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 coreplatform@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.
Humans have engineered their environments throughout the Holocene, especially in the construction of hydraulic infrastructure. In many regions, however, this infrastructure is difficult to date, including the vestiges of water-management systems in the Andean highlands. Focusing on silt reservoirs in the upper Ica drainage, Peru, the authors use cores and radiocarbon dates to demonstrate the pre-Hispanic construction of walls to enhance and expand wetlands for camelid pasture. Interventions dated to the Inca period (AD 1400–1532) indicate an intensification of investment in hydraulic infrastructure to expand production capacity in support of the state. The results are discussed in the context of the hydraulic strategies of other states and empires.
Deficits in visuospatial attention, known as neglect, are common following brain injury, but underdiagnosed and poorly treated, resulting in long-term cognitive disability. In clinical settings, neglect is often assessed using simple pen-and-paper tests. While convenient, these cannot characterise the full spectrum of neglect. This protocol reports a research programme that compares traditional neglect assessments with a novel virtual reality attention assessment platform: The Attention Atlas (AA).
Methods/design:
The AA was codesigned by researchers and clinicians to meet the clinical need for improved neglect assessment. The AA uses a visual search paradigm to map the attended space in three dimensions and seeks to identify the optimal parameters that best distinguish neglect from non-neglect, and the spectrum of neglect, by providing near-time feedback to clinicians on system-level behavioural performance. A series of experiments will address procedural, scientific, patient, and clinical feasibility domains.
Results:
Analyses focuses on descriptive measures of reaction time, accuracy data for target localisation, and histogram-based raycast attentional mapping analysis; which measures the individual’s orientation in space, and inter- and intra-individual variation of visuospatial attention. We will compare neglect and control data using parametric between-subjects analyses. We present example individual-level results produced in near-time during visual search.
Conclusions:
The development and validation of the AA is part of a new generation of translational neuroscience that exploits the latest advances in technology and brain science, including technology repurposed from the consumer gaming market. This approach to rehabilitation has the potential for highly accurate, highly engaging, personalised care.
In the past two decades, subanaesthetic doses of ketamine have been demonstrated to have rapid and sustained antidepressant effects, and accumulating research has demonstrated ketamine's therapeutic effects for a range of psychiatric conditions.
Aims
In light of these findings surrounding ketamine's psychotherapeutic potential, we systematically review the extant evidence on ketamine's effects in treating mental health disorders.
Method
The systematic review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (identifier CRD42019130636). Human studies investigating the therapeutic effects of ketamine in the treatment of mental health disorders were included. Because of the extensive research in depression, bipolar disorder and suicidal ideation, only systematic reviews and meta-analyses were included. We searched Medline and PsycINFO on 21 October 2020. Risk-of-bias analysis was assessed with the Cochrane Risk of Bias tools and A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) Checklist.
Results
We included 83 published reports in the final review: 33 systematic reviews, 29 randomised controlled trials, two randomised trials without placebo, three non-randomised trials with controls, six open-label trials and ten retrospective reviews. The results were presented via narrative synthesis.
Conclusions
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses provide support for robust, rapid and transient antidepressant and anti-suicidal effects of ketamine. Evidence for other indications is less robust, but suggests similarly positive and short-lived effects. The conclusions should be interpreted with caution because of the high risk of bias of included studies. Optimal dosing, modes of administration and the most effective forms of adjunctive psychotherapeutic support should be examined further.
Exposure to traumatic events is both a risk factor for substance use and an adverse outcome of substance use disorders. Identifying and managing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in patients with addiction requires attention.
Aims
To examine the lifetime prevalence of traumatic events and past-month prevalence of PSTD in patients treated for opioid use disorder, and explore the association between trauma, PTSD and treatment outcomes.
Method
Participants (n = 674) receiving methadone treatment in 20 community clinics across Ontario, Canada, were administered the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview to identify self-reported traumatic events and PTSD. Drug use was measured for 12 months by urine drug screens.
Results
Eleven per cent of participants met past-month criteria for PTSD (n = 72), and 48% reported history of traumatic events with no current PTSD (n = 323). Participants with PTSD were more likely to be female (odds ratio 2.13, 95% CI 1.20–3.76) and less likely to be employed (odds ratio 0.31, 95% CI 0.16–0.61) or married (odds ratio 0.51, 95% CI 0.26–0.90) than those with no trauma history. Antidepressants (39 v. 24%) and benzodiazepines (36 v. 18%) were differentially prescribed to patients with and without PTSD. Length of time in treatment and opioid use were not associated with trauma; however, suicidal ideation was more common in PTSD (odds ratio 2.29, 95% CI 1.04–5.01).
