Subjective and objective indicators of recovery in severe mental illness: a cross-sectional study

Background: This study aimed to determine whether subjective dimensions of recovery such as empowerment are associated with self-report of more objective indicators such as level of participation in the community and income from employment. A secondary aim was to investigate the extent to which diagnosis or other consumer characteristics mediated any relationship between these variables. Methods: The Community Integration Measure, the Empowerment Scale, the Recovery Assessment Scale, and the Camberwell Assessment of Needs Short Appraisal Schedule were administered to a convenience sample of 161 consumers with severe mental illness. Results: The majority of participants had a primary diagnosis of schizophreniform, anxiety/depression or bipolar affective disorder. The Empowerment Scale was quite strongly correlated with the Recovery Assessment Scale and the Community Integration Measure. Participants with a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder had signifi cantly higher recovery and empowerment scores than participants with schizophrenia or depression. Both empowerment and recovery scores were significantly higher for people engaged in paid employment than for those receiving social security benefits. Conclusions: The measurement of subjective dimensions of recovery such as empowerment has validity in evaluation of global recovery for people with severe mental illness. A diagnosis of bipolar disorder is associated with higher scores on subjective and objective indicators of recovery

Assessing Poverty and Inequality at a Detailed Regional Level: New Advances in Spatial Microsimulation

poverty, inequality, measurement, Australia

Critical Success Factors Influencing Adoption of Internet Technology by MSC & Non-MSC Companies

The Internet is transforming the way in which business strategies are formulated in the corporate world. Indeed, it is proving to be the most effective and influential strategic tool of the century by connecting thousands of companies and millions of people every minute. This paper highlights the salient factors influencing the adoption of Internet technology by MSC and 10n-MSC companies. Five organisational and two marketplace factors were used in this study. The final analysis confirmed that MSC and Non-MSC companies were influenced by six factors - perceived direct benefits, organisational compatibility, technical complexity, trading partner pressure, organisational support, and perceived direct benefits. All of the factors above except for technical complexity proved that Non-MSC companies were more affected by these factors than MSCn companies. Another factor, competitive pressure, was not an influential factor

Multiple Keratoacanthomas, Philadelphia Chromosome+ Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, and Dasatinib: A Case Report

Background: Treatment for adult Philadelphia chromosome+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia includes using dasatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas and keratoacanthomas are common findings in patients treated with BRAF inhibitors of tyrosine kinases. No documentation of dasatinib inducing multiple keratoacanthomas, squamous cell carcinomas type during treatment of Philadelphia chromosome+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia is currently available. Case: A 77-year-old Caucasian male presented to the dermatology clinic two months after starting treatment with dasatinib for Philadelphia chromosome positive+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Biopsies confirmed the lesions on the arms, chest, legs and back as keratoacanthoma (KA) type of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). The cutaneous lesions were surgically removed and no new or recurrent lesions were detected since their initial rapid onset despite continued dasatinib therapy. Conclusion: This report of the rapid onset of keratoacanthoma type squamous cell carcinomas in a patient with Philadelphia chromosome+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with dasatinib is presumed to be the first due to the rarity of adult Philadelphia chromosome+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This report documents another tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is associated with the eruption of keratoacanthomas, and adds to the literature regarding the regularity of this relatively common side effect, which may have treatment other than surgery if only a few lesions are present

Secondary Localized Cutaneous Amyloidosis Associated with Actinic Keratosis

Histochemically identifiable amyloid associated with actinic keratosis was studied with the electron microscope. Typical amyloid filaments forming islands identical to collagen strands were found in the upper dermis. Beyond the lesion of actinic keratosis, no amyloid was found. In the healing wound of a previously biopsied lesion, amyloid was regenerated only when the epidermis covered the wound. In such epidermis-covered granulation tissue, electron-dense amorphous substance was initially formed in the upper dermis and amyloid filaments subsequently emerged within it. In both original and regenerated lesions, perivascular spaces were free from amyloid, and actinic elastosis was absent. It was concluded that secondary amyloidosis associated with actinic keratosis is produced by local fibroblastic cells under an abnormal influence of the epidermis

Optimality in Goal-Dependent Analysis of Sharing

We face the problems of correctness, optimality and precision for the static analysis of logic programs, using the theory of abstract interpretation. We propose a framework with a denotational, goal-dependent semantics equipped with two unification operators for forward unification (calling a procedure) and backward unification (returning from a procedure). The latter is implemented through a matching operation. Our proposal clarifies and unifies many different frameworks and ideas on static analysis of logic programming in a single, formal setting. On the abstract side, we focus on the domain Sharing by Jacobs and Langen and provide the best correct approximation of all the primitive semantic operators, namely, projection, renaming, forward and backward unification. We show that the abstract unification operators are strictly more precise than those in the literature defined over the same abstract domain. In some cases, our operators are more precise than those developed for more complex domains involving linearity and freeness. To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP

Social work, stress and burnout: A review

Stress and burnout for health care professionals have received increasing attention in the literature. Significant administrative, societal and political changes have impacted on the role of workers and the responsibilities they are expected to assume. Most writers suggest that social work is a highly stressful occupation, with stress deriving in particular from role conflict between client advocacy and meeting agency needs. This article reviewed the social work literature with two questions in mind: Are social workers subject to greater stress than other health professionals? What factors contribute to stress and burnout among social workers? We found that most of the literature was either anecdotal or compared social worker stress with general population norms rather than with stress levels of workers in comparable professions. Such empirical research as is available suggests that social workers may experience higher levels of stress and resulting burnout than comparable occupational groups. Factors identified as contributing to stress and burnout included the nature of social work practice, especially tension between philosophy and work demands and the organization of the work environment. There was some evidence that supervision and team support are protective factors

Application of Advanced Early Warning Systems with Adaptive Protection

This project developed and field-tested two methods of Adaptive Protection systems utilizing synchrophasor data. One method detects conditions of system stress that can lead to unintended relay operation, and initiates a supervisory signal to modify relay response in real time to avoid false trips. The second method detects the possibility of false trips of impedance relays as stable system swings “encroach” on the relays’ impedance zones, and produces an early warning so that relay engineers can re-evaluate relay settings. In addition, real-time synchrophasor data produced by this project was used to develop advanced visualization techniques for display of synchrophasor data to utility operators and engineers

Identification of an extracellular bacterial flavoenzyme that can prevent re-polymerisation of lignin fragments

A significant problem in the oxidative breakdown of lignin is the tendency of phenolic radical fragments to re-polymerise to form higher molecular weight species. In this paper we identify an extracellular flavin-dependent dehydrolipoamide dehydrogenase from Thermobifida fusca that prevents oxidative dimerization of a dimeric lignin model compound, which could be used as an accessory enzyme for lignin depolymerisation