Early intervention for obsessive compulsive disorder : An expert consensus statement

© 2019 Elsevier B.V.and ECNP. All rights reserved.Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is common, emerges early in life and tends to run a chronic, impairing course. Despite the availability of effective treatments, the duration of untreated illness (DUI) is high (up to around 10 years in adults) and is associated with considerable suffering for the individual and their families. This consensus statement represents the views of an international group of expert clinicians, including child and adult psychiatrists, psychologists and neuroscientists, working both in high and low and middle income countries, as well as those with the experience of living with OCD. The statement draws together evidence from epidemiological, clinical, health economic and brain imaging studies documenting the negative impact associated with treatment delay on clinical outcomes, and supporting the importance of early clinical intervention. It draws parallels between OCD and other disorders for which early intervention is recognized as beneficial, such as psychotic disorders and impulsive-compulsive disorders associated with problematic usage of the Internet, for which early intervention may prevent the development of later addictive disorders. It also generates new heuristics for exploring the brain-based mechanisms moderating the ‘toxic’ effect of an extended DUI in OCD. The statement concludes that there is a global unmet need for early intervention services for OC related disorders to reduce the unnecessary suffering and costly disability associated with under-treatment. New clinical staging models for OCD that may be used to facilitate primary, secondary and tertiary prevention within this context are proposed.Peer reviewe

Food for Thought: Genetically Modified Seeds as De Facto Standard Essential Patents

For several years, courts have been improperly calculating damages in cases involving the unlicensed use of genetically-modified (GM) seed technology. In particular, when courts determine patent damages based on the hypothetical negotiation method, they err in exaggerating these damages to a point where no rational negotiator would agree. In response, we propose a limited affirmative defense of an implied license due to the patent’s status as a de facto standard essential patent. To be classified as a de facto standard essential patent, the farmer must prove three elements that reflect the peculiarities of GM seeds used in farming: (1) dominance, (2) impracticability, and (3) necessary to fulfill a basic need. Based on the approaches used by courts and standard setting organizations in licensing standard essential patents in technological fields such as cell phones and software, designation of some GM seeds as standard essential patents allows the courts to imply a license from patentees to farmers on reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms. Doing so shifts the case from a tort-based patent infringement suit to a breach of contract dispute and alters the damages regime from one based in compensation, deterrence, and punishment (a tort approach) to one based solely in compensation (a contractual approach). As a result of this novel proposal, the damages calculations in these suits return to economic reality

When Terrorism Threatens Health: How Far are Limitations on Personal and Ecomonic Liberties Justified

The government is engaged in a homeland-security project to safeguard the population\u27s health from potential terrorist attacks. This project is politically charged because it affords the state enhanced powers to restrict personal and economic liberties. Just as governmental powers relating to intelligence, law enforcement, and criminal justice curtail individual interests, so too do public health powers

An Unnatural history

An Unnatural History is an installation that inhabits the space between the continuously shifting realms of science, pseudoscience and science fiction. This project documents the (fictional) discovery of a taxonomy of marine life containing and cooperating with the elements from the periodic table. As science and technology progress, we are constantly faced with redefining, reinterpreting and reconfiguring what we thought we knew about the world around us and previous scientific facts are revealed to have been constructed beliefs. Using multiple modes of representation, An Unnatural History draws attention to the real, the imagined and what it means to visualize biological life and phenomena that are often invisible to us at first glance. You are invited to join the Institute of Aquatic Research, as together we make unbelievable discoveries deep within the oceans, collect empirical data and struggle to organize, classify and determine the meaning of our findings and our place within this system. It is my hope that this experience cracks the hard shell of certainty and if only for a moment, suspends you in a state of wonder and disbelief. The power of imagination should not be ignored. It is what gave life to this idea that lay dormant with possibility and power

Self Incrimination and Cryptographic Keys

The Fifth Amendment commands that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. However, extending current judicial interpretations of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments too far may allow the government easy access even to private documents, making one\u27s diary and other documents accessible and admissible in court against their author. What the Court has taken away, technology has given. Modern cryptography can make it virtually impossible to decipher documents without the cryptographic key, thus making the availability of the contents of those documents depend on the availability of the key. This article examines the Fourth and Fifth Amendments\u27 protection against the compulsory production of the key and the scope of the Fifth Amendment immunity against compelled production. After analyzing these questions using prevailing Fourth and Fifth Amendment jurisprudence, I shall describe the advantages of a privacy-based approach in practical and constitutional terms

