Aging: an overview

The elderly population has rapidly increasing needs for skin care. The demographics of aging allow a profound insight into the future of geriatric dermatology.     

Outcome evaluation of a statewide child inpatient mental health unit

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of inpatient intervention, provided by a child mental health unit in Victoria, Australia, on a number of key child and family variables. METHOD: Pre-post test design with a four-month follow up was applied to assess changes across time. Twenty-nine parents, 42 teachers, and 37 referrers provided reports on a series of child, parent, and family functioning measures. RESULTS: Significant improvements in child behaviour and functioning, parenting competency and efficacy, parenting practices, and reduced parental depression were observed over time. Changes in family functioning scores were not significant; however, univariate analysis indicated improvements in two individual subscales. CONCLUSIONS: There is a lack of studies of the outcome of inpatient interventions of children in psychiatric settings. However, as shown in the present study, improvements in functioning can be detected and obtained with short-term interventions that focus on both children and families. Methodological shortcomings (i.e. absence of comparison groups) and lack of specificity in intervention variables, however, are difficulties yet to be overcome in evaluation research of inpatient treatment.     

Prenatal choline deficiency decreases the cross-sectional area of cholinergic neurons in the medial septal nucleus

Levels of dietary choline in utero influence postnatal cognitive performance. To better understand this phenomenon, forebrain cholinergic neurons were studied in the 8-9 month old offspring of dams fed a control or choline-deficient diet from EDs 11-17. Serial sections were immunostained with antibodies against p75, a cholinergic marker. Neuronal morphology was analyzed in the basal forebrain, a heterogeneous area composed of several structures including the medial septal nucleus (MSN), nucleus of the diagonal band (DB), and the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NB). Neuronal cross-sectional areas were selectively reduced in the MSN of choline-deficient animals, compared to controls, but cell counts were not altered. Our findings suggest that cholinergic medial septal neurons may be selectively vulnerable to in utero choline deficiency.     

Emotional expression and depth processing of trauma and their relation to long-term survival in patients with HIV/AIDS

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationship between emotional expression and depth processing of trauma and long-term survival of patients living with AIDS. A further purpose was to examine the immune, health behavior and psychosocial correlates of emotional disclosure and depth processing. METHOD: Subjects wrote essays describing their reactions to past traumas; these were scored for emotional expression and depth processing (positive cognitive appraisal change, experiential involvement, self-esteem enhancement and adaptive coping strategies). Two HIV-seropositive groups were recruited for this study; long-term survivors (LTS; n=46) patients who had survived at least 4 years past a Category C (AIDS defining) symptom prior to starting protease inhibitors and an equivalent HIV-seropositive comparison group (ECOMP(LTS); n=89) who had CD4+ cells between 150 and 500, and had no history of Category C symptoms. The groups were equivalent on age, gender, ethnicity, education, employment, income, sexual orientation and route of infection. RESULTS: The group LTS were significantly higher than the ECOMP(LTS) group on emotional expression and depth processing. Depth processing mediated the relationship between emotional expression and long-term survival status. Depth processing was positively related to CD4+ cell number for women. Emotional expression was also significantly related to viral load (negatively) and to CD4+ cell number (positively) for women only. Interestingly, only depth processing (and not emotional expression) was related to medication adherence and to psychosocial variables (perceived stress and social support). CONCLUSIONS: Emotional expression and depth processing were related to long-term survival, however, depth processing was the mediator for this relationship and only depth processing was associated with medication adherence, perceived stress and social support. Our results underscore the importance of depth processing (and not just emotional expression) of traumatic experiences for people living with HIV/AIDS.