Changes in physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep following pulmonary rehabilitation: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The variety of innovations to traditional centre-based pulmonary rehabilitation (CBPR), including different modes of delivery and adjuncts, are likely to lead to differential responses in physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep. OBJECTIVES: To examine the relative effectiveness of different pulmonary rehabilitation-based interventions on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep. METHODS: Randomised trials in chronic respiratory disease involving pulmonary rehabilitation-based interventions were systematically searched for. Network meta-analyses compared interventions for changes in physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep in COPD. RESULTS: 46 studies were included, and analyses were performed on most common outcomes: steps per day (k=24), time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA; k=12) and sedentary time (k=8). There were insufficient data on sleep outcomes (k=3). CBPR resulted in greater steps per day and MVPA and reduced sedentary time compared to usual care. CBPR+physical activity promotion resulted in greater increases in steps per day compared to both usual care and CBPR, with greater increases in MVPA and reductions in sedentary time compared to usual care, but not CBPR. Home-based pulmonary rehabilitation resulted in greater increases in steps per day and decreases in sedentary time compared to usual care. Compared to usual care, CBPR+physical activity promotion was the only intervention where the lower 95% confidence interval for steps per day surpassed the minimal important difference. No pulmonary rehabilitation-related intervention resulted in greater increases in MVPA or reductions in sedentary time compared to CBPR. CONCLUSION: The addition of physical activity promotion to pulmonary rehabilitation improves volume of physical activity, but not intensity, compared to CBPR. High risk of bias and low certainty of evidence suggests that these results should be viewed with caution.

Adverse Events Reporting in Digital Interventions Evaluations for Psychosis: A Systematic Literature Search and Individual Level Content Analysis of Adverse Event Reports.

BACKGROUND: Digital health interventions (DHIs) have significant potential to upscale treatment access to people experiencing psychosis but raise questions around patient safety. Adverse event (AE) monitoring is used to identify, record, and manage safety issues in clinical trials, but little is known about the specific content and context contained within extant AE reports. This study aimed to assess current AE reporting in DHIs. STUDY DESIGN: A systematic literature search was conducted by the iCharts network (representing academic, clinical, and experts by experience) to identify trials of DHIs in psychosis. Authors were invited to share AE reports recorded in their trials. A content analysis was conducted on the shared reports. STUDY RESULTS: We identified 593 AE reports from 18 DHI evaluations, yielding 19 codes. Only 29 AEs (4.9% of total) were preidentified by those who shared AEs as being related to the intervention or trial procedures. While overall results support the safety of DHIs, DHIs were linked to mood problems and psychosis exacerbation in a few cases. Additionally, 27% of studies did not report information on relatedness for all or at least some AEs; 9.6% of AE reports were coded as unclear because it could not be determined what had happened to participants. CONCLUSIONS: The results support the safety of DHIs, but AEs must be routinely monitored and evaluated according to best practice. Individual-level analyses of AEs have merit to understand safety in this emerging field. Recommendations for best practice reporting in future studies are provided.

Measurement of Adverse Events in Studies of Digital Health Interventions for Psychosis: Guidance and Recommendations Based on a Literature Search and Framework Analysis of Standard Operating Procedures.

BACKGROUND: Given the rapid expansion of research into digital health interventions (DHIs) for severe mental illness (SMI; eg, schizophrenia and other psychosis diagnoses), there is an emergent need for clear safety measures. Currently, measurement and reporting of adverse events (AEs) are inconsistent across studies. Therefore, an international network, iCharts, was assembled to systematically identify and refine a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for AE reporting in DHI studies for SMI. DESIGN: The iCharts network comprised experts on DHIs for SMI from seven countries (United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Pakistan, Australia, United States, and China) and various professional backgrounds. Following a literature search, SOPs of AEs were obtained from authors of relevant studies, and from grey literature. RESULTS: A thorough framework analysis of SOPs (n = 32) identified commonalities for best practice for certain domains, along with significant gaps in others; particularly around the classification of AEs during trials, and the provision of training/supervision for research staff in measuring and reporting AEs. Several areas which could lead to the observed inconsistencies in AE reporting and handling were also identified. CONCLUSIONS: The iCharts network developed best-practice guidelines and a practical resource for AE monitoring in DHI studies for psychosis, based on a systematic process which identified common features and evidence gaps. This work contributes to international efforts to standardize AE measurement and reporting in this emerging field, ensuring that safety aspects of DHIs for SMI are well-studied across the translational pathway, with monitoring systems set-up from the outset to support safe implementation in healthcare systems.

