Spiritual Needs, Religious Coping and Mental Wellbeing: A Cross-Sectional Study among Migrants and Refugees in Germany.

It has been widely proven that resettlement is associated with negative psychological effects (e.g., increased depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder) among refugees. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the psychosocial functioning of migrants. This study assessed associations between negative dysfunctional appraisal (perceiving experiences as stressful), spiritual needs, religious coping and wellbeing. Data from paper-and-pencil questionnaires were collected from 744 refugees (69.8% male) aged 18-67 years (M = 27.99) with diverse backgrounds (including from Mashreq countries) who were resettled in Germany. Bootstrapping mediation analysis revealed that the relationship of dysfunctional appraisal and wellbeing among refugees is mediated by spiritual needs (i.e., existential and religious needs). Additionally, negative religious coping mediates the relationship between spiritual needs and wellbeing. The data obtained suggest the need for practitioners to focus on psychological interventions that strengthen spiritual needs in order to improve mental health among refugees.

Energy expenditure and plasma catecholamines in preterm infants with mild chronic lung disease.

The present study examined the hypothesis that the energy expenditure (EE) increases during the development of chronic lung disease (CLD) together with serum catecholamines as indicator of stress. Sixteen spontaneously breathing infants with gestational age of 28-34 weeks and birth weight of 870-1920 g were studied. Eight patients were at risk for CLD, eight were healthy controls. Measurements of indirect calorimetry were done weekly at postnatal ages of 2, 3, 4 and 5 weeks. Serum concentrations of adrenaline and noradrenaline were measured by means of a high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The eight CLD risk infants developed mild CLD with FiO(2) of 0.27-0.31 and characteristic radiographic signs at 28 days. Compared to the healthy controls, preterm infants with mild CLD showed increases in EE from week 3 (+67%) to week 5 (+46%). Plasma noradrenaline was increased significantly in the CLD infants when compared to the controls at week 3 (0.7+/-0.3 vs. 0.5+/-0.1 ng/ml; P<0.05) and more pronounced at week 4 (1.4+/-0.2 vs. 0.6+/-0.2 ng/ml; P<0.001) and 5 (1.1+/-0.3 vs. 0.7+/-0.2 ng/ml; P<0.01). Plasma adrenaline was markedly higher in the CLD risk group (mean overall value: 0.64+/-0.1 ng/ml) than in the controls (<0.1 ng/ml in all controls) from week 2 to 5. Regression analysis for the combined values of the infants with and without CLD showed that EE was directly correlated with heart rate, noradrenaline and adrenaline concentration at each of the four study weeks and with respiratory rate at weeks 2 and 3. Increased plasma catecholamine concentrations in preterm infants with CLD suggest that these infants experienced marked stress during the early stages of the disease. Increased EE may in part be a result of this stress.

Longitudinal evaluation of energy expenditure in preterm infants with birth weight less than 1000 g.

The aim of the present study was to obtain serial values of O2 consumption (VO2), CO2 production (VCO2) and energy expenditure (EE) in healthy but extremely-low-birth-weight infants (birth weight <1000 g), during the first 5 weeks after birth. A total of seventeen spontaneously breathing and appropriate-for-gestational-age (birth weight and body length above the 10th and below the 90th percentile) preterm infants with gestational age 25-28 weeks and birth weight 590-990 g were enrolled in the study. Calorimetry was performed using an open-circuit calorimeter on days 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 of postnatal life. During the 5 weeks of observation, VO2 increased from 4.7 (SD 0.5) to 9.1 (SD 1.0) ml/kg per min, VCO2 from 4.5 (SD 0.4) to 8.3 (SD 0.6) ml/kg per min and EE from 115 (SD 12) to 310 (SD 71) kJ/kg per d. The energy intake was always higher than EE, even at days 6 and 12. The RER decreased from 0.99 (SD 0.09) at day 12 to 0.91 (SD 0.05) at day 30. On all study days, there were highly significant positive correlations between energy intake and weight gain, EE and weight gain, and EE and energy intake (P<0.05). Multiple regression analysis showed that on most study days EE was more affected by energy intake than by weight gain. We conclude that in healthy preterm infants with birth weight <1000 g, EE increases by about 150 % in the first 5 weeks after birth, and that the EE values are related to energy intake and weight gain independent of postnatal age.