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There are few evidence-based suicide prevention interventions tailored for adolescents living with HIV (ALWH) in sub-Saharan Africa. The safety planning intervention targets acute suicidal behavior through co-creation of actionable coping strategies for use at the onset of suicide-related distress. We utilized the Assessment-Decision-Adaptation-Production-Topical Experts-Integration-Training–Testing framework to adapt and integrate safety planning into an existing Friendship Bench + peer support model for depressed ALWH in Malawi. We conducted interviews with ALWH who reported suicidal ideation or behaviors, their caregivers, healthcare facility leadership and police officers, and focus group discussions with healthcare facility staff, community and religious leaders and teachers in Lilongwe. The study team produced adapted manuals, sought and integrated expert topical feedback, trained interventionists using a training-of-trainers model and theater tested the protocol. Formative data yielded insights into acceptability, feasibility, delivery, content and implementation of safety planning. The final safety planning + Friendship Bench + peer support program consists of one safety planning session, five problem-solving sessions with suicide risk assessment and six peer support sessions. We revised the written Safety Plan to account for limited emergency services, modified the protocol for engaging guardians, integrated suicide assessment into the problem-solving sessions and incorporated suicide prevention activities into the peer support sessions.
Edited by
James Ip, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London,Grant Stuart, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London,Isabeau Walker, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London,Ian James, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London
Patient safety is the avoidance of unintended or unexpected harm to people during the provision of health care. Anaesthetists have been leaders in patient safety for decades. In the United Kingdom, wholesale reform of children’s surgical delivery was undertaken after review of paediatric surgical outcomes in the 1990s, and in cardiac surgery, after an anaesthetist noted poor patient outcomes in children undergoing the arterial switch operation (see Kennedy 1996 in ‘Further Reading’).
How was trust created and reinforced between the inhabitants of medieval and early modern cities? And how did the social foundations of trusting relationships change over time? Current research highlights the role of kinship, neighbourhood, and associations, particularly guilds, in creating ‘relationships of trust’ and social capital in the face of high levels of migration, mortality, and economic volatility, but tells us little about their relative importance or how they developed. We uncover a profound shift in the contribution of family and guilds to trust networks among the middling and elite of one of Europe's major cities, London, over three centuries, from the 1330s to the 1680s. We examine almost 15,000 networks of sureties created to secure orphans’ inheritances to measure the presence of trusting relationships connected by guild membership, family, and place. We uncover a profound increase in the role of kinship – a re-embedding of trust within the family – and a decline of the importance of shared guild membership in connecting Londoners who secured orphans’ inheritances together. These developments indicate a profound transformation in the social fabric of urban society.
In low-resource settings, valid mental health screening tools for non-specialists can be used to identify patients with psychiatric disorders in need of critical mental health care. The Mental Wellness Tool-13 (mwTool-13) is a 13-item screener for identifying adults at risk for common mental disorders (CMDs) alcohol-use disorders (AUDs), substance-use disorders (SUD), severe mental disorders (SMDs), and suicide risk (SR). The mwTool-13 is administered in two steps, specifically, only those who endorse any of the initial three questions receive the remaining ten questions. We evaluated the performance of mwTool-13 in South Africa against a diagnostic gold standard. We recruited a targeted, gender-balanced sample of adults, aged ≥18 years at primary and tertiary healthcare facilities in Eastern Cape Province. Of the 1885 participants, the prevalence of CMD, AUD, SMD, SR, and SUD was 24.4%, 9.5%, 8.1%, 6.0%, and 1.6%, respectively. The mwTool-13 yielded high sensitivities for CMD, SMD, and SR, but sub-optimal sensitivities for AUD and SUD (56.7% and 64.5%, respectively). Including a single AUD question in the initial question set improved the tool’s performance in identifying AUD and SUD (sensitivity > 70%), while maintaining brevity, face-validity, and simplicity in the South African setting.
