Factors associated with longer hospital admission in elderly patients with major neurocognitive disorder.

Background: Major neurocognitive disorder presents many challenges to patients, families and healthcare systems, especially when a patient requires admission to a psychiatric hospital.

Aim: To identify characteristics of older patients with major neurocognitive disorder at risk of prolonged admission in a psychiatric hospital.

Setting: A tertiary psychiatric hospital in Gauteng province, South Africa.

South Africa's Psychiatric training capacity in 2008 and in 2018. Has training capacity improved?

Background: There is a deficit of psychiatrists in South Africa, and to our knowledge, there is no situational analysis of training posts for psychiatrists in the country.

Aim: To compare the number of specialists and subspecialists in training and training posts available in 2008 and 2018.

Setting: South African medical schools with departments of psychiatry.

Psychiatric genetic counseling for patients with schizophrenia and their families.

Steady progress in the field of psychiatric genetics, generating new and fascinating insight into the genetic and phenotypic complexity of schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses, have created an increased need of psychiatric genetic counseling. It is a crucial aspect of psychiatric clinical practice to ensure a balanced approach that takes into consideration genetic and environmental risk factors and ongoing education in this rapidly developing field is essential. Genetic counseling will be increasingly important to assist patients with schizophrenia and their families to make a meaningful informed decision about genetic testing.

Ageism, human rights and ethical aspects of end-of-life care for older people with serious mental illness.

There are many complex concepts to consider during end-of-life discussions and advance care planning, especially when vulnerable populations such as older individuals with serious mental illness are involved. This article aims to summarize some of these important concepts, such as the effects of ageism, preservation of human rights and dignity, supported or shared decision making and palliative approaches. It emerged from a study that found two thirds of 100 participants 60 years of age and older with serious mental illness had end-of-life decision-making capacity.

Reasonable requests: echocardiography referral forms as a measure of coherent clinical communication.

Background: Well performed clinical communication is a cornerstone of collaborative care in medicine but may be confounded by inconsistent intentions of the messenger and biased interpretation by the recipient. A comparison of the findings of electronic echocardiography reports with clinician-completed standardised request forms provided an opportunity to assess communication quality.

Aim: The study aimed to determine clinician aptitude to complete written echocardiography referral forms by assessing the completeness, appropriateness, accuracy, and coherency of the reported clinical findings, conclusions and requests made on the referral forms.

Early deviant behaviour as a dimension trait and endophenotype in schizophrenia.

Background: In psychiatry, there is still a lack of objective biological diagnostic measurements. It is important to investigate measurements or symptom dimensions that can inform diagnostic assessments and allow for a more personalised approach to patients.

Aim: To discuss how early deviant behaviour (EDB) may be seen as a possible continuous symptom dimension trait and endophenotype in schizophrenia.

Twelve Weeks of Additional Fish Intake Improves the Cognition of Cognitively Intact, Resource-Limited Elderly People: A Randomized Control Trial.

Introduction: Dietary omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) may reduce the risk of dementia. Many studies have investigated PUFA supplementation in high-income countries, yet food-based randomized control trials using omega 3 PUFA rich fish in lower to middle income countries, are lacking.

Objective: To determine the effect on cognition of adding either fish or non-fish foods for twelve weeks to an enhanced diet of cognitively intact, independently living, resource-limited elderly people.

Profile of the current psychiatrist workforce in South Africa: establishing a baseline for human resource planning and strategy.

The World Health Organization Global Health Observatory Data Repository reports South Africa with 1.52 psychiatrists per 100 000 of the population among other countries in Africa with 0.01 psychiatrists per 100 000 (Chad, Burundi and Niger) to more than 30 per 100 000 for some countries in Europe.

End-of-Life Decision-Making Capacity in Older People With Serious Mental Illness.

The study's main aim was to assess the end-of-life decision-making capacity and health-related values of older people with serious mental illness. A cross-sectional, observational study, was done at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital, Gauteng Province, South Africa that included 100 adults older than 60 years of age and diagnosed with serious mental illness. The Mini-Cog and a semi-structured clinical assessment of end-of-life decision-making capacity was done before a standardized interview, Assessment of Capacity to Consent to Treatment, was administered.

Factors Affecting Specialist Psychiatry Training in South Africa: Are Psychiatry Residents Satisfied with Their Training?

Objective: The authors investigated South African psychiatry residents' satisfaction with their training, physical, and mental health to inform the development of a strategy to improve the quality and experiences of training.

Method: A cross-sectional online survey was undertaken to assess the factors affecting residents' satisfaction with their current training program. The authors conducted a comparative analysis of residents across the training institutions in South Africa.

Cultural formulation interview: Awareness and attitudes of South African psychiatrists and psychiatry registrars.

Background: The Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) includes a set of 16 questions formulated for clinicians to obtain information about cultural influences on an individual's clinical presentation during a mental health assessment. The CFI is a newly formulated interview that has been evaluated in various localities, but not in South Africa.

