Management of the therapeutic relationship in a patient with Complex PTSD and Personality Disorder

Individuals diagnosed with Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) have experienced repeated and often prolonged traumatic events. From a therapeutic perspective this can lead to difficulties in emotion regulation within-session, challenges with patient-therapist attunement, and impaired coregulation of emotions during therapeutic interactions. As a result, frequent therapeutic alliance ruptures can emerge, which in turn pose challenges for symptom-focused work. We describe a case study involving a 38-year-old woman presenting with C-PTSD, dissociation, anxiety and borderline and dependent personality disorder traits. We explore how difficulties in attunement and emotion regulation during therapy were mostly attributable to (i) maladaptive ideas regarding the self and others; and (ii) difficulties in recognizing both her own mental states and those of her therapist. For instance, the patient believed that the therapist was distant and critical; which she held to be fact rather than reflective of a mental state. We show how the therapist addressed these difficulties, incorporating repair of the therapeutic alliance, which enabled a return to symptom focused work. The case description offers guidance on how to maintain a dual focus on therapeutic alliance alongside symptoms when treating C-PTSD (with or without comorbidity).</p

Metacognitive interpersonal mindfulness-based training for worry about interpersonal events:A pilot feasibility and acceptability study

Individuals with personality disorders experience worry and repetitive thoughts regarding interpersonal scenarios. Mainstream mindfulness-based approaches may be insufficient to soothe these individual's distress due to difficulties in letting thoughts go and refocusing attention to the present moment. For this reason, we devised an adapted form of mindfulness-based program called Metacognitive Interpersonal Mindfulness-Based Training (MIMBT) for personality disorders. In this pilot study, 28 individuals attended nine weekly sessions to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability, and to establish preliminary outcomes. All individuals completed the program. Attendance was very high (96%). Significant changes were observed on the primary outcome of reduction in repetitive thinking, measured using the Metacognition Questionnaire-30. We also observed a decrease in depression severity. Despite important limitations, this pilot study suggests that MIMBT has the potential to be a viable and well-accepted option for increasing positive outcomes in the treatment of personality disorders. Clinical considerations and directions for future research are discussed

Results of infrainguinal revascularization with bypass surgery using a heparin-bonded graft for disabling intermittent claudication due to femoropopliteal occlusive disease

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to analyze the results of infrainguinal revascularization for disabling intermittent claudication (IC) due to femoropopliteal occlusive disease using bypass graft (BPG) surgery with a heparin-bonded expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (HB-ePTFE) graft. METHODS: Between 2002 and 2016, we performed 1400 BPGs with HB-ePTFE interventions in patients with femoropopliteal occlusive disease, of which IC was an indication in 485 (34.6%) patients. Early major end points were in-hospital mortality and major complications; late major end points were primary patency, freedom from redo bypass, freedom from progression to critical limb ischemia, and freedom from above-knee amputation or prosthetic graft infection. RESULTS: We performed 200 (41.2%) above-knee BPGs and 231 (47.6%) below-knee BPGs; 54 (11.1%) BPGs targeted a tibial artery. In-hospital death occurred in two (0.4%) patients. Overall, the major complication rate was 4.3%. The median duration of follow-up was 33 months (range, 1-150 months; interquartile range [IQR], 14-62.8 months); the cumulative follow-up index for survival was 0.75 \ub1 0.25. During the follow-up, 56 (11.6%) patients died. Estimated primary patency of the BPG was 86.1% \ub1 1.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 82.7-88.9) at 12 months, 68.4% \ub1 2.4% (95% CI, 63.5-72.9) at 36 months, and 57.7% \ub1 2.9% (95% CI, 52.0-63.2) at 60 months. On multivariate analysis, runoff status (no or one vessel), site of the distal anastomosis (below the knee), and postoperative medical treatment (oral anticoagulants) impaired primary patency. Estimated freedom from redo bypass was 96.1% \ub1 0.9% (95% CI, 93.9-97.5) at 12 months, 84.8% \ub1 1.9% (95% CI, 80.7-88.2) at 36 months, and 76.4% \ub1 2.6% (95% CI, 71.0-81.1) at 60 months. Both the runoff status (no or one vessel) and the diameter of the graft (6 mm) were significantly associated with the need for redo bypass. Freedom from progression to critical limb ischemia was 86.1% \ub1 2.2% (95% CI, 81.2-89.9) at 60 months. During the follow-up, there were 20 (4.1%) above-knee amputations, which occurred at a median of 33 months (range, 2-107 months; IQR, 14-63 months) after the indexed BPG intervention. Prosthetic graft infection occurred in seven (1.4%) patients, with a median delay from index procedure to presentation with graft infection of 33 months (range, 1-72 months; IQR, 14-62.5 months), resulting in a freedom from prosthetic graft infection rate of 98.2% \ub1 2% (95% CI, 95.8-99.2) at 60 months. CONCLUSIONS: In patients suffering from lifestyle-disabling IC with long or complex occlusive lesions of the femoropopliteal segment, open BPG surgery with Hb-ePTFE graft had an acceptably low mortality rate. A poor runoff status was a significant predictor of loss of graft patency, especially after a below-knee anastomosis, as was the need for redo bypass. Dual antiplatelet therapy had significantly better results against follow-up thrombosis, and 8-mm grafts showed better freedom from redo bypass compared with 6-mm grafts

