Interaction between the heart and the brain in transient global amnesia

Journal of Neurology - To analyse whether patients with transient global amnesia (TGA) have concomitant cardiac injury by assessing clinical symptoms, as well as blood and cardiologic test results....     

Introduction to the special issue: The WHO World Mental Health International College Student (WMH‐ICS) initiative

Most mental disorders have their first onset in early adulthood. Epidemiological research, as well as research on preventive and early interventions, is therefore very important. This thematic issue focuses on one of the first systematic attempts to develop such services for college students. The WHO World Mental Health International College Student (WMH‐ICS) initiative is based on the largest and continuously growing epidemiological dataset ever collected in college students. Based on these results, the initiative has now started to implement internet‐based interventions for common mental disorders and emotional problems. In this special issue, a general paper about the initiative is presented, as well as a paper on the implementation of the WMH‐ICS initiative in low and middle income countries. It also includes several papers with core epidemiological results of the initiative, a meta‐analysis of internet‐based interventions for mental health problems in college students and the first results of trials conducted as part of the initiative. Taken together, the papers in this special issue show that WMH‐ICS is on its way to becoming a major initiative in addressing the problem of unmet need for treatment of mental health problems among college students.     

Microbiological culture analysis of the tongue anaerobic microflora in subjects with and without halitosis

Objective:  Determination of the microflora present on the tongue dorsum of subjects with and without halitosis using conventional microbiological culture methods.
Methods:  Twenty-one halitosis and 20 control patients were recruited using a strict clinical protocol. Samples were collected from the posterior dorsum of the tongue using a sterile brush. Each sample was vortex mixed for 30 s and serial 10-fold dilutions to 10⁻⁷ were carried out. Samples were plated onto fastidious anaerobe agar (FAA) and FAA enriched with vancomycin. These were incubated under anaerobic conditions for 10 days at 37°C. Strict anaerobes were identified by metronidazole sensitivity and bacteria were identified to genus level by a combination of colony morphology, Gram staining and biochemical and enzymatic tests (rapid ID 32 A).
Results:  The predominant species in test and control groups were Veillonella sp. and Prevotella sp. Greater species diversity was found in the halitosis samples compared with controls. The halitosis samples contained an increased incidence of unidentifiable Gram-negative rods, Gram-positive rods and Gram-negative coccobacilli.
Conclusions:  There was no obvious association between halitosis and any specific bacterial genus. The increased species diversity found in halitosis samples suggests that halitosis may be the result of complex interactions between several bacterial species. The role of uncultivable bacteria may also be important in contributing to this process.     

Impact of an acceptance facilitating intervention on diabetes patients’ acceptance of Internet-based interventions for depression: A randomized controlled trial

Aims

To (1) determine diabetes patients’ acceptance of Internet-based interventions (IBIs) for depression, to (2) examine the effectiveness of an acceptance facilitating intervention (AFI) and to (3) explore subgroup specific effects.

Methods

141 diabetes patients from two inpatient rehabilitation units and one outpatient clinic in Germany were randomly allocated to an intervention (IG) and a no-intervention control group (CG). The IG received an AFI consisting of a personal information session before filling-out a questionnaire on patients’ acceptance of IBIs, predictors of acceptance (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and Internet anxiety) as well as sociodemographic, depression-related and diabetes-related variables. The CG filled out the questionnaire immediately. Patients’ acceptance of IBIs was measured with a four-item scale (sum-score ranging from 4 to 20).

Results

The CG showed a low (50.7%) to medium (40.8%) acceptance with only 8.5% of all diabetes patients reporting a high acceptance of IBIs for depression. The AFI had no significant effect on acceptance (IG: M = 10.55, SD = 4.69, n = 70; KG: M = 9.65, SD = 4.27, n = 71; d = 0.20 [95%-CI: −0.13;0.53]) and the predictors of acceptance. Yet, subgroup analyses yielded a trend for depressed, diabetes-related distressed, female and younger (<59) participants and for those who do not frequently use the Internet to profit from the AFI.

Conclusion

Diabetes patients show a rather low acceptance toward IBIs for depression. Findings indicate that the AFI is likely to be effective in the subgroup of depressed, diabetes-related distressed, female or younger diabetes patients, but not in the whole target population. Hence, AFIs might need to be tailored to the specific needs of subpopulations.