Individualized metacognitive therapy for delusions: A randomized controlled rater-blind study

Theory-driven interventions targeting specific factors that contribute to delusions are receiving increased interest. The present study aimed to assess the efficacy of individualized metacognitive therapy (MCT+), a short manualized intervention that addresses delusion-associated cognitive biases.; 92 patients with current or past delusions were randomized to receive 12 twice-weekly sessions of either MCT+ or a control intervention within a randomized controlled rater-blind design. Psychopathology and cognitive biases were assessed at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months. ANCOVAs adjusted for baseline scores were used to assess differences between groups regarding outcome variables. Both per-protocol and intention-to-treat analyses were conducted.; At 6 weeks, there was a significant difference in favor of MCT+ regarding decrease in delusion severity and improvement of self-reflectiveness (medium effect size), and a trend-wise difference regarding probability thresholds to decision. These effects increased, when only patients attending a minimum of 4 therapy sessions were considered. Control group patients subsequently showed further improvement while patients in the MCT+ group remained stable, such that there were no differences between groups at the 6-month follow-up.; Lower attendance rates in the control group possibly leading to unequal therapeutic effort; lower baseline delusion severity in the MCT+ group.; The result pattern suggests that MCT+ led to earlier improvement in delusions and cognitive biases compared to the control intervention. The absence of a long-term effect might reflect floor effects in the MCT+ group, but may also indicate the need for further measures to promote sustainability of MCT+ effects

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data