Stress Relief Measurements in Young Adults and Adolescents—A Comparative Pilot Study with Different Relaxation Programs

Background: Chronic stress is a emotional challenge. Constant pressure presents a serious risk of damage to mental and physical health and hence is associated with increased incidence of various diseases. The ability to cope with chronic stress may be a function of psychological resilience including intellectual capacities, but more so of external factors such as life experience and education. Adolescents are more vulnerable to chronic stress than adults. The measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic brought up major societal problems. As both children and adolescents lost their life anchors, the prevalence of stress in adolescents increased from 20% to 45%. Chronic psychological stress can impede the normal development of schoolchildren. It may cause anxiety, social withdrawal, interpersonal conflicts and aggression. This applies particularly to those in puberty, with the adolescent already facing unstable social bonds and elevated fear about the future. It is likely that the puberty cohort accounts for the dramatic increase in the prevalence of stress. Since it impacts public health, chronic stress among school-age children is increasingly taking on a socio-political dimension. Non-clinical stress intervention studies can investigate how to achieve stress reduction in school children. Methods: In a small pilot study, we analysed the effects of a training program with four different standard interventions, i.e. mindfulness training, progressive muscle reflection, autogenic training, and sound meditation. We obtained baseline scores of 10 stress-indicators, and re-tested after the interventions were performed. Results: The four applied interventions resulted in a reduction of 8 (out of 10) stress-indicators, such as “feeling stressed” or stress related symptoms (headaches, dizziness, sweating). This positive impact of the interventions significantly reduced “Fears about the future” (p Discussion: School children recognise the positive potential of stress reducing training or interventions. Our results provide evidence in support of integrating the training of relaxation techniques in the school curriculum. We propose that a larger study be undertaken to determine which methods would be most effective.

Mild moxibustion at different intervention times on the levels of ET-1 and NO in the uterine tissues of rats with cold-damp coagulation and stagnation type dysmenorrhea

Objective： To observe the differences in analgesic effect of moxibustion at different intervention times on dysmenorrhea rats and explore its effect mechanism.Methods： Forty-five female Wistar rats were randomly divided into blank control group（group A）, model group（group B）, pre-moxibustion group（group C）, instant moxibustion group（group D） and pre-instant moxibustion group（group E）,with 9 rats in each group. Cold-damp coagulation and stagnation type dysmenorrhea models were established. In group C,mild moxibustion on ＂Shenque（神阙 CV 8） ＂ and＂Guanyuan（关元 CV 4）＂ was carried out from the time after modeling on the 8 th day for 3 consecutive days. In group D, mild moxibustion was given as the same methods with group C after injection with oxytocin on the 11 th day. In group E, mild moxibustion was given as the same methods from the time after modeling on the 8 th day to that after injection with oxytocin on the 11 th day for 4 consecutive days. The writhing behavior and the changes in levels of ET-1 and NO in uterine tissues of rats with dysmenorrhea in each group were observed.Results： Comparison of the latent period： compared with（4.38 ± 1.06） min in group B,the latent period of rats in group C（9.67 ± 1.32） min,group D（11.78 ± 1.30） min and group E（15.00 ± 1.22） min obviously prolonged（all p 0.01）. Compared with group C, the latent period of group E obviously prolonged（p 0.01）. Compared with group D, the latent period of group E obviously prolonged（p 0.01）.Comparison of the writhing times： compared with（4.38 ± 1.06） in group B,the writhing times of rats in group C（9.67 ± 1.32）,group D（11.78 ± 1.30） and group E（15.00 ± 1.22） reduced（all p 0.01）. Compared with group C,the writhing times of rats in group D and group E reduced（both p 0.01）. Compared with group D, the writhing times in group E reduced（p 0.05）. Comparison of the total writhing score：compared with（4.38 ± 1.06） in group B,the total writhing score of rats in group C（9.67±1.32）,group D（11.78 ± 1.30） and group E（15.00 ± 1.22） decreased（all p 0.01）. Compared with group C,the total writhing score of rats in group D and group E decreased（both p 0.01）. Compared with group D,the total writhing score of rats in group E decreased（p 0.05）. Comparison of ET-1 level： compared with（4.80 ± 0.47） in group A,the ET-1 level in uterine tissues of rats in group B（7.57±0.69） significantly increased（P 0.01）. Compared with group B, the ET-1 level in uterine tissues of rats in group C（6.20 ±0.50）,group D（5.67 ±0.29） and group E（5.16±0.33） obviously decreased（all p 0.01）. Compared with group C, the ET-1 level in uterine tissues of rats in group D and group E obviously decreased（p 0.05, p 0.01）. Compared with group D, the ET-1 level in uterine tissues of rats in group Eobviously decreased（p 0.05）. Comparison of NO level： compared with（6.63±1.83） in group A, the NO level in uterine tissues of rats in group B（1.62 ±0.58） significantly decreased（p 0.01）. Compared with group B, the NO level in uterine tissues of rats in group C（3.60±0.59）,group D（4.77 ±0.67） and group E（5.99±0.63） obviously increased（all p 0.01）. Compared with group C,the NO level in uterine tissues of rats in group Dand group E obviously increased（p 0.05, p 0.01）. Compared with group D, the NO level in uterine tissues of rats in group E obviously increased（p 0.01）.Conclusion： The analgesic effect of mild moxibustion at different intervention times on cold-damp coagulation and stagnation type dysmenorrhea rats was different, which was the most significant in pre-instant moxibustion group. One of the mechanisms of action may be related with the adjustment of abnormal levels of ET-1 and NO.

