Diagnostic assessment and clinical characteristics of patients suffering from Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders

Het onderzoek heeft plaatsgevonden bij het Topklinisch Centrum voor Lichaam, Geest en Gezondheid en was ingebed in de academische werkplaats Geestdrift, Tranzo, Tilburg University. Er is onderzoek gedaan naar de diagnostische kwaliteit van twee vragenlijsten (PHQ-15 en 4DKL) die gebruikt kunnen worden om somatoforme stoornissen vast te stellen. Daarnaast zijn andere kenmerken (alexithymie; het onvermogen om emoties te uiten, Type D persoonlijkheid en neurocognitief functioneren) van patiënten met somatische-symptoomstoornis (SSS) onderzocht, en hun invloed op de behandeling. De PHQ-15 en de 4DKL blijken ongeveer even goed bruikbaar als screener, maar enkel het gebruik van vragenlijsten is onvoldoende voor het stellen van de diagnose of om een duidelijk beeld te krijgen van de patiënt. Op het gebied van neurocognitief functioneren laten patiënten met SSS op meerdere domeinen (forse) stoornissen zien, die erger worden wanneer er ook sprake is van een comorbide depressie, hetgeen vaak het geval is. Alexithymie blijkt vaak voor te komen bij SSS maar blijkt niet van klinisch relevante invloed op de behandeluitkomsten. Type D persoonlijkheid blijkt wel gerelateerd aan een slechtere behandeluitkomst. Met name hoge niveaus van negatieve affectiviteit zijn geassocieerd met negatieve behandeluitkomst. Zowel neurocognitief functioneren als Type D persoonlijkheid zijn dus belangrijke klinische aspecten van patiënten met SSS om bij de diagnostiek en tijdens behandeling rekening mee te houden. Locatie: Cobbenhagengebouw, Aula (ingang via Koopmansgebouw) Wanneer: 18 april 2018 16.0

Phase transitions in lyotropic colloidal and polymer liquid crystals

An overview is given of theory and experiments on liquid crystal phases which appear in solutions of elongated colloidal particles or stiff polymers. The Onsager (1949) virial theory for the isotropic-nematic transition of thin rodlike particles is treated comprehensively along with extensions to polydisperse solutions and soft interactions. Computer simulations of liquid crystal phases in hard particle fluids are summarized and used to assess the quality of statistical mechanical theories for stiff particles at higher volume fraction -like the inclusion of higher virial coefficients, y-expansion, scaled particle theory and density functional theory. Both computer simulations and density functional theory indicate formation of more highly ordered smectic phases.The range of experimental applicability is strongly widened by the extension of the virial theory to wormlike chains by Khokhlov and Semenov (1981, 1982). Finally, experimental results for a number of carefully studied, charged and uncharged colloids and polymers are summarized and compared to theoretical results. In many cases the agreement is semi-quantitative

Nematic order of model goethite nanorods in a magnetic field

We explore the nematic order of model goethite nanorods in an external magnetic field within Onsager-Parsons density functional theory. The goethite rods are represented by monodisperse, charged spherocylinders with a permanent magnetic moment along the rod main axis, forcing the particles to align parallel to the magnetic field at low field strength. The intrinsic diamagnetic susceptibility anisometry of the rods is negative which leads to a preferred perpendicular orientation at higher field strength. It is shown that these counteracting effects may give rise to intricate phase behavior, including a pronounced stability of biaxial nematic order and the presence of reentrant phase transitions and demixing phenomena. The effect of the applied field on the nematic-to-smectic transition will also be addressed.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Post-pandemic self-reported mental health of mental healthcare professionals in the Netherlands compared to during the pandemic:An online longitudinal follow-up study

The mental health of professionals was under pressure during- and post-pandemic. Initially, the focus was mainly on the health workers in the hospitals, but over time the pressure shifted to other sectors, including mental health care. An increase in workload and decrease in mental health of healthcare professionals in mental health care can lead to a decrease in the available care capacity. In an earlier online survey of mental health professionals, 1,300 professionals from a large number of mental healthcare institutions were involved. In this study, conducted in September 2021, about half of the respondents reported increased levels of stress. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and sadness were also increasingly experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, 4.2% replied that they were considering resigning their jobs. One of the recommendations of this previous study was to monitor these professionals repeatedly to be able to make an estimate of the stress and vision of work during the course of the pandemic and afterwards. Following this recommendation, the online survey was repeated. The aim of the current online longitudinal follow-up study was to re-evaluated mental status of healthcare workers. 510 healthcare workers participated in this follow-up survey. The reported mental health complaints were significantly higher during compared to post-pandemic. Respondents were less able to maintain work/life balance during the pandemic and even reported a shift to work. However, the majority of respondents indicated that they had restored this balance post-pandemic. Moreover, more sick leave was reported post-pandemic than during the pandemic and more frequent absences post-pandemic. This highlights the importance of focusing on resilience over training and career

Mental support for health care professionals essential during the COVID-19 pandemic:Updates

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues and concerns regarding its consequences rise. This concern is addressed by other professionals (e.g. the use of a multidisciplinary approach1 or the possible increase in suicidal behaviour).2 However, the continuing huge pressure on mental health care professionals warrants the supporting of their mental health but regretfully, this topic received little attention

Substantial impact of COVID-19 on self-reported mental health of healthcare professionals in the Netherlands

Initially, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a continued pressure on professionals working in hospitals due to the increase of affected patients. At the moment, the pandemic continues but thanks to all kinds of measures (e.g., social distancing) workload seems to decrease at the hospitals. On the contrary, patients with long-lasting symptoms due to COVID-19 infection or the pandemic begin to merge at the mental healthcare institutions in the Netherlands but this also holds true for other countries. Furthermore, healthcare professionals are affected by safety measures such as working from home, which led to an increased feeling of stress and may have led to a misbalance in work and private life. As a result, the question whether healthcare employees in mental healthcare experience impaired mental health remains unclear and chances are fair that mental health problems such as exhaustion and burnout may be prevalent. This study describes an online survey in which mental health amongst mental healthcare professionals is investigated. About 1,300 professionals from a large number of mental healthcare institutions replied the survey. Around 50% of the respondents experienced increased levels of stress. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and sadness were also increasingly experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, 4.2% replied that they were considering resigning their jobs which is alarming considering the shortage of healthcare professionals in mental healthcare institutions. The results support the importance of treatment or support of professionals in mental healthcare that experience psychological ailments

Results of mental support for health care professionals and mental care during the COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resulted into a global pandemic and continues to thrive until vaccines have been successfully developed and distributed around the world. The outcomes of COVID-19 contaminations range from death to minor health-related complaints. Furthermore, and not less significant, the increasing pressure on local as well as global health care is rising. In The Netherlands but also in other countries, further intensified regulations are introduced in order to contain the second wave of COVID-19, primarily to limit the number contaminations but also to prevent the health care professionals for giving in to the rising pressure on them. The results of the campaign for health care professionals in The Netherlands show that health care professionals are increasingly searching for information regarding psychological symptoms such as feeling of uncertainty, pondering and advice regarding the support of care teams. In this short update, we provide the results of the previous campaign and stress the importance of support after COVID-19 based on these results

Hard colloidal rods near a soft wall: wetting, drying, and symmetry breaking

Within an Onsager-like density functional theory we explore the thermodynamic and structural properties of an isotropic and nematic fluid of hard needle-like colloids in contact with a hard substrate coated with a soft short-ranged attractive or repulsive layer. As a function of the range and the strength of the soft interactions we find wetting and drying transitions, a pre-drying line, and a symmetry-breaking transition from uniaxial to biaxial in the wetting and drying film.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure