A pilot study on the effectiveness of low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LiCBT) for common mental disorders in Hong Kong.

Background: To cope with the rising demand for psychological treatment, evidence-based low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LiCBT) delivered by trained para-professionals was introduced internationally.

Aims: This pilot study aimed at examining the effectiveness of LiCBT in Hong Kong.

Method: This study was of an uncontrolled pre- and post-treatment design, testing LiCBT at a local community mental health centre in Hong Kong.

Adapting CBT to treat depression in Armed Forces Veterans: qualitative study.

Background: The principles of the Armed Forces Covenant state that Armed Forces Veterans should be at no disadvantage resulting from their service compared with a general adult population. However, despite being at increased risk of experiencing common mental health difficulties, evidence indicates that 82% of Armed Forces Veterans receive no treatment, compared with 63% of the general adult population.

Aim: To gain a better appreciation of factors that inform the type of adaptations to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions for depression and mainstream service promotion materials to enhance acceptability for Armed Forces Veterans.

An audit of bilious vomiting in term neonates referred for pediatric surgical assessment: can we reduce unnecessary transfers?

Background: Between 20% and 50% neonates with bilious vomiting are diagnosed with surgical pathology. Distinguishing neonates requiring surgery remains challenging. Our aim was to conduct an audit of term neonates with bilious vomiting referred for assessment to identify characteristics of this cohort and management.

Mental health service acceptability for the armed forces veteran community.

Background: Despite developments in mental health services for armed forces veterans and family members, barriers to access associated with poor levels of acceptability regarding service provision remain. Adapting a Step 2 mental health service based on low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions to represent a familiar context and meet the needs of the armed forces veteran community may serve to enhance acceptability and reduce help-seeking barriers.

Aims: To examine acceptability of a Step 2 low-intensity CBT mental health service adapted for armed forces veterans and family members provided by a UK Armed Forces charity.

Audit of ventriculoperitoneal shunt infections in paediatric patients, 2006-2013.

Background: Infection following ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement remains a significant complication with an incidence of 3-27% cited in literature. Infections cause significant morbidity, and it is important that empirical antibiotic therapy for management is guided by accurate knowledge of prevailing aetiologies and local antibiotic sensitivity patterns.

Aims: To establish the incidence of shunt infections in our paediatric population, to identify the causative micro-organisms, and to determine the antibiotic resistance patterns of the responsible micro-organisms.

Incontinentia pigmenti in an XY boy: case report and review of the literature.

Background: Incontinentia pigmenti (IP) is a rare genetic skin disorder with X-linked dominant inheritance and a characteristic sequence of cutaneous manifestations, which is regarded as lethal in XY males.

Objective: To report a case of a surviving XY male with the common IKBKG (NEMO) gene deletion confirming IP.

Methods And Results: A newborn XY male with suspected IP underwent a skin biopsy on affected tissue for histopathology.

Lupus miliaris disseminatus faciei with extrafacial involvement in a 17-year-old white girl.

Background: Lupus miliaris disseminatus faciei (LMDF) is a benign condition characterized by a papular eruption located in the central face. Histologic studies of the papules show granulomatous infiltrates with central necrosis. The condition is self-limited and usually resolves within 1 to 2 years yet can be cosmetically debilitating, given the location and potential for scarring.

Rumination-focused cognitive-behavioural therapy for residual depression: phase II randomised controlled trial.

Background: About 20% of major depressive episodes become chronic and medication-refractory and also appear to be less responsive to standard cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT).

Aims: To test whether CBT developed from behavioural activation principles that explicitly and exclusively targets depressive rumination enhances treatment as usual (TAU) in reducing residual depression.

Method: Forty-two consecutively recruited participants meeting criteria for medication-refractory residual depression were randomly allocated to TAU v.

Rejection sensitivity prospectively predicts increased rumination.

Converging research findings indicate that rumination is correlated with a specific maladaptive interpersonal style encapsulating submissive (overly-accommodating, non-assertive and self-sacrificing) behaviours, and an attachment orientation characterised by rejection sensitivity. This study examined the prospective longitudinal relationship between rumination, the submissive interpersonal style, and rejection sensitivity by comparing two alternative hypotheses: (a) the submissive interpersonal style and rejection sensitivity prospectively predict increased rumination; (b) rumination prospectively predicts the submissive interpersonal style and rejection sensitivity. Currently depressed (n = 22), previously depressed (n = 42) and never depressed (n = 28) individuals completed self-report measures assessing depressive rumination and key psychosocial measures of interpersonal style and behaviours, at baseline and again six months later.

Submissive interpersonal style mediates the effect of brooding on future depressive symptoms.