Neutron Radiation Tests of the NEORV32 RISC-V SoC on Flash-Based FPGAs

Highly reliable and customizable micro-processors are critical enablers for future intelligent space platforms. From an architectural point of view, the RISC-V architecture is the current best option for adaptability, with its modular ISA and a multitude of contributors. To implement such a processor at a low price range, companies are looking at reprogrammable Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), which can extend the mission lifetime. SRAM FPGAs are known to be susceptible to low Linear Energy Transfer Single-Event Upsets (SEUs) in the configuration memory, Flash FPGAs on the other hand, are in general immune to such errors. This paper performs for the first time characterization of the open-core NEORV32, a lightweight yet representative RISC-V SoC, and provides insights into the tradeoffs of protection mechanisms against neutron-induced SEUs when this core is implemented in a Flash-based FPGA. The Unmodified core is compared against an ECC-protected version and a register-level TMR with an ECC version. All versions execute the CoreMark benchmark. We show how the addition of ECC protection single-handedly resulted in a more reliable core.</p

Prevalence and risk factors for heparin-bonded expanded polytetrafluoroethylene vascular graft infection after infrainguinal femoropopliteal bypasses

BACKGROUND: To analyze the prevalence and predictors of prosthetic vascular graft infection (PVGI) in a multicenter registry. METHODS: This registry-based, multicenter study retrospectively evaluated PVGI that developed after infrainguinal revascularization performed with a heparin-bonded expanded polytetrafluoroethylene graft that was used in 1400 interventions between 2002 and 2016. A prosthetic graft with infection was defined as direct involvement of the graft with positive bacterial cultures of graft or perigraft material, intraoperative gross purulence or failure of graft incorporation, or exposed graft in an infected wound. RESULTS: Critical limb ischemia (CLI) was the main indication for bypass (n = 915 [65%]). The median duration of follow-up was 29 months (range, 1-168 months; interquartile range, 12-60 months). A total of 33 heparin-bonded expanded polytetrafluoroethylene grafts (2.3%) became infected; the median time to occurrence was 5 months (range, 1-54 months; interquartile range; 2.00-13.25 months). Freedom from PVGI at 1 year was 98% (standard error, 0.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 97.2-98.9), and 97% (standard error, 0.6; 95% CI, 95.6-98.0) at 5 years. The multivariate model identified CLI (P = .042; hazard ratio, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.164-0.969) to be independently associated with PVGI. In-hospital mortality of PVGI treatment was 12% (n = 4/33). Freedom from major amputation was significantly different between patients with PVGI and those who did not experience this complication (at 1 year, 67.0% vs 88.5%; Log-rank \u3c72 = 22.5; P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: In our "real-world" multicenter experience the prevalence of PVGI after infrainguinal femoropopliteal bypasses was relatively low at 2.3%, but still associated with significant mortality and limb loss. CLI was the only significant predictor of PVGI. This conclusion is reasonable; however, more comprehensive data are required to confirm these findings, because the presence of ischemic ulcers or gangrene was not predictive of PVGI