seventy-four participants were included in our study and data was collected using standardized tools IES-R and a brief resilient coping scale. Various stressors and also their coping strategies were elucidated. Results: At the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, symptoms were found among 20.6% and at risk of suppressed immune system functioning which is presumed to have its effect for the next 10 years was13.8%. The main stressors of Covid -19 with increased IES-R score were staying away from family members, the influence of social media, Any acquaintance with COVID-19 infected person effects daily life and white-collar group. Coping measurements with a brief resilient coping scale found 17.4% as low resilient copers. Conclusion: This identification of high-risk post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms needs to be addressed earlier to bring up preventive strategies such as counseling services in the occupational health care centers of our industries. © 2022 Occupational Health and Safety Society of Nepal. All right reserved.

Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Quality of Life in Pregnant Women.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with significant impacts on mental health and well-being of populations worldwide. However, little is known about its significant impact on psychological aspects of vulnerable population groups such as pregnant women. Therefore, the aim of the study was to determine the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among pregnant women in mainland China. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was performed between July and August 2020 using a modified validated 40-item questionnaire which consisted of sociodemographics, attitude, lifestyle changes and the Impact of Event Scale (IES) toward COVID-19 using snowball and convenience samplings. RESULTS: A total of 1,078 participants were included in the study. The mean age of participants was 29.4 ± 4.0 years. Overall, the mean IES of participants was 30.6 ± 12.8 (i.e., moderate-to-severe stressful impact) amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, with 63.9% of participants had an IES score ≥26. Despite increased family and social support, more than half of participants also reported increased feeling of being horrified, apprehensive and helpless. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has several psychological impacts on pregnant women. Therefore, based on these valuable data of pregnant women collected, we recommend that a thoughtful planning and time preparation by the government would definitely help to reduce the negative impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and restore the quality of life among pregnant women. Further research is needed to identify vulnerable groups including pregnant women to better adapt and inform mental health interventions and policies by health authorities.

The Arabic Version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised: Psychometric Evaluation among Psychiatric Patients and the General Public within the Context of COVID-19 Outbreak and Quarantine as Collective Traumatic Events.

The Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has provoked the development of negative emotions in almost all societies since it first broke out in late 2019. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) is widely used to capture emotions, thoughts, and behaviors evoked by traumatic events, including COVID-19 as a collective and persistent traumatic event. However, there is less agreement on the structure of the IES-R, signifying a need for further investigation. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the IES-R among individuals in Saudi quarantine settings, psychiatric patients, and the general public during the COVID-19 outbreak. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the items of the IES-R present five factors with eigenvalues > 1. Examination of several competing models through confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a best fit for a six-factor structure, which comprises avoidance, intrusion, numbing, hyperarousal, sleep problems, and irritability/dysphoria. Multigroup analysis supported the configural, metric, and scalar invariance of this model across groups of gender, age, and marital status. The IES-R significantly correlated with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-8, perceived health status, and perceived vulnerability to COVID-19, denoting good criterion validity. HTMT ratios of all the subscales were below 0.85, denoting good discriminant validity. The values of coefficient alpha in the three samples ranged between 0.90 and 0.93. In path analysis, correlated intrusion and hyperarousal had direct positive effects on avoidance, numbing, sleep, and irritability. Numbing and irritability mediated the indirect effects of intrusion and hyperarousal on sleep and avoidance. This result signifies that cognitive activation is the main factor driving the dynamics underlying the behavioral, emotional, and sleep symptoms of collective COVID-19 trauma. The findings support the robust validity of the Arabic IES-R, indicating it as a sound measure that can be applied to a wide range of traumatic experiences.

Assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic among medical students

Introduction and Aim: Post traumatic stress disorder is known to be a usual response to distressing experiences. Common symptoms include recurrent events of anxiousness, emotional insensibility and escape mechanism. The COVID-19 pandemic is one such recent occasion that is likely to have an enormous psychological impact on medical student based on extreme social restrictions worldwide. This study therefore aims to investigate the post pandemic PTSD symptoms among first year medical students . Materials and Methods: Department of Physiology, Lord Buddha Koshi Medical College, Saharsa, conducted this observational study for a period of four months starting from September 2020 to December 2020. One hundred and forty-six students completed the most advanced Impact Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) questionnaire. Student’s t-test was performed to analyze the strength of association between PTSD symptoms among the participants. Results: The study concurs high level of PTSD between age-matched medical students after the occurrence of COVID-19 pandemic. The IES-R method of PTSD scoring system was used to arrive at this conclusion. However, this area of research requires multi-centric results to verify the outcome measures. Conclusion: Post pandemic PTSD symptoms were high among the first year medical students. © 2022, Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists. All rights reserved.

