Stem cell therapy is a rapidly evolving field of regenerative medicine being employed for the management of various central nervous system disorders. The ability to self-renew, differentiate into specialized cells, and integrate into neuronal networks has positioned stem cells as an ideal mechanism for the treatment of epilepsy. Epilepsy is characterized by repetitive seizures caused by imbalance in the GABA and glutamate neurotransmission following neuronal damage. Stem cells provide benefit by reducing the glutamate excitotoxicity and strengthening the GABAergic inter-neuron connections. Similar to the abnormal neuroanatomic location in epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is caused by hyperarousal in the amygdala and decreased activity of the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex. Thus, stem cells could be used to modulate neuronal interconnectivity. In this review, we provide a rationale for the use of stem cell therapy in the treatment of PTSD.
Background:
With new technological advancements, adolescents can obtain
devices that give them virtually unlimited access to social media (SM) which may impact
adolescent mental health.
Objectives:
This literature review aims to evaluate the influence of social media use on
adolescent anxiety and depression.
Methods:
A literature search of PubMed from June 2010 through June 2020 was completed
for the following MeSH terms: social media, adolescent, anxiety, depression, and mental
health. English language articles that discussed adolescents aged 13 to 18 years, anxiety
and/or depression and SM were included. Extracted data included the SM platform, impact
on anxiety and depression, interventions, temporal and dose-response relationships, and
observed versus self-reported usage.
Results:
The majority of articles positively associated depression (82.6%) and anxiety
(78.3%) with SM use. depression corresponded with cyber-bullying (42.1%), negative
social perspective (21.0%), diminished self-esteem (15.8%), and sleep disturbance (10.5%).
Anxiety corresponded with a negative social perspective (44.4%), diminished self-esteem
(33.3%), sleep disturbance (16.7%), and cyber-bullying (16.7%). Many studies suggested
the use of interventions to reduce depression (72.7%) and anxiety (72.7%), such as screen
time restrictions (n=6) and social support (n=4), but lacked evaluation of their
implementation.
Conclusion:
Current literature suggests a positive association between adolescent SM use
with anxiety and depression. Our study highlights the need for further investigation of
temporal and dose-response associations between SM use and adolescent mental health, and
the potential benefits of SM-driven interventions.
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