Caractéristiques et traitements de l'obsession sans compulsion manifeste

Malgré les progrès substantiels de l'approche cognitive béhaviorale dans le traitement du Trouble obsessionnel-compulsif(TOC), les obsessions sans compulsion manifeste demeurent un défi pour le clinicien. Les trois présentes études constituent une première description détaillée d'un échantillon important composé de 29patients souffrant du trouble obsessionnel sans compulsion manifeste. La première étude confirme que les patients utilisent un vaste répertoire de stratégies pour chasser la pensée et pour diminuer le malaise. La deuxième démontre que l'évaluation des pensées varie en fonction des fluctuations de l'état émotionnel. La troisième étude montre qu'un traitement basé sur l'exposition, la prévention de la réponse et la restructuration cognitive produit des gains thérapeutiques cliniquement et statistiquement significatifs. Elle démontre clairement que la thérapie cognitive-comportementale est efficace pour des patients souffrant de pensées obsessionnelles alors que ceux-ci furent longtemps considérés comme réfractaires au traitement. Ces études fournissent un appui empirique aux modèles théoriques formulés pour expliquer le Trouble obsessionnel-compulsif. Les implications théoriques et cliniques sont discutées

Antisemitic Memes and Naïve Teens: Qualitative and Quantitative Impacts of the Internet on Antisemitism, the Evolution of Antisemitism 2.0, and Developing Adaptable Research Methodologies into Online Hate, Abuse, and Misinformation

This thesis posits that the advent of the internet has resulted in qualitative and quantitative changes to antisemitism, particularly in the period since web 2.0. Comparing online antisemitism with other forms of online abuse, this thesis demonstrates limits in the research on broader manifestations of online discrimination due to inconsistent methodologies and quantities of research. A key consideration is how online antisemitism both differs and intersects with broader manifestations, including cyberbullying, cyber-racism, and abusive conspiracy movements. Through consideration of these intersections, the broader history of antisemitism, and the functions of internet technology, profiles of major online sources for antisemitism are presented. Beyond illustrating how the internet has changed antisemitism alongside other manifestations of abuse and discrimination, this thesis also develops and tests a research model that can be adapted to different fields and disciplines. Simulated online conversations between young adults and a Holocaust denier evaluate how effective young adult web users are at recognising, researching, responding to and refuting antisemitism online, and what tools can be designed to assist them. Antisemitism has undergone significant qualitative and quantitative change due to the internet and now reaches more young people who are ill-equipped to resist its online manifestations. While expertise in the specific nature of antisemitism is needed to tackle this problem, the response can involve adaptable methodologies of benefit to the study of online hate more broadly. There is benefit in collaboration across researchers, fields, and disciplines to provide holistic explanations and solutions to some common aspects of online hate, abuse, and misinformation

LOOKING FOR ATTACHMENT SOLUTIONS IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES: OUT OF CONTROL SEXUAL BEHAVIOR AS A SYMPTOM OF INSECURE ATTACHMENT IN MEN

Hypersexual behavior is often misunderstood and minimized, and we continue to lack an understanding of what underlies this behavior. Without an understanding of the function of hypersexual behavior, we cannot ascertain the most effective treatment. This study was designed to examine the underlying function of such behavior by exploring whether insecure attachment in men relates to the development of hypersexual behavior. A total of 45 men who were assessed as having Out-of-Control Sexual Behavior (OCSB), utilizing the recently proposed Hypersexual Disorder (HD) diagnosis were compared to 32 men who did not present with OCSB. Participants were directed to an online survey where they completed assessments for hypersexual behavior (The HBI) and attachment style (The ECR-S). Multivariate analysis indicated that high ECR-S scores predicted high HBI scores, high HBI scores tended to show high levels of attachment avoidant behavior and that high ECR-S scores were predictive of the clinical determination of HD. High scores on attachment avoidance, rather than attachment anxiety, were most predictive of the clinical determination of HD. Overall, the avoidant behavior score was a better predictor of OCSB than were attachment anxiety scores. Hypersexual behavior may be a particular manifestation of avoidant attachment and it is this underlying issue that must be addressed to effectively treat HD

Contracts Ex Machina

Smart contracts are self-executing digital transactions using decentralized cryptographic mechanisms for enforcement. They were theorized more than twenty years ago, but the recent development of Bitcoin and blockchain technologies has rekindled excitement about their potential among technologists and industry. Startup companies and major enterprises alike are now developing smart contract solutions for an array of markets, purporting to offer a digital bypass around traditional contract law. For legal scholars, smart contracts pose a significant question: Do smart contracts offer a superior solution to the problems that contract law addresses? In this article, we aim to understand both the potential and the limitations of smart contracts. We conclude that smart contracts offer novel possibilities, may significantly alter the commercial world, and will demand new legal responses. But smart contracts will not displace contract law. Understanding why not brings into focus the essential role of contract law as a remedial institution. In this way, smart contracts actually illuminate the role of contract law more than they obviate it