The aetiology of social deficits within mental health disorders:The role of the immune system and endogenous opioids

The American National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) has put out a set of research goals that include a long-term plan to identify more reliable endogenous explanations for a wide variety of mental health disorders (Insel, 2013). In response to this, we have identified a major symptom that underlies multiple mental health disorders – social bonding dysfunction. We suggest that endogenous opioid abnormalities can lead to altered social bonding, which is a symptom of various mental health disorders, including depression, schizophrenia and ASD. This article first outlines how endogenous opioids play a role in social bonding. Then we show their association with the body’s inflammation immune function, and review recent literature linking inflammation to mental health ‘immunophenotypes’. We finish by explaining how these immunophenotypes may be caused by alterations in the endogenous opioid system. This is the first overview of the role of inflammation across multiple disorders where we provide a biochemical explanation for why immunophenotypes might exist across diagnoses. We propose a novel mechanism of how the immune system may be causing ‘sickness-type’ behaviours (fatigue, appetite change, social withdrawal and inhibited motivation) in those who have these immunophenotypes. We hope that this novel aetiology can be used as a basis for future research in mental health

Book Review - Promoting Law Student and Lawyer Well-Being in Australia and Beyond

Promoting Law Student and Lawyer Well-Being in Australia and Beyond is a book on how to alleviate pathological levels of psychological distress (‘distress’) in people who choose to study law for legal practice (‘legal profession’). The book showcases the Australian Wellness For Law Network’s normative orthodoxy, that the entire legal academic community must be, or become, responsible for law students’ mental health

Biclustering models for two-mode ordinal data

The work in this paper introduces finite mixture models that can be used to simul- taneously cluster the rows and columns of two-mode ordinal categorical response data, such as those resulting from Likert scale responses. We use the popular proportional odds parameterisation and propose models which provide insights into major patterns in the data. Model-fitting is performed using the EM algorithm and a fuzzy allocation of rows and columns to corresponding clusters is obtained. The clustering ability of the models is evaluated in a simulation study and demonstrated using two real data sets

Has the science of mindfulness lost its mind?

The excitement about the application of mindfulness meditation in mental health settings has led to the proliferation of a literature pervaded by a lack of conceptual and methodological self-criticism. In this article we raise two major concerns. First, we consider the range of individual differences within the experience of meditation; although some people may benefit from its practice, others will not be affected in any substantive way, and a number of individuals may suffer moderate to serious adverse effects. Second, we address the insufficient or inconclusive evidence for its benefits, particularly when mindfulness-based interventions are compared with other activities or treatments. We end with suggestions on how to improve the quality of research into mindfulness interventions and outline key issues for clinicians considering referring patients for these interventions

Reabilitação de selas livres com prótese removível : caracterização e resolução de complicações