Understanding the infection severity and epidemiological characteristics of mpox in the UK.

In May 2022, individuals infected with the monkeypox virus were detected in the UK without clear travel links to endemic areas. Understanding the clinical characteristics and infection severity of mpox is necessary for effective public health policy. The study period of this paper, from the 1st June 2022 to 30th September 2022, included 3,375 individuals that tested positive for the monkeypox virus. The posterior mean times from infection to hospital admission and length of hospital stay were 14.89 days (95% Credible Intervals (CrI): 13.60, 16.32) and 7.07 days (95% CrI: 6.07, 8.23), respectively. We estimated the modelled Infection Hospitalisation Risk to be 4.13% (95% CrI: 3.04, 5.02), compared to the overall sample Case Hospitalisation Risk (CHR) of 5.10% (95% CrI: 4.38, 5.86). The overall sample CHR was estimated to be 17.86% (95% CrI: 6.06, 33.11) for females and 4.99% (95% CrI: 4.27, 5.75) for males. A notable difference was observed between the CHRs that were estimated for each sex, which may be indicative of increased infection severity in females or a considerably lower infection ascertainment rate. It was estimated that 74.65% (95% CrI: 55.78, 86.85) of infections with the monkeypox virus in the UK were captured over the outbreak.

Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance.

Numerous investigations have characterized the oscillatory dynamics serving working memory in adults, but few have probed its relationship with chronological age in developing youth. We recorded magnetoencephalography during a modified Sternberg verbal working memory task in 82 youth participants aged 6-14 years old. Significant oscillatory responses were identified and imaged using a beamforming approach and the resulting whole-brain maps were probed for developmental effects during the encoding and maintenance phases. Our results indicated robust oscillatory responses in the theta (4-7 Hz) and alpha (8-14 Hz) range, with older participants exhibiting stronger alpha oscillations in left-hemispheric language regions. Older participants also had greater occipital theta power during encoding. Interestingly, there were sex-by-age interaction effects in cerebellar cortices during encoding and in the right superior temporal region during maintenance. These results extend the existing literature on working memory development by showing strong associations between age and oscillatory dynamics across a distributed network. To our knowledge, these findings are the first to link chronological age to alpha and theta oscillatory responses serving working memory encoding and maintenance, both across and between male and female youth; they reveal robust developmental effects in crucial brain regions serving higher order functions.

Evidence-based symptomatic treatment of migraine.

Symptomatic treatment of migraine includes patient education, mainly to avoid medication overuse and known trigger factors, as well as pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical interventions. Disease-specific and mechanism-based agents include ergotamine and dihydroergotamine targeting the adrenergic, dopaminergic, and serotoninergic systems followed by triptans, specific agonists for 5-HT1B/1D/1F receptors, the latest being more favorable in terms of safety and documentation of efficacy. Recently, antagonists of calcitonin gene-related peptide (gepants) and selective agonists of the 5-HT1F receptor (ditans) have been added, with promising efficacy and safety. Triptans stay as the first option treatment when attacks are moderate to severe, followed by nonspecific agents, including aspirin and paracetamol/acetaminophen and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, ibuprofen and naproxen share the best documentation) for mild-to-moderate migraine attacks. Combinations with caffeine are effective as well, but barbiturates and opioids alone or in combinations should be avoided. Simple analgesics and NSAIDs attenuate cephalic pain via prostaglandin mediated mechanisms and may induce peptic, renal and hepatic adverse effects. Neuromodulation techniques include single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (s-TMS), external trigeminal nerve stimulation (e-TNS), remote electrical neuromodulation (REN) and noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS). All share good documentation and safety profile and are worthy of alternative treatment options along with physical therapy when medicines are contradicted or not well tolerated or unwanted by the patients.

