ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether meaning in life (MIL) was associated with a lower risk of depression in people from low-income families during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Individuals from low-income families were recruited at a community centre during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. Levels of MIL were assessed using the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ). Severity of depressive symptoms was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Scores of ≥24 on the Presence of Meaning subscale (MLQ-P) and Search for Meaning subscale (MLQ-S) were considered high. A score of ≥10 on the PHQ-9 was indicative of clinical depression. Correlations between MLQ and PHQ-9 scores were examined, along with associations between presence of/search for meaning and risk of clinical depression. RESULTS: Among 102 participants, 64 (62.7%) had clinical depression; 14 (13.7%) had both high presence of meaning and high search for meaning. The MLQ score was correlated with the PHQ-9 score (r = -0.56, p < 0.001). The adjusted risk ratio for depression was 0.31 (p = 0.006) in participants with both high presence of meaning and high search for meaning. CONCLUSION: Among people with lower socioeconomic status, MIL may be important for protecting against depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , Hong Kong/epidemiology , Depression/epidemiology , Depression/diagnosis , Pandemics , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
The authors report two cases of parathyroid imaging with double-phase Tc-99m sestamibi used in conjunction with Tc-99m pertechnetate that detected parathyroid hyperplasia when the wash out rate of MIBI from the glands paralleled normal thyroid tissue. Routine use of thyroid images for comparison may avoid this pitfall. The authors also observed that Tc-99m sestamibi has early uptake in brown tumors.
Subject(s)
Hyperparathyroidism/diagnostic imaging , Lipoma/diagnostic imaging , Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1/diagnostic imaging , Parathyroid Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Pseudohypoparathyroidism/diagnostic imaging , Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi , Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon/methods , Adult , Female , Humans , Hyperplasia/diagnostic imaging , Male , Radiography , Radiopharmaceuticals , Sensitivity and Specificity , Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m , Thyroid Gland/diagnostic imagingABSTRACT
Slight modifications of published procedures (Stefansson, M. and Novotny, M., Carbohydr. Res. 1994, 258 1-9) allow separation by relative size of 8-amino-naphthalene-1,3,6-trisulfonate (ANTS)-labeled neutral and acidic oligosaccharides by electrophoresis in uncoated capillaries. The separations are performed at pH 2.5 to suppress both any charge from carboxylic acid groups on the oligosaccharides and electroosmotic flow. Utility of the procedure is demonstrated by its application to characterization of substrate specificity of endopolygalacturonases. The results show that both a fungal and a bacterial endopolygalacturonase need four adjacent nonesterified galacturonic acid residues in a pectin to be able to act.