Introdução: a reabilitação oral com prótese parcial removível assume um papel muito relevante no restabelecimento das principais funções do sistema estomatognático, em função da prevalência das desdentações parciais numa população cada vez mais envelhecida. Nesta perspetiva, torna-se importante conhecer e caracterizar as principais complicações associadas ao uso de próteses parciais removíveis, por forma a contribuir para a otimização da sua resolução. Objetivos: identificar e caracterizar as complicações existentes em próteses parciais removíveis em desdentações tipo classe I e II de Kennedy, assim como o processo de resolução das mesmas. Metodologia: este estudo é do tipo observacional longitudinal retrospectivo. Foi efetuada uma pesquisa dos pacientes reabilitados com prótese parcial removível, em desdentações tipo Classe I e II de Kennedy, na Clínica Universitária da Universidade Católica Portuguesa, desde o ano de 2011. Para tal foi utilizado o programa de gestão clínica NewSoft®, assim como os registos em papel da Área Disciplinar de Prótese Removível. Foi também solicitada a comparência dos pacientes em consultas de controlo para atualização de dados e registo de eventuais alterações da sua reabilitação protética. Após caracterização das complicações e da sua resolução, realizou-se uma análise comparativa com: género, idade, ano de colocação da PPR, localização da PPR e tipo de desdentação baseado na classificação de Kennedy. Comparou-se ainda a presença/identificação de patologia sistémica relevante para o metabolismo ósseo com a necessidade de rebasamento das selas. Os dados recolhidos foram tratados e sujeitos a análise estatística recorrendo ao programa IBM SPSS Statistics, v21.0.0 (Software Statistical Package for the Social Science). Resultados: A complicação biológica mais verificada foi a doença periodontal nos dentes pilares; por outro lado, a complicação mecânica mais incidente foi a necessidade de rebasamento das selas; no que diz respeito à análise comparativa, não se verificou uma relação significativa de dependência entre nenhuma das varáveis abordadas, isto é, em parâmetros como género, idade, ano de colocação da PPR, localização da PPR e tipo de desdentação (segundo Kennedy) não foi averiguada uma relação significativa com nenhuma das complicações protéticas abordadas. Conclusões: Segundo este estudo, não existe uma relação significativa entre género, idade, ano de colocação da PPR, localização da PPR e tipo de desdentação (segundo Kennedy) e cada uma das complicações protéticas abordadas, quer biológicas, quer mecânicas. São requeridos, portanto, novos estudos, com uma maior dimensão amostral, um maior tempo de follow-up e com intervenientes reabilitados noutras clínicas médico-dentárias universitárias e/ou privadas.Introduction: the oral rehabilitation with removable partial prosthesis plays a very important role in the restoration of the main functions of the stomatognathic system due to the prevalence of partial edentulism in an increasingly aging population. In this perspective it is important to know and to characterize the main complications associated with the use of removable partial dentures in order to contribute to the optimization of their resolution. Objectives: To identify and characterize the existing failures in removable partial prosthesis in Kennedy’s class I and II type edentulism, as well as the process of resolving them. Materials and Methods: This study was a retrospective longitudinal observational study type. It was performed a survey of rehabilitated patients with removable partial dentures in Kennedy’s class I and II type edentulism in the University Clinic of Portuguese Catholic University, since the year 2011. For that it was used the clinical management program called NewSoft®, as well as the paper records of Removable Prosthodontics Subject Area. It was also requested to attend the patients in control visits for data update and registration of any changes in its prosthetic rehabilitation. After complications characterization and their resolution it was analysed a relationship with: gender, age, year of RPD placement, RPD location and type of edentulism based on Kennedy‘s classification. It was also compared the presence / identification of systemic pathology with relevance in bone metabolism with the need for saddles relining. The collected data was processed and subjected to statistical analysis using the IBM SPSS Statistics program, v21.0.0 (Software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Results: The most observed biological complication was periodontal disease in abutment teeth; on the other hand, the more common mechanical complication was the need for saddles relining; into the comparative analysis, there was no significant dependence relationship between any of the variables discussed; in other words in parameters such as gender, age, year of RPD placement, RPD location and type of edentulism (based on Kennedy) it wasn’t found a significant relationship with any of prosthetic complications addressed. Conclusions: According to this study, there was no significant relationship between gender, age, year of placement of PPR, the PPR location and type of edentulous (based on Kennedy) and each of the prosthetic complications addressed, whether biological or mechanical. Therefore it is required further studies with a larger sample size, a bigger follow-up time and participants rehabilitated in others dental university clinics and/or private clinics

How is contemporary English spiritual and religious identity constructed and reconstructed by performance?

The relationship between theatrical performance and religion in Western culture has always been complex and often troubled; and yet at points of encounter each provides fertile ground for exploring questions about how our religious and spiritual identity is constructed through society. This is particularly true of England today. The arrival of the 21st century seems to have heralded a renewed interest in questions surrounding religious practice and spiritual seeking. When debates about the nature and implications of religious belief are so high on the cultural agenda, performance inevitably becomes a public site of these debates. This is reflected in the academy, and while sociologists of religion have become increasingly aware of the 'performative' aspects of religious practices, contemporary performance practitioners and theorists have become more concerned with questions of religion, spirituality and the sacred. This thesis acknowledges both aspects of this nexus. It contextualises these manifestations in popular culture through recent scholarship from the sociology of religion, and uses frameworks and discourse from performance scholarship to consider the implications of psychophysical practice on performative identity construction. To do this it critiques performance culture’s use of religion and spirituality to describe both positive and negative aspects of performance and its genealogies, which at its most extreme, asserts the 'failure' of mainstream religion and moves to assume the mantle of religion itself. This thesis, through textual and performance analysis, literature reviews, archival research and fieldwork argues that performance optics offer significant mechanisms for examining the efficacy of embodied practices that construct the infinite variety of religious, spiritual and cultural beliefs. It includes a series of case studies which explore how notions of ‘Englishness’ as civic-identity are interwoven with concepts of religiosity and responsibility. They are informed by my fieldwork as a participant and observer in acts of Christian and Spiritualist worship, in addition to my pilgrimage to Lourdes and Glastonbury with Goddess worshippers and Catholics. This thesis asks how is contemporary English religious and spiritual identity constructed and reconstructed by performance?Arts and Humanities Research Counci