AIM OF THE STUDY: The present investigation was aimed to evaluate the potential toxic effects of the aqueous extract from the fruiting bodies of H. erinaceus in rats by a sub-chronic oral toxicity study.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this sub-chronic toxicity study, rats were orally administered with the aqueous extract of H. erinaceus (HEAE) at doses of 250, 500 and 1000mg/kg body weight (b.w.) for 90 days. Body weights were recorded on a weekly basis and general behavioural changes were observed. The blood samples were subjected to haematological, biochemical, serum electrolyte, and antioxidant enzyme estimations. The rats were sacrificed and organs were processed and examined for histopathological changes.
RESULTS: No mortality or morbidity was observed in all the treated and control rats. The results showed that the oral administration of HEAE daily at three different doses for 90 days had no adverse effect on the general behaviour, body weight, haematology, clinical biochemistry, and relative organ weights. Histopathological examination at the end of the study showed normal architecture except for few non-treatment related histopathological changes observed in liver, heart and spleen.
CONCLUSION: The results of this sub-chronic toxicity study provides evidence that oral administration of HEAE is safe up to 1000mg/kg and H. erinaceus consumption is relatively non-toxic.
METHODS: Previous studies relevant to this topic were identified from 7 databases. Searches were performed in PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, Psychology and Behavioral Science Collection (PBSC), Embase, PsychINFO from 1 Jan 1980 to 31 December 2023. The findings were reported according to caregiver burden, caregiver needs, and coping strategies.
RESULTS: 22 studies were included in this review, including 14 quantitative and 8 qualitative studies. Six types of burdens were identified: psychological, physical, medical, economic, social, and family. The predominantly reported burden was the psychological burden in developed and developing countries. However, caregivers in developing countries reported additional physical, social, and economic burdens due to cultural and socioeconomic factors. Furthermore, inaccessible and unaffordable health care with a lack of medical knowledge exacerbated the challenges. Stigma and misconceptions led to more psychological distress and social restriction. There is a need for psychological, social, and family support as well as medical information to promote self-efficacy among caregivers. Most caregivers develop their own coping strategies for dealing with caregiving stress.
CONCLUSION: The caregiving burden for AWE is an understudied area that needs to be addressed by healthcare professionals. The caregivers are experiencing unaddressed psychological and other types of burdens, together with a lack of appropriate interventions and healthcare information.
DESIGN: The present work details the development of the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Diagnostic Inventory (CSBD-DI) across seven samples, four languages, and five countries.
SETTING: In the first study, data were collected in community samples drawn from Malaysia (N = 375), the U.S. (N = 877), Hungary (N = 7,279), and Germany (N = 449). In the second study, data were collected from nationally representative samples in the U.S. (N = 1,601), Poland (N = 1,036), and Hungary (N = 473).
FINDINGS: Across both studies and all samples, results revealed strong psychometric qualities for the 7-item CSBD-DI, demonstrating evidence of validity via correlations with key behavioral indicators and longer measures of compulsive sexual behavior. Analyses from nationally representative samples revealed residual metric invariance across languages, scalar invariance across gender, strong evidence of validity, and utility in classifying individuals who self-identified as having problematic and excessive sexual behavior, as evidenced by ROC analyses revealing suitable cutoffs for a screening instrument.
CONCLUSION: Collectively, these findings demonstrate the cross-cultural utility of the CSBD-DI as a novel measure for CSBD and provide a brief, easily administrable instrument for screening for this novel disorder.