DESIGN: A 2 (Culture; Malay, British) × 2 (Mood; depressed, control) cross-sectional design using a card sort task and self-report measures was used.
METHODS: Malay individuals with MDD or no history of MDD completed the life-structure card-sorting task, which provided a novel method for investigating organizational structure of the life narrative. These data were compared to previously collected data in which British individuals with MDD or without MDD had completed the same task within the same experimental protocol.
RESULTS: Pan-culturally those with MDD had greater negativity (i.e., used more negative attributes), negative redundancy (i.e., used the same negative attributes repeatedly across life chapters) and negative emodiversity (i.e., had greater variety and relative abundance of negative attributes), and reduced positive redundancy (i.e., used the same positive attributes repeatedly across chapters) in their structuring relative to controls. While the British MDD group had greater compartmentalization (i.e., the negative and positive attributes were clustered separately across different chapters) than British controls, the Malay MDD group had lower levels of compartmentalization than Malay controls.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest culture may shape aspects of the autobiographical life structure in MDD.
PRACTITIONER POINTS: The majority of the literature investigating depression pertains to individuals from European Western cultures, despite recognition that depression ranks as one of the most debilitating diseases worldwide. This raises questions as to whether current depression models and interventions can be applied universally or whether they are limited to European Western groups. The current study found that pan-culturally those with MDD had similar structuring of their life story relative to controls. However, there were some cultural differences that need to be considered (e.g., Malay individuals provided less detailed, less elaborate and less emotionally diverse life stories and while the British MDD group had greater compartmentalization than British controls, the Malay MDD group had lower levels of compartmentalization than Malay controls). Limitations of the study included group differences in gender and mood at the time of testing. Cultural differences in the number of attributes used may have influenced findings. Only the Malay group completed the individualism-collectivism measure.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study involving 83 breast cancer survivors was carried out in two main government referral hospitals in the region. Participants wore the ActivPAL3™ microdevice physical activity monitor for seven consecutive days. The validated European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaires (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Breast Cancer Supplementary Measure (EORTC QLQ-BR23) were used to measure their HRQoL. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and sedentary behaviour with HRQoL.
RESULTS: Longer time spent on moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was significantly associated with an improvement of HRQoL (p = 0.039) whereas longer time spent on sedentary behaviour significantly reduced the functioning score (p = 0.005). In addition, prolonged sedentary bouts were also significantly associated with better body image that led to improved HRQoL (p = 0.013).
CONCLUSIONS: The study findings suggest that an increase in the time spent on MVPA was associated with improved HRQoL while sedentary behaviour was associated with poorer HRQoL among breast cancer survivors. Thus, it is essential to displace sedentary behaviour with MVPA to improve the quality of life of breast cancer survivors.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 400 subjects. The questionnaire comprised three parts; the first part addressed the demographic variables. The second part queried about dental prosthesis, orthognathic or plastic surgery, and/or ongoing or previous orthodontic treatment. The third part included the Arabic version of the-8-item Orofacial Esthetic Scale (OES-Ar) whose responses were scored in the 5-point Likert scale. These scores were compared by different grouping factors (age, gender, marital status, and education) using non-parametric Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Willis tests with 95% confidence interval (α > 0.05).
RESULTS: A total of 268 questionnaires were eligible for analysis, representing 67% response rate. The satisfaction with facial profile appearance was the highest (4.0±1.1) followed by facial appearance (3.9±1.1), while the color of teeth was the least satisfying item (3.1±1.3). No significant differences were found between age groups for the mean summary score as well as for each item independently. No significant difference was found between both sexes except for the last item "overall impression". Married subjects rated one item (alignment of teeth) better than their counterparts. Positive perception of orofacial appearance increased significantly with the increase of education level, the perception of the oral health status, and the perception of the general health status.
CONCLUSION: Good oral health and/or high education level are significant determinants of more positive perception of orofacial esthetic appearance. Patients with these characteristics might be more concerned about their orofacial appearance, and this should be taken into consideration before planning any esthetic restorative dental treatment.
METHODS: In this study, the articles published in national and international databases of SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, Cochrane, Embase, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science (ISI) were searched to find electronically published studies between 2010 and 2019. The heterogeneous index between studies was determined using the I2 index.
RESULTS: In this meta-analysis and systematic review, 19 articles were eligible for inclusion in the study. The standardized mean difference was obtained in examining of unilateral laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis (before intervention 2.8 ± 0.11, and after 3 months 2.05 ± 0.13; and before intervention 3.1 ± 0.46 and after 6 months 2.08 ± 0.31), and in examining bilateral laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis examination (before intervention 2.0 ± 08.08, and after 3 months 1.1 ± 0.1; and before intervention 2.9 ± 0.23 and after 6 months 1.4 ± 0.19).
CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrate that unilateral and bilateral laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis is effective on AMH levels, and the level decreases in both comparisons.
Methods: Unstimulated saliva was collected before and after HIIT workout (n = 35). The workout was performed until the participant's heart rate reached 70-80% of maximum heart rate. The microbial activity of saliva was estimated using Oratest.
Results: The participants belonged to 4 ethnities- Indian, Malays, Chinese and Others (18-22 years). The post-workout salivary microbial activity was higher than the pre-workout levels, being statistically significant (P = 0.010). The increase in the post-workout microbial activity among females was found to be higher when compared to males. We also found significant different according to the ethnicities.
Conclusion: We conclude that caries activity increases immediately after a vigorous workout and remains high at least for 15 min. Further studies are needed to validate the findings. Workout enthusiast should be aware of this so that they can take necessary precautions and be more regular with their dental check-ups.