Acupuncture/electroacupuncture enhances antidepressant effect of Seroxat:the Symptom Checklist-90 scores

One hundred and five patients with primary unipolar depression were randomly divided into three groups： drug group （Seroxat administration）, acupuncture group （Seroxat plus acupunc- ture）, and electroacupuncture group （Seroxat plus acupuncture plus electroacupuncture）. Patients＇ symptoms were evaluated using a psychometric questionnaire, the Symptom Check- list-90, before intervention and after 2, 4, 6 and 10 weeks of treatment. The individual factor scores and the total score from the Symptom Checldist-90 reduced in all three groups as treat- ment progressed. In the acupuncture and electroacupuncture groups, the total score and the factor scores for obsessive-compulsive symptoms, depression, and anxiety were significantly lower than those in the drug group. There was no significant difference in the factor scores or total scores between the acupuncture and electroacupuncture groups. Some factor scores in the electroacupuncture group, such as somatization, depression, hostility, and phobic anxiety, were increased at 10 weeks compared with the respective score immediately after the course of electroacupuncture at 6 weeks. Our findings indicate that administration of Seroxat alone or in combination with acupuncture/electroacupuncture can produce a significant effect in patients with primary unipolar depression. Furthermore, acupuncture/electroacupuncture has a rapid onset of therapeutic effect and produces a noticeable improvement in obsessive-compulsive, de- pressive and anxiety symptoms.

Comparison of Status of Mental Health of Male Nursing Students between China and Korea:A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective:To compare the mental health status among Chinese and Korean male nursing students and further clarify the predictors of the mental health.Methods:Research data was collected from 86 undergraduate male nursing students of China and Korea by using the SCL-90-R questionnaire.The collected data was analyzed by using SPSS version 22.0.Results:Findings showed Chinese male nursing students reported higher scores of SCL-90-R than the Chinese norms,and Korean group scored lower than Chinese group and the Korean norms.The key predictors of male nursing students'mental health include having a male role model in the nursing field,receiving positive career guidance from teaching staff and having the support and respect of family and friends.Conclusion:Chinese male nursing students need to improve their mental health level more urgently than Korean male nursing students.Chinese educators need to pay more attention to role model education and spread more excellent male nurse models for male nursing students,and Korean educators need to support male nursing students with enthusiastically and provide more positive guidance for their study and career planning.

Association between maternal psychological status and fetal hemodynamic circulation in late pregnancy

Background The prevalence reported of maternal depression from the first to the third trimester was 7.4％,12.8％,12.0％ respectively,which implies that around one-tenth of pregnant women suffer from psychological disorder during the whole pregnancy.It is assumed that during pregnancy the maternal-fetal circulation unit is also affected by maternal psychological status.The aim of this study is to explore the association between maternal psychological status and fetal dynamic blood flow circulation during pregnancy.Methods We recruited 102 singleton low risk pregnant women between 30 to 33 gestational weeks.The Symptom Checklist-90 （SCL-90） was used to assess maternal psychological status.Ultrasound Doppler was used to measure blood flow changes in maternal-fetal circulation.Pulsatility index （PI） value was measured in umbilical artery （UA）,fetal middle cerebral artery （MCA） and maternal uterine arteries （UTA）.Peak systolic velocity （PSV） was measured in MCA and velocity was measured in umbilical vein （UV）.Statistical analysis was performed with standard nonparametric MannWhitney U tests.Two-tailed P values ＜0.05 were considered statistical significance.Results Of the 102 pregnant women,12 patients show high levels of poor mental health.Women with poor mental health have higher umbilical artery PI values than good mental health patients （P=0.020）.A higher MCA PI value is found in poor mental health patients but this does not reach statistical significance （P=0.053）.Women with hostility show lower placental scores （P=0.030）.Women with somatization demonstrate higher values in UA PI,MCA PI and MCA PSV （P=0.049,0.030 and 0.035 respectively）.A higher MCA PSV value is also found in phobic anxiety patients （P=0.046）.Conclusions Poor mental health during pregnancy is found to have an adverse effect on maternal-fetal circulation.Umbilical artery and fetal cerebral circulation are more sensitive and affected by maternal psychological disorder.