Randomized controlled trial of supportive-expressive group therapy and body-mind-spirit intervention for Chinese non-metastatic breast cancer patients

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of supportive-expressive group (SEG) therapy and body-mind-spirit (BMS) intervention on emotional suppression and psychological distress in Chinese breast cancer patients.published_or_final_versio

Gestational Exposure to Antidepressants and Risk of Seizure in Offspring: A systematic review and meta-analysis

In spite of the preliminary evidence suggesting a link between gestational use of antidepressant and neurodevelopmental disorders in their offspring, the association between maternal use of antidepressants during pregnancy and the risk of neurologically-related adverse outcomes such as neonatal seizure is still unclear. This study summarises the available evidence on the association between gestational exposure to any antidepressants and the risk of seizure in neonates and children. We found that gestational antidepressant exposure is associated with a 2.3-fold higher incidence of seizure in offspring. Although a causal relationship cannot be confirmed in view of other potential confounders, our findings warrant future research on related clinical aspects, and possibly more careful monitoring of foetal neurodevelopment in pregnant women taking antidepressants during pregnancy. However, this does not suggest the abrupt withdrawal of antidepressants during pregnancy for all cases at risk of seizure in offspring as this must be balanced with the risk of negative consequences caused by untreated maternal depression, and decision-making should be individualised for each patient

Efficient constrained multiple sequence alignment with performance guarantee

The constrained multiple sequence alignment problem is to align a set of sequences of maximum length n subject to a given constrained sequence, which arises from some knowledge of the structure of the sequences. This paper presents new algorithms for this problem, which are more efficient in terms of time and space (memory) than the previous algorithms,15 and with a worst-case guarantee on the quality of the alignment. Saving the space requirement by a quadratic factor is particularly significant as the previous O(n4)-space algorithm has limited application due to its huge memory requirement. Experiments on real data sets confirm that our new algorithms show improvements in both alignment quality and resource requirements. © Imperial College Press.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

An Efficacy Study of the Body-Mind-Spirit Intervention and Supportive Expressive Therapy on Emotional Suppression in Chinese Breast Cancer Survivors (XI-2)

Conference Theme: Promoting Quality Psychosocial Cancer Care Across Diverse Communitie

Suicidality and cultural values among Hong Kong adolescents

Scholars have proposed that individualistic values resulting from globalization are associated with increasing behavioral and emotional problems among youth in modernizing cultures. This study examined specific individualistic and traditional values in the context of suicidal ideation and behaviors in Hong Kong among community adolescent youths (N=2427) ages 14-18 years. Participants indicated the extent to which self-direction/independence and obedience/respect for elders were important to them. They also reported on four progressive levels of suicidality: whether in the last year they had experienced suicidal ideation, made plans for a suicide attempt, attempted suicide, and (for attemptors) made a serious attempt requiring medical attention. After controlling for quality of family relationships and depressive symptoms, at least one of the values predicted suicidality at all but the highest level. There were sex-specific associations between values and suicidality. In general, endorsement of self-direction was correlated with reduced risk of suicidality for boys and was irrelevant to girls. In contrast, traditional emphases on obedience and respect for elders were more frequently protective against suicidality for girls and were inconsistent predictors for boys. The relationship between values and suicidality was generally independent of the effect of family relationships and depressive symptoms. Thus, values were associated with adolescent suicidality, but not consistently in the direction predicted by some theorists, and the association depended upon the adolescent's sex. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Depressive symptoms among Hong Kong adolescents: Relation to atypical sexual feelings and behaviors, gender dissatisfaction, pubertal timing, and family and peer relationships

A representative community sample of Hong Kong boys (n = 1,024) and girls (n = 1,403), age 14-18 years, provided information regarding same-sex attraction, gender dissatisfaction, pubertal timing, early experience with sexual intercourse, and depressive symptoms. They also rated the quality of their family and peer relationships and self-perceived attractiveness. Depressive symptoms were higher in youths reporting same-sex attraction, gender dissatisfaction, early pubertal maturation, and early sexual intercourse. Family relationships were less satisfactory for those who reported same-sex attraction, gender dissatisfaction, and early sexual intercourse, and peer relationships were also worse for those who reported gender dissatisfaction. In multivariate analyses, same-sex attraction, early sexual intercourse, and early pubertal maturation were unique and direct contributors to depressive symptoms; however, gender dissatisfaction's association with depressive symptoms was largely accounted for by shared correlations with negative family and peer relationships. The multivariate model explained 11% of the variance of depressive symptoms. These findings offer a preliminary documentation of the prevalence and correlates of atypical sexual self-assessments and behavior among adolescents in Hong Kong. Such information is important if theories of sexual identity and risk factors for depressive symptoms are to have cross-cultural utility.link_to_subscribed_fulltex