A strengths-based case management service for people with serious mental illness in Israel: A randomized controlled trial

Case management services for people with serious mental illness are generally found to be effective, but controlled and randomized studies assessing such services are scarce. The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of a new strengths-based case management (SBCM) service in Israel, using a randomized controlled approach. The sample consisted of 1276 individuals with serious mental illness, who consume psychiatric rehabilitation services (PRS) in the community, and were randomly assigned to receive or not to receive the SBCM service in addition to treatment-as-usual PRS. Quality of life, goal setting and attainment, unmet needs, self-efficacy, interpersonal relationships, symptom severity, and service utilization were assessed by clients at onset and after 20 months. Results show that SBCM participants improved in self-efficacy, unmet needs, and general quality of life, and set more goals than the control group. SBCM participants also consumed fewer services at follow-up. Results suggest that SBCM services are effective in helping individuals with serious mental illness set personal goals and use PRS in a better and more focused manner

Why is there no queer international theory?

Over the last decade, Queer Studies have become Global Queer Studies, generating significant insights into key international political processes. Yet, the transformation from Queer to Global Queer has left the discipline of International Relations largely unaffected, which begs the question: if Queer Studies has gone global, why has the discipline of International Relations not gone somewhat queer? Or, to put it in Martin Wight’s provocative terms, why is there no Queer International Theory? This article claims that the presumed non-existence of Queer International Theory is an effect of how the discipline of International Relations combines homologization, figuration, and gentrification to code various types of theory as failures in order to manage the conduct of international theorizing in all its forms. This means there are generalizable lessons to be drawn from how the discipline categorizes Queer International Theory out of existence to bring a specific understanding of International Relations into existence

Functional immunomics: Microarray analysis of IgG autoantibody repertoires predicts the future response of NOD mice to an inducer of accelerated diabetes

One's present repertoire of antibodies encodes the history of one's past immunological experience. Can the present autoantibody repertoire be consulted to predict resistance or susceptibility to the future development of an autoimmune disease? Here we developed an antigen microarray chip and used bioinformatic analysis to study a model of type 1 diabetes developing in non-obese diabetic (NOD) male mice in which the disease was accelerated and synchronized by exposing the mice to cyclophosphamide at 4 weeks of age. We obtained sera from 19 individual mice, treated the mice to induce cyclophosphamide-accelerated diabetes (CAD), and found, as expected, that 9 mice became severely diabetic while 10 mice permanently resisted diabetes. We again obtained serum from each mouse afterCAD induction. We then analyzed the patterns of antibodies in the individualmice to 266 different antigens spotted on the antigen chip. We identified a select panel of 27 different antigens (10% of the array) that revealed a pattern of IgG antibody reactivity in the pre-CAD serathat discriminated between the mice resistant or susceptible to CAD with 100% sensitivity and 82% specificity (p=0.017). Surprisingly, the set of IgG antibodies that was informative before CAD induction did not separate the resistant and susceptible groups after the onset of CAD; new antigens became criticalfor post-CAD repertoire discrimination. Thus, at least for a model disease, present antibody repertoires can predict future disease; predictive and diagnostic repertoires can differ; and decisive information about immune system behavior can be mined by bioinformatic technology. Repertoires matter.Comment: See Advanced Publication on the PNAS website for final versio

Risk of malnutrition is associated with mental health symptoms in community living elderly men and women: The Tromsø Study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Little research has been done on the relationship between malnutrition and mental health in community living elderly individuals. In the present study, we aimed to assess the associations between mental health (particularly anxiety and depression) and both the risk of malnutrition and body mass index (BMI, kg/m²) in a large sample of elderly men and women from Tromsø, Norway.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a cross-sectional survey, with 1558 men and 1553 women aged 65 to 87 years, the risk of malnutrition was assessed by the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool ('MUST'), and mental health was measured by the Symptoms Check List 10 (SCL-10). BMI was categorised into six groups (< 20.0, 20.0-22.4, 22.5-24.9, 25.0-27.4, 27.5-29.9, ≥ 30.0 kg/m²).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The risk of malnutrition (combining medium and high risk) was found in 5.6% of the men and 8.6% of the women. Significant mental health symptoms were reported by 3.9% of the men and 9.1% of the women. In a model adjusted for age, marital status, smoking and education, significant mental health symptoms (SCL-10 score ≥ 1.85) were positively associated with the risk of malnutrition (odds ratio 3.9 [95% CI 1.7-8.6] in men and 2.5 [95%CI 1.3-4.9] in women), the association was positive also for subthreshold mental health symptoms. For individuals with BMI < 20.0 the adjusted odds ratio for significant mental health symptoms was 2.0 [95% CI 1.0-4.0].</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Impaired mental health was strongly associated with the risk of malnutrition in community living elderly men and women and this association was also significant for subthreshold mental health symptoms.</p

