Epidermal resident γδ T cell development and function in skin.

Epidermal resident γδ T cells, or dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs) in mice, are a unique and conserved population of γδ T cells enriched in the epidermis, where they serve as the regulators of immune responses and sense skin injury. Despite the great advances in the understanding of the development, homeostasis, and function of DETCs in the past decades, the origin and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we reviewed the recent research progress on DETCs, including their origin and homeostasis in the skin, especially at transcriptional and epigenetic levels, and discuss the involvement of DETCs in skin diseases.

Smad2/4 Signaling Pathway Is Critical for Epidermal Langerhans Cell Repopulation Under Inflammatory Condition but Not Required for Their Homeostasis at Steady State.

Epidermal Langerhans cells (LCs) are skin-resident dendritic cells that are essential for the induction of skin immunity and tolerance. Transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGFβ1) is a crucial factor for LC maintenance and function. However, the underlying TGFβ1 signaling pathways remain unclear.

Physical activity and depression in men: Increased activity duration and intensity associated with lower likelihood of current depression.

Objectives: Depression is a significant public health issue for men, however men are less likely to use mental health services. Alternative interventions, such as physical activity, may be of value for this population. This study sought to determine what levels and intensity of physical activity are associated with lower depression prevalence in Australian men.

Does Mental Health First Aid training improve the mental health of aid recipients? The training for parents of teenagers randomised controlled trial.

Background: There is well-established evidence that Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training improves knowledge about how to support someone developing a mental health problem, but less evidence that this support improves the mental health of the recipient of aid. This randomised controlled trial aimed to assess the long-term effects of MHFA training of parents on the mental health of their adolescent children.

Methods: 384 Australian parents of an adolescent aged 12-15 were randomised to receive either the 14-h Youth MHFA course or the 15-h Australian Red Cross Provide First Aid course.

'teen Mental Health First Aid': a description of the program and an initial evaluation.

Background: Many adolescents have poor mental health literacy, stigmatising attitudes towards people with mental illness, and lack skills in providing optimal Mental Health First Aid to peers. These could be improved with training to facilitate better social support and increase appropriate help-seeking among adolescents with emerging mental health problems. teen Mental Health First Aid (teen MHFA), a new initiative of Mental Health First Aid International, is a 3 × 75 min classroom based training program for students aged 15-18 years.

A multifaceted intervention to improve mental health literacy in students of a multicampus university: a cluster randomised trial.

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to assess whether a multifaceted intervention could improve mental health literacy, facilitate help seeking and reduce psychological distress and alcohol misuse in students of a multicampus university in Melbourne, Australia.

Methods: In this cluster randomized trial, nine university campuses were paired (some pairs included more than one campus), with one of each pair randomly assigned to either the intervention or control condition. The interventions were designed to be whole-of-campus and to run over 2 academic years with their effectiveness assessed through recruitment of a monitoring sample of students from each campus.

The Australian public's beliefs about the harmfulness of antipsychotics: associated factors and change over 16 years.

Negative views of psychiatric medications are common in many countries. Relatively little is known about beliefs about antipsychotic medications. A 2011 national survey of 2024 Australian adults assessed beliefs about their helpfulness or harmfulness for a person with either early or chronic schizophrenia and the associations with sociodemographic characteristics, exposure to schizophrenia, recognition of schizophrenia, and beliefs about other interventions, long-term outcomes, causes, and stigmatising attitudes.

The prevalence and correlates of psychological distress in Australian tertiary students compared to their community peers.

Objective: To examine differences between university students, vocational education and training (VET) students, tertiary students combined and non-students in the prevalence of psychological distress and the socio-demographic and economic characteristics associated with psychological distress.

Method: The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale was used to estimate the prevalence of moderate (16-21) and high (22-50) distress with data from three national surveys: the 2007 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, the 2007-08 National Health Survey (NHS), and the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHWB). Multinomial logistic regression models were also estimated using the HILDA survey to examine any differences in the characteristics associated with moderate and high distress between the groups.

Mental health first aid guidelines: an evaluation of impact following download from the World Wide Web.

Aim: Mental health first aid guidelines provide the public with consensus-based information about how to assist someone who is developing a mental illness or experiencing a mental health crisis. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the usefulness and impact of the guidelines on web users who download them.

Method: Web users who downloaded the documents were invited to respond to an initial demographic questionnaire, then a follow up about how the documents had been used, their perceived usefulness, whether first-aid situations had been encountered and if these were influenced by the documents.

Mental health of Indigenous Australians: a review of findings from community surveys.

Objective: To assemble what is known about the mental health of Indigenous Australians from community surveys.

Data Sources: A systematic search was carried out of publications and data sources since 2000 using PubMed, PsycINFO, Australian Medical Index, the National Library of Australia and datasets known to the authors.

