Psychiatry: Whither to?

Increasing division of specialisation in modern medicine has specifically unwrapped the issues of challenges of mental health. This article highlights the importance of primary care mental health, problems of awareness and under detection. Finally, challenges in the current status of mental health are highlighted

Socio cultural arena of alcoholism in Australia: what do we know?

After caffeine, ethanol is probably the most commonly used recreational drug worldwide. However, there is significant variation in the consumption of alcohol between individuals. Alcohol is freely available throughout most of the world, although some communities prohibit its consumption on religious grounds. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) reported that in established market economies, 10.3% of the disease burden as quantified by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) was attributable to alcohol in 2000. This is comparable to the disease burden caused by tobacco (11.7% of DALYs) but significantly more than that due to unprescribed drugs (2.3% of DALYs). However, these figures are conservative because they take into account the potential benefits of alcohol and focus on the effects of alcohol on health

The Association of Antidepressant Medication and Body Weight Gain

Objective: To review the literature and discover which antidepressants are responsible for weight gain and then to discuss the areas with lack of adequate knowledge. Method: An electronic search was conducted through Medline, Pubmed, Cochrane library, and ScienceDirect. Forty nine empirical researches were identified and reviewed. Results: Amitriptyline, clomipramine, and mirtazapine have been associated with more weight gain induction in clinical studies, but not in animal-based studies. All TCAs have been reported to cause weight gain except protriptyline. MAOIs have been associated with weight gain. In SSRI group, citalopram and ecitalopram induce weight, yet mixed results exist for paroxetine and fluoxetine. Researches unanimously reported weight loss effect for bupropion. Some studies suggest contributing factors in the relationship of antidepressants with body weight changes including age, gender, base-line weights and treatment duration. Various results of different treatment durations have been reported in some cases but there are not continuous time-dependent studies for the influences of antidepressants on body weight changes. Conclusion: More studies are required to discover underlying mechanisms and the time-dependent effects of antidepressants on body weight changes

Etiology and Management of Sexual Dysfunction

Sexual dysfunction is the impairment or disruption of any of the three phases of normal sexual functioning, including loss of libido, impairment of physiological arousal and loss, delay or alteration of orgasm. Each one of these can be affected by an orchestra of factors like senility, medical and surgical illnesses, medications and drugs of abuse. Non-pharmacological therapy is the main stay in the treatment of sexual dysfunction and drugs are used as adjuncts for a quicker and better result. Management in many of the cases depends on the primary cause. Here is a review of the major etiological factors of sexual dysfunction and its managemen

On an empirical regularity in the energy spectra of some odd-mass nuclei

This article does not have an abstract

Mobile Cloud Computing Based Non Rigid Registration for Image Guided Surgery

In this thesis we present the design and implementation of a Mobile Cloud computing platform for non-rigid registration required in Image Guided Surgery (MCIGS). MCIGS contributes in flexible, portable and accurate alignment of pre-operative brain data with intra-operative MRI, for image guided diagnosis and therapy and endoscopic skull base surgery. Improved precision of image guided therapy and specifically neurosurgery procedures is known to result in the improved prognosis for brain tumor patients. MCI GS system is tested with Physics Based Non-Rigid Registration method form ITK. Our preliminary results for brain images indicate that the proposed system over Wi-Fi can be used to perform non-rigid registration over the cloud in less than a minute (about 53 seconds), i.e., within the time constraints imposed by brain surgeries. In addition, it can be used to leverage cloud computing resources to improve the accuracy of registration by 21 % over the traditional way of utilizing a single high-end workstation within or next to Operating Rooms. MCIGS is not limited to the specific Non-Rigid Registration we use to demonstrate its impact. In this thesis we also discuss a step towards topologically flexible registration of sulci extracted from the brain MR images using embedded maps based registration which can be used to build a healthy brain template

It\u27s time to examine the status of our undergraduate mental health curricula

To the Editor: Review of undergraduate mental health education is timely, given the growing disease burden of mental disorders and the need to better equip doctors for their central role in treatment. Curricula should prepare all doctors with competencies in recognising and treating mental health problems,1 because these occur frequently in patients across all branches of medicine, leading to poorer outcomes.2 Curricula should also prepare a minority of doctors for specialist psychiatry training

The role of health literacy and social networks in arthritis patient\u27s health information-seeking behaviour: a qualitative study

Background. Patients engage in health information-seeking behaviour to maintain their wellbeing and to manage chronic diseases such as arthritis. Health literacy allows patients to understand available treatments and to critically appraise information they obtain from a wide range of sources. Aims. To explore how arthritis patients’ health literacy affects engagement in arthritis-focused health information-seeking behaviour and the selection of sources of health information available through their informal social network. Methods. An exploratory, qualitative study consisting of one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Twenty participants with arthritis were recruited from community organizations. The interviews were designed to elicit participants’ understanding about their arthritis and arthritis medication and to determine how the participants’ health literacy informed selection of where they found information about their arthritis and pain medication. Results. Participants with low health literacy were less likely to be engaged with health information-seeking behaviour. Participants with intermediate health literacy were more likely to source arthritis-focused health information from newspapers, television and within their informal social network. Those with high health literacy sourced information from the internet and specialist health sources and were providers of information within their informal social network. Conclusion. Health professionals need to be aware that levels of engagement in health information-seeking behaviour and sources of arthritis-focused health information may be related to their patients’ health literacy