Rituals of World Politics: On (Visual) Practices Disordering Things

Rituals are customarily muted into predictable and boring routines aimed to stabilise social orders and limit conflict. As a result, their magic lure recedes into the background, and the unexpected, disruptive and disordered elements are downplayed. Our collaborative contribution counters this move by foregrounding rituals of world politics as social practices with notable disordering effects. The collective discussion recovers the disruptive work of a range of rituals designed to sustain the sovereign exercise of violence and war. We do so through engaging a series of ‘world pictures' (Mitchell 2007). We show the worlding enacted in rituals such as colonial treaty-making, state commemoration, military/service dog training, cyber-security podcasts,algorithmically generated maps, the visit of Prince Harry to a joint NATO exercise and border ceremonies in India, respectively. We do so highlighting rituals’ immanent potential for disruption of existing orders, the fissures, failures and unforeseen repercussions. Reappraising the disordering role of ritual practices sheds light on the place of rituals in rearticulating the boundaries of the political. It emphasises the role of rituals in generating dissensus and re-divisions of the sensible rather than in imposing a consensus by policing the boundaries of the political, as Rancière might phrase it. Our images are essential to the account. They help disinterring the fundamentals and ambiguities of the current worldings of security, capturing the affective atmosphere of rituals

Predicting change in quality of life from age 79 to 90 in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921

Purpose: Quality of life (QoL) decreases in very old age, and is strongly related to health outcomes and mortality. Understanding the predictors of QoL and change in QoL amongst the oldest old may suggest potential targets for intervention. This study investigated change in QoL from age 79 to 90 years in a group of older adults in Scotland, and identified potential predictors of that change. Method: Participants were members of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 who attended clinic visits at age 79 (n = 554) and 90 (n = 129). Measures at both time points included QoL (WHOQOL-BREF: four domains and two single items), anxiety and depression, objective health, functional ability, self-rated health, loneliness, and personality. Results: Mean QoL declined from age 79 to 90. Participants returning at 90 had scored significantly higher at 79 on most QoL measures, and exhibited better objective health and functional ability, and lower anxiety and depression than non-returners. Hierarchical multiple regression models accounted for 20.3–56.3% of the variance in QoL at age 90. Baseline QoL was the strongest predictor of domain scores (20.3–35.6% variance explained), suggesting that individual differences in QoL judgements remain largely stable. Additional predictors varied by the QoL domain and included self-rated health, loneliness, and functional and mood decline between age 79 and 90 years. Conclusions: This study has identified potential targets for interventions to improve QoL in the oldest old. Further research should address causal pathways between QoL and functional and mood decline, perceived health and loneliness

Affect is what states make of it: articulating everyday experiences of 9/11

This article considers the politics of affect and official discourses of ‘9/11’. Drawing on the work of William Connolly and others, it is argued that to understand the resonance of dominant constructions of ‘9/11’ it is necessary to revisit their successful incorporation of prevalent American affective experiences of September 11th. To date, this relationship between affect, resonance, and discourse has been underexplored in International Relations. Its investigation offers important empirical insights on resonance, as well as theoretical innovation in connecting established work on narrative and discourse with emerging work on bioculture and affect. To this end, the article introduces a framework for the future analysis of affect, culture and discourse within International Relations. The article concludes, however, that, notwithstanding its importance to resonance, in ‘crisis’ situations such as ‘9/11’, affect is what states make of it

Temporal order of clinical and biomarker changes in familial frontotemporal dementia

