Search

The COVID-19 pandemic has had enormous effects on health, wellbeing, and economies worldwide. Governments have responded with rapid and sometimes radical public health interventions. As nations grapple with the question of how to regain normality without unnecessarily endangering lives or healthcare systems, some scientists have argued for policies to encourage or compel the use of face coverings in community (non-clinical) settings, despite acknowledged gaps in the evidence base for the effectiveness of such a measure. This commentary has two objectives. First, in the face of strong arguments that face coverings are a commonsense intervention, with negligible downsides, that can only do good, we make the case for caution in changing policy. Many seemingly benign public health interventions have the potential to cause harm, and that harm is often socially differentiated. We present five arguments for caution in policy change. Second, we reflect on the wider implications of the increasingly overt approaches to policy advocacy taken by some scientists. Drawing from the theory of post-normal science, we argue that the science–policy interface in the case of face coverings has taken a surprisingly traditional form, falling short of interdisciplinary integration and failing to incorporate insights of the full range of relevant experts and affected stakeholders. We sketch a vision for an alternative, more mature, relationship between science and society that accepts uncertainty, embraces deliberation, and rises to the challenge of developing knowledge to improve public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper adopts an interpretive institutionalist framework [Hay (2011), “Interpreting Interpretivism Interpreting Interpretations: The New Hermeneutics of Public Administration.” Martin (2015), “‘Ahora tienen que escucharnos’ [now they have to listen to us]: Actors’ Understandings and Meanings of Planning Practices in Venezuela’s ‘Participatory Democracy.” PhD Thesis, Cardiff University, to unpack participants’ involvement in communal councils (CCs) and a commune, two Venezuelan reforms seeking to incorporate citizens into planning processes. The paper focuses on how participants in La Silsa, an informal neighbourhood in Caracas, understood and enacted upon community planning opportunities provided by these new councils. Municipal and national government staff and finance heavily supported La Silsa’s emerging commune and CCs. Despite the national government’s rhetoric of ‘constructing a new socialist, communal state’, the article identifies several challenges need to be overcome to successfully shift from existing representative institutional/governmental arrangements towards more participatory repertoires. The article’s findings mirror those of other empirical studies of Latin America’s democratic innovations: citizen participation strengthens representative governmental arrangements, rather than replace them with normative alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The physical events of the first 15 milliseconds of a traumatic brain injury are reviewed from computer simulations using finite element calculations and applied to observed pathology. Methods: The impact creates two shock waves; one through the brain, another through the skull, both injure the brain separately. Two accelerations, anteroposterior and rotary, distort or stretch the brain, because of inertia. The two shockwaves are reflected many times within in the brain, from boundaries where the density or elasticity changes. Results: Overlapping waves form powerful positive or negative pressure nodes. Negative waves are more damaging to neurones and blood vessels, so a random pattern of scattered neural and capillary necroses develop all over the brain. The skull shockwave expands the skull opposite the blow, so creating a damaging negative pressure injury to the brain,contre coupcontusion. Acceleration (or deceleration) follows impact, beginning later and lasting longer. Inertia strains the tissue, where the brain is free to move, inflicting characteristic white matter injuries. Conclusions: In the antero-posterior plane, acceleration and inertia stretch and tear long tracts to the spine and blood vessels running from the brain to the dura. Rotatory accelerations stress the inter-hemispheric connections of the brain, especially the corpus callosum, between the hemispheres. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research sought to clarify how some self-injurers cease the behavior, maintaining this for at least 1 year. Using the Experiential Avoidance Model (EAM), we examined whether characteristics of self-injurers remain in people who have successfully ceased self-injury and what, by implication, might be targeted to improve therapeutic efficacy. The study was conducted using an online cross-sectional survey of 215 first-year university students. Past self-injurers (34) scored significantly better on subscales of the General Health Questionnaire, as well as Distress Tolerance, Experiential Avoidance, and Self-blame compared to Current self-injurers (29). The Experiential Avoidance Model is a useful basis for understanding self-injury, and informing therapeutic approaches. Reducing Anxiety, and developing Tolerance and Positive Emotional Intensity may be keys to ceasing self-injury. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mindfulness is defined as a non-judgemental awareness and accepting of present-moment experience. With intentional attendance to one's ongoing stream of thoughts, sensations and emotions as they arise, it allows the individual to react with less impulsivity and flexibility. However, empirical findings of mindfulness to date have largely been confined to outcome studies using clinical populations. This cross-sectional study examined the relationships between mindfulness, self-esteem, resiliency and mental health symptoms (anxiety, stress, depression and cognitive inflexibility) in a sample of 106 healthy adolescents. Participants completed a set of questionnaires. First, we found moderate effect size for anxiety, depression and self-esteem and large effect size for cognitive inflexibility. These results, when compared with clinical samples, demonstrated similar trends found in a healthy adolescent sample. Second, predictive value of mindfulness was examined and we found significant contribution of mindfulness to mental and psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and under-age alcohol use are dysfunctional coping behaviors used to alleviate negative feelings. However, little is known regarding what mechanisms lead to engagement in NSSI as opposed to alcohol use, or what might influence co-occurrence of these behaviors. A total of 2,590 secondary school students (aged 12-17) from five Australian states completed self-report questionnaires measuring NSSI, alcohol use and a range of sociodemographic and psychosocial factors. The findings suggest that adolescent engagement in NSSI is associated with more internal factors, such as psychological distress, poor coping and problem-solving skills, whereas alcohol use is associated with age and gender, as well as more external factors, such as social support and coping by turning to others. Co-morbidity between alcohol use and NSSI is associated with a combination of these factors. Implications of these findings will be discussed with regard to prevention and early intervention initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the need for active help-seeking behavior to ensure mental health for people with illnesses. He states that alcoholics are less likely to answer research questionnaires as compared to people with mental depression or anxiety disorders. The author notes that some physicians treat self-inflicted injuries of patients without anesthesia to assert some sort of penalty to them to discourage the repetition of such actions.

