Recent physical and sexual violence against adults with severe mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis

People with severe mental illness (SMI) have high prevalence of lifetime victimization, but little is known about the extent and risk of recent domestic/sexual violence. The objective was to synthesize evidence on prevalence, odds, and risk factors for recent violence against people with SMI, with a focus on domestic and sexual violence. Relevant studies were identified through literature searches in Medline, Psychinf, Embase (for studies published in 2010–2015), and through existing systematic reviews (for studies published in 2000–2014). The review included 30 studies (with 16 140 SMI participants), including six on domestic violence and 11 on sexual violence. Prevalence of recent domestic violence ranged from 15–22% among women and from 4–10% among men/mixed samples; with little evidence on risk compared with the general population. Median prevalence of sexual violence was 9.9% (IQR = 5.9–18.1%) in women and 3.1% (IQR = 2.5–6.7%) in men; with 6-fold higher odds of victimization compared with the general population. There was little evidence on risk factors for domestic or sexual violence. In conclusion, people with SMI have a high prevalence of recent domestic and sexual violence, but little is known about risk factors for these violence types, or extent of domestic violence victimization compared to the general population

Violence against people with disability in England and Wales: findings from a national cross-sectional survey.

The recent World Report on Disability highlighted violence as a leading cause of morbidity among disabled people. However, we know little about the extent to which people with disability experience different violence types, and associated health/economic costs. The recent introduction of disability measures into the England&Wales victimization survey provided an opportunity to address this gap

Psychological type and prayer preferences: a study among Anglican clergy in the United Kingdom

This study applies the framework of Jungian psychological type theory to define eight aspects of prayer preference, namely: introverted prayer, extraverted prayer, sensing prayer, intuitive prayer, feeling prayer, thinking prayer, judging prayer, and perceiving prayer. On the basis of data provided by 1,476 newly ordained Anglican clergy from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, eight 7-item scales were developed to access these aspects of prayer preferences. Significant correlations were found between each prayer preference and the relevant aspect of psychological type accessed by the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. These data support the theory that psychological type influences the way in which people pray

Narrative explorations into the professional development of lecturers teaching higher education in English further education colleges

The diversification of settings in which higher education is delivered has resulted in a growing proportion of lecturers entering teaching from professional backgrounds. This is a challenging transition as lecturers are rarely given the space to consider the implications of this move on their identities and practice styles. Writing is recognised as a powerful methodology through which individuals can make sense of experiences and conceptualise them in light of historical, theoretical and social perspectives. In this paper we consider the experiences of 10 college lecturers who used writing to explore this transition as part of a professional development initiative to promote their writing skills. They were providing higher education in further education colleges across South West England. This project ran over two years, involving a year-long professional development intervention and a subsequent evaluation. Over this time the lecturers produced a number of written pieces. We present the different styles and forms of writing used, and how these engaged with their emergent voices and growing sense of legitimacy. We highlight how writing can provide a reflexive medium and assist in the identification of developmental goals, something particularly valuable during professional transitions

The psychological-type profile of clergywomen in ordained local ministry in the Church of England : pioneers or custodians?

This study employs psychological-type theory to compare the psychological profile of 144 clergywomen serving in ordained local ministry in the Church of England alongside the established profile of 237 professional mobile clergywomen serving in the Church of England published by Francis, Craig, Whinney, Tilley, and Slater. The data found no significant differences between these two groups of clergywomen in terms of orientations (introversion and extraversion) or in terms of the judging process (thinking and feeling). In terms of the perceiving process, there was a significantly higher proportion of sensing types among those serving in ordained local ministry (70% compared with 35%). In terms of the attitudes, there was a significantly higher proportion of judging types among those serving in ordained local ministry (83% compared with 65%). The combined sensing judging (SJ) temperament accounted for 65% of the clergywomen serving in ordained local ministry, compared with 29% of the clergywomen serving in professional mobile ministry in the earlier study. It is argued that the SJ temperament characterises a custodian style of ministry

Impact of mental health problems on case fatality in male cancer patients

Background: Although mortality rates are elevated in psychiatric patients relative to their healthy counterparts, little is known about the impact of mental health on survival in people with cancer. / Methods and results: Among 16 498 Swedish men with cancer, survival was worse in those with a history of psychiatric hospital admissions: multiply-adjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) comparing cancer mortality in men with and without psychiatric admissions: 1.59 (1.39, 1.83). / Conclusion: Survival in cancer patients is worse among those with a history of psychiatric disease. The mechanisms underlying this association should be further explored

