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Chemsex refers to the intentional consumption of specific substances, Gamma Hydroxybutyrate/Gamma Butyrolactone (GHB/GBL), Crystal Methamphetamine and/or Cocaine to facilitate or enhance the sexual experience. However, there was a plethora of associated problems ranging in severity to complex, life-threatening situations. Since its inception in 2014, The Club Drugs Clinic Ireland, the first outpatient-based clinic for GHB/GBL Detoxification in Ireland, had evolved to include managing problematic chemsex.
Objectives
The Chemsex Working Group Ireland is a collaborative response from governmental and non-governmental agencies. Details of current medical and psychiatric management along with preliminary outcome findings on detoxification, relapse risk and associated factors will be presented.
Methods
Data collected include socio-demographic variables, gender and sexuality, detoxification setting, relapse history and attendance for counselling or aftercare. Descriptive analyses were conducted on referral counts, drug trends, success of first treatment episode, subsequent relapse rate, and uptake of counselling and aftercare.
Results
There have been over 200 referrals to the Club Drugs Clinic Ireland. A number of predisposing and precipitating factors, contributed to the relapse rate (up to 70%) both in Ireland and internationally. The salutogenic, biopsychosocial-based model of addiction recovery produced the best outcomes. This integrated Dual Diagnosis Psychiatry, Sexual Health Medicine, Emergency Medicine and external services for a more comprehensive care.
Conclusions
The pattern of referrals reflects population trends in chemsex, despite the COVID-19 restrictions. While detoxification is largely successful, the high relapse rate highlights the challenge of maintaining abstinence. In order to competently address problematic chemsex, service coordination across various medical professions and ongoing monitoring of the substances consumed is quintessential.
People presenting with first-episode psychosis (FEP) have heterogenous outcomes. More than 40% fail to achieve symptomatic remission. Accurate prediction of individual outcome in FEP could facilitate early intervention to change the clinical trajectory and improve prognosis.
Aims
We aim to systematically review evidence for prediction models developed for predicting poor outcome in FEP.
Method
A protocol for this study was published on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews, registration number CRD42019156897. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidance, we systematically searched six databases from inception to 28 January 2021. We used the Checklist for Critical Appraisal and Data Extraction for Systematic Reviews of Prediction Modelling Studies and the Prediction Model Risk of Bias Assessment Tool to extract and appraise the outcome prediction models. We considered study characteristics, methodology and model performance.
Results
Thirteen studies reporting 31 prediction models across a range of clinical outcomes met criteria for inclusion. Eleven studies used logistic regression with clinical and sociodemographic predictor variables. Just two studies were found to be at low risk of bias. Methodological limitations identified included a lack of appropriate validation, small sample sizes, poor handling of missing data and inadequate reporting of calibration and discrimination measures. To date, no model has been applied to clinical practice.
Conclusions
Future prediction studies in psychosis should prioritise methodological rigour and external validation in larger samples. The potential for prediction modelling in FEP is yet to be realised.
The benefit of mandibular advancement devices in patients with sleep-disordered breathing and as a potential option for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome is well recognised. Their use in the setting of epilepsy or other seizure disorders is typically contraindicated.
Case report
A 48-year-old patient with a history of poorly controlled epilepsy and obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome was referred for ENT review for possible tracheostomy. The patient was wheelchair-bound with 24-hour continuous positive airway pressure, but sleep studies demonstrated persistent, severe episodes of apnoea and notable sleep disturbance. Sleep nasendoscopy demonstrated marked improvement on capnography with the laryngeal mask airway in situ, and this was maintained with mandibular advancement using jaw thrust following removal of the laryngeal mask airway. A mandibular advancement device was subsequently trialled; this had no subjective benefit for the patient, but the seizures resolved and control of apnoea was achieved with the combination of a mandibular advancement device and continuous positive airway pressure.
Conclusion
This paper highlights a novel application of mandibular advancement devices, used in combination with continuous positive airway pressure, which resulted in complete resolution of sleep deprivation and apnoea-induced epileptic events.
Conventional approaches to evidence that prioritise randomised controlled trials appear increasingly inadequate for the evaluation of complex mental health interventions. By focusing on causal mechanisms and understanding the complex interactions between interventions, patients and contexts, realist approaches offer a productive alternative. Although the approaches might be combined, substantial barriers remain.
Declaration of interest
All authors had financial support from the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme while completing this work. The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Health Service, the National Institute for Health Research, the Medical Research Council, Central Commissioning Facility, National Institute for Health Research Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, the Health Services and Delivery Research Programme or the Department of Health. S.P.S. is part funded by Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West Midlands. K.B. is editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
During the solar maximum of 1989–91 an unprecedented sequence of 13 cosmic ray ground-level enhancements (GLEs) was observed by the world-wide neutron monitor network. Of particular interest were two GLEs observed by the Australian network. The 1989 September 29 event was the largest GLE in the space era while the October 22 GLE included an highly anisotropic precursor peak.
Analysis of both these GLEs, taking into account disturbed geomagnetic conditions, shows that the particle arrivals at the earth were unusual. The September 29 GLE had significant particle propagation in the reverse direction and as the particle flux decreased following the peak the spectrum also softened. In contrast, the 1989 October 22 precursor exhibited extreme anisotropy while the particles involved in the main GLE showed a complex temporal structure possibly indicating multiple particle injection at the solar acceleration region.
The binary X-ray source GX 1 + 4 was observed during a balloon flight in 1986, November. The source was in a relatively high intensity state. Time analysis of the data shows that the pulsation period was 111.8 ± 1.0 s indicating that one or more episodes of spin-down occurred between 1980 and 1986. Folded pulse profiles are very broad with an indication of a notch at the peak. Evidence has been found for a correlation between hard X-ray intensity and phase of the proposed 304 day orbital period. The time averaged intensity since 1980 is an order of magnitude lower than during the 1970’s. A survey of the post 1980 data shows that several reversals of the period derivative have occurred. Spin-up at the rates typical of the 1970’s has been followed by a dramatic spin-down episode with dP/dt>2.4 × 10−7 s/s.
A Skylark rocket (SL727) carrying an X-ray astronomy experiment prepared by the University of Adelaide and Tasmania (UAT) was launched from Woomera at 0030 UT on July 10, 1970. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was detected during the flight, and the recent observation of structure within the Cloud is confirmed. In particular, the data support the suggestion of X-ray emission from the 30 Doradus (Tarantula) Nebula.
Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) is the gold standard treatment for cervical spondylosis but there is a lack of consensus in the literature regarding which type of bone graft is superior: autograft or allograft. The purpose of this study is to evaluate fusion after ACDF using a stand-alone intervertebral cage packed with autologous cervical bone shavings acquired during the procedure. Twenty patients that underwent single-level ACDF from 2011 to 2014 using a stand-alone polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cage were recruited. Patients were evaluated for evidence of bone fusion by plain films and CT scan. Fusion was primarily assessed by grading the level of trabecular bridging bone across the bone-graft interface. Odom’s criteria were used to assess clinical outcome. All interbody disc spaces achieved successful fusion at follow-up. A total of 80% (16/20) of patients had radiographic evidence of trabecular bone present both within and around the cage. The other 20% exhibited bridging bone within the cage but had evidence of minor radiolucent gaps and lack of bridging bone completely surrounding the cage. Eighty percent of patients reported excellent/good clinical outcomes. ACDF using a PEEK stand-alone cage with autograft bone shavings has a high rate of fusion and avoids potential complications of classic autograft harvesting and decreased allograft fusion rates.
