Study protocol: a randomized controlled trial of a computer-based depression and substance abuse intervention for people attending residential substance abuse treatment

Background: A large proportion of people attending residential alcohol and other substance abuse treatment have a co-occurring mental illness. Empirical evidence suggests that it is important to treat both the substance abuse problem and co-occurring mental illness concurrently and in an integrated fashion. However, the majority of residential alcohol and other substance abuse services do not address mental illness in a systematic way. It is likely that computer delivered interventions could improve the ability of substance abuse services to address co-occurring mental illness. This protocol describes a study in which we will assess the effectiveness of adding a computer delivered depression and substance abuse intervention for people who are attending residential alcohol and other substance abuse treatment. Methods/Design. Participants will be recruited from residential rehabilitation programs operated by the Australian Salvation Army. All participants who satisfy the diagnostic criteria for an alcohol or other substance dependence disorder will be asked to participate in the study. After completion of a baseline assessment, participants will be randomly assigned to either a computer delivered substance abuse and depression intervention (treatment condition) or to a computer-delivered typing tutorial (active control condition). All participants will continue to complete The Salvation Army residential program, a predominantly 12-step based treatment facility. Randomisation will be stratified by gender (Male, Female), length of time the participant has been in the program at the commencement of the study (4 weeks or less, 4 weeks or more), and use of anti-depressant medication (currently prescribed medication, not prescribed medication). Participants in both conditions will complete computer sessions twice per week, over a five-week period. Research staff blind to treatment allocation will complete the assessments at baseline, and then 3, 6, 9, and 12 months post intervention. Participants will also complete weekly self-report measures during the treatment period. Discussion. This study will provide comprehensive data on the effect of introducing a computer delivered, cognitive behavioral therapy based co-morbidity treatment program within a residential substance abuse setting. If shown to be effective, this intervention can be disseminated within other residential substance abuse programs. Trial registration. Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ANZCTR): ACTRN12611000618954

Framing the Real: Lefèbvre and NeoRealist Cinematic Space as Practice

In 1945 Roberto Rossellini's Neo-realist Rome, Open City set in motion an approach to cinema and its representation of real life – and by extension real spaces – that was to have international significance in film theory and practice. However, the re-use of the real spaces of the city, and elsewhere, as film sets in Neo-realist film offered (and offers) more than an influential aesthetic and set of cinematic theories. Through Neo-realism, it can be argued that we gain access to a cinematic relational and multidimensional space that is not made from built sets, but by filming the built environment. On the one hand, this space allows us to "notice" the contradictions around us in our cities and, by extension, the societies that have produced those cities, while on the other, allows us to see the spatial practices operative in the production and maintenance of those contradictions. In setting out a template for understanding the spatial practices of Neo-realism through the work of Henri Lefèbvre, this paper opens its films, and those produced today in its wake, to a spatio-political reading of contemporary relevance. We will suggest that the rupturing of divisions between real spaces and the spaces of film locations, as well the blurring of the difference between real life and performed actions for the camera that underlies much of the central importance of Neo-realism, echoes the arguments of Lefèbvre with regard the social production of space. In doing so, we will suggest that film potentially had, and still has, a vital role to play in a critique of contemporary capitalist spatial practices

Standardization of clinical protocols in oral malodor research

The objective of this study is to standardize protocols for clinical research into oral malodor caused by volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs). To detect VSCs, a gas chromatograph (GC) using a flame photometric detector equipped with a bandpass filter (at 393 nm) is the gold standard (sensitivity: 5 x 10 (11) gS s (1)). The baselines of VSC concentrations in mouth air varied considerably over a week. When the subjects refrained from eating, drinking and oral hygiene including mouth rinsing, the VSC concentrations remained constant until eating. Over a 6 h period after a meal, VSC concentrations decreased dramatically (p <0.01). These results point to optimal times and conditions for sampling subjects. Several portable devices were compared with the measurements by the GCs. Portable GCs demonstrated capabilities similar to those of the GCs. We also applied the recommended protocols described below to clinical research testing the efficacy of ZnCl2 products, and confirmed that using the recommended protocols in a randomized crossover design would provide very clear results. Proposed protocols include: (a) a short-term study rather than a long-term study is strongly recommended, since the VSC concentrations are constant in the short term; (b) a crossover study would be the best design to avoid the effects of individual specificities on each clinical intervention; (c) measurements of VSCs should preferably be carried out using either a GC or portable GCs

Deconstruction and the Visual Arts : Art, Media, Architecture

This anthology commprises 17 essays inspired by Derrida's writings on art and literature. A variety of interpretations of and critical approaches to Derrida's work is included. Short biographies on contributors. Name index. Circa 100 bibl. ref