Self-injury represents a common yet perplexing set of behaviors, considered difficult to treat. The current study aimed to identify social and personal resources that may aid in cessation of self-injury. A community sample of 312 participants completed an online questionnaire. In line with Brown and Williams (2007), we compared all self-injurers (current and past) (106, 34%) with those who had never self-injured (206, 66%), and then current (38, 12.2%) with past self-injurers (68, 21.8%). Overall, self-injurers reported significantly lower levels of perceived social support, social connectedness, resilience, self-esteem, and life satisfaction compared to those with no such history. Further analysis indicated that family support, self-esteem, resilience, and satisfaction with life were significantly better for past compared to current self-injurers (at the p < 0.01 level). Logistic regression suggested that self-injurers could be distinguished from non self-injurers on Self-esteem and Social Connectedness. A further logistic regression suggested that past self-injurers could be distinguished from current self-injurers by their level of Resilience. The research has important preventive and clinical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author discusses the significance of publishing journals online to meet the readers needs who are passionate to know about advancing mental health. He cites that rapid turnaround time means that articles can be read, commented on by the journal's readers, and amended much more quickly than can be done with print. Moreover, he mentions the advantages of electronic journals.

For people who self-injure, the internet can provide an anonymous environment where users feel safe to divulge feelings and experiences which are not usually socially sanctioned. However, internet users can encourage each other to engage in self-destructive behaviour. This qualitative study aimed to simulate a typical search an adolescent might perform if he/she was looking for support and information about self-injury. The aim was to determine whether the resulting content was helpful or harmful. Seven queries - 'cutting', 'self injury', 'self-injury', 'self harm', 'self-harm', 'self-mutilation', and 'self mutilation' - were entered into www.google.com and each link from the first webpage from each search was opened and judged for relevancy. Thirty-nine links were analysed and grouped into five categories: websites (n=5); webpages (n=11); book results (n=8); news results (n=11); and other (n=4). Examination of the quality and content of the links obtained from our search showed mainly recovery oriented, supportive information about self-injury. Despite this positive outcome, more specific searches such as 'pro-self-injury' would likely result in less encouraging results. Mental health professionals should be aware that their self-injuring clients have probably used the internet for support and information, and consider how this use might impact on therapy. Mental health professionals could use the results of this study to recommend quality internet sites to their clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the aspects of the emergence of self-injury in Australia. He notes the need to consider a wide range of self-injury committed by adolescents to help in promoting treatment programs that will control their emotions and prevent them from injuring themselves. He also points out various studies carried out by researchers to learn insights which factors motivate these young individuals to commit self-injuries, along with exploring the best available therapies for self-injury.

