The cognitive-behavioural approach: a closer look at some of its latest developments

Objectives: Three studies addressed the effectiveness of a preventative Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) training for university students and university employees. The studies aimed to explore whether changes in participants' psychological well-being would be mediated by the mechanisms of change theorized as central in ACT. Design and Method: The studies adopted an embedded mixed method, repeated-measures randomised controlled trial design. In the first study 65 participants recruited from a university student population were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 1) a training day (6 hours) based on Acceptance 'and Commitment Therapy (ACT); 2) a waiting-list control group. The intervention was delivered to groups of participants. Participants in both conditions were required to complete outcome and mediation measures at baseline (Time 1), at one month (Time 2) and two months after the training (Time 3). At two months post, participants in the intervention group were also asked to provide written feedback reflecting on the impact of the training. The second and third studies utilised similar methodology. Specifically, in the second study, 71 participants were recruited from a university student population, and in the third study 68 participants were recruited from the university workforce. Assessments were completed at similar time points as in the first study. Results: The first study (students) resulted in significant between-group differences on mental health variables at one month benefiting the intervention group. The second study (students) indicated beneficial improvements in the intervention group's mental health at two months post intervention. There was some evidence of ACT-consistent mediation in these studies. The third study (employees) failed to identify significant improvements for participants in the ACT condition although participants in the waiting list group had evidenced deterioration of their mental health at one-month. Participants across studies described the experienced impact of the intervention and noted barriers of engaging with the training skills. Conclusions: Brief ACT preventative interventions could be of potential value as prophylactic approaches. The study identified a requirement of a longer intervention format to enhance engagement with training skills. The study outlines recommendations for improvements of future preventative ACT projects

Turkish-Speaking Service-User Experience of Guided Self-Help in an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Service: Using Discovery Interviews to Improve Services

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) delivers guided self-help (GSH) interventions in the United Kingdom (UK). A minority service-user group for whom we know little of their engagement with GSH are Turkish-speaking users. The study aimed to better understand Turkish-speaking service-users experience of a GSH intervention in an IAPT service and identify possible service improvements. A discovery interview method facilitated service-users to describe their experience of GSH. Transcripts were analysed thematically. Excerpts of service-user narratives and thematic commonalities across interviews were disseminated in clinical teams and informed service improvements. Participant distress was expressed through somatic complaints, a high level of confusion and inactivity. Engagement with GSH was affected by ambivalent help-seeking and sense of limited self-efficacy. Service improvements aimed to address a widespread sense of confusion and anxiety. Listening to service-user experience provides opportunities for mending communication gaps between services and ethnic minority service-users

Η Αρχή της Προφύλαξης στο Δίκαιο Περιβάλλοντος μέσα από τη νομολογία του ΣτΕ και του ΔΕΕ

Οι σύγχρονες επενδυτικές δραστηριότητες και η εν γένει επιδίωξη υψηλών οικονομικών στόχων έχουν φέρει πολλές φορές την ανθρωπότητα αντιμέτωπη με ένα σοβαρό κοινωνικό δίλημμα. Μπορεί ο πλανήτης να υποστεί τόσο σοβαρές περιβαλλοντικές ζημιές στον βωμό του κέρδους και της οικονομικής ανάπτυξης; Κατέστη από πολύ νωρίς σαφές ότι η προστασία του περιβάλλοντος είναι ζήτημα γενικού και δημοσίου συμφέροντος και ενδιαφέροντος, οπότε και η θέσπιση και αναγνώριση συγκεκριμένων περιβαλλοντικών αρχών αποτέλεσε σπουδαίο εργαλείο «οικολογικοποίησης του δικαίου» . Μεταξύ των αρχών αυτών είναι και η αρχή της προφύλαξης. Σκοπός της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι αφενός η παρουσίαση της αρχής αυτής, μέσα από την παράθεση των σχετικών διατυπωθέντων ορισμών και της διάκρισής της από παρεμφερείς αρχές, και αφετέρου η ανάδειξη της σημασίας της, μέσα από τη νομολογία τόσο των εθνικών δικαστηρίων όσο και του Δικαστηρίου της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.Modern investment activities and the pursuit of high economic goals in general have often brought humanity face to face with a serious social dilemma. Can the planet suffer such severe environmental damage on the altar of profit and economic growth? It became clear from a very early age that the protection of the environment is a matter of general and public interest, so the establishment and recognition of specific environmental principles was an important tool for "ecologicalization of the law". Among these principles is the precautionary principle. The purpose of this thesis is on the one hand to present this principle, through the relevant definitions and its distinction from similar principles, and on the other hand to highlight its importance, through the case law of both national courts and the Court of Justice. The European Union