Prognostication of co-morbidity clusters on hospitalisation and mortality in advanced COPD.

RATIONALE: As the prevalence of multimorbidity increases, understanding the impact of isolated comorbidities in people COPD becomes increasingly challenging. A simplified model of common comorbidity patterns may improve outcome prediction and allow targeted therapy. OBJECTIVES: To assess whether comorbidity phenotypes derived from routinely collected clinical data in people with COPD show differences in risk of hospitalisation and mortality. METHODS: Twelve clinical measures related to common comorbidities were collected during annual reviews for people with advanced COPD and k-means cluster analysis performed. Cox proportional hazards with adjustment for covariates was used to determine hospitalisation and mortality risk between clusters. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: In 203 participants (age 66 ± 9 years, 60 % male, FEV1%predicted 31 ± 10 %) no comorbidity in isolation was predictive of worse admission or mortality risk. Four clusters were described: cluster A (cardiometabolic and anaemia), cluster B (malnourished and low mood), cluster C (obese, metabolic and mood disturbance) and cluster D (less comorbid). FEV1%predicted did not significantly differ between clusters. Mortality risk was higher in cluster A (HR 3.73 [95%CI 1.09-12.82] p = 0.036) and B (HR 3.91 [95%CI 1.17-13.14] p = 0.027) compared to cluster D. Time to admission was highest in cluster A (HR 2.01 [95%CI 1.11-3.63] p = 0.020). Cluster C was not associated with increased risk of mortality or hospitalisation. CONCLUSIONS: Despite presence of advanced COPD, we report striking differences in prognosis for both mortality and hospital admissions for different co-morbidity phenotypes. Objectively assessing the multi-system nature of COPD could lead to improved prognostication and targeted therapy for patients.

An artificial nickel chlorinase based on the biotin-streptavidin technology.

Herein, we report on an artificial nickel chlorinase (ANCase) resulting from anchoring a biotinylated nickel-based cofactor within streptavidin (Sav). The resulting ANCase was efficient for the chlorination of diverse C(sp3)-H bonds. Guided by the X-ray analysis of the ANCase, the activity of the artificial chlorinase could be significantly improved. This approach opens interesting perspectives for late-stage functionalization of organic intermediates as it complements biocatalytic chlorination strategies.

Concept Graph Neural Networks for Surgical Video Understanding.

Analysis of relations between objects and comprehension of abstract concepts in the surgical video is important in AI-augmented surgery. However, building models that integrate our knowledge and understanding of surgery remains a challenging endeavor. In this paper, we propose a novel way to integrate conceptual knowledge into temporal analysis tasks using temporal concept graph networks. In the proposed networks, a knowledge graph is incorporated into the temporal video analysis of surgical notions, learning the meaning of concepts and relations as they apply to the data. We demonstrate results in surgical video data for tasks such as verification of the critical view of safety, estimation of the Parkland grading scale as well as recognizing instrument-action-tissue triplets. The results show that our method improves the recognition and detection of complex benchmarks as well as enables other analytic applications of interest.