There is little empirical evidence to indicate that dairy cow live weight affects the extent of soil damage at the hoof-soil interface during grazing on poorly drained permanent grassland. In the present study the impact of Holstein-Friesian (HF) dairy cows with a mean (±standard deviation) live weight of 570 (±61) kg were compared with Jersey × Holstein-Friesian (JX) with a mean live weight of 499 (±52) kg each at two stocking densities: mean 2·42 ± (0·062) and 2·66 (±0·079) cows/ha. Soil physical properties (bulk density, macroporosity, gravimetric water content, air-filled porosity, penetration resistance and shear strength), poaching damage (post-grazing soil surface deformation and hoof-print depth), herbage yield and milk production were measured throughout 2011 and 2012. Soil physical properties, post-grazing soil surface deformation and herbage production were not affected by dairy cow breed or by interactions between breed and stocking density. Hoof-print depth was higher in the HF treatments (39 v. 37 mm, s.e. 0·5 mm). Loading pressure imposed at the soil surface was the same for both breeds due to a direct correlation between live weight and hoof size. Poaching damage was greater at higher stocking density. Using the lighter JX cow offered little advantage in terms of lowering the negative impact of treading on soil physical properties or reducing poaching damage and no advantage in terms of herbage or milk production compared with the heavier HF cow.
The complex relationship between masculinity and religion, as experienced in both the secular and ecclesiastical worlds, forms the focus for this volume, whose range encompasses the rabbis of the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmud, and moves via Carolingian and Norman France, Siena, Antioch, and high and late medieval England to the eve of the Reformation. Chapters investigate the creation and reconstitution of different expressions of masculine identity, from the clerical enthusiasts for marriage to the lay practitioners of chastity, from crusading bishops to holy kings. They also consider the extent to which lay and clerical understandings of masculinity existed in an unstable dialectical relationship, at times sharing similar features, at others pointedly different, co-opting and rejecting features of the other; the articles show this interplay to be more far more complicated than a simple linear narrative of either increasing divergence, or of clerical colonization of lay masculinity. They also challenge conventional historiographies of the adoption of clerical celibacy, of the decline of monasticism and the gendered nature of piety. Patricia Cullum is Head of History at the University of Huddersfield; Katherine J. Lewis is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield. Contributors: James G. Clark, P.H. Cullum, Kirsten A. Fenton, Joanna Huntington, Katherine J. Lewis, Matthew Mesley, Catherine Sanok, Michael L. Satlow, Rachel Stone, Jennifer D. Thibodeaux, Marita von Weissenberg
Edited by
P. H. Cullum, Head of History at the University of Huddersfield,Katherine J. Lewis, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield
Edited by
P. H. Cullum, Head of History at the University of Huddersfield,Katherine J. Lewis, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield
Edited by
P. H. Cullum, Head of History at the University of Huddersfield,Katherine J. Lewis, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield
Edited by
P. H. Cullum, Head of History at the University of Huddersfield,Katherine J. Lewis, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield
Edited by
P. H. Cullum, Head of History at the University of Huddersfield,Katherine J. Lewis, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield
Edited by
P. H. Cullum, Head of History at the University of Huddersfield,Katherine J. Lewis, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield
Anecdotally, infectious mononucleosis is considered a more severe infection than bacterial tonsillitis, requiring a longer hospital stay. However, there is little in the literature comparing the epidemiology of the two conditions. This study aimed to compare the epidemiology of bacterial tonsillitis and infectious mononucleosis, in particular any differences in the length of in-patient stay.
Methodology:
The hospital in-patient enquiry system was used to analyse patients admitted with bacterial tonsillitis and infectious mononucleosis between 1990 and 2009 inclusive.
Results:
There was a total of 3435 cases over the 20 years: 3064 with bacterial tonsillitis and 371 with infectious mononucleosis. The mean length of stay was 3.22 days for bacterial tonsillitis and 4.37 days for infectious mononucleosis. The median length of stay for each condition was compared using the Mann–Whitney U non-parametric test, and a significant difference detected (p < 0.001).
Conclusion:
Patients with infectious mononucleosis have a significantly longer stay in hospital than those with bacterial tonsillitis.
and let N(r,u) be the integrated counting function. Suppose that is a non-negative non-decreasing convex function of log r for which for all small r and , where 1 < ρ < 2, and define
A sharp upper bound is obtained for and a sharp lower bound is obtained for .