Who benefits most from guided self-help for binge eating? An investigation into the clinical features of completers and non-completers.

Guided self-help (GSH) is a recommended first step in treatment for bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED) (NICE, 2004). It remains unclear what makes some individuals more likely to respond to this form of treatment than others. Forty-eight patients participated in this study using a GSH programme for binge eating. Profiles of treatment completers and non-completers are compared, and reasons for non-completion explored. Completion of treatment was associated with significant improvements in mood, general functioning and on measures of dietary restraint, frequency of objective binge eating (OBE), laxative misuse, self-induced vomiting (SIV) and driven exercise. Improvements were maintained at follow-up. Treatment non-completers reported significantly higher pre-treatment levels of depression and weight concern, and lower levels of general health and vitality. Reasons for discontinuing treatment were related to perceptions of the GSH programme; practicalities of the programme; and readiness to change. Whilst GSH can be effective for a sub-group of patients, factors such as pre-morbid level of depression, degree of weight concern, perceptions of the programme, and readiness to change may increase the likelihood of non-completion.

Schema and parental bonding in overweight and nonoverweight female adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether family functioning and cognitions in a group of overweight female adolescents differ significantly from those in a group of normal weight female adolescents. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: In all, 23 overweight female adolescents (mean age: 17.6 y, mean body mass index (BMI: 27.8 kg/m2), and 23 normal weight female adolescents (mean age: 17.7 y, mean BMI: 20.2 kg/m2). MEASUREMENTS: The following self-report measures were completed: the Parental Bonding Inventory, the Young Schema Questionnaire-short version, the Eating Attitudes Test, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Eating Disorder Belief Questionnaire. RESULTS: Overweight female adolescents reported more negative self-beliefs and greater belief in schema relating to emotional deprivation, fears of abandonment, subjugation and insufficient self-control. They also perceived their fathers as being significantly more overprotective and significantly less caring. Within this group perceived level of maternal care correlated negatively with negative self-beliefs and schema. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight female adolescents show some of the cognitive features associated with the development of an eating disorder. However, positive parent-child relationships may serve to protect overweight adolescents from developing clinical eating disorders and from psychological distress later in life.

Improvement of HIV-specific immunity in HIV-infected twins treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy, interleukin 2, and syngeneic adoptively transferred cells.

Five HIV-seropositive twins were treated with HAART and given cycles of treatment consisting of adoptive cellular therapy from their HIV-seronegative identical twins followed by a 5-day course of intravenous IL-2. Changes in absolute and percent CD4(+) and CD8(+) cell count were monitored and compared with changes in these parameters occurring in seven age-, sex-, and disease stage-matched HIV-infected patients treated with HAART alone. Increase in the magnitude and breadth of HIV-specific immune responses was monitored in three twin subjects who received multiple treatment cycles. Absolute and percent CD4(+) cell counts rose dramatically and to significantly higher levels in the recipient twins than in control subjects treated with HAART only. The subjects who received multiple cycles of treatment developed new and increased levels of HIV-specific activated and memory cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses, and interferon gamma-secreting effector cells. Treatment consisting of HAART, adoptive cellular therapy, and IL-2 was superior to treatment with HAART alone for improving absolute and percent CD4(+) cell counts and inducing new, or increasing the magnitude of, HIV-specific immune responses in HIV infected patients.

Postural effects on gas exchange in infants.

In adults with unilateral lung disease, pulmonary gas exchange is better when the patients is positioned with the good lung dependent. We studied the effects of body position on gas exchange in 10 infants with unilateral lung disease by measuring transcutaneous oxygen and carbon dioxide pressures in the supine and right and left lateral positions. We also performed krypton lung scans and measured changes in thoracic gas volumes in four of the infants. Transcutaneous oxygen pressure (mean +/- S.E.) was greater with the good lung uppermost (82 +/- 7.6 mm Hg) than with the good lung dependent (73 +/- 7 mm Hg) (P less than 0.02) or in the supine position (78 +/- 7 mm Hg). There were no changes in transcutaneous carbon dioxide pressure. The proportion of ventilation to the good lung was greater with the good lung uppermost than with the good lung dependent (P less than 0.01) or in the supine position (P less than 0.02) (64 +/- 3, 46 +/- 6, and 59 +/- 7 per cent, respectively). There were no significant changes with position in functional residual capacity, tidal volume, or dynamic lung compliance. We conclude that oxygenation in infants with unilateral lung disease is best with the good lung uppermost--the reverse of what has been observed in adults.

A flow cytometry study of the cell cycle and of ploidy levels in Physarum polycephalum myxamoebae and plasmodia.

The cell cycle of Physarum polycephalum myxamoebae, as well as haploid and diploid and plasmodia, was analysed using laser microfluorometry. The data obtained indicate that the cell cycle of all strains examined are similar. The DNA profiles also indicate that a haploid ploidy level is still uncertain and show conclusively that spontaneous chromosome loss is a parameter of concern in research involving these organisms.

Ityogonimus scalopi sp. N. (Trematoda: Brachylaemidae) from the eastern mole, Scalopus aquaticus (Linnaeus 1758).

Ityogonimus scalopi is described from the intestines of three of seven moles, Scalopus aquaticus, trapped in the vicinity of Ridgeland, South Carolina. Unlike other members of the genus, this species occurs in North America rather than Europe. Ityogonimus scalopi resembles other species of the genus, but differs in sucker ratio, character of the seminal vesicle, and absence of a prominent genital eminence.

Transmission and scanning electron microscopy of changes associated with microcyst formation in the myxamoebae of Physarum polycephalum.

Surface and internal changes associated with transition from myxamoebal to microcyst stages in Physarum polycephalum have been observed with transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Nuclear morphology, granules studded with ribosomal-like particles, synthesis of polysaccharides which are deposited exterior to the cell, and origin of material for the cell wall appear to be similar in the amoeba and in the plasmodium. In addition, the viability of the strain used in this research after being allowed to remain in a quiescent or encysted stage was observed to be approximately six months.