This volume in the LACTOR Sourcebooks in Ancient History series offers a generous selection of primary texts on Roman history during the half century from the Gracchi to Sulla (133-80 BC), with a brief Introduction. It provides for the needs of students at schools and universities who are studying ancient history in English translation and has been written and reviewed by experienced teachers. The texts selected include extracts from the important literary sources but also some key inscriptions, some of which were previously difficult for students to access.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Maternal health and exposures during pregnancy play a major role in shaping the neurodevelopment of our offspring—one influence is maternal immune activation (MIA). Here we explore the association of MIA during pregnancy and the developing human connectome through analysis of 46 markers of activation. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: 74 healthy women with singleton pregnancies underwent blood draws between 34-37 weeks gestation. 46 markers of maternal immune activation, both adaptive (e.g., IgG) and innate (e.g., cytokines and acute phase reactants), were collected. In addition, for preliminary analyses of MIA in relation to the newborn brain, we utilized 30 participants with MRIs between the ages of 0-6 months. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Principal component analysis (PCA) identified the first 5 PCs explains ~68% of the variance and the first 10 explains ~83% (top PC is 42.1%). Using the top PC each edge in the connectome was correlated with the immune profiles. Several regions trended towards significance–one survived correction and included 359 edges, showing. The highest number of edges was observed in the inferior parietal lobe of the left hemisphere–a region associated with functions from basic attention toa social cognition, suggesting that deviations in fetal exposure to MIA can longitudinally impact offspring behavior in areas essential for human interaction. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first study in understanding how interruptions (i.e., MIA) influence later development. Identification of alterations, and long-term outcomes could lead to the development of mechanism-based healthcare, facilitate timely referral for appropriate interventions and provide family support.
Objective. The efficacy of individualized, community-based physical activity as an adjunctive smoking cessation treatment to enhance long-term smoking cessation rates was evaluated for the Lifestyle Enhancement Program (LEAP). Methods. The study was a two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial. All participants (n = 392) received cessation counseling and a nicotine patch and were randomized to physical activity (n = 199; YMCA membership and personalized exercise programming from a health coach) or an equal contact frequency wellness curriculum (n = 193). Physical activity treatment was individualized and flexible (with each participant selecting types of activities and intensity levels and being encouraged to exercise at the YMCA and at home, as well as to use “lifestyle” activity). The primary outcome (biochemically verified prolonged abstinence at 7-weeks (end of treatment) and 6- and 12-months postcessation) and secondary outcomes (7-day point prevalent tobacco abstinence (PPA), total minutes per week of leisure time physical activity and strength training) were assessed at baseline, 7 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months. Results. Prolonged abstinence in the physical activity and wellness groups was 19.6% and 25.4%, respectively, at 7-weeks, 15.1% and 16.6% at 6-months, and 14.1% and 17.1% at 12 months (all between-group P values >0.18). Similarly, PPA rates did not differ significantly between groups at any follow-up. Change from baseline leisure-time activity plus strength training increased significantly in the physical activity group at 7 weeks (P = 0.04). Across treatment groups, an increase in the number of minutes per week in strength training from baseline to 7 weeks predicted prolonged abstinence at 12 months (P ≤ 0.001). Further analyses revealed that social support, fewer years smoked, and less temptation to smoke were associated with prolonged abstinence over 12 months in both groups. Conclusions. Community-based physical activity programming, delivered as adjunctive treatment with behavioral/pharmacological cessation treatment, did not improve long-term quit rates compared to adjunctive wellness counseling plus behavioral/pharmacological cessation treatment. This trial is registered with https://beta.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT00403312, registration no. NCT00403312.
Climate change is both global in scope and unprecedented in scale and has been described by the UN as ‘the defining issue of our time’ (UN, 2020). There has been scientific consensus that human activity has been causing climate change for some time (Oreskes, 2004; Cook et al, 2013), with the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2021) confirming that it is ‘unequivocal’ that human activity has warmed the atmosphere, land and oceans. There is also substantial evidence surrounding the impacts of climate change; it threatens food, water and energy security, and it poses acute risks to lives and livelihoods through extreme weather events, especially heatwaves, droughts, cyclones and sea level rise (UN, 2020).
The urgency of addressing climate change was encapsulated by the UN Secretary General in a speech given on 21 September 2021:
It is a wake-up call to instill a sense of urgency on the dire state of the climate process … Based on the present commitments of Member States, the world is on a catastrophic pathway to 2.7 degrees of heating, instead of 1.5 we all agreed should be the limit. Science tells us that anything above 1.5 degrees would be a disaster … (UN, 2021)
Additionally, it is clear that the impacts of climate change have significant potential to heighten inequalities across society (Roberts and Parks, 2006; Gough, 2013; UN, 2019; Snell, 2022). As such, fundamental policy transformations are required to ensure just processes of adaptation (ways of living with climate change) and mitigation (ways of reducing our contribution to climate change). Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, the discourse around climate policy has emphasised the importance of a ‘just transition’ (UN, 2015; Wang and Lo, 2021). Broadly conceived, the concept of a just transition underscores the importance of protecting those affected by the transition to a low carbon economy and taking early action to minimise negative impacts and maximise positive opportunities (IISD, 2021).