Turkish-Speaking Service-User Experience of Guided Self-Help in an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Service: Using Discovery Interviews to Improve Services

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) delivers guided self-help (GSH) interventions in the United Kingdom (UK). A minority service-user group for whom we know little of their engagement with GSH are Turkish-speaking users. The study aimed to better understand Turkish-speaking service-users experience of a GSH intervention in an IAPT service and identify possible service improvements. A discovery interview method facilitated service-users to describe their experience of GSH. Transcripts were analysed thematically. Excerpts of service-user narratives and thematic commonalities across interviews were disseminated in clinical teams and informed service improvements. Participant distress was expressed through somatic complaints, a high level of confusion and inactivity. Engagement with GSH was affected by ambivalent help-seeking and sense of limited self-efficacy. Service improvements aimed to address a widespread sense of confusion and anxiety. Listening to service-user experience provides opportunities for mending communication gaps between services and ethnic minority service-users

Architecture Competition for the Designing of Student Dormitories for the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT),

MencióPostprint (author's final draft

Comparative Study of Quality of Life and Psychological Aspects in Patients with Psoriasis and Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Psoriasis and hidradenitis suppurativa are two common dermatological diseases that affect physical, social, and psychological aspects of the patients’ lives. The aim of this study was to compare quality of life, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and loneliness in patients with psoriasis and hidradenitis suppurativa. One hundred and eight patients with psoriasis, 113 patients with hidradenitis suppurativa and 116 healthy controls were included in the study. The quality of life, depression, anxiety, and loneliness of the patients as well as their self-esteem were assessed using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the UCLA loneliness Scale (UCLA-Version 3) and the Rosenberg’s Self-esteem Scale (RSES), respectively. Patients with psoriasis (12.77±4.43) reported a higher mean impairment in DLQI than patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (11.10±6.53, P=0.028), in the univariate comparisons. Patients with psoriasis presented statistically significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than both patients with hidradenitis suppurativa and healthy controls, while patients with hidradenitis suppurativa also had higher anxiety and depression compared with healthy controls. Patients with psoriasis (46.31±6.36) reported statistically significantly higher loneliness than both patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (43.18±7.40) and controls (40.42±4.41), while the patients with hidradenitis suppurativa also presented higher loneliness in comparison with controls. Lower levels of self-esteem were found in patients with psoriasis (15.08±3.11) compared with both patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (18.89±1.69) and controls (20.25±2.60), while patients with hidradenitis suppurativa also had lower self-esteem than controls. Significant levels of depression, anxiety, and impaired quality of life were strongly associated with disease severity. When patients with mild disease were compared, those with psoriasis presented with both higher levers of loneliness and lower scores for quality of life. Although both psoriasis and hidradenitis suppurativa are associated with impaired quality of life and psychological aspects, significantly worse scores were recorded in patients with psoriasis

Comparative Study of Quality of Life and Psychological Aspects in Patients with Psoriasis and Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Psoriasis and hidradenitis suppurativa are two common dermatological diseases that affect physical, social, and psychological aspects of the patients’ lives. The aim of this study was to compare quality of life, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and loneliness in patients with psoriasis and hidradenitis suppurativa. One hundred and eight patients with psoriasis, 113 patients with hidradenitis suppurativa and 116 healthy controls were included in the study. The quality of life, depression, anxiety, and loneliness of the patients as well as their self-esteem were assessed using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the UCLA loneliness Scale (UCLA-Version 3) and the Rosenberg’s Self-esteem Scale (RSES), respectively. Patients with psoriasis (12.77±4.43) reported a higher mean impairment in DLQI than patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (11.10±6.53, P=0.028), in the univariate comparisons. Patients with psoriasis presented statistically significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than both patients with hidradenitis suppurativa and healthy controls, while patients with hidradenitis suppurativa also had higher anxiety and depression compared with healthy controls. Patients with psoriasis (46.31±6.36) reported statistically significantly higher loneliness than both patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (43.18±7.40) and controls (40.42±4.41), while the patients with hidradenitis suppurativa also presented higher loneliness in comparison with controls. Lower levels of self-esteem were found in patients with psoriasis (15.08±3.11) compared with both patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (18.89±1.69) and controls (20.25±2.60), while patients with hidradenitis suppurativa also had lower self-esteem than controls. Significant levels of depression, anxiety, and impaired quality of life were strongly associated with disease severity. When patients with mild disease were compared, those with psoriasis presented with both higher levers of loneliness and lower scores for quality of life. Although both psoriasis and hidradenitis suppurativa are associated with impaired quality of life and psychological aspects, significantly worse scores were recorded in patients with psoriasis