Conclusions
Trauma and PTSD are prevalent among patients with opioid use disorder, and consideration of trauma symptoms and associated characteristics is warranted. Patients with and without comorbid PTSD differ clinically and psychosocially, highlighting the relevance of integrating addiction and mental health services for this population.
The processes and planning involved in choosing and attempting to die by a particular method of suicide are not well understood. Accounts from those who have thought about or attempted suicide using a specific method might allow us to better understand the ways in which people come to think about, plan and enact a suicide attempt.
Aims
To understand from first-person accounts the processes and planning involved in a suicide attempt on the railway.
Method
Thematic analysis was conducted of qualitative interviews (N = 34) undertaken with individuals who had contemplated or attempted suicide by train.
Results
Participants explained how they decided upon a particular method, time and place for a suicide attempt. Plans were described as being contingent on a number of elements (including the likelihood of being seen or interrupted), rather than being fixed in advance. Participants mentally rehearsed and evaluated a particular method, which would sometimes involve imagining in detail what would happen before, during and after an attempt. The extent to which this involved others (train drivers, partners, friends) was striking.
Conclusions
By giving people free reign to describe in their own words the processes they went through in planning and undertaking a suicide attempt, and by not interpreting such accounts through a lens of deficit and pathology, we can arrive at important insights into how people come to think and feel about, plan and enact a suicide attempt. The findings have implications in terms of understanding suicide risk and prevention more broadly.
The Shahrizor Prehistory Project has targeted prehistoric levels of the Late Ubaid and Late Chalcolithic 4 (LC4; Late Middle Uruk) periods at Gurga Chiya (Shahrizor, Kurdistan region of northern Iraq), along with the Halaf period at the adjacent site of Tepe Marani. Excavations at the latter have produced new dietary and environmental data for the sixth millennium B.C. in the region, while at Gurga Chiya part of a burned Late Ubaid tripartite house was excavated. This has yielded a promising archaeobotanical assemblage and established a benchmark ceramic assemblage for the Shahrizor Plain, which is closely comparable to material known from Tell Madhhur in the Hamrin valley. The related series of radiocarbon dates gives significant new insights into the divergent timing of the Late Ubaid and early LC in northern and southern Mesopotamia. In the following occupation horizon, a ceramic assemblage closely aligned to the southern Middle Uruk indicates convergence of material culture with central and southern Iraq as early as the LC4 period. Combined with data for the appearance of Early Uruk elements at sites in the adjacent Qara Dagh region, this hints at long-term co-development of material culture during the fourth millennium B.C. in southeastern Iraqi Kurdistan and central and southern Iraq, potentially questioning the model of expansion or colonialism from the south.
Patients receiving treatment for opioid-use disorder (OUD) may experience psychological symptoms without meeting full criteria for psychiatric disorders. The impact of these symptoms on treatment outcomes is unclear.
Aims
To determine the prevalence of psychological symptoms in a cohort of individuals receiving medication-assisted treatment for OUD and explore their association with patient characteristics and outcomes in treatment.
Method
Data were collected from 2788 participants receiving ongoing treatment for OUD recruited in two Canadian prospective cohort studies. The Maudsley Addiction Profile psychological symptoms subscale was administered to all participants via face-to-face interviews. A subset of participants (n = 666) also received assessment for psychiatric disorders with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. We used linear regression analysis to explore factors associated with psychological symptom score.
Results
The mean psychological symptom score was 12.6/40 (s.d. = 9.2). Participants with psychiatric comorbidity had higher scores than those without (mean 16.8 v. 8.6, P<0.001) and 31% of those with psychiatric comorbidity reported suicidal ideation. Higher psychological symptom score was associated with female gender (B = 1.59, 95% CI 0.92–2.25, P<0.001), antidepressant prescription (B = 4.35, 95% CI 3.61–5.09, P<0.001), percentage of opioid-positive urine screens (B = 0.02, 95% CI 0.01–0.03, P<0.001), and use of non-opioid substances (B = 1.92, 95% CI 0.89–2.95, P<0.001). Marriage and employment were associated with lower psychological symptoms.
Conclusions
Psychological symptoms are associated with treatment outcomes in this population and the prevalence of suicidal ideation is an area of concern. Our findings highlight the ongoing need to optimise integrated mental health and addictions services for patients with OUD.
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and regulatory decisions involve value judgements. As patient groups, industry, and regulatory agencies conduct more preference studies to quantify these judgements, a better understanding of the methods and practices is needed. Currently, there is no systematic mapping of the use of preference data in Europe. This study aimed to identify (i) the use of quantitative preference data by all relevant HTA bodies and regulatory authorities of the European Union (EU) member states, and (ii) key standards and guidelines.
Methods
This study used a mixed method approach based on a systematic literature review, survey and subsequent interviews with decision makers and experts.
