Occultism and playing with the dead: When rituals go wrong.

There have been at least two deaths in Albania linked to ritualistic/satanic practices, which have provoked considerable public concern. Until the 1990s, Albania was strictly atheist. However, since then some religious sects have been establishing themselves.

Old age mental health services in Southern Balkans: Features, geospatial distribution, current needs, and future perspectives.

Background: Healthcare services are increasingly confronted with challenges related to old age mental disorders. The survey aimed to provide an overview of existing psychogeriatric services in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and North Macedonia.

Methods: After identification of psychogeriatric units across the four countries, their head physicians were asked to provide data on their clinical, teaching, and research activity, as well as staff composition.

A Video Parent-Training Program for Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Albania.

Background: Behavioral intervention with parent participation is effective in reducing symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but access to intervention is limited. The current study explored whether a video-enriched parent-training program would (a) be comprehensible and acceptable to parents in the Republic of Albania, (b) increase parental knowledge of behavioral strategies and (c) increase parental self-efficacy.

Methods: Twenty-nine parents of children with ASD aged 18-70 months completed the Early Intervention Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale (EIPSES, Guimond, Wilcox, & Lamorey, 2008) and a quiz to assess their knowledge of behavioral strategies.

Child and adolescent psychiatry training and mental health care in Southeast Europe.

There is very limited information available on child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) training in the Southeast European (SEE) region. The objective of this study was to fill in this gap by presenting descriptive data on CAP training and national mental health services for children and adolescent in 11 SEE countries. On the initiative of World Psychiatric Association-CAP section, national CAP association boards from each SEE country allocated one member to the Consortium on Academic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in SEE (CACAP SEE) in 2018.

General practitioners' views towards diagnosing and treating depression in five southeastern European countries.

Aim: To assess and compare general practitioners' (GPs') views of diagnosing and treating depression in five southeastern European countries.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, and Serbia. The sample included 467 GPs who completed a hard-copy self-administered questionnaire, consisting of self-assessment questions related to diagnosing and treating depression.

Autism in Southeast Europe: A Survey of Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The aim of this study was to understand the diagnostic, service and lived experiences of families affected by ASD in Southeast Europe. A total of 758 caregivers from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey were surveyed from 2013 to 2015 about characteristics of the child with ASD; service encounters; and caregiver perceptions. The average age at first concern was 24.

Use of the Modified Checklist for Autism, Revised with Follow Up-Albanian to Screen for ASD in Albania.

The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers Revised-Albanian screener (M-CHAT-R-A) was used to screen 2594 toddlers, aged 16-30 months, at well-child visits. Two hundred fifty-three (9.75 %) screened positive; follow up on failed items were conducted by phone with 127 (50 %); the remainder were lost to follow-up.

Depression, subthreshold depression and comorbid anxiety symptoms in older Europeans: results from the EURODEP concerted action.

Background: In the epidemiology of late life depression, few insights are available on the co-occurrence of subthreshold depression and comorbid symptoms of anxiety. The current study aims to describe prevalence patterns of comorbid anxiety symptoms across different levels of depression in old age, and to describe the burden of depressive symptoms and functional disability across patterns of comorbidity.

Methods: Respondents were older adults in the community, age 65-104 (N=14,200), from seven European countries, with in total nine study centres, collaborating in the EURODEP concerted action.

A global public health strategy for autism spectrum disorders.

In recent years, there has been increasing awareness about autism spectrum disorders (ASD) around the world, including in low and middle income countries. Unlike countries in Western Europe and North America where infrastructure and capacity are available to help meet some of the needs of individuals with ASD, little expertise or capacity exists in most of the developing world. In 2008 Autism Speaks launched the Global Autism Public Health (GAPH) Initiative to facilitate the development of systematic and sustainable solutions for enhancing global autism awareness, research, training and service delivery.

Electrolytes, BUN, creatinine: who's at risk?

Electrolytes, BUN, and creatinine are some of the most frequently ordered laboratory tests. The use of these tests in emergency practice has not been studied critically, and few investigations of their use in other disciplines have been performed. A review of the available literature and an analysis of medical problem solving, costs, and complications is presented.