Globally, methamphetamine use has increased in prevalence in recent years. In Australia, there has been a dramatic increase in numbers of people seeking treatment, including residential ...rehabilitation, for methamphetamine use disorder (MUD). While residential rehabilitation is more effective for MUD than withdrawal treatment (i.e. "detoxification") alone, relapse rates remain high, with approximately half of rehabilitation clients using methamphetamine within 3 months of rehabilitation. "Approach bias modification" (ABM) is a computerised cognitive training approach that aims to dampen automatically triggered impulses to approach drugs and drug-related stimuli. ABM has been demonstrated to reduce alcohol relapse rates, but no randomised controlled trials of ABM for MUD have yet been conducted. We aim to test whether a novel "personalised" form of ABM, delivered during rehabilitation, reduces post-treatment methamphetamine use, relative to a sham-training control condition. Secondary outcomes will include dependence symptoms, cravings, and approach bias.
We aim to recruit 100 participants attending residential rehabilitation for MUD at 3 sites in the Melbourne metropolitan area. Participants will complete baseline measures of methamphetamine use, craving, dependence severity, and approach bias before being randomised to receiving 6 sessions of ABM or "sham" training. In the active condition, ABM will be personalised for each participant, using those methamphetamine images that they rate as most relevant to their recent methods of methamphetamine use as "avoidance" images and using positive images representing their goals or healthy sources of pleasure as "approach" images. Approach bias and craving will be re-assessed following completion of training, and methamphetamine use, dependence, and craving will be assessed 4 weeks and 3 months following discharge from residential treatment.
This study is the first randomised controlled trial of ABM for MUD and also the first ABM study to test using a personalised set of both approach and avoid images for ABM training. If effective, the low cost and easy implementation of ABM means it could be widely implemented as a standard part of MUD treatment.
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620000072910. Registered on 30 January 2020 (prospectively registered): https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=378804&isReview=true.
Objective:
Clinical experience suggests a growing prevalence of borderline personality disorder in aged residential care and psychiatric facilities with attendant difficulties in their management. ...This paper reviews the literature concerning the prevalence, phenomenology and diagnosis of borderline personality disorder in old age. The aim is to elucidate the phenomenological differences in old age and thus improve identification of the disorder.
Methods:
A systematic search was conducted using MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE and PsycINFO databases, employing the search terms including ‘personality disorder’, ‘borderline personality disorder’, ‘aged care’, ‘gerontology’, ‘geriatric psychiatry’ and ‘life span’. The search included articles in English involving participants 65+ years. Long-term prospective studies of borderline personality disorder, long-term follow-up studies and studies involving older adults from 50+ years were also examined.
Results:
There is a paucity of literature on borderline personality disorder in the elderly. No diagnostic or rating instruments have been developed for borderline personality disorder in the elderly. The phenomenology of borderline personality disorder in the aged population differs in several respects from that seen in younger adults, causing some of the difficulties in reaching a diagnosis. Escalations of symptoms and maladaptive behaviours usually occur when the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder is either not made or delayed. Improved identification of borderline personality disorder in older patients, together with staff education concerning the phenomenology, aetiology and management of these patients, is urgently needed.
Conclusion:
Diagnostic instruments for borderline personality disorder in the elderly need to be developed. In the interim, suggestions are offered concerning patient symptoms and behaviours that could trigger psychiatric assessment and advice concerning management. A screening tool is proposed to assist in the timely diagnosis of borderline personality disorder in older people. Timely identification of these patients is needed so that they can receive the skilled help, understanding and treatment needed to alleviate suffering in the twilight of their lives.
Cytosine deaminases AID/APOBEC proteins act as potent nucleic acid editors, playing important roles in innate and adaptive immunity. However, the mutagenic effects of some of these proteins ...compromise genomic integrity and may promote tumorigenesis. Here, we demonstrate that human APOBEC3G (A3G), in addition to its role in innate immunity, promotes repair of double‐strand breaks (DSBs) in vitro and in vivo. Transgenic mice expressing A3G successfully survived lethal irradiation, whereas wild‐type controls quickly succumbed to radiation syndrome. Mass spectrometric analyses identified the differential upregulation of a plethora of proteins involved in DSB repair pathways in A3G‐expressing cells early following irradiation to facilitate repair. Importantly, we find that A3G not only accelerates DSB repair but also promotes deamination‐dependent error‐free rejoining. These findings have two implications: (a) strategies aimed at inhibiting A3G may improve the efficacy of genotoxic therapies used to cure malignant tumours; and (b) enhancing A3G activity may reduce acute radiation syndrome in individuals exposed to ionizing radiation.
A3G protects mice from IR‐induced damage and promotes accurate DNA double‐strand breaks repair in cultured cells. Transgenic mice expressing A3G successfully survived lethal irradiation, whereas wild‐type controls quickly succumbed to radiation syndrome. In cultured cells, A3G accelerates DSB repair and promotes survival of cells after irradiation. Moreover, in a cell‐based non‐homologous end‐joining reporter system, A3G promotes deamination‐dependent error‐free rejoining of the induced double‐strand break mediated by I‐SceI.
In this paper, we have developed a simple method to isolate epitaxially grown thin silicon film using micrometer thick layers of buried porous silicon. The process is based on formation of trenches ...within epitaxial p-type Si layer that was grown on top of a p + -type Si (100) wafer. Either electrochemical or galvanic etching in hydro-fluoric solutions procedures were employed to etch the p + -type silicon under and around the trenches, at the interface of the substrate and the epi-layer, and to transform the etched material into buried PSi. Electrical characteristics of the formed isolation, called "local isolation by buried oxidized PSi", have been measured. The isolation resistance of the subsequently oxidized PSi film was found to increase by 3-6 orders of magnitude up to the level of few GΩ (GigaOhms). Finally, this procedure has been exploited to demonstrate a miniature photovoltaic solar array where two photovoltaic cells were connected in series using the laser-induced forward transfer metallization process, as a model for high voltage photovoltaic solar cell.
We report a case in which vocal and motor tics (Tourettism) developed after the administration of clomipramine hydrochloride in a young patient with obsessive compulsive disorder and schizoid ...personality disorder. Several hypotheses for this occurrence are proposed based on the suggested pathogenesis of Tourette syndrome.
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