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"Medical students are close in their daily work with the world of suffering and death, living with pain and loss, without having received in general any regulated preparation to face it. This lack of training is associated with a sociocultural context that avoids speaking or approaching death, making it difficult for the medical student and the professionals themselves to develop the concept of death, adequate coping strategies, talking about complex decision-making at the end of life, acceptance of limitations or more generally to palliative medicine. This fear of death can hinder ethical decision-making and end-of-life conversations. The aim of the study is to assess fear of death in a sample of medical students, from 1998 to 2019, the relationship between fear of death and age, gender, course, beliefs or experiences of death and assess the evolution of death during these 20 years. Method The study included 756 medical students, from the courses between 1998 and 2019, who were given Collet-Lester revised Scale of Fear of Death and a questionnaire of sociodemographic and biographical variables. Results The analysis of the variables surveyed indicates that medical students present an intermediate level of fear of death and the process of dying. Fear of death has increased in these decades; it also increases during medical courses. Conclusions With the results obtained, medical schools should include a more oriented a specific approach in death and suffering that allows the medical student to obtain greater knowledge and be trained in accompanying death and talking about death. "

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208112.].

Background and aim Treatment of hepatitis C with direct-acting antiviral agents (DAA) has few side effects. Although pivotal studies suggested that DAA were safe in patients with psychiatric diseases who could not be treated with previous antiviral therapies, their effects on anxiety and depression have not yet been analysed in clinical practice. The aim of our study was to analyse anxiety and depression in the setting of DAA treatment in a clinical practice series. Methods All patients starting DAA treatment between November 1, 2014 and October 31, 2015 were eligible. Patients completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale at different times during treatment. The results were plotted on line graphs and evaluated using a linear regression model with repeated measures. Results One hundred and forty-five patients were included (11% with major psychiatric disorders; 32% on psychiatric treatment). Sustained virologic response (SVR) was achieved in 97.3% of cases. Anxiety and depression measures did not differ between time points. No differences between patients on psychiatric treatment or with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis were found at any time point analysed. Conclusion DAA treatment had no impact on anxiety or depression during or after chronic hepatitis C infection treatment, even in high-risk patients with major psychiatric disorders.

Abstract. Aim: In a previous controlled study, the authors reported on the significant beneficial effects of a telephone intervention program for prevention of suicide attempts by patients for up to 1 year. This study reports the 5-year follow-up data. Outcomes were number of recurrences and time to recurrence. Method: The intervention was carried out on patients discharged from the emergency room (ER) following attempted suicide (Sabadell). It consisted of a systematic, 1-year telephone follow-up program: after 1 week, and thereafter at 1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month intervals to assess the risk of suicide and encourage adherence to treatment. The population in the control group (Terrassa) received treatment as usual after discharge, without additional telephone contact. Results: The effect of reattempt prevention observed in the first year was not maintained over the long term. Conclusion: A telephone management program for patients discharged from an ER after attempted suicide could be considered a useful strategy in delaying further suicide attempts and reducing the rate of reattempts in the first year. However, results showed that the beneficial effects were not maintained at the 5-year follow-up.

IntroductioneHealth is a new approach for managing several health conditions, but up to now not so many interventions have shown their efficacy/effectiveness. The AUTAPP Project tries to add knowledge in eHealth interventions targeted to Mental Health disorders, specifically Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) management that requires complex interventions that integrate different psychosocial interventions. AUTAPP aims to develop an evidence based Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) using mobile technology for improving the decision process on psychosocial therapies in ASD. This study aimed to identify recommendations on which the algorithm of the CDSS will be developed.MethodsA systematic review (November 2009-November 2018) was carried out to identify the existing scientific evidence published in relation to the effectiveness of: (i) early detection protocols; (ii) assessment tools; (iii) existing non-pharmacological therapies. Main databases were consulted (PubMed, Cochrane Library, PsychoInfo). Articles were reviewed by two independent reviewers. The quality of included publications and recommendations were assessed according to SIGN criteria.ResultsA total number of 147 publications were included (477 identified): 96 for non-pharmacological therapies, 33 for assessment tools and eighteen for early detection. Regarding early detection and assessment, 12 recommendations were identified and six obtained the highest level (A), such as the convenience of multidisciplinary diagnosis teams and the usefulness of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) for ASD confirmation. For non-pharmacological therapies, 16 recommendations were collected. Those with higher levels of recommendations were family, environmental and educational (three As and one B). Interventions with lower levels of recommendation (C) were interventions which exercise, computers and neurological approaches.ConclusionsThis systematic review allows both to identify gaps and opportunities in psychosocial interventions research and be the base for the CDSS algorithm. In the future professionals, careers and people diagnosed with ASD will validate the mobile CDSS.

