The food intoxication is considered only when there were acute or subacute clinical symptoms. Those were a food borne diseases. They comprised diseases with or without the symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and appeared in 50% of the food borne diseases. 70% of the cases of diarrhea caused by infected food or water. There were 2 kinds of the food intoxication: due to the endotoxics of staphylococci with very short time of incubation and the toxics generated during growth of microbial in the infected food must be a certain number called level for disease. It should assure the measures of antibiotics or containment of microbial under level for disease.
Food ; Safety ; Hygiene ; Fear

Acetylcholine ; Amygdala ; Cues ; Fear

BACKGROUND

Nurses are at the forefront of caring for patients during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses themselves are exposed to serious risk and even death while providing care for these patients. Among other healthcare professionals, nurses are mostly exposed to psychologically distressing situations during this time of crisis. Fear of COVID-19 can affect nurses’ overall well-being, which in turn may affect their job performance and lead to a decline in the quality of patient care.

To determine the level of fear of COVID-19, and to explore the experiences of COVID-19-related fear of frontline nurses in a national university hospital in the Philippines.

To achieve the study objectives, the study utilized a convergent mixed methodology approach. In the quantitative phase, a random sample of participants completed the Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) in order to assess their level of fear of COVID-19. Semistructured interviews were conducted in the qualitative strand. Participants in the qualitative phase was selected using maximum variation sampling. Integration of data was done through a narrative contiguous approach.

Quantitative data was obtained from 206 frontline registered nurses. The mean age of the participants was 35.5 years (SD =8.17). Overall, the composite score of the fear of COVID-19 scale was 21.76 (SD = 4.92), indicating an elevated level of fear. Having friends and relatives who tested positive predicted fear of COVID-19 (β = -3.658; p = 0.005; CI: -6.213 to -1.104). Three major themes categories emerged from qualitative data analysis: (1) balancing feelings of fear and moral obligation, (2) challenges experienced while providing frontline work, and (3) resilience amidst challenges. For the reporting and integration of our mixed-method results, a narrative contiguous approach was implemented.

Frontline nurses reported an elevated level of fear during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was also able to capture the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of nurses, specifically on their fear experiences. Understanding the underlying causes of fear, such as uncertainties surrounding guidelines and protocols, shortage of personal protective equipment, and moral distress, offers invaluable insights for shaping proactive strategies and policies aimed at mitigating these concerns in subsequent pandemics.

Objective: This study described levels of fear, anxiety, depression, and contributing factors among health providers and administrative staff of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Philippine General Hospital (PGH-DRM) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted from August to November 2020. We recruited 71 participants who were working in the premises of the hospital and those who were working from home by purposive sampling. The fear numerical rating scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were used to determine the presence of fear, anxiety, and depression. The 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) was used to determine the baseline level of physical and mental wellness among participants. Results: Seventy-three percent of the full-time, permanent employees of the PGH-DRM unit joined the study. Majority of the respondents were health providers (86%) but only one hospital staff had high-risk contact with patients with COVID-19. Most participants (63%) did a combination of on-site work and home-based work and three (4%) worked entirely from home. Moderate to severe levels of fear was reported by 54% of the participants. Fear levels were highest among those who worked on-site. Anxiety was borderline in 32%, and abnormal in 30%, while depression was borderline in 21%, and abnormally high in 34% of the participating employees. Feelings of anxiety were higher among those who worked on-site and who worked both on-site and from home, while depression was highest among those who worked from home. The SF-36 Physical Health Summary score (x̄ = 72.49) was higher than the Mental Health Summary score (x̄ = 55.45). Employees who worked from home had the highest SF-36 summary scores for both mental and physical health. Conclusion The employees of the DRM had low-risk contact work assignments when the PGH transitioned to a tertiary level COVID-19 referral hospital. Half of the employees experienced fear, anxiety, and depression and had low SF-36 summary scores in mental health. Further studies are needed to determine the key factors that affect their mental health and well-being during the pandemic. A relevant mental health and wellness program is strongly recommended.
Depression ; Anxiety ; Fear ; COVID-19 ; Mental Health

Objective: The study aimed to assess the validity of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer (NCCN-DT) for determining psychosocial distress, as applied to Filipino patients with cancer. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study that included adult patients with cancer undergoing treatment at a tertiary private hospital. The NCCN-DT was administered to the patients together with the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) as the gold standard diagnostic test for psychosocial distress. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was done to determine the accuracy of the NCCN-DT as a screening tool. Results: We included 114 Filipino adults with cancer. The ROC analysis showed an Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) score of 0.98 for the NCCN-DT against the PHQ-8. The cut-off score of ≥7 showed a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 89.3% for detecting distress. The positive predictors for distress were identified: sadness (P<0.001), fear (P=0.001), depression (P=0.002), worry (P=0.02), childcare (P=0.03), fatigue (P=0.03), treatment decisions (P=0.04), loss of interest in usual activities (P=0.04), and memory/concentration (P=0.04). Conclusion The NCCN-DT had satisfactory diagnostic accuracy in agreement with PHQ-8 for screening of psychosocial distress among Filipino cancer patients. A cut-off score of ≥7 using the NCCN-DT gave the highest sensitivity and specificity for detecting distress in this population. The findings of this study can be used as validation of the NCCN-DT screening tool for a prospective application.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Fear ; Sadness ; Patient Health Questionnaire

Zona Incerta ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Fear ; Neural Pathways

Fear, a negative emotion triggered by dangerous stimuli, can lead to psychiatric disorders such as phobias, anxiety disorders, and depression. Investigating the neural circuitry underlying congenital fear can offer insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of related psychiatric conditions. Research on innate fear primarily centers on the response mechanisms to various sensory signals, including olfactory, visual and auditory stimuli. Different types of fear signal inputs are regulated by distinct neural circuits. The neural circuits of the main and accessory olfactory systems receive and process olfactory stimuli, mediating defensive responses like freezing. Escape behaviors elicited by visual stimuli are primarily regulated through the superior colliculus and hypothalamic projection circuits. Auditory stimuli-induced responses, including escape, are mainly mediated through auditory cortex projection circuits. In this article, we review the research progress on neural circuits of innate fear defensive behaviors in animals. We further discuss the different sensory systems, especially the projection circuits of olfactory, visual and auditory systems, to provide references for the mechanistic study of related mental disorders.
Animals ; Humans ; Fear/physiology* ; Nerve Net

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is suppression of the startle reflex when an intense startling stimulus is preceded by a weaker sensory stimulus (the prepulse). It is an operational measurement of sensorimotor gating mechanism to help human adapt to complex environment. This weak prepulse protect central cognitive processing by damping the effect of intense stimuli. Autistics cannot select out behaviorally important information from a lot of irrelevant resources and reflect abnormal gating mechanism and attentional abnormalities. Previous studies have not made agreement on whether autistic patients demonstrated deficits in PPI, because the results depend on age, sex, severity of the disease as well as the experimental parameters used. Moreover, these studies have not covered whether autistics have suffered deficits in higher-order processing. In this review, the "top-down" modulation of selective attention and subjective emotion are introduced into the PPI experiment. We also introduce fear conditioning and perceived spatial separation paradigm to further explore the interaction between autistic cognitive process and gating mechanism.
Attention ; Autistic Disorder ; Fear ; Humans ; Prepulse Inhibition ; Reflex, Startle

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of hypnosis on pain and fear in the healthy acupuncture subjects. METHODS: A total of 52 healthy subjects were randomized into an observation group and a control group, 26 cases in each one. In the observation group, the subjects received the first-time acupuncture under hypnosis. After wakened up and 30 min later, the subjects received the second-time acupuncture under clear consciousness condition. In the control group, the subjects received the first-time acupuncture under clear consciousness condition, 30 min later, received the second-time acupuncture under hypnosis. Likert scale was adopted to investigate the relaxation, pain sensation and the willingness in the subjects at the normal condition before acupuncture, after the first-time and the second-time acupuncture of the two groups separately. Using Boeran electronic blood pressure monitor, the pulse and blood pressure were measured in the subjects at the normal condition and after the first-time acupuncture of the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with the normal condition, the relaxation degree was increased, the pain sensation decreased and the willingness enhanced after acupuncture either after hypnosis or after wakened-up in the observation group (<0.001). The difference was not significant in each index between acupuncture after hypnosis and acupuncture after wakened-up in the observation group (>0.05). In the control group, compared with the normal condition, after the first-time acupuncture (acupuncture in clear consciousness), the relaxation degree was decreased, pain was alleviated and the willingness was increased when acupuncture was exerted once again (<0.001, <0.05); compared with the normal condition, after the second-time acupuncture (acupuncture after hypnosis), pain was alleviated and the willingness increased (<0.001), but the difference in relaxation was not significant (>0.05); compared with the first-time acupuncture, the relaxation degree was increased, pain alleviated and willingness enhanced after the second-time acupuncture (acupuncture after hypnosis) (<0.05, <0.001). Compared with the control group after the first-time acupuncture (acupuncture in clear consciousness), the relaxation degree and willingness were increased and the pain sensation was reduced in the observation group during acupuncture either after hypnosis or after wakened-up (<0.001). Compared with the control group the second-time acupuncture (during acupuncture after hypnosis), the relaxation degree was increased and pain sensation reduced in the observation group during acupuncture either after hypnosis or after wakened-up (<0.01, <0.001), but the difference was not significant in willingness (>0.05). In the control group, compared with the normal condition, the pulse was faster, both the diastolic pressure and systolic pressure were increased after the first-time acupuncture (<0.05, <0.01). In the observation group, compared with the normal condition, the pulse was getting slow and blood pressure was reduced after the first-time (acupuncture under hypnosis, <0.01). Compared with the first-time acupuncture in the control group, pulse was getting slow and blood pressure was reduced in the observation group after acupuncture under hypnosis (<0.001). CONCLUSION During acupuncture, with hypnosis combined, the fear alleviates, pain reduces and the willingness of acupuncture increases in the subjects.
Acupuncture Therapy ; Fear ; Humans ; Hypnosis ; Pain ; Pain Management

Animals ; Anxiety ; Fear ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Social Behavior