Aim: We assessed the awareness and attitudes of South African psychiatrists and psychiatrists in training towards the CFI and its use in their patient care.

State patients who committed violent crimes and were admitted to Weskoppies Hospital from 2005 to 2014: Profiles and trends.

Background: Most of the available literature focus on characteristics of violent offenders and trends of crime patterns in the general population. The crime trends in the population of those who may be mentally ill have not been well described.

Aim: To describe the profiles and trends of mentally ill persons who committed violent crimes prior to admission as state patients.

Medical Students' Attitudes Towards Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement With Methylphenidate.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess medical students' perception of pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) with methylphenidate and to determine whether this perception differs between junior and senior medical students.

Methods: The second and fifth year medical student groups of 2017 at a specific university completed self-administered questionnaires in order to investigate if there were a difference in their attitudes towards methylphenidate use for PCE.

Results: A total of 353 students were included as follows: 135 second year and 218 fifth year students.

End-of-life decision-making capacity in an elderly patient with schizophrenia and terminal cancer.

Medical practitioners are confronted daily with decisions about patients' capacity to consent to interventions. To address some of the pertinent issues with these assessments, the end-of-life decision-making capacity of a 72-year-old female with treatment-resistant schizophrenia and terminal cancer is discussed, as are the role of the treating clinician and the importance of health-related values. There is a recommendation that the focus of these assessments can rather be on practical outcomes, especially when capacity issues arise.

The psycho-social and clinical profile of women referred for psycho-legal evaluation to forensic mental health units in South Africa.

Background: There is a paucity of research on women offenders in the South African context, particularly those referred for forensic psychiatric observation. Little is known about their life histories, the nature of their offences or the psycho-social contexts that enable, or are antecedents to, women's criminal offending.

Aims: This research study, the largest of its kind in South Africa, examined the psycho-social contexts within which women offenders referred for psychiatric evaluation come to commit offences.

Elder Abuse-The Current State of Research in South Africa.

The concern about elder abuse increases as the global population ages. Elder abuse is a global public health, human rights, and criminal justice problem that goes beyond socioeconomic classes and regions. It remains understudied, especially in developing countries with limited resources.

Clinical and demographic factors associated with sexual behaviour in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Introduction: The sexual behaviour and development of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have been mostly overlooked in research and practice. This study aimed to determine the association between certain clinical and demographic factors found in a sample of children with ASDs, and their reported sexual behaviour (RSB).

Methods: The study was conducted at a school in Gauteng, South Africa, for learners with ASDs.

CT signal heterogeneity of abdominal aortic aneurysm as a possible predictive biomarker for expansion.

Objective: There is a need for prognostic biomarkers for risk assessment of small abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Since CT textural analysis of tissue is a recognized feature of adverse biology and patient outcome in other diseases, we investigated it as a possible biomarker in small AAA.

Methods: Fifty consecutive patients (46-men, 4-woman, median-age 75 y, range 56-85) with small AAA (3-5.

Investigating vulnerable atheroma using combined (18)F-FDG PET/CT angiography of carotid plaque with immunohistochemical validation.

Unlabelled: Inflammation and angiogenesis are hypothesized to be important factors contributing to plaque vulnerability, whereas calcification is suggested to confer stability. To investigate this in vivo, we combined CT angiography and PET and compared the findings with immunohistochemistry for patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy.

Methods: Twenty-one consecutive patients (18 men, 3 women; mean age ± SD, 68.

What is the relationship between ¹⁸F-FDG aortic aneurysm uptake on PET/CT and future growth rate?

Purpose: In this study we investigate the relationship between (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) metabolism and future aneurysm expansion measured by serial duplex ultrasound. Current screening programmes are increasing the identification of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). The management of these patients remains challenging and methods of risk stratification are sought.

Vascular inflammation imaging with 18F-FDG PET/CT: when to image?

Unlabelled: We prospectively investigated the ideal imaging time to measure vascular uptake after injection of (18)F-FDG.

Methods: A total of 17 patients with atherosclerotic abdominal aortic aneurysm underwent dynamic abdominal PET/CT using 2-min frames between 45 and 53, 57 and 65, 115 and 123, and 175 and 183 min after injection of (18)F-FDG. For each period of dynamic imaging, vessel wall and lumen uptake were measured using the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV(max)) and target-to-background ratio (TBR).

Increased metabolic activity in abdominal aortic aneurysm detected by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT).

Objectives: Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are associated with an inflammatory cell infiltrate and enzymatic degradation of the vessel wall. The aim of this study was to detect increased metabolic activity in the wall of the AAA with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG), mediated by glucose transporter protein (GLUTs), using a dedicated hybrid PET/64-detector CT. DESIGN, METHOD AND MATERIALS: 14 patients (All male, mean age 73.