Pompe disease results from lysosomal acid α-glucosidase deficiency, which leads to cardiomyopathy in all infantile-onset and occasional late-onset patients. Cardiac assessment is important for its diagnosis and management. This article presents unpublished cardiac findings, concomitant medications, and cardiac efficacy and safety outcomes from the ADVANCE study; trajectories of patients with abnormal left ventricular mass z score at enrolment; and post hoc analyses of on-treatment left ventricular mass and systolic blood pressure z scores by disease phenotype, GAA genotype, and “fraction of life” (defined as the fraction of life on pre-study 160 L production-scale alglucosidase alfa). ADVANCE evaluated 52 weeks’ treatment with 4000 L production-scale alglucosidase alfa in ≥1-year-old United States of America patients with Pompe disease previously receiving 160 L production-scale alglucosidase alfa. M-mode echocardiography and 12-lead electrocardiography were performed at enrolment and Week 52. Sixty-seven patients had complete left ventricular mass z scores, decreasing at Week 52 (infantile-onset patients, change −0.8 ± 1.83; 95% confidence interval −1.3 to −0.2; all patients, change −0.5 ± 1.71; 95% confidence interval −1.0 to −0.1). Patients with “fraction of life” <0.79 had left ventricular mass z score decreasing (enrolment: +0.1 ± 3.0; Week 52: −1.1 ± 2.0); those with “fraction of life” ≥0.79 remained stable (enrolment: −0.9 ± 1.5; Week 52: −0.9 ± 1.4). Systolic blood pressure z scores were stable from enrolment to Week 52, and no cohort developed systemic hypertension. Eight patients had Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome. Cardiac hypertrophy and dysrhythmia in ADVANCE patients at or before enrolment were typical of Pompe disease. Four-thousand L alglucosidase alfa therapy maintained fractional shortening, left ventricular posterior and septal end-diastolic thicknesses, and improved left ventricular mass z score.
Social Media Statement: Post hoc analyses of the ADVANCE study cohort of 113 children support ongoing cardiac monitoring and concomitant management of children with Pompe disease on long-term alglucosidase alfa to functionally improve cardiomyopathy and/or dysrhythmia.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a potentially chronic and disabling disorder affecting a significant minority of people exposed to trauma. Various psychological treatments have been shown to be effective, but their relative effects are not well established.
Methods
We undertook a systematic review and network meta-analyses of psychological interventions for adults with PTSD. Outcomes included PTSD symptom change scores post-treatment and at 1–4-month follow-up, and remission post-treatment.
Results
We included 90 trials, 6560 individuals and 22 interventions. Evidence was of moderate-to-low quality. Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) [standardised mean difference (SMD) −2.07; 95% credible interval (CrI) −2.70 to −1.44], combined somatic/cognitive therapies (SMD −1.69; 95% CrI −2.66 to −0.73), trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT) (SMD −1.46; 95% CrI −1.87 to −1.05) and self-help with support (SMD −1.46; 95% CrI −2.33 to −0.59) appeared to be most effective at reducing PTSD symptoms post-treatment v. waitlist, followed by non-TF-CBT, TF-CBT combined with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), SSRIs, self-help without support and counselling. EMDR and TF-CBT showed sustained effects at 1–4-month follow-up. EMDR, TF-CBT, self-help with support and counselling improved remission rates post-treatment. Results for other interventions were either inconclusive or based on limited evidence.
Conclusions
EMDR and TF-CBT appear to be most effective at reducing symptoms and improving remission rates in adults with PTSD. They are also effective at sustaining symptom improvements beyond treatment endpoint. Further research needs to explore the long-term comparative effectiveness of psychological therapies for adults with PTSD and also the impact of severity and complexity of PTSD on treatment outcomes.
Integration of mental health services into nonspecialist settings is expanding in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Among many factors required for success, such programs require reliable administration of mental health screening tools. While several tools have been validated in carefully conducted research studies, few studies have assessed how reliably nonspecialist clinicians administer these tools to low-literacy LMIC populations in routine care.
Methods.
Ninety-seven patients accessing human immunodeficiency virus primary care in Malawi who completed Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 depression screening with their clinician then completed a second PHQ-9 with a trained research assistant (RA) blinded to the first result.
Results.
Compared to clinicians, RAs identified more patients with any depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 score ⩾5: 38% v. 32%), moderate/severe symptoms (PHQ-9 ⩾ 10: 14% v. 6%), any suicidality (14% v. 4%), and active suicidality (3% v. 2%). Across these indicators, clinician and RA ratings had strong overall agreement (81–97%) but low corrected Kappa agreement (31–59%). Treating RA results as the reference standard of a carefully supervised research administration of the PHQ-9, clinician administration had high specificity (90–99%) but low sensitivity (23–68%) for these indicators.
Conclusions.
In routine care in LMICs, clinicians may administer validated mental health screening tools with varying quality. To ensure quality, integration programs must incorporate appropriate and ongoing training, support, supervision, and monitoring.