What is OSFED? The predicament of classifying 'other' eating disorders.

The transition from DSM-IV to DSM-5 relaxed diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, and recognised a third eating disorder, binge eating disorder. However, a large proportion of cases remain in the ill-defined category of 'other specified feeding and eating disorders'. We sought to investigate the utility of a proposed solution to classify this group further, subdividing based on the dominant clinical feature: binge eating/purging or restraint.

Blood and brain protein levels of ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2K (UBE2K) are elevated in individuals with schizophrenia.

A number of recent studies have suggested the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) in schizophrenia is dysfunctional. The purpose of this study was to investigate UBE2K, a ubiquitin-conjugating (E2) enzyme within the UPS that has been associated with psychosis symptom severity, in the blood and brain of individuals with schizophrenia. Whole blood and erythrocytes from 128 (71 treatment-resistant schizophrenia, 57 healthy controls) individuals as well as frozen dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) post-mortem samples from 74 (37 schizophrenia, 37 controls) individuals were obtained.

Elevated ubiquitinated proteins in brain and blood of individuals with schizophrenia.

Dysregulation of the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) has been linked to schizophrenia but it is not clear if this dysregulation is detectable in both brain and blood. We examined free mono-ubiquitin, ubiquitinated proteins, catalytic ubiquitination, and proteasome activities in frozen postmortem OFC tissue from 76 (38 schizophrenia, 38 control) matched individuals, as well as erythrocytes from 181 living participants, who comprised 30 individuals with recent onset schizophrenia (mean illness duration = 1 year), 63 individuals with 'treatment-resistant' schizophrenia (mean illness duration = 17 years), and 88 age-matched participants without major psychiatric illness. Ubiquitinated protein levels were elevated in postmortem OFC in schizophrenia compared to controls (p = <0.

Pharmacogenetic tests and depressive symptom remission: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Aim: To conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examined pharmacogenetic-guided decision support tools (DSTs) relevant to depressive symptom remission in major depressive disorder (MDD).

Patients & Methods: Random-effects meta-analysis was performed on RCTs that examined the effect of DSTs on remission rates in MDD. RCT quality was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration Criteria.

Development and validation of a mental health screening tool for asylum-seekers and refugees: the STAR-MH.

Background: There is no screening tool for major depressive disorder (MDD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in asylum-seekers or refugees (ASR) that can be readily administered by non-mental health workers. Hence, we aimed to develop a brief, sensitive and rapidly administrable tool for non-mental health workers to screen for MDD and PTSD in ASR.

Methods: The screening tool was developed from an extant dataset (n = 121) of multiply screened ASR and tested prospectively (N = 192) against the M.

Morphine use in cancer care: A survey of attitudes and perceptions in general practice patients.

Background: Morphine is widely prescribed for patients with cancer, although a number of attitudes have been cited as barriers to its use, including fear, addiction and associations with death. The aim of this study was to explore the nature of these beliefs, and assess the extent to which these attitudes exist in a general practice patient population that may require morphine in the future.

Methods: A 30-item survey was distributed through general practices in Victoria, Australia.

Body image inflexibility mediates the relationship between body image evaluation and maladaptive body image coping strategies.

Body image inflexibility, the unwillingness to experience negative appearance-related thoughts and emotions, is associated with negative body image and eating disorder symptoms. The present study investigated whether body image inflexibility mediated the relationship between body image evaluation and maladaptive body image coping strategies (appearance-fixing and experiential avoidance) in a college and community sample comprising 156 females aged 18-51 years (M=22.76, SD=6.

Classification of eating disorders: comparison of relative prevalence rates using DSM-IV and DSM-5 criteria.

DSM-5 contains substantial changes to eating disorder diagnoses. We examined relative prevalence rates of DSM-IV and DSM-5 eating disorder diagnoses using Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire diagnostic algorithms in 117 community out-patients. DSM-5 criteria produced a reduction in combined 'other specified feeding or eating disorder' and 'unspecified feeding or eating disorder' from 46% to 29%, an increase in anorexia nervosa diagnoses from 35% to 47%, the same number of bulimia nervosa diagnoses and a 5% rate of binge eating disorder diagnoses.

A comparison of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder: Results from the Second Australian national psychosis survey.

Introduction: It remains uncertain whether schizoaffective disorder (SAD) is a discrete diagnostic entity, is a variant of either a psychotic mood disorder such as bipolar disorder (BDP) or schizophrenia (SCZ), or exists on a spectral continuum between these disorders. The present study examined whether SCZ, SAD, and BDP differed qualitatively on demographic and clinical variables based on a large Australian dataset.

Methods: This study examined data from the Australian Survey of High Impact Psychosis (SHIP), in which 1469 of the 1825 participants in who had an ICD-10 diagnosis of SCZ (n=857), SAD (n=293), and BDP (n=319) were assessed across a broad range of variables.

A comparative study of the economic and social functioning of Vietnamese-Australians with low English proficiency living with psychotic illness.

Background: Because national surveys of people living with psychotic disorders tend to exclude people with low English proficiency (LEP), little is known of their economic and social functioning. Culturally influenced explanatory models may result in delayed presentation and poorer functioning.

Aims: The study aimed to compare the functioning of LEP Vietnamese-Australian and Australian-born patients with psychosis and to investigate the Vietnamese-Australians' pathways to care.

Tobacco smoking among people living with a psychotic illness: the second Australian Survey of Psychosis.

Objective: The aims of this study were to (a) describe patterns of tobacco smoking among Australians living with a psychotic illness and (b) explore the association between smoking and measures of psychopathology, psychiatric history, psychosocial functioning, physical health, substance use and demographic characteristics.

Methods: Data were from 1812 participants in the 2010 Australian Survey of High Impact Psychosis. Participants were aged 18-64 years and resided in seven mental health catchment sites across five states of Australia.

The impact of alcohol and illicit drugs on people with psychosis: the second Australian National Survey of Psychosis.

Objective: To provide the most up-to-date prevalence estimates of alcohol and illicit drug use among individuals with psychosis in Australia, and explore correlates associated with a lifetime diagnosis of both alcohol abuse/dependence and cannabis abuse/dependence.

Method: This paper uses data from the Survey of High Impact Psychosis (SHIP), conducted as a follow-up to the first Australian National Low Prevalence (Psychotic) Disorders Study (1997-1998). The SHIP was a national study, carried out across five states, in which a sample of 1825 individuals was recruited through a two-phase sampling framework.

The Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire: A screening measure for body dysmorphic disorder.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of the Dysmorphic Concerns Questionnaire (DCQ) as a screening measure for body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and to derive DCQ cutoff scores to facilitate the screening procedure.

Method: The DCQ was completed by 244 undergraduates (mean = 20.80, SD = 3.

Delusional versus nondelusional body dysmorphic disorder.

This study assessed demographic and clinical features in 65 subjects with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and compared the 39 (60%) with the delusional form (receiving an additional diagnosis of delusional disorder, somatic type) with those who did not meet delusionality criteria. Delusional and nondelusional patients did not statistically differ on most demographic and clinical variables. Delusional patients, however, had significantly more severe BDD symptoms at both baseline and follow-up assessments than those of nondelusional patients.