Results
A total of 62 survey responses were received. Many respondents reported that their agencies were responsible for supporting more than one type of decision, with 69.0 percent supporting approval decisions, 64.3 percent supporting reimbursement decisions, 61.9 percent supporting pricing decisions, and 64.2 percent supporting guideline development. Respondents reported that their agencies supported these decisions in multiple ways: 78.6 percent by assessing health technologies; 54.8 percent by appraising health technologies; 45.2 percent by compiling an HTA report; 7.1 percent by conducting primary research; 9.5 percent by conducting secondary research. More than 40 percent (42.9 percent) of agencies had the final say on one of the decisions of interest – approval, reimbursement, or pricing. Of the 31 countries studied, 71 percent (n = 22) used quantitative preference data in their reimbursement and pricing decisions. Of those, 86 percent (n = 19) used general population preferences to inform the estimation of quality-adjusted life years (QALY) as part of cost utility analysis.
Conclusions
Much of this use of preference data can be understood within the standard framework of economic analysis adopted by many HTA agencies; either in in the form of: standard ways to estimate QALYs; ways to broaden the impacts of technologies captured in the QALY; or ways to weigh health gain with other decision-making criteria, such as disease severity or innovativeness.
Cannabis is the most commonly used substance among patients in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) for opioid use disorder. Current treatment programmes neither screen nor manage cannabis use. The recent legalisation of cannabis in Canada incites consideration into how this may affect the current opioid crisis.
Aims
Investigate the health status of cannabis users in MMT.
Method
Patients were recruited from addiction clinics in Ontario, Canada. Regression analyses were used to assess the association between adverse health conditions and cannabis use. Further analyses were used to assess sex differences and heaviness of cannabis use.
Results
We included 672 patients (49.9% cannabis users). Cannabis users were more likely to consume alcohol (odds ratio 1.46, 95% CI 1.04–2.06, P = 0.029) and have anxiety disorders (odds ratio 1.75, 95% CI 1.02–3.02, P = 0.043), but were less likely to use heroin (odds ratio 0.45, 95% CI 0.24–0.86, P = 0.016). There was no association between cannabis use and pain (odds ratio 0.98, 95% CI 0.94–1.03, P = 0.463). A significant association was seen between alcohol and cannabis use in women (odds ratio 1.79, 95% CI 1.06–3.02, P = 0.028), and anxiety disorders and cannabis use in men (odds ratio 2.59, 95% CI 1.21–5.53, P = 0.014). Heaviness of cannabis use was not associated with health outcomes.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that cannabis use is common and associated with psychiatric comorbidities and substance use among patients in MMT, advocating for screening of cannabis use in this population.
This study exploits a new long-run data set of daily bid and offered exchange rates in spot and forward markets from 1919 to the present to analyze carry returns in fixed and floating currency regimes. We first find that outsized carry returns occur exclusively in the floating regime, being zero in the fixed regime. Second, we show that fixed-to-floating regime shifts are associated with negative returns to a carry strategy implemented only on floating currencies, robust to the inclusion of volatility risks. These shifts are typically characterized by global flight-to-safety events that represent bad times for carry traders.
The power of business is a very important issue for understanding the operation of democracy, but establishing the nature and extent of its power is not easy. We acknowledge that this is, in large part, an empirical problem and requires a more sophisticated conceptual framework to address it. Attempting to address this, the recent literature on the power of business has increasingly focused on the role of structure, agents and ideas. However, too little attention has been paid to how these concepts are defined and conceptualized. We argue that it is crucial to: specify the structures (economic/political/social) which we see as affecting the role of business; identify the agents, collective and individual, involved and how they interact; and specify which ideas are playing a role, at what level of generality and how these different ideas at different levels of generality interact. This article explores these issues through a critical consideration of the extant literature in order to provide a more developed framework for future empirical analysis.
The mitigation hierarchy is a decision-making framework designed to address impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services through first seeking to avoid impacts wherever possible, then minimizing or restoring impacts, and finally by offsetting any unavoidable impacts. Avoiding impacts is seen by many as the most certain and effective way of managing harm to biodiversity, and its position as the first stage of the mitigation hierarchy indicates that it should be prioritized ahead of other stages. However, despite an abundance of legislative and voluntary requirements, there is often a failure to avoid impacts. We discuss reasons for this failure and outline some possible solutions. We highlight the key roles that can be played by conservation organizations in cultivating political will, holding decision makers accountable to the law, improving the processes of impact assessment and avoidance, building capacity, and providing technical knowledge. A renewed focus on impact avoidance as the foundation of the mitigation hierarchy could help to limit the impacts on biodiversity of large-scale developments in energy, infrastructure, agriculture and other sectors.