CAR-T cell. the long and winding road to solid tumors

Adoptive cell therapy of solid tumors with reprogrammed T cells can be considered the "next generation" of cancer hallmarks. CAR-T cells fail to be as effective as in liquid tumors for the inability to reach and survive in the microenvironment surrounding the neoplastic foci. The intricate net of cross-interactions occurring between tumor components, stromal and immune cells leads to an ineffective anergic status favoring the evasion from the host's defenses. Our goal is hereby to trace the road imposed by solid tumors to CAR-T cells, highlighting pitfalls and strategies to be developed and refined to possibly overcome these hurdles

Apparent diffusion coefficient restriction in the white matter: going beyond acute brain territorial ischemia

BACKGROUND: Reduction of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in white matter is not always ischaemic in nature. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed our MRI records featuring reduced ADC values in the centrum semiovale without grey matter involvement or significant vasogenic oedema. RESULTS: Several conditions showed the aforementioned MR findings: moose-horn lesions on coronal images in X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease; small fronto-parietal lesions in Menkes disease; marked signal abnormalities in the myelinised regions in the acute neonatal form of maple syrup urine disease; strip-like involvement of the corpus callosum in glutaric aciduria type 1; persistent periventricular parieto-occipital abnormalities in phenylketonuria; diffuse signal abnormalities with necrotic evolution in global cerebral anoxia or after heroin vapour inhalation; almost completely reversible symmetric fronto-parietal lesions in methotrexate neurotoxicity; chain-like lesions in watershed ischaemia; splenium involvement that normalises in reversible splenial lesions or leads to gliosis in diffuse axonal injury. CONCLUSION: Neuroradiologists must be familiar with these features, thereby preventing misdiagnosis and inappropriate management

Prediction of Ideas Number During a Brainstorming Session

International audienceIn this paper, we present an approach allowing the prediction of ideas number during a brainstorming session. This prediction is based on two dynamic models of brainstorming, the non-cognitive and the cognitive models proposed by Brown and Paulus (Small Group Res 27(1):91–114, 1996). These models describe for each participant, the evolution of ideas number over time, and are formalized by differential equations. Through solution functions of these models, we propose to calculate the number of ideas of each participant on any time intervals and thus in the future (called prediction). To be able to compute solution functions, it is necessary to determine the parameters of these models. In our approach, we use optimization model for model parameters calculation in which solution functions are approximated by numerical methods. We developed two generic optimization models, one based on Euler’s and the other on the fourth order Runge–Kutta’s numerical methods for the solving of differential equations, and we apply them to the non-cognitive and respectively to the cognitive models. Through some feasibility tests, we show the adequacy of the proposed approach to our prediction context

Melatonin promoted chemotaxins expression in lung epithelial cell stimulated with TNF-α

BACKGROUND: Patients with asthma demonstrate circadian variations in the airway inflammation and lung function. Pinealectomy reduces the total inflammatory cell number in the asthmatic rat lung. We hypothesize that melatonin, a circadian rhythm regulator, may modulate the circadian inflammatory variations in asthma by stimulating the chemotaxins expression in the lung epithelial cell. METHODS: Lung epithelial cells (A549) were stimulated with melatonin in the presence or absence of TNF-α(100 ng/ml). RANTES (Regulated on Activation Normal T-cells Expressed and Secreted) and eotaxin expression were measured using ELISA and real-time RT-PCR, eosinophil chemotactic activity (ECA) released by A549 was measured by eosinophil chemotaxis assay. RESULTS: TNF-α increased the expression of RANTES (307.84 ± 33.56 versus 207.64 ± 31.27 pg/ml of control, p = 0.025) and eotaxin (108.97 ± 10.87 versus 54.00 ± 5.29 pg/ml of control, p = 0.041). Melatonin(10(-10 )to 10(-6)M) alone didn't change the expression of RNATES (204.97 ± 32.56 pg/ml) and eotaxin (55.28 ± 6.71 pg/ml). However, In the presence of TNF-α (100 ng/ml), melatonin promoted RANTES (410.88 ± 52.03, 483.60 ± 55.37, 559.92 ± 75.70, 688.42 ± 95.32, 766.39 ± 101.53 pg/ml, treated with 10(-10), 10(-9), 10(-8), 10(-7),10(-6)M melatonin, respectively) and eotaxin (151.95 ± 13.88, 238.79 ± 16.81, 361.62 ± 36.91, 393.66 ± 44.89, 494.34 ± 100.95 pg/ml, treated with 10(-10), 10(-9), 10(-8), 10(-7), 10(-6)M melatonin, respectively) expression in a dose dependent manner in A549 cells (compared with TNF-α alone, P < 0.05). The increased release of RANTES and eotaxin in A549 cells by above treatment were further confirmed by both real-time RT-PCR and the ECA assay. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our results suggested that melatonin might synergize with pro-inflammatory cytokines to modulate the asthma airway inflammation through promoting the expression of chemotaxins in lung epithelial cell