Timely administration of tocilizumab improves outcome of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of early tocilizumab treatment for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 disease.

Methods: Open-label randomized phase II clinical trial investigating tocilizumab in patients with proven COVID-19 admitted to the general ward and in need of supplemental oxygen. The primary endpoint of the study was 30-day mortality with a prespecified 2-sided significance level of α = 0.

A Case for Open Network Health Systems: Systems as Networks in Public Mental Health.

Increases in incidents involving so-called confused persons have brought attention to the potential costs of recent changes to public mental health (PMH) services in the Netherlands. Decentralized under the (Community) Participation Act (2014), local governments must find resources to compensate for reduced central funding to such services or "innovate." But innovation, even when pressure for change is intense, is difficult.

Engaging cultural resources to promote mental health in Dutch LSES neighborhoods: study of a community-based participatory media project.

Community-based participatory media projects form a promising new strategy for mental health promotion that can help address the mental health-gap identified by the World Health Organization. (2008b) mhGAP, Mental Health Gap Action Programme: Scaling Up Care for Mental, Neurological and Substance Use Disorders. World Health Organization, Geneva.

Patterns of salivary cortisol secretion and responses to daily events in patients with remitted bipolar disorder.

Previous studies on bipolar disorder revealed abnormalities in the function of the HPA axis, including disturbed patterns of cortisol secretion, during depressive and manic episodes. It is less clear whether these abnormalities persist after symptomatic recovery. In the present study we used the experience sampling method with intensive salivary cortisol sampling to study patterns of cortisol secretion in relation to negative and positive daily events during the normal daily life of a group of 36 patients with remitted bipolar disorder and 38 healthy controls.

Mood reactivity to daily events in patients with remitted bipolar disorder.

Information about mood reactions to naturally occurring stress in remitted bipolar patients may help elucidate the mechanism by which stressors influence the propensity to manic or depressive relapse in these patients. Using the experience sampling method (ESM), we therefore investigated negative and positive mood states and their reactivity to daily hassles and uplifts in 38 outpatients with remitted bipolar disorder and 38 healthy volunteers. Multilevel regression analyses confirmed that mean levels of negative affect (NA) were higher and positive affect (PA) lower in bipolar patients.

Multifactorial inheritance, rates of maturation and psychiatry's taxonomic dilemma: on Saugstad's "radical proposition" for two extremes of brain function and structure.

This paper reviews aspects of Letten F. Saugstad's Maturation Theory in relation to the Kraepelinian dichotomy and psychiatric classification. The maturation theory is based on existing neuroscience, cross-national and mental health case register data and offers an innovative alternative to current etiological formulations.

Mood reactivity to daily negative events in early adolescence: relationship to risk for psychopathology.

Emotional responses to negative daily experiences in young adolescents may provide important clues to the development of psychopathology, but research is lacking. This study assessed momentary mood reactivity to daily events as a function of risk profile in a school sample, ages 11-14. High-risk (HR, n=25) and low-risk (LR, n=106) subgroups completed frequent self-reports of mood and events for 5 days.

Depression among older people in Europe: the EURODEP studies.

The data from nine centres in Europe which had used the Geriatric Mental Scale (GMS) AGECAT were analysed to compare prevalence of diagnoses in subjects aged 65 years and over living in the community. Levels of depressive illness were: Iceland 8.8%, Liverpool 10.

3-amino thioacridone inhibits DNA synthesis and induce DNA damage in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) in a p16-dependent manner.

In T-cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (T-ALL), the inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) 4 and 6, p16 and p15, are inactivated almost universally at the DNA, RNA and protein levels. This suggests that CDK-targeting may be an effective therapeutic approach for T-ALL and other cancers. In this study, we tested 3 inhibitors of CDK4, 3-aminothioacridone (3-ATA), thioacridone (TA), and oxindole, for their effects on DNA synthesis and viability in primary T-ALL.

Effects of daily events on mood states in major depressive disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by high negative affect (NA) and low positive affect (PA), but little is known about emotional reactivity in daily life. The authors used experience sampling methodology to investigate changes in NA and PA following minor daily events in MDD compared with healthy participants. Contrary to expectation, MDD participants did not report more frequent negative events, although they did report fewer positive events.

Social network analysis for health and social interventions among Kenyan scavenging street children.

Street children are a high priority for health policy and service planning in Kenya. Poverty, wars, famine and disease have resulted in street children having a persistent presence in African cities and towns. The Maastricht Social Network Analysis (MSNA) was implemented as the core instrument in a battery to measure the health status of the street children.

Stress, work and mental health: a global perspective.

Background: The United Nations, WHO and the World Bank have called the current prevalence rate of neuro-psychiatric disorder approaches of 1 in 4 individuals worldwide and 'unheralded public health crisis'. Rates are driven by an early onset, high impairment and high chronicity of these disorders. Most importantly, detection and treatment rates are low, estimated at les than 10% worldwide resulting in 500 million people underserved.

Determinants of occurrence and recovery from hallucinations in daily life.

Background: Data related to the dynamics of hallucinatory experiences of patients suffering from schizophrenia are scarce. Detecting antecedent conditions and coping strategies may aid development of targeted psychological interventions.

Method: We studied hallucinating and non-hallucinating patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 57), and non-schizophrenic severe mentally ill patients with depression (n = 37).

Culture and temperament: influences on infant temperament in three East African societies.

In this study, 178 infants from three East African societies differing on a number of environmental dimensions were examined to determine if aspects of their developmental environment influenced temperament characteristics. Data strongly suggest that cultural child-rearing patterns, degree of modernization, maternal orientation, ecological setting, and specific early life events contribute to temperament.