Pandemic-Related Stress Symptoms Among Norwegian Parents of Adolescents in Grades 6 to 8.

We investigated pandemic-related stress symptoms during the first COVID-19 lockdown period in spring 2020 among parents of adolescents that were 11 to 13 years old in the study period. We also investigated whether parental stress symptoms were associated with family situation and family activities during lockdown. Altogether 147 couples reported about their own trauma-related stress symptoms following the outbreak of the pandemic. Among the respondents, 9.5% of the mothers and 10.2% of the fathers had scores over cutoff on the screener (IES-6) measuring stress symptoms, a non-significant gender difference. Scores on the screener were not associated with family contamination or lockdown consequences. Family activities during lockdown did not impact the pandemic stress symptom levels. Whereas, the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic pose a stressor to most people, it is unlikely to be a criterion A event for other than directly affected families.

Risk of PTSD Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Patients in Opioid Substitution Treatment.

Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of patients suffering from addictive disorders is of major concern. This study aimed to explore the presence and potential increase in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, and anxiety since the beginning of the pandemic for patients in opioid substitution therapy (OST). Methods: This cross-sectional survey study evaluated a clinical sample of patients in OST (N = 123). Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the COVID-19 pandemic were assessed by an adapted version of the impact of event scale (IES-R), resulting in two subgroups of low and high risk for PTSD. The depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21) was applied to collect data on the respective symptoms, and changes since the onset of the pandemic were reported on separate scales. Sociodemographic and COVID-19 related factors, as well as data on craving, consumption patterns, concomitant use, and the drug market were further assessed. Results: A binary logistic regression analysis confirmed the impact of self-perceived higher burden by psychological and economic factors on the elevated risk for PTSD due to the pandemic. The high-risk PTSD group also showed higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress, as well as a more pronounced deterioration in these symptoms since the pandemic. While reported levels of craving did not differ between the two groups, the high-risk PTSD group indicated a significantly higher increase in craving since the crisis, when compared to the low-risk group. Discussion: Our findings demonstrate elevated levels of clinical symptoms among patients in OST, with more than a quarter of patients found at risk for PTSD due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, about 30-50% of our patients reported concerning levels of depression, anxiety, or stress. Special attention should be drawn to these findings, and potential deterioration of the situation should be addressed by health care facilities. Particularly, psychological, and financial burden due to the crisis were identified as factors increasing the risk for PTSD. These factors can easily be evaluated during routine anamneses, and might be a valuable source of information, when special attention is needed.

Interleukin-1RA Mitigates SARS-CoV-2-Induced Inflammatory Lung Vascular Leakage and Mortality in Humanized K18-hACE-2 Mice.

[Figure: see text].

Dental Students in Germany throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Psychological Assessment and Cross-Sectional Survey.

Multiple investigations have reported high psychological distress among students since the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak started. This survey examined the associations between psychological features, and several demographic and social factors among dental students in German universities. Dental students registered in German universities nationwide were asked to join this survey via a self-directed online questionnaire, from July 2020 to January 2021. This study assembled data on demographic statistics, the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS-21), and the impact of events scale-revised (IES-R) instrument. The relationships between demographic-related variables and mental consequences of depression, anxiety, stress, intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal were inspected. Two hundred and eleven students contributed to the questionnaire and conveyed overall normal or mild outcomes of depression, anxiety, stress, intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal. In addition, female gender, cardiovascular diseases, smoking habits, and seeing the COVID-19 outbreak as a financial risk were stated as significant related factors (p < 0.05), with increased IES-R and DASS-21 scores. These results highlight the features that should be considered to better protect dental students' mental health in German universities during the crisis.