Mindfulness is when people are centred and living in the moment, rather than dwelling in the past or worrying about the future. IBS is a common and often debilitating chronic gastrointestinal disorder characterised by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits.
For the findings, published in the journal Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 53 women and 15 men with irritable bowel syndrome participated in an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction class.
"This study shows that people with IBS can have significant improvements in their symptoms and quality of life without medication or diet change, just by participating in a mindfulness-based stress reduction class," said study senior author Kirsten Tillisch from the University of California, Los Angeles in the US.
Read: Mindfulness Strategies May Help Shed Excess Weight
According to the researchers, most participants experienced significant improvements from pre-treatment to three months follow up regarding gastrointestinal symptoms, quality of life, and anxiety related to gastrointestinal symptoms.
Although increases in three of the five measured facets of mindfulness were found, increases in the ability to stay in the present moment and act with awareness seemed especially important, the study said.The study found that mindfulness-based stress reduction training was associated with robust improvements in gastrointestinal symptoms and associated problems in participants with IBS.
"It appears that by improving this moment to moment awareness in their daily actions, people with irritable bowel syndrome feel better, possibly because this mindful activity in the present moment keeps the brain from going back to old fears or worries," Tillisch said.
These results may inform the refinement of mindfulness-based protocols specifically for treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, the researchers noted.
(With Agency Inputs)
Also Read: Hypnotherapy May Offer Treatment For Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Study
Published in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics, the research also suggests that the gastrointestinal symptoms first suffered by some children hint at potential infection through the digestive tract, as the type of receptors in cells in the lungs targeted by the virus can also be found in the intestines.
"Most children are only mildly affected by COVID-19 and the few severe cases often have underlying health issues. It is easy to miss its diagnosis in the early stage when a child has non-respiratory symptoms or suffers from another illness," said study author Dr Wenbin Li from Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China.
"Based on our experience of dealing with COVID-19, in regions where this virus is epidemic, children suffering from digestive tract symptoms, especially with fever and/or a history of exposure to this disease, should be suspected of being infected with this virus," he continued.
In this study, the research team detail the clinical features of children admitted to hospital with non-respiratory symptoms, which were subsequently diagnosed with pneumonia and COVID-19.
"These children were seeking medical advice in the emergency department for unrelated problems, for example, one had a kidney stone, another a head trauma," said researchers.
All had pneumonia confirmed by chest CT scan before or soon after admission and then confirmed to have COVID-19. While their initial symptoms may have been unrelated, or their COVID-19 symptoms were initially mild or relatively hidden before their admission to hospital, importantly, four of the five cases had digestive tract symptoms as the first manifestation of this disease.
The researchers also link the children's gastrointestinal symptoms, which have been recorded in adult patients, to an additional potential route of infection.
"The gastrointestinal symptoms experienced by these children may be related to the distribution of receptors and the transmission pathway associated with COVID-19 infection in humans. The virus infects people via the ACE2 receptor, which can be found in certain cells in the lungs as well as the intestines," Li said.
This suggests that COVID-19 might infect patients not only through the respiratory tract in the form of air droplets but also through the digestive tract by contact or faecal-oral transmission.
"We report five cases of COVID-19 in children showing non-respiratory symptoms as the first manifestation after admission to hospital. The incidence and clinical features of similar cases need further study in more patients," the researchers noted.
By highlighting these cases, the researchers hope that doctors will use this information to quickly diagnose and isolate patients with similar symptoms, which will aid early treatment and reduce transmission.
In March, another study from China, published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, found that diarrhoea was a prominent symptom among up to half of the patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan.
(IANS)
The findings suggest that abdominal radiologists need to remain vigilant during the pandemic while imaging patients, the researchers said.
Gastrointestinal symptoms associated with COVID-19 vary widely but can include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and generalized abdominal pain, they said.
The study, published in the journal Abdominal Radiology, found that 18 per cent of patients presented with such symptoms, while 16 per cent of COVID-19 cases may only present with gastrointestinal symptoms.
"There's a growing amount of literature showing that abdominal symptomatology is a common presentation for COVID-19," said Mitch Wilson, a radiologist and clinical lecturer at the University of Alberta in Canada.
The researchers examined findings from 36 studies published through July 15 to reach their conclusions.
In addition to gastrointestinal symptoms, they also determined potential signs radiologists should look for while conducting abdominal imaging that could be evidence of COVID-19 infection.
Those signs include inflammation of the small and large bowel, air within the bowel wall (pneumatosis) and bowel perforation (pneumoperitoneum), the researchers said.
The signs are quite rare, and could indicate patients with advanced disease, they said.
"Seeing these things is not necessarily telling us a patient has COVID-19. It could be from a variety of potential causes," said Wilson.
"But one of those potential causes is infection from the virus, and in an environment where COVID-19 is very prevalent, it's something to consider and potentially raise as a possibility to the referring physician," he added.
(PTI)
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