Data availability: The datasets analyzed for the current study reflect collaborative efforts of two research consortia: ALLFTD and GENFI. Each consortium provides clinical data access based on established policies for data use: processes for request are available for review at allftd.org/data for ALLFTD data and by emailing [email protected]. Certain data elements from both consortia (for example raw MRI images) may be restricted due to the potential for identifiability in the context of the sensitive nature of the genetic data. The deidentified combined dataset will be available for request through the FTD Prevention Initiative in 2023 (https://www.thefpi.org/).Code availability: Custom R code is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6687486.Copyright © The Author(s). Unlike familial Alzheimer’s disease, we have been unable to accurately predict symptom onset in presymptomatic familial frontotemporal dementia (f-FTD) mutation carriers, which is a major hurdle to designing disease prevention trials. We developed multimodal models for f-FTD disease progression and estimated clinical trial sample sizes in C9orf72, GRN and MAPT mutation carriers. Models included longitudinal clinical and neuropsychological scores, regional brain volumes and plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) in 796 carriers and 412 noncarrier controls. We found that the temporal ordering of clinical and biomarker progression differed by genotype. In prevention-trial simulations using model-based patient selection, atrophy and NfL were the best endpoints, whereas clinical measures were potential endpoints in early symptomatic trials. f-FTD prevention trials are feasible but will likely require global recruitment efforts. These disease progression models will facilitate the planning of f-FTD clinical trials, including the selection of optimal endpoints and enrollment criteria to maximize power to detect treatment effects.Data collection and dissemination of the data presented in this paper were supported by the ALLFTD Consortium (U19: AG063911, funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke) and the former ARTFL and LEFFTDS Consortia (ARTFL: U54 NS092089, funded by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; LEFFTDS: U01 AG045390, funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke). The manuscript was reviewed by the ALLFTD Executive Committee for scientific content. The authors acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the study participants and families as well as the assistance of the support staffs at each of the participating sites. This work is also supported by the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (including the FTD Biomarkers Initiative), the Bluefield Project to Cure FTD, Larry L. Hillblom Foundation (2018-A-025-FEL (A.M.S.)), the National Institutes of Health (AG038791 (A.L.B.), AG032306 (H.J.R.), AG016976 (W.K.), AG062677 (Ron C. Peterson), AG019724 (B.L.M.), AG058233 (Suzee E. Lee), AG072122 (Walter Kukull), P30 AG062422 (B.L.M.), K12 HD001459 (N.G.), K23AG061253 (A.M.S.), AG062422 (RCP), K24AG045333 (H.J.R.)) and the Rainwater Charitable Foundation. Samples from the National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias (NCRAD), which receives government support under a cooperative agreement grant (U24 AG021886 (T.F.)) awarded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), were used in this study. This work was also supported by Medical Research Council UK GENFI grant MR/M023664/1 (J.D.R.), the Bluefield Project, the National Institute for Health Research including awards to Cambridge and UCL Biomedical Research Centres and a JPND GENFI-PROX grant (2019–02248). Several authors of this publication are members of the European Reference Network for Rare Neurologic Diseases, project 739510. J.D.R. and L.L.R. are also supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) UCL/H Biomedical Research Centre, the Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre Clinical Research Facility and the UK Dementia Research Institute, which receives its funding from UK DRI Ltd, funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK. J.D.R. is also supported by the Miriam Marks Brain Research UK Senior Fellowship and has received funding from an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship (MR/M008525/1) and the NIHR Rare Disease Translational Research Collaboration (BRC149/NS/MH). M.B. is supported by a Fellowship award from the Alzheimer’s Society, UK (AS-JF-19a-004-517). RC and C.G. are supported by a Frontotemporal Dementia Research Studentships in Memory of David Blechner funded through The National Brain Appeal (RCN 290173). J.B.R. is supported by NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC-1215-20014; the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care), the Wellcome Trust (220258), the Cambridge Centre for Parkinson-plus and the Medical Research Council (SUAG/092 G116768); I.L.B. is supported by ANR-PRTS PREV-DemAls, PHRC PREDICT-PGRN, and several authors of this publication are members of the European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases (project 739510). J.L. is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy within the framework of the Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (EXC 2145 SyNergy – ID 390857198). R.S.-V. was funded at the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona by Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (grant code PI20/00448 to RSV) and Fundació Marató TV3, Spain (grant code 20143810 to R.S.-V.). M.M. was, in part, funded by the UK Medical Research Council, the Italian Ministry of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as part of a Centres of Excellence in Neurodegeneration grant, by Canadian Institutes of Health Research operating grants (MOP- 371851 and PJT-175242) and by funding from the Weston Brain Institute. R.L. is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Chaire de Recherche sur les Aphasies Primaires Progressives Fondation Famille Lemaire. C.G. is supported by the Swedish Frontotemporal Dementia Initiative Schörling Foundation, Swedish Research Council, JPND Prefrontals, 2015–02926,2018–02754, Swedish Alzheimer Foundation, Swedish Brain Foundation, Karolinska Institutet Doctoral Funding, KI Strat-Neuro, Swedish Dementia Foundation, and Stockholm County Council ALF/Region Stockholm. J.L. is supported by Germany’s Excellence Strategy within the framework of the Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (German Research Foundation, EXC 2145 Synergy 390857198). The Dementia Research Centre is supported by Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Brain Research UK, and The Wolfson Foundation. This work was supported by the National Institute for Health Research UCL/H Biomedical Research Centre, the Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre Clinical Research Facility and the UK Dementia Research Institute, which receives its funding from UK DRI Ltd, funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Alzheimer’s Society, and Alzheimer’s Research UK