Effect of intervention treatment from different stages on prognosis in children with central coordination disturbance

BACKGROUND： Central coordination disturbance is regarded as the early-stage symptom of brain injury-induced cerebral palsy. This disease manifests itself as motor disorder, abnormal attitudinal reflex and muscular tension. Early intervention may improve its prognosis. OBJECTIVE： To observe the effects of intervention treatment from different stages on the prognosis of central coordination disturbance following brain injury in children patients. DESIGN： A contrast observation experiment SETTING： Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation, Urumqi Children＇s Hospital PARTICIPANTS ： Totally 151 children who were diagnosed as central coordination disturbance from January 2002 to December 2003 in the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation of Urumqi Children＇s Hospital were recruited. All the children patients, including 101 male and 50 female, aged from 3 months to 1 year old, met the diagnosis criteria of central coordination disturbance from Vojta. They were divided into slight, moderate and severe abnormity according to Vojta attitudinal reflex. All 151 patients were divided into 2 groups according to their age at diagnosis： 3-6 months old group （n=74）, 62 severe, 10 moderate and 2 slight; 7-12 months old group （n=77）, 66 severe, 7 moderate and 4 slight. All the relatives of children patients were informed of the experiment. METHODS： ① Both groups received physical training （PT） as the main treatment; Hand training was given if necessary. All of the patients received additional hyperbaric oxygen therapy, bioelectric therapy, scalp acupuncture, drug treatment and family training. The importance of integration of hospital and family based rehabilitation was stressed. Those who did not catch up with the normal development or had abnormal reflexes continued to receive treatment. ② Around the age of 2 years old, all children did a final evaluation using Bayley Scales of Infant Development （BSID）. Mental development index （MDI） and physical development index （PDI） were taken as evaluative criteria. Children with scores 80 and above on MDI and PDI were considered to have normal motor and mental development; 79 and below were considered delayers. The Diagnostic Criteria of Cerebral Palsy and Infantecondary School Social Adaptation Scale were used in the final evaluation[scores ≤5 was extremely severe （extremely severe cerebral palsy）, 6 was severe（severe cerebral palsy）, 7 was moderate（moderate cerebral palsy）, 8 was slight（slight cerebral palsy）, 9 was borderline（slight cerebral palsy）, 10 was normal, 11 was above average, 12 was excellent and ≥13 was extremely excellent]. ③ Final evaluative results of 2 groups were compared. And u test was used for the comparison of Bayley development index and Chi-square test for the comparison of normalization rate. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： BSID MDI and PDI as well as the normalization rate of motor function and mental behavior of children patients at 2 years old. RESULTS： Totally 151 children patients entered the stage of result analysis. ①Two groups of children patients were given integrated rehabilitation therapy , and evaluated at 2 years old . The 3-6 months old group had higher MDI and PDI than the 7-12 months old group （91.81＋19.99 vs 71.93＋18.98;91.55＋23.61 vs 68.95＋23.51, u=6.265,5.894,P 〈 0.01 ）.②After being given integrated rehabilitation therapy, children patients of 3-6 months old group had significantly higher normalization rate of motor function and mental behavior than 7-12 months old group （73% ,27%,X2=29.723 9,P 〈 0.01 ）. ③Six slight and 17 moderate central coordination disturbance children of 2 groups all completely recovered; After intervention treatment, among 128 severe central coordination disturbance children, 52 recovered and 76 were still abnormal, in which, 43 slight cerebral palsy, 18 moderate cerebral palsy, 5 severe cerebral palsy and 10 extremely severe cerebral palsy. CONCLUSION： To perform integrated intervention treatment before 6 months old can better improve and promote mental and physical development levels of children patients with central coordination disturbance after brain injury than 6 months later.