Study Selection: Surveys had to involve representative sampling of a population, identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and include a measure of mental health.

National depression and anxiety indices for Australia.

Objective: This study aimed to develop a National Depression Index and a National Anxiety Index to measure the depression and anxiety status of the Australian population, to compare data between surveys, and to compare relative risk in different population groups.

Method: The indices were developed using cross-sectional data from four surveys: the 1997 and 2007 National Surveys of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHWB) and the 2001 and 2004/5 National Health Surveys (NHS). Six items from the K10 that most closely related to the ICD-10 diagnosis of depression and four that most closely related to a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder were used to create separate scales.

Mental health first aid training by e-learning: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Mental Health First Aid training is a course for the public that teaches how to give initial help to a person developing a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis. The present study evaluated the effects of Mental Health First Aid training delivered by e-learning on knowledge about mental disorders, stigmatizing attitudes and helping behaviour.

Method: A randomized controlled trial was carried out with 262 members of the Australian public.

Sources of information about mental health and links to help seeking: findings from the 2007 Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of data from the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHWB) on the factors associated with the use of sources of information on mental health. A further aim is to examine the associations between the use of information sources and professional help-seeking.

Methods: Data from the 2007 NSMHWB were used.

Help-seeking for substance use, anxiety and affective disorders among young people: results from the 2007 Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Objective: To provide a more detailed analysis of the relationship between type and severity of mental disorders (substance use, anxiety and affective disorders) and help-seeking in those aged 16-24 years compared to those aged 25-44 and 45-85 years.

Method: Data from the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHWB) which was conducted in 2007. The survey sample comprised residents of private dwellings across Australia aged 16-85 years.

Mental health first aid training for high school teachers: a cluster randomized trial.

Background: Mental disorders often have their first onset during adolescence. For this reason, high school teachers are in a good position to provide initial assistance to students who are developing mental health problems. To improve the skills of teachers in this area, a Mental Health First Aid training course was modified to be suitable for high school teachers and evaluated in a cluster randomized trial.

Patterns and incidence of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB)-related ambulance attendances in Melbourne, Victoria.

Objective: To examine the nature and extent of ambulance attendances involving gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and to compare these with heroin-related attendances in Melbourne, Victoria.

Design: Retrospective analysis of a database of ambulance service records on attendances at non-fatal drug overdoses, March 2001-October 2005.

Participants And Setting: Patients who took GHB and were attended to by an ambulance, as recorded by Metropolitan Ambulance Service (Melbourne) paramedics.

The incidence and characteristics of volatile substance use related ambulance attendances in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.

While there has been substantial community discussion and concern expressed about volatile substance use (VSU), there has been little research on the use and related harms of these substances compared to other drugs. In this study we address a need in existing epidemiological research on VSU harms by describing the incidence and characteristics of VSU ambulance attendances between August 1998 and May 2004 across metropolitan Melbourne relative to heroin attendances, a drug class that has received more research attention. Our analysis showed that the crude rate of VSU attendance (5.

Characteristics of non-fatal opioid overdoses attended by ambulance services in Australia.

Objective: To examine the feasibility of establishing a database on non-fatal opioid overdose in order to examine patterns and characteristics of these overdoses across Australia.

Methods: Unit record data on opioid overdose attended by ambulances were obtained from ambulance services in the five mainland States of Australia for available periods, along with information on case definition and opioid overdose management within these jurisdictions. Variables common across States were examined including the age and sex of cases attended, the time of day and day of week of the attendance, and the transportation outcome (whether the victim was left at the scene or transported to hospital).

Patterns and characteristics of ambulance attendance at heroin overdose at a local-area level in Melbourne, Australia: implications for service provision.

The monitoring of heroin use and related harms is undertaken in Australia with a view to inform policy responses. Some surveillance data on heroin-related harms is well suited to inform the planning and delivery of heroin-related services, such as needle and syringe provision. This article examines local-area variation in the characteristics of nonfatal heroin overdoses attended by ambulances in Melbourne over the period June 1998 to October 2000 to inform the delivery of services to the heroin-using population in Melbourne.

Associations between alcohol related hospital admissions and alcohol consumption in Victoria: influence of socio-demographic factors.

Objective: To examine the cross-sectional ecologic associations between apparent per-capita alcohol consumption, alcohol-related hospital admission rates, and the distributions of socio-demographic factors for people residing in 76 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Victoria, during the 1995-1996 fiscal year.

Method: Visitor-adjusted per-capita alcohol consumption was obtained from wholesale sales data from the Liquor Licensing Commission Victoria. Alcohol-related hospital admission rates were extracted from the Victorian Inpatient Minimum Dataset, and adjusted by the appropriate aetiologic fractions.