The author reflects on the government's response to the increased suicide rates of students due to bullying in school in Australia. He discusses the task assigned by the government to create a suicide awareness program for the Australian Defense Force Cadets (ADFC). The author believes that a mental health promotion program will reduce suicide risk and will directly solve the issue. He also relates the topic to various research studies.

The author reflects on how to reduce a number of suicide incidents in young people in Australia. He raises several issues such as the role about best practice in crisis work, clinical management, and prevention strategies to limit the possibility of suicidal behaviour. He urges a consistent change in providing mental health services in the country.

Recent health policy in England has demanded greater involvement of patients and the public in the commissioning of health and social care services. Public involvement is seen as a means of driving up service quality, reducing health inequalities and achieving value in commissioning decisions. This paper presents a summary and analysis of the forms that public involvement in commissioning are to take, along with empirical analysis from a qualitative study of service-user involvement. It is argued that the diversity of constituencies covered by the notion of 'public involvement', and the breadth of aims that public involvement is expected to achieve, require careful disaggregation. Public involvement in commissioning may encompass a variety of interest groups, whose inputs may include population needs assessment, evaluation of service quality, advocacy of the interests of a particular patient group or service, or a combination of all of these. Each of these roles may be legitimate, but there are significant tensions between them. The extent to which the structures for public involvement proposed recognize these possible tensions is arguably limited. Notably, new Local Involvement Networks (LINks), which will feed into commissioning decisions, are set as the arbiters of these different interests, a demanding role which will require considerable skill, tenacity and robustness if it is to be fulfilled effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, new intermediate care services have been established to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions, facilitate effective discharge and prevent premature care home admissions. This paper reports findings from a national evaluation of intermediate care, focusing on the relationship between hospital services and intermediate care. Participants included key managers and practitioners involved in the planning, management and delivery of intermediate care in five case study sites. During the study, they identified a range of tensions between hospital services and intermediate care, including concerns about the role and involvement of acute clinicians; the safety, quality and appropriateness of intermediate care; access to and eligibility for intermediate care; a lack of understanding and awareness of intermediate care; and the risk of intermediate care being dominated by acute pressures. Although participants were able to identify several practical ways forward, resolving such fundamental tensions seems to require significant and long-term cultural change in the relationship between acute and intermediate care. Overall, this study raises questions about the extent to which intermediate care will be able to rebalance the current health and social care system and make a substantial contribution to tackling ongoing concerns about emergency hospital admissions and delayed transfers of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cognitive deficits are described in a 20-year-old right-handed man with asymmetrical bilateral thalamic lesions and a lesion resulting in the 'locked-in' syndrome. Memory and intellectual assessment, modified due to the physical and communication difficulties, suggested that the patient had little impairment of verbal intelligence and performed normally on memory test involving immediate recall of new material. There was, however, considerable impairment of organization, planning and in the recall of visual and especially verbal memory, over longer periods. Remote memory was relatively intact, except for chronological errors in time-tagged material, and he was disorientated for year, month and day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1999 the Horniman Museum completed the refurbishment of an ethnography gallery celebrating the diversity of the African collections. As a result of many years of monitoring the environment in the gallery, carrying out condition assessments of the objects to be displayed, and commissioning an environmental control strategic study on the fabric of the museum, display cases with known performance were specified. When built, the display cases did not achieve the targets set. It was therefore necessary to re-evaluate the original strategy for the safe display of the collections and the monitoring procedures put in place. The potential strategies and options considered and the final decisions reached fulfil one of the Horniman Museum's primary objectives by ensuring a safe environment for the collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bidri vessels have been manufactured in India from at least the seventeenth century until the present day and are known to be made of a zinc alloy, decorated with inlays of silver, brass or, occasionally, gold. The inlays contrast strikingly with the matt black patina of the vessel. It is this patina, easily damaged by standard cleaning techniques used on the silver inlays, which prompted the investigation. A number of vessels were analyzed and all were found to be alloys of zinc with between 2% and 10% copper (i.e. falling within the ϵ + η phase field of the binary copper-zinc equilibrium diagram). Some have lead, tin or iron also present in the alloy. The compound or compounds forming the patina have not been identified. However, XRF analysis and replication experiments have proved that the copper content of the alloy is critical for the patina formation. The black patina forms instantaneously on immersion of the alloy in a warm solution of potassium nitrate (one part) and ammonium chloride (four parts). Standard brasses, as used for the inlay, are unaffected by the solution which induces only a whitish-grey patina on pure zinc. The ammonium chloride preferentially dissolves the zinc from the bidri alloy. The rest of the process is unproven but it is suggested that the resulting copper-enriched surface is oxidized by potassium nitrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the role of peer observation and collaborative reflection on the development of teaching skills in higher education. Objective of the peer observation experience; Development of a three-phase process model; Benefits of the observer in the colleague's teaching process.

