[The aim was to assess the levels of burnout and depressive symptoms among nursing staff members. We designed an online questionnaire for the present cross-sectional study, which was filled out by 10 285 participants between 01-27-2022 and 02-14-2022. The mean score of burnout showed a decrease compared to the score measured in 2021; however, the percent of nursing staff members suffering from burnout is still high (64.4%), from which 42% indicates severe burnout which would requires treatment. Concerning depressive symptoms, 57.8% of participants did not indicate the presence of depression, the rest presented different levels of depressive symptoms (6.8% showed severe depressive symptoms). Currently patients’ chance of recovery is under the expected level of what our healthcare system could provide, which is partially due to the affected mental state of healthcare nursing staff.]

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms. Levodopa is the most effective drug in the symptomatic treatment of the disease. Dopamine receptor agonists provide sustained dopamin-ergic stimulation and have been found to delay the initiation of levodopa treatment and reduce the frequency of various motor complications due to the long-term use of levodopa. The primary aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of potent nonergoline dopamine agonists pramipexole and ropinirole in both “dopamine agonist monotherapy group” and “levodopa add-on therapy group” in Parkinson’s disease. The secondary aims were to evaluate the effects of these agents on depression and the safety of pramipexole and ropinirole. A total of 44 patients aged between 36 and 80 years who were presented to the neurology clinic at Ministry of Health Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey and were diagnosed with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, were included into this randomized parallel-group clinical study. Dopamine agonist monotherapy and levodopa add-on therapy patients were randomized into two groups to receive either pramipexole or ropinirole. The maximum daily dosages of pramipexole and ropinirole were 4.5 mg and 24 mg respectively. Patients were followed for 6 months and changes on Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, Clinical Global Impression-severity of illness, Clinical Global Impression-improvement, Beck Depression Inven­tory scores, and additionally in advanced stages, changes in levodopa dosages were evaluated. Drug associated side effects were noted and compared. In dopamine agonist monotherapy group all of the subsections and total scores of Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale and Clinical Global Impression-severity of illness of the pramipexole subgroup showed significant improvement particularly at the end of the sixth month. In the pramipexole subgroup of levodopa add-on therapy group, there were significant improvements on Clinical Global Impression-severity of illness and Beck Depression Inventory scores, but we found significant improvement on Clinical Global Impression-severity of illness score at the end of the sixth month in ropinirole subgroup too. The efficacy of pramipexole and ropinirole as antiparkinsonian drugs for monotherapy and levodopa add-on therapy in Parkinson’s disease and their effects on motor complications when used with levodopa treatment for add-on therapy have been demonstrated in several previous studies. This study supports the effectiveness and safety of pramipexole and ropinirole in the monotherapy and levodopa add-on therapy in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

Somatic symptoms without a clear-cut organic or biomedical background, also called “medically unexplained” or “somatoform” symptoms, are frequent in primary and secondary health care. They are often accompanied by depression and/or anxiety, and cause functional impairment. The Patient Health Question­naire Somatic Symptom Scale (PHQ-15) was developed to measure somatic symptom distress based on the frequency and bothersomeness of non-specific somatic symptoms. The study aimed to (1) evaluate the Hungarian version of the PHQ-15 from a psychometric point of view; (2) replicate the bifactor structure and associations with negative affect described in the literature; and (3) provide the Hungarian clinical and scientific community with reference (normal) values split by sex and age groups. PHQ-15, depression (BDI-R), and subjective well-being (WHO-5) scores obtained from a large (n = 5020) and close to representative community sample (Hun­garostudy 2006) were subjected to correlation analysis and linear structural equation modeling. The PHQ-15 showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.810; McDonald’s ω = 0.819) and moderate to strong correlation with the BDI-R (rs = .49, p < 0.001) and WHO-5 (rs = -.48, p < 0.001). Fit of the bifactor structure was excellent; in independent analyses, the general factor was strongly associated with depression (β = 0.656±0.017, p < 0.001) and well-being (β = -0.575±0.015, p < 0.001), whereas the symptom specific factors were only weakly or not related to these constructs. The PHQ-15 score was higher in females and showed a weak positive association with age. The Hungarian PHQ-15 is a psychometrically sound scale which is positively associated with depression and ne­gatively related to subjective well-being. The bifactor structure indicates the existence and meaningfulness of a gene­ral factor representing the affective-motivational component of somatic symptom distress. The Hungarian version of the PHQ-15 is a brief and usable tool for the pre-screening of somatization disorder (DSM-IV) or somatic symptom disorder (DSM-5). The reported reference values can be used in the future for both clinical and research purposes.

[Health reforms in recent decades have been largely based on economic considerations and have led to a significant problem in the sector today, with the issue of human resources being pushed back, which is exacerbated by burnout syndrome. The aim of this questionnaire-based study was to examine the complex background of burnout among health care workers in the cities of Komló, Pécs and Kecskemét. Baseline demographic data were recorded. Burnout was assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the intensity of dysfunctional attitudes were also studied. Depression was detected by the Beck Scale and social supports, and effort-reward dysbalance were also examined. Overall 411 employees participated in our study. Age group distribution was middle aged access, vast majority of the workers was between 36 and 55 years. Mean burnout scale was 58.6 (SD = 16.3), 63 workers had mild (14.2%), 356 had moderate (80.7%) and 22 had severe (5.1%) burnout. In a multivariate analysis the type of work (OR = 1.018), age (OR = 2.514), marital status (OR = 1.148), job type (OR = 1.246) the lack of social support (OR = 1.189) and allowance (OR = 9.719) were independently associated with burnout (p < 0.05 in all cases). There was a significant association among burnout, depression and dysfunctional attitudes. The vast majority of our social workers suffered from moderate and a small, but significant proportion suffered from severe burnout. Our work draws attention to the modifiable and unmodifiable risk factors of burnout in this population, which may help in the development of preventive strategies.]