Trauma therapies for psychosis: A state-of-the-art review.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic events, particularly childhood interpersonal victimisation, have been found to play a causal role in the occurrence of psychosis and shape the phenomenology of psychotic experiences. Higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related mental health problems are also found in people with psychosis diagnoses compared to the general population. It is, therefore, imperative that therapists are willing and able to address trauma and its consequences when supporting recovery from distressing psychosis. METHOD: This paper will support this need by providing a state-of-the-art overview of the safety, acceptability and effects of trauma therapies for psychosis. RESULTS: We will first introduce how seminal cognitive-behavioural models of psychosis shed light on the mechanisms by which trauma may give rise to psychotic experiences, including a putative role for trauma-related emotions, beliefs and episodic memories. The initial application of prolonged exposure and eye movement and desensitation and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) for treating PTSD in psychosis will be described, followed by consideration of integrative approaches. These integrative approaches aim to address the impact of trauma on both post-traumatic stress symptoms and trauma-related psychosis. Integrative approaches include EMDR for psychosis (EMDRp) and trauma-focused Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for psychosis (tf-CBTp). Finally, emerging dialogic approaches for targeting trauma-related voice-hearing will be considered, demonstrating the potential value of adopting co-produced (Talking with Voices) and digitally augmented (AVATAR) therapies. CONCLUSION: We will conclude by reflecting on current issues in the area, and implications for research and clinical practice.

Changes in the eating disorder voice over time and the association of voice characteristics at baseline with clinical symptoms in patients with anorexia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with eating disorders report the experience of living with an eating disorder voice, a second- or third-person, negative commentary about eating, weight, shape and their implications for self-esteem. Qualitative and cross-sectional studies suggest that the severity and characteristics of the eating disorder voice might play a role in the maintenance of eating disorder symptoms. The goal of this study was to expand the evidence base as to how the eating disorder voice changes over time and whether the characteristics of the voice are associated with changes in eating disorder symptoms during treatment. METHOD: Seventy-two patients with anorexia nervosa receiving intensive eating disorder treatment were recruited. They completed self-report measures of eating disorder symptoms, psychological distress and eating disorder voice's severity and characteristics (e.g., malevolence, benevolence and omnipotence) at baseline and approximately 6 months later. RESULTS: Over time, patients reported lower levels of eating and weight concern (small effect size), shape concern (large effect size) and anxiety (small effect size). They also reported a reduction in the severity, perceived malevolence (medium effect size) and omnipotence (small effect size) of the eating disorder voice. Greater severity and malevolence of the voice, and lower benevolence at baseline predicted greater reductions in eating disorder symptoms (i.e., restraint and shape concern). CONCLUSION: Beliefs about the eating disorder voice (i.e., malevolence) and severity of the voice appear to be malleable to treatment and are associated with a reduction of eating disorder symptoms. The potential of using dialogical approaches to target the eating disorder voice is discussed.

Effect of aerobic exercise training on pulse wave velocity in adults with and without long-term conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

RATIONALE: There is conflicting evidence whether aerobic exercise training (AET) reduces pulse wave velocity (PWV) in adults with and without long-term conditions (LTCs). OBJECTIVE: To explore whether PWV improves with AET in adults with and without LTC, to quantify the magnitude of any effect and understand the influence of the exercise prescription. DATA SOURCES: CENTRAL, MEDLINE and EMBASE were among the databases searched. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: We included studies with a PWV measurement before and after supervised AET of at least 3 weeks duration. Exclusion criteria included resistance exercise and alternative measures of arterial stiffness. DESIGN: Controlled trials were included in a random effects meta-analysis to explore the effect of AET on PWV. Uncontrolled studies were included in a secondary meta-analysis and meta-regression exploring the effect of patient and programme factors on change in PWV. The relevant risk of bias tool was used for each study design. RESULTS: 79 studies (n=3729) were included: 35 controlled studies (21 randomised control trials (RCT) (n=1240) and 12 non-RCT (n=463)) and 44 uncontrolled (n=2026). In the controlled meta- analysis, PWV was significantly reduced following AET (mean (SD) 11 (7) weeks) in adults with and without LTC (mean difference -0.63; 95% CI -0.82 to -0.44; p<0.0001). PWV was similarly reduced between adults with and without LTC (p<0.001). Age, but not specific programme factors, was inversely associated with a reduction in PWV -0.010 (-0.020 to -0.010) m/s, p<0.001. DISCUSSION: Short-term AET similarly reduces PWV in adults with and without LTC. Whether this effect is sustained and the clinical implications require further investigation.

