To analyse the extent and nature of food and beverage advertising on the three major Brazilian free-to-air television (TV) channels.

Cross-sectional study. A protocol developed for the International Network for Food and Obesity/Non-Communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support was applied for data collection. A total of 432 h of TV programming was recorded from 06.00 to 24.00 hours, for eight non-consecutive and randomly selected days, in April 2018. All TV advertisements (ads) were analysed, and food-related ads were classified according to the NOVA classification system. Descriptive analyses were used to describe the number and type of ads, food categories and the distribution of ads throughout the day and time of the day.

The three most popular free-to-air channels on Brazilian TV.

The study did not involve human subjects.

In total, 14·2 % (n 1156 out of 7991) of ads were food related (858 were specific food items). Approximately 91 % of food items ads included ultra-processed food (UPF) products. The top three most promoted products were soft drinks, alcoholic beverages and fast-food meals. Alcoholic beverage ads were more frequently broadcast in the evening.

The high risk of exposure of the Brazilian population to UPF ads should be considered a public health concern given the impact of unhealthy food advertising on people’s food choices and health.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine tumour. Although surgical resection is a treatment choice, it often occurs in the head and neck and occurs mainly in the elderly, making surgery impossible. Radical radiation therapy may be an alternative to surgery in these patients. In addition, radiation treatment may be performed even after recurrence after surgery.

An 82-year-old MCC patient had cT2N0M0, stage IIA MCC on the left cheek that metastasised to lymph node 2 months after surgery. She was treated with radiation monotherapy with a hypofractionation schedule (39 Gy at 3 Gy per fraction).

The patient achieved complete remission after radiotherapy without severe toxicities.

Impaired mentalizing ability – an impaired ability to understand one's own and other people's behavior in terms of mental states – is associated with social dysfunction in non-affective psychotic disorder (NAPD). We tested whether adding mentalization-based treatment for psychotic disorder (MBTp) to treatment as usual (TAU) results in greater improvement in social functioning.

Multicenter, rater-blinded, randomized controlled trial. Eighty-four patients with NAPD were assigned to TAU or MBTp plus TAU. Patients in the MBTp group received 18 months of MBTp, consisting of weekly group sessions and one individual session per 2 weeks. Social functioning was measured using the Social Functioning Scale. We conducted ANCOVAs to examine the difference between treatment conditions directly after treatment and at 6-month follow-up and performed moderation and mediation analyses.

Intention-to-treat analyses showed no significant differences between groups post-treatment (p = 0.31) but revealed the MBTp group to be superior to TAU at follow-up (p = 0.03). Patients in the MBTp group also seemed to perform better on measures of mentalizing ability, although evidence of a mediation effect was limited (p = 0.06). Lastly, MBTp treatment was less effective in chronic patients than in recent-onset patients (p = 0.049) and overall symptoms at baseline were mild, which may have reduced the overall effectiveness of the intervention.

The results suggest that MBTp plus TAU may lead to more robust improvements in social functioning compared to TAU, especially for patients with a recent onset of psychosis.

Women in South Asia, including Nepal, have some of the poorest nutritional indicators globally, leading to poor maternal and child health outcomes. Nepal also suffers from high levels of household food insecurity, and newly married women are at high risk. Intra-household relationships may mediate the relationship between food insecurity and women’s nutrition in Nepal for newly married women. Our aim is to understand how newly married, preconception, women’s food consumption changes when she enters her husband’s home, compared with her natal home. We also explore whether relationship quality with husbands and mothers-in-law mediates the association between food insecurity and eating less high-quality food, using structural equation modelling.

Cross-sectional survey data.

Rural Nepal in 2018.

Data were collected from 200 newly married, preconception women.

Women had poor diet quality, and most ate fewer high-quality foods important for pregnancy in their marital, compared with natal, home. Higher quality relationships with mothers-in-laws mediated the association between food insecurity and a woman eating fewer high-quality foods in her marital, compared with natal, home. Relationship quality with husbands was not associated with changes in food consumption.

Preconception, newly married women in Nepal are eating less high-quality foods important for women’s health during the preconception period – a key period for avoiding adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. Relationships with mothers-in-law are key to women’s access to high-quality food, suggesting that interventions aiming to improve maternal and child nutrition should target all household members.

Mental health problems can lead to costs and benefits in other sectors (e.g. in the education sector) in addition to the healthcare sector. These related costs and benefits are known as intersectoral costs and benefits (ICBs). Although some ICBs within the education sector have been identified previously, little is known about their extensiveness and transferability, which is crucial for their inclusion in health economics research.

The aim of this study was to identify ICBs in the education sector, to validate the list of ICBs in a broader European context, and to categorize the ICBs using mental health as a case study.

Previously identified ICBs in the education sector were used as a basis for this study. Additional ICBs were extracted from peer-reviewed literature in PubMed and grey literature from six European countries. A comprehensive list of unique items was developed based on the identified ICBs. The list was validated by surveying an international group of educational experts. The survey results were used to finalize the list, which was categorized according to the care atom.

Additional ICBs in the education sector were retrieved from ninety-six sources. Fourteen experts from six European countries assessed the list for completeness, clarity, and relevance. The final list contained twenty-four ICBs categorized into input, throughput, and output.

By providing a comprehensive list of ICBs in the education sector, this study laid further foundations for the inclusion of important societal costs in health economics research in the broader European context.