Mismatch negativity predicts initial auditory-based targeted cognitive training performance in a heterogeneous population across psychiatric disorders.

Auditory-based targeted cognitive training (ATCT) programs are emerging pro-cognitive therapeutic interventions which aim to improve auditory processing to attenuate cognitive impairment in a "bottom up" manner. Biomarkers of early auditory information processing (EAIP) like mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a have been used successfully to predict gains from a full 40 h course of ATCT in schizophrenia (SZ). Here we investigated the ability of EAIP biomarkers to predict ATCT performance in a group of subjects (n = 26) across SZ, MDD, PTSD and GAD diagnoses.

A meta-analysis of social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia: Does world region matter?

Individuals with schizophrenia (SCZs) demonstrate social cognitive (SC) deficits across a variety of social cognitive tasks: affect recognition, social perception, Theory-of-Mind (ToM), and attributional style. These tasks all use socially-relevant words, social scenarios, clothing, faces and voices that may make their application to different cultural contexts problematic. However a paucity of research has investigated the cross-cultural validity of SC measures.

The impact of glycaemic variability on wound healing in the diabetic foot - A retrospective study of new ulcers presenting to a specialist multidisciplinary foot clinic.

Aims: Glycaemic variability - the visit-to-visit variation in HbA1c - plays a possible role in the development of micro and macrovascular disease in patients with diabetes. Whether HbA1c variability is a factor determining wound healing in diabetic foot ulcers remains unknown. We aimed to determine whether HbA1c variability is associated with foot ulcer healing time.

Effectiveness of interventions to directly support food and drink intake in people with dementia: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Eating and drinking difficulties are recognised sources of ill health in people with dementia. In the EDWINA (Eating and Drinking Well IN dementiA) systematic review we aimed to assess effectiveness of interventions to directly improve, maintain or facilitate oral food and drink intake, nutrition and hydration status, in people with cognitive impairment or dementia (across all settings, levels of care and support, types and degrees of dementia). Interventions included oral nutrition supplementation, food modification, dysphagia management, eating assistance and supporting the social element of eating and drinking.

Testing the effect of a targeted intervention on nurses' compliance with "best practice" mechanical venous thromboembolism prevention.

The aim of this study was to examine whether educational outreach visits improve nurses' compliance with applying best practice mechanical venous thromboembolism prophylaxis. The design was as a pretest/posttest study with a 7-week follow-up. It was conducted in a mixed medical/surgical unit in a 250-bed private hospital in Sydney, Australia.