It is assumed that the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is associated with the central autonomic dysregulation, however, the studies are rare. Analysis of pupillary light reflex represents a non-invasive tool to provide information related to the central autonomic regulation; thus, we aimed to evaluate potential disturbances in the central autonomic integrity using pupillary light reflex examination in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. We have examined 20 children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (10 boys, 13.0±2.3 years) and 20 age/gender-matched healthy subjects. Pupillary light reflex was examined at rest for both eyes using Pupillometer PLR-2000 (NeurOptics, USA). Evaluated parameters were: diameter of the pupil before the application of light stimulus and after illumination at the peak of the constriction, the percentual change of the pupil diameter during constriction, average constriction velocity, maximum constriction velocity and average dilation velocity. We found significantly lower percentual change of the pupil diameter during constriction for both eyes in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder group compared to controls (right eye: -25.81±1.23 % vs. -30.32±1.31 %, p<0.05, left eye: -25.44±1.65 % vs. -30.35±0.98 %, p˂0.05). The average constriction velocity and maximum constriction velocity were significantly shortened in left eye in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder group compared to controls (p˂0.05). Our findings revealed altered pupillary light reflex indicating abnormal centrally-mediated autonomic regulation characterized by parasympathetic underactivity associated with relative sympathetic predominance in children suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Štúdia sa zameriava na vzťah medzi vybranými existenciálnymi a spirituálnymi premennými s mentálnym zdravím. Tento vzťah je analyzovaný na dvoch podsúboroch. Bežnú populáciu tvorilo 201 študentov Jesseniovej lekárskej fakulty Komenského univerzity v Martine (54 mužov and 147 žien) a výber psychiatrických pacientov pozostával zo 124 pacientov Psychiatrickej kliniky JLF UK a MFN v Martine. Na meranie úrovne mentálneho zdravia bola použitá škála SCL-90, na meranie existenciálnych a spirituálnych premenných boli použité Snyderova škála nádeje, Nowotnej škála nádeje, Škála životnej zmysluplnosti, Pražský dotazník spirituality a Škála spirituálnej pohody. Výsledky ukázali, že medzi bežnou populáciou a psychiatrickými pacientmi najviac diferencujú premenné životná zmysluplnosť a existenciálna pohoda, ktoré boli vyššie u bežnej populácie. Psychiatrickí pacienti skórovali vyššie v dimenzii ekospiritualita. Korelačná a regresná analýza ukázala, že najsilnejším prediktorom celkového mentálneho zdravia sú premenné týkajúce sa životnej zmysluplnosti, a to tak u bežnej populácie ako aj u psychiatrických pacientov. Výsledky podľa autorov potvrdzujú funkciu religiozity a spirituality ako poskytovateľov zmyslu v živote človeka.
Mental disorders affect 10-20 % of the young population in the world. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mental disease with a multifactorial and not clearly explained pathophysiology. Many cases remain undetected and untreated, which influences patients’ physical and mental health and their quality of life also in adulthood. The aim of our pilot study was to assess the prediction value of selected potential biomarkers, including blood cell counts, blood cell ratios, and parameters like peroxiredoxin 1 (PRDX1), tenascin C (TNC) and type IV collagen (COL4) between depressive pediatric patients and healthy peers and to evaluate a short effect of antidepressant treatment. In this study, 27 young depressive patients and 26 non-depressed age-matched controls were included. Blood analyses and immunological assays using commercial kits were performed. Platelet count was the only blood parameter for which the case/control status was statistically significant (p=0.01) in a regression model controlling for the age and gender differences. The results from ELISA analyses showed that the case/control status is a significant predictor of the parameters PRDX1 (p=0.05) and COL4 (p=0.009) in respective regression model considering the age and gender differences between MDD patients and controls. A major finding of this study is that values of platelet count, monocyte to lymphocyte ratio, white blood cell, and monocyte counts were assessed by the Random Forest machine learning algorithm as relevant predictors for discrimination between MDD patients and healthy controls with a power of prediction AUC=0.749.