Presents an obituary for Richard Liversidge, naturalist and ornithologist of southern Africa, who died on September 15, 2003.

Co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors in adolescence typically marks more severe psychopathology and poorer psychosocial functioning than engagement in a single problem behavior. We examined the negative life events, emotional and behavioral problems, substance use, and suicidality of school-based adolescents reporting both non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and repetitive firesetting, compared to those engaging in either behavior alone. Differences in NSSI characteristics among self-injurers who set fires, compared to those who did not, were also assessed. A total of 384 at-risk adolescents aged 12–18 years (58.8% female) completed self-report questionnaires measuring NSSI, firesetting, and key variables of interest. Results suggest that adolescents who both self-injure and deliberately set fires represent a low-prevalence but distinct high-risk subgroup, characterized by increased rates of interpersonal difficulties, mental health problems and substance use, more severe self-injury, and suicidal behavior. Implications for prevention and early intervention initiatives are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Young people in custody rank amongst the most marginalized in Australia, and have high rates of mental health disorders. However, the knowledge base to support the emerging field of adolescent forensic psychiatry is limited. Following an appraisal of Australia's state-based youth justice systems, it is proposed that three key challenges need to be addressed: the challenge of advocating for change, the challenge of building an evidence base, and the challenge of developing integrated transitional models of service delivery. Adolescent forensic mental health services that view their role as existing solely within the walls of youth detention centres or community juvenile justice services have too narrow a vision. While not seeking to trivialize their patients’ criminal behaviour, psychiatrists need to drive the delivery of innovative mental health services within youth detention centres and collaborate with those in the political, legal, youth justice, education and child safety sectors to inform debate of the challenges faced by young people in custody. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigated perceived academic performance and self-reported suicidal behavior in adolescents (n = 2,596), mean age 13 years, from 27 South Australian high schools. Groups perceiving their academic performance as failing, below average, average and above average were significantly different on measures of self-esteem, locus of control, depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, plans, threats, deliberate self-injury, and suicide attempts. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that failing academic performance (compared to above average) is associated with a five-fold increased likelihood of a suicide attempt, controlling for self-esteem, locus of control and depressive symptoms. Teachers should note that a student presenting with low self-esteem, depressed mood and perceptions of failure may be at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and need referral for clinical assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the average levels of the adolescent depressive symptomatology in Australia. Increase rates of depression and emotional disorder; Growth of the absenteeism factor; Occurrence of high levels of disruptive behaviors.

In this study we examined the relative risk of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) associated with a history of physical and sexual abuse/assault, poor attachment relationships, and poor emotion regulation among adolescents. A total of 2,637 adolescents (aged 12–15 years) completed questionnaires at 3 time-points: baseline, 12, and 24 months later. Across the study, 9.4% reported a history of NSSI. Each of past or recent abuse/assault, poor attachment relationships, and poor emotion regulation was associated with NSSI. We also observed a potential “high-risk” group among those reporting recent sexual abuse or assault. Knowledge of abuse history, recent sexual assault, attachment, and emotion regulatory ability will enable clinicians to assist adolescents in avoiding some of the more negative outcomes of these, including NSSI. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this study was to compare levels of agreement in the assessment of suicide risk by detention center staff procedures compared with those completed by a mental health clinician. Over a 6-month period, 64 young people (mean age 15.0 years; SD+/-1.3) assessed as being acutely suicidal were referred for a clinical mental health assessment and completion of the Adolescent Suicide Questionnaire (ASQ). Cohen's kappa statistic was used to determine inter-judgmental agreement between the detention center, a clinical assessment and ASQ scores. Weak levels of agreement existed in the assessment of suicide. We recommend further work in this area and broad discussion toward development of national guidelines to standardize the assessment of suicide risk for young people in youth detention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]