We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
The number of studies on electronic self-monitoring in affective disorder and other psychiatric disorders is increasing and indicates high patient acceptance and adherence. Nevertheless, the effect of electronic self-monitoring in patients with bipolar disorder has never been investigated in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). The objective of this trial was to investigate in a RCT whether the use of daily electronic self-monitoring using smartphones reduces depressive and manic symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder.
A total of 78 patients with bipolar disorder according to ICD-10 criteria, aged 18–60 years, and with 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) scores ≤17 were randomized to the use of a smartphone for daily self-monitoring including a clinical feedback loop (the intervention group) or to the use of a smartphone for normal communicative purposes (the control group) for 6 months. The primary outcomes were differences in depressive and manic symptoms measured using HAMD-17 and YMRS, respectively, between the intervention and control groups.
Intention-to-treat analyses using linear mixed models showed no significant effects of daily self-monitoring using smartphones on depressive as well as manic symptoms. There was a tendency towards more sustained depressive symptoms in the intervention group (B = 2.02, 95% confidence interval −0.13 to 4.17, p = 0.066). Sub-group analysis among patients without mixed symptoms and patients with presence of depressive and manic symptoms showed significantly more depressive symptoms and fewer manic symptoms during the trial period in the intervention group.
These results highlight that electronic self-monitoring, although intuitive and appealing, needs critical consideration and further clarification before it is implemented as a clinical tool.
Interface motion in a vibrated granular layer
Granular materials are now recognized as a distinct state of matter, and studies of their behavior form a fascinating interdisciplinary branch of science. The intrinsic dissipative nature of the interactions between the constituent macroscopic particles gives rise to several basic properties specific to granular substances, setting granular matter apart from the conventional gaseous, liquid, or solid states.
Thin layers of granular materials subjected to vertical vibration exhibit a diversity of patterns. The particular pattern is determined by the interplay between driving frequency f and the acceleration amplitude Γ. Interfaces in vibrated granular layers, existing for large enough amplitude of vibration, separate large domains of flat layers oscillating with opposite phase. These two phases are related to the period-doubling character of the flat layer motion at large plate acceleration. Interfaces are either smooth or “decorated” by periodic undulations depending on parameters of vibration. An additional subharmonic driving results in a controlled displacement of the interface with respect to the center of the experimental cell. The speed and the direction of the interface motion are sensitive to the phase and amplitude of the subharmonic driving.
The image sequence above shows interface nucleation and propagation towards the center of the cell, with dimensionless time tf labeled in each image. The interface forms at the right side wall of the cell due to small-amplitude phase-shifted subharmonic driving. After the additional driving stops, the interface moves towards the center, creating small-scale localized structures in the process.
Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this to your organisation's collection.