Background Suicide is the primary cause of unnatural death in Spain, and suicide re-attempts a major economic burden worldwide. The risk factors for re-attempt and suicide after an index suicide attempt are different. This study aims to investigate risk factors for re-attempt and suicide after an index suicide attempt. Methods This observational study is part of a one-year telephone management program. We included all first-time suicide attempters evaluated in the emergency department at Parc Taulí-University Hospital (n = 1241) recruited over a five-year period (January 2008 to December 2012). Suicide attempters were evaluated at baseline using standardized instruments. Bivariate logistic regression models were used to identify risk factors. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to compare the time to re-attempt between categorical variables. Comparisons were performed using Log-Rank and Wilcoxon tests. Variables with a p-value lower than 0.2 were included in a multivariate Cox regression model. Bivariate logistic regression models were considered to identify risk factors for suicide. The significance level was set to 0.05. Results Suicide re-attempters were more likely diagnosed with cluster B personality disorders (36.8% vs. 16.6%; p

Introduction: Inter-rater agreement is a crucial aspect in the planning and performance of a clinical trial in which the main assessment tool is the clinical interview. The main objectives of this study are to study the inter-rater agreement of a tool for the assessment of suicidal behavior (Brief Suicide Questionnaire) and to examine whether the inter-examiner agreement when multiple ratings are made on a single subject is an efficient method to assess the reliability of an instrument. Method: In the context of designing a multicenter clinical trial, 32 psychiatrists assessed a videotaped clinical interview of a patient with suicidal behavior. In order to identify those items in which a greater level of discordance existed and detect the examiners whose ratings differed significantly from the average ratings, we used the DOMENIC method (Detecion of Multiple Examiners Not in Consensus). Results: Inter-rater agreement was between poor (

Chronic necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis is not common and usually involves mildly immunosuppressed patients. We present a case of a 58-year-old man with a history of mining-related pneumoconiosis and corticosteroid therapy who developed bilateral pulmonary infiltrates and subsequent cavitation. The patient was treated at first as having community-acquired pneumonia and was only belatedly diagnosed as suffering from aspergillosis after Aspergillus fumigatus precipitins appeared in blood and the same fungus grew from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. A transthoracic needle biopsy revealed fungal filaments present in material extracted from a pulmonary lesion that was visible on scans. Treatment with amphotericin B, begun at the time that aspergillosis was diagnosed, proved to be ineffective, as was a later change to amphotericin B lipid complex. The diagnosis was confirmed at necropsy.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness over one year of a specific telephone management programme on patients discharged from an emergency department (ED) after a suicide attempt. We hypothesized that the programme will reduce the percentage of patients re-attempting suicide and delay the time between attempts. Design: A multicentre, case-control, population-based study. The effect of the 1-year intervention on the main outcome measures was evaluated with respect to a 1-year baseline period and a control group. Setting: Two hospitals with distinct catchment areas in Catalonia (Spain). Participants: A total of 991 patients discharged from the ED of either hospital after a suicide attempt during the baseline year and the intervention year. Intervention: The intervention was carried out on patients discharged from the ED for attempted suicide (Sabadell). It consisted of a systematic, one-year telephone follow-up programme: after 1 week, thereafter at 1, 3, 6,9 and 12-month intervals, to assess the risk of suicide and increasing adherence to treatment. The population in the control group (Terrassa) received treatment as usual after discharge, without additional telephone management. Main outcome measures: Time elapsed between initial suicide attempt and subsequent one, and changes in the annual rate of patients who reattempted suicide in the year of the intervention and the preceding one. Results: The telephone management programme delayed suicide reattempts in the intervention group compared to the baseline year (mean time in days to first reattempt, year 2008=346.47, sd=4.65; mean time in days to first reattempt, year 2007=316.46, sd = 7.18; P

Carcinoid tumours of the thymus are rare. The case of a 57-year-old asymptomatic man with a carcinoid tumour of the thymus, who showed a widened mediastinum by chest x-ray, is presented. Fine needle aspiration suggested the diagnosis, which was confirmed by biopsy.