Theoretical models and empirical evidence suggest that brooding, the maladaptive sub-component of depressive rumination, is associated with a sub-set of depressogenic interpersonal difficulties characterised by submissive interpersonal behaviours and rejection sensitivity. This study tested whether these cognitive and interpersonal vulnerability factors independently predicted future depression and investigated their interdependence in predicting depression. A heterogeneous adult sample completed self-report measures assessing depressive symptoms, brooding, reflection, rejection sensitivity and maladaptive interpersonal behaviours, at baseline and six months later.

Psychosocial correlates of depressive rumination.

The study examined the relationship between brooding, the maladaptive sub-component of depressive rumination, an important cognitive mechanism implicated in the aetiology of depression, and a range of depressogenic psychosocial factors, including insecure attachment styles and maladaptive interpersonal behaviours. It was hypothesised that brooding (but not the more adaptive reflection component) is associated with an attachment pattern characterised by fear of rejection, and an interpersonal style characterised by submissiveness. Currently depressed (n = 29), previously depressed (n = 42) and never-depressed (n = 32) adults completed self-report measures assessing depressive symptoms, rumination (brooding and reflection), attachment orientation and maladaptive interpersonal behaviours.

The psychosocial context of depressive rumination: ruminative brooding predicts diminished relationship satisfaction in individuals with a history of past major depression.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that rumination contributes to poor social functioning by examining whether ruminative brooding predicts subsequent relationship satisfaction in individuals with a history of major depression.

Method: Participants (N=57) were interviewed to assess depressive symptoms and completed self-report measures of brooding and relationship satisfaction, at intake into the study (Time 1) and 3 months later (Time 2).

Results: Brooding was related concurrently to relationship satisfaction at Time 2 (p<.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to prevent relapse in recurrent depression.

For people at risk of depressive relapse, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has an additive benefit to usual care (H. F. Coelho, P.

The effect of multicolor playground markings on children's physical activity level during recess.

Background: British children do not meet daily physical activity recommendations, and as yet no sustainable intervention has been reported to address their sedentary lifestyle. The purpose of this investigation was twofold: First, to examine whether painting playgrounds with multicolored markings would increase the percent of recess time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA) in girls and boys and second to quantify the contribution recess makes to national recommendations for young people's physical activity.

Methods: MVPA and vigorous physical activity (VPA) were measured using short wave heart rate telemetry.

Do you think that your local area is a good place for young people to grow up? The effects of traffic and car parking on young people's views.

The damaging effects on well-being of the increasing number of motor vehicles on the roads, accidents and emissions aside, are often overlooked. Among 11-16 year olds in Wales, those who reported living with busy traffic and car parking were found to be less likely to have positive perceptions of the safety, friendliness, appearance, play facilities and helpfulness of the people in their local area. This was independent of the effect of socio-economic circumstance.

Self-esteem norms for Irish young people.

Self-esteem scores from the Rosenberg Self-esteem scale collected from a large sample of Irish young people are presented as norms for this population.

An evaluation of needs in elderly continuing-care settings.

This article describes the met and unmet needs of elderly residents of nursing care (NC) and residential care (RC) settings. Thirty-four residents of an RC home and 40 residents of two NC settings were assessed. Each resident and a respective staff member were interviewed using the Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE) to indicate the resident's current met and unmet needs.

Eligibility criteria for elderly mentally ill continuing-care National Health Service patients: are they being met and do they need revision?

Background: in 1996, the British government directed health authorities to draw up local eligibility criteria for National Health Service continuing health care.

Objectives: to examine whether elderly mentally ill continuing-care National Health Service patients fulfilled a variety of eligibility criteria for their placement, and to identify the characteristics of patients who met local eligibility criteria.

Design: descriptive study.

Three years survival in patients with a clinical diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies.

The majority of information available on the prognosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is based on retrospective data from autopsy series, which are subject to selection bias due to the specific reasons patients are referred for post-mortem studies. The earlier studies comparing DLB patients with patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) suggest that the mean duration of illness is shorter in DLB patients than in patients with AD. However, more recent studies have not observed significant differences between DLB and AD in age of onset, age at death or duration of illness.

Randomized controlled trial of general practitioner versus usual medical care in a suburban accident and emergency department using an informal triage system.

We determined if care provided by general practitioners (GPs) to non-emergency patients, in a suburban accident and emergency (A&E) department using an informal triage system, differs significantly from care provided by usual A&E staff. One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight patients participated. By comparison with usual A&E staff, GPs prescribed significantly more often (percentage relative difference [% RD] = 12 [95% confidence interval = 1-23]) and referred more patients to hospital (% RD = 21 [95% CI = 9-33]).

The symptomatology of depression in the elderly.

Older people may have a different pattern of depressive symptoms to that found earlier in life, in particular having more somatic symptoms and less overt low mood symptoms. Few attempts have been made to relate such differences to more general aspects of cognitive or emotional processing, such as the presence of dysfunctional attitudes or of alexithymia. Symptom differences within depression in old age have also received relatively little study, as has the ability of individual symptoms to distinguish between depressed and non-depressed elderly populations.