Forecasting influenza hospital admissions within English sub-regions using hierarchical generalised additive models.

BACKGROUND: Seasonal influenza places a substantial burden annually on healthcare services. Policies during the COVID-19 pandemic limited the transmission of seasonal influenza, making the timing and magnitude of a potential resurgence difficult to ascertain and its impact important to forecast. METHODS: We have developed a hierarchical generalised additive model (GAM) for the short-term forecasting of hospital admissions with a positive test for the influenza virus sub-regionally across England. The model incorporates a multi-level structure of spatio-temporal splines, weekly cycles in admissions, and spatial correlation. Using multiple performance metrics including interval score, coverage, bias, and median absolute error, the predictive performance is evaluated for the 2022-2023 seasonal wave. Performance is measured against autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and Prophet time series models. RESULTS: Across the epidemic phases the hierarchical GAM shows improved performance, at all geographic scales relative to the ARIMA and Prophet models. Temporally, the hierarchical GAM has overall an improved performance at 7 and 14 day time horizons. The performance of the GAM is most sensitive to the flexibility of the smoothing function that measures the national epidemic trend. CONCLUSIONS: This study introduces an approach to short-term forecasting of hospital admissions for the influenza virus using hierarchical, spatial, and temporal components. The methodology was designed for the real time forecasting of epidemics. This modelling framework was used across the 2022-2023 winter for healthcare operational planning by the UK Health Security Agency and the National Health Service in England.

Seasonal influenza causes a burden for hospitals and therefore it is useful to be able to accurately predict how many patients might be admitted with the disease. We attempted to predict influenza admissions up to 14 days in the future by creating a computational model that incorporates how the disease is reported and how it spreads. We evaluated our optimised model on data acquired during the winter of 2022-2023 data in England and compared it with previously developed models. Our model was better at modelling how influenza spreads and predicting future hospital admissions than the models we compared it to. Improving how influenza admissions are forecast can enable hospitals to prepare better for increased admissions, enabling improved treatment and reduced death for all patients in hospital over winter.

Bayesian spatial modelling of localised SARS-CoV-2 transmission through mobility networks across England.

In the early phases of growth, resurgent epidemic waves of SARS-CoV-2 incidence have been characterised by localised outbreaks. Therefore, understanding the geographic dispersion of emerging variants at the start of an outbreak is key for situational public health awareness. Using telecoms data, we derived mobility networks describing the movement patterns between local authorities in England, which we have used to inform the spatial structure of a Bayesian BYM2 model. Surge testing interventions can result in spatio-temporal sampling bias, and we account for this by extending the BYM2 model to include a random effect for each timepoint in a given area. Simulated-scenario modelling and real-world analyses of each variant that became dominant in England were conducted using our BYM2 model at local authority level in England. Simulated datasets were created using a stochastic metapopulation model, with the transmission rates between different areas parameterised using telecoms mobility data. Different scenarios were constructed to reproduce real-world spatial dispersion patterns that could prove challenging to inference, and we used these scenarios to understand the performance characteristics of the BYM2 model. The model performed better than unadjusted test positivity in all the simulation-scenarios, and in particular when sample sizes were small, or data was missing for geographical areas. Through the analyses of emerging variant transmission across England, we found a reduction in the early growth phase geographic clustering of later dominant variants as England became more interconnected from early 2022 and public health interventions were reduced. We have also shown the recent increased geographic spread and dominance of variants with similar mutations in the receptor binding domain, which may be indicative of convergent evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Regular cannabis use alters the neural dynamics serving complex motor control.

Cannabis is the most widely used recreational drug in the United States and regular use has been linked to deficits in attention and memory. However, the effects of regular use on motor control are less understood, with some studies showing deficits and others indicating normal performance. Eighteen users and 23 nonusers performed a motor sequencing task during high-density magnetