Project eARTh: participatory arts and mental health recovery, a qualitative study.

Aims: To identify the potential mental health benefits of a rural-based participatory arts programme in the United Kingdom.

Methods: Fourteen narrative interviews were conducted among participants of the Project eARTh programme. The data were subjected to a thematic analysis process.

Advancing the knowledge, skills and attitudes of mental health nurses working with families and caregivers: A critical review of the literature.

Involving and supporting the family members and caregivers of people with mental illness is essential to high-quality mental health services. However, literature suggests that there is a lack of engagement between family members and mental health nurses (MHNs). Lack of knowledge among MHNs is often cited as one of the main reasons for this lack of engagement.

The art of recovery: outcomes from participatory arts activities for people using mental health services.

Background: There is a growing evidence base for the use of participatory arts for the purposes of health promotion. In recent years, recovery approaches in mental healthcare have become commonplace in English speaking countries amongst others. There are few studies that bring together these two fields of practice.

The effect of acetazolamide on intra-ocular pressure after Trendelenburg positioning - a randomised double-blind crossover trial in volunteers.

Recent evidence suggests Trendelenburg positioning can produce a significant rise in intra-ocular pressure. Peri-operative vision loss in patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal surgery has been reported with the rise in intra-ocular pressure suggested as a possible factor. Acetazolamide decreases intra-ocular pressure by reducing the formation of aqueous humour, so we aimed to investigate if it could attenuate the intra-ocular pressure rise that can occur in the Trendelenburg position.

Working with Families Affected by Mental Distress: Stakeholders' Perceptions of Mental Health Nurses Educational Needs.

Family and informal caregivers provide a substantial amount of care and support to people who experience mental health problems. The aim of this study was to explore mental health nurses', students' and service users' perceptions of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required by mental health nurses to work with families and carers using a qualitative methodology. Three themes emerged from the data: Knowledge of the family and how mental distress affects the family; working with the family - support and education; and valuing the role of the family.

From the rhetoric to the real: A critical review of how the concepts of recovery and social inclusion may inform mental health nurse advanced level curricula - The eMenthe project.

Objectives: This critical review addresses the question of how the concepts of recovery and social inclusion may inform mental health nurse education curricula at Master's level in order to bring about significant and positive change to practice.

Design: This is a literature-based critical review incorporating a rapid review. It has been said that if done well, this approach can be highly relevant to health care studies and social interventions, and has substantial claims to be as rigorous and enlightening as other, more conventional approaches to literature (Rolfe, 2008).

Pre-morbid fertility in psychosis: findings from the AESOP first episode study.

Individuals with psychotic illnesses are known to have a reduced fertility. It is unclear whether this is due to biological or social factors. Most fertility studies have been conducted in chronic schizophrenia, where confounders like medication and hospitalisation make this difficult to elicit.

Abnormalities in structural covariance of cortical gyrification in schizophrenia.

The highly convoluted shape of the adult human brain results from several well-coordinated maturational events that start from embryonic development and extend through the adult life span. Disturbances in these maturational events can result in various neurological and psychiatric disorders, resulting in abnormal patterns of morphological relationship among cortical structures (structural covariance). Structural covariance can be studied using graph theory-based approaches that evaluate topological properties of brain networks.

Arts on prescription: a qualitative outcomes study.

Objectives: In recent years, participatory community-based arts activities have become a recognized and regarded method for promoting mental health. In the UK, Arts on Prescription services have emerged as a prominent form of such social prescribing. This follow-up study reports on the findings from interviews conducted with participants in an Arts on Prescription programme two years after previous interviews to assess levels of 'distance travelled'.

Diagnostic discontinuity in psychosis: a combined study of cortical gyrification and functional connectivity.

The point of rarity in brain structure and function that separates the 2 major psychotic disorders--schizophrenia and bipolar disorder--is presently unknown. The aim of this study is to combine surface anatomical and functional imaging modalities to quantify the integrity of cortical connectivity in pursuit of the neural basis of the Kraepelinian "line of divide." We tested the hypothesis that multimodal brain regions show overlapping abnormalities in both disorders, while schizophrenia-specific defects are likely to be localized to sensory processing regions.

Can theory of mind deficits be measured reliably in people with mild and moderate Alzheimer's dementia?

Background: Patients suffering from Alzheimer's dementia develop difficulties in social functioning. This has led to an interest in the study of "theory of mind" in this population. However, difficulty has arisen because the associated cognitive demands of traditional short story theory of mind assessments result in failure per se in this population, making it challenging to test pure theory of mind ability.

Evaluation of vector-primed cDNA library production from microgram quantities of total RNA.

cDNA sequences are important for defining the coding region of genes, and full-length cDNA clones have proven to be useful for investigation of the function of gene products. We produced cDNA libraries containing 3.5-5 x 10(5) primary transformants, starting with 5 mug of total RNA prepared from mouse pituitary, adrenal, thymus, and pineal tissue, using a vector-primed cDNA synthesis method.