Introduction: Movement restrictions and changes in medical education around the world due to the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic have been sources of stress, which affect sleep and compound the demands of medical education. In the Philippines, stay-at-home orders were implemented in the National Capital Region on 15 March 2020, and despite various readjustments and re-definitions, remain in effect to date, March 2022. Objectives. This cross-sectional study aims to determine the sleep quality and daytime sleepiness of Filipino medical students during prolonged stay-at-home orders, to compare them with pre-pandemic evaluations, and to explore associations between scores and participant characteristics. Methods: The medical student population of a state-run university in the City of Manila was included, while those on a leave of absence were excluded. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index which measure excessive daytime sleepiness and sleep quality, respectively, were disseminated via Google Forms from April to May 2021. Results: Response rate was 87.75% (n=709) with a mean age of 22.9 ± 2.0 years and a 1:1.09 male-to-female ratio. Among the respondents, 41.18% had excessive daytime sleepiness, and was significantly higher for first-year premedicine students. Compared to pre-pandemic scores, daytime sleepiness decreased during the pandemic. On the other hand, 62.34% of the respondents had poor sleep quality, with global scores being significantly higher for the first-year pre-medicine students. Relationships between participants' characteristics and their scores were extremely weak, while a moderately significant correlation existed between global daytime sleepiness and sleep quality scores. Conclusion Both excessive daytime sleepiness and poor sleep quality remain prevalent during prolonged stay-athome orders. These reflect the effect of the pandemic on stress inherent to medical education, and may be additional facets to be regarded in evaluating the general well-being of medical students.
SARS-CoV-2

Background. Anxiety and depression are becoming increasingly prevalent today and are often aggravated by day-to-day stresses. Because current management strategies are usually accompanied by unpleasant side effects, there is a need to look into alternative treatment regimens - such as prebiotics - that may provide equally effective anxiolytic and antidepressant effects.

Objective. Therefore, the study aims to determine the effect of a combined fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and galactooligosaccharide (GOS) supplemented diet on anxiety and depression levels in mice subjected to Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress (UCMS).

Methods. Forty male BALB/C mice were subjected to UCMS under a pretest-posttest control group design where the treatment group received prebiotic supplementation throughout the study. Repeated measures ANOVA was run to evaluate between, within, and time interactions of the measured anxiety parameters using the light-dark box test, and depression parameter using the fur coat state assessment.

Results. Results show that (1) the FOS + GOS treatment did not give the treatment group an advantage over the control group during UCMS, (2) both groups grew more anxious and depressed over time, and (3) the treatment group grew more anxious with time in relation to control in terms of the total time spent in the light side.

Conclusion. These imply that the UCMS protocol was successful in inducing stress in mice, but the FOS + GOS regimen failed to provide anxiolytic and antidepressant effects on male BALB/C mice exposed to UCMS.

Prebiotics ; Anxiety ; Depression ;