A prime/boost DNA/Modified vaccinia virus Ankara vaccine expressing recombinant Leishmania DNA encoding TRYP is safe and immunogenic in outbred dogs, the reservoir of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis

Previous studies demonstrated safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of DNA/modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) prime/boost vaccines expressing tryparedoxin peroxidase (TRYP) and Leishmania homologue of the mammalian receptor for activated C kinase (LACK) against Leishmania major challenge in mice, which was consistent with results from TRYP protein/adjuvant combinations in non-human primates. This study aimed to conduct safety and immunogenicity trials of these DNA/MVA vaccines in dogs, the natural reservoir host of Leishmania infantum, followed-up for 4 months post-vaccination. In a cohort of 22 uninfected outbred dogs, blinded randomised administration of 1000 μg (high dose) or 100 μg (low dose) DNA prime (day 0) and 1 × 108 pfu MVA boost (day 28) was shown to be safe and showed no clinical side effects. High dose DNA/MVA vaccinated TRYP dogs produced statistically higher mean levels of the type-1 pro-inflammatory cytokine IFN-γ than controls in whole blood assays (WBA) stimulated with the recombinant vaccine antigen TRYP, up to the final sampling at day 126, and in the absence of challenge with Leishmania. TRYP vaccinated dogs also demonstrated significantly higher TRYP-specific total IgG and IgG2 subtype titres than in controls, and positive in vivo intradermal reactions at day 156 in the absence of natural infection, observed in 6/8 TRYP vaccinated dogs. No significant increases in IFN-γ in LACK-stimulated WBA, or in LACK-specific IgG levels, were detected in LACK vaccinated dogs compared to controls, and only 2/9 LACK vaccinated dogs demonstrated DTH responses at day 156. In all groups, IgG1 subclass responses and antigen-specific stimulation of IL-10 were similar to controls demonstrating an absence of Th2/Treg response, as expected in the absence of in vivo restimulation or natural/experimental challenge with Leishmania. These collective results indicate significant antigen-specific type-1 responses and in vivo memory phase cellular immune responses, consistent with superior potential for protective vaccine immunogenicity of DNA/MVA TRYP over LACK

A cluster of four cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis by Leishmania donovani in Cyprus: a case series

Introduction: Leishmaniasis is endemic in more than 95 countries and is the only tropical/subtropical vector-borne disease that has been endemic in Southern Europe for decades. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of cutaneous leishmaniasis by Leishmania donovani in a child and the first cluster with adult cases reported in Europe. Case presentation: We describe a familial cluster of four cutaneous leishmaniasis cases among Greek Cypriots caused by L. donovani in a Paphos village, in Cyprus. A 6-year-old boy (Case number 1) had a persistent lesion in the left angle of his upper lip, a 60-year-old woman (Case number 2) presented with a 2cm-diameter glabella lesion on her forehead, a 60-year-old man (Case number 3) developed a lesion on his moustache area and a 40-year-old woman (Case number 4) had a lesion on her neck. In Case number 3 the lesion was self-cured; the other cases recovered after surgical resection followed by liposomal amphotericin B (Case numbers 1 and 4) or thermotherapy and liposomal amphotericin B (Case number 2). Conclusions: This familial cluster of cutaneous leishmaniasis, due to the anthroponotic L. donovani, shows that the sand fly species responsible for transmitting this parasite species is found in the area around the three neighbouring houses involved. The factors favourable for the survival, spread and contact of the vector with people could be assessed in this area for the establishment of preventative measures to safeguard public health

Increasing incidence of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis on Crete, Greece

To determine whether the incidence of canine leishmaniasis has increased on Crete, Greece, we fitted infection models to serodiagnostic records of 8,848 dog samples for 1990–2006. Models predicted that seroprevalence has increased 2.4% (95% confidence interval 1.61%–3.51%) per year and that incidence has increased 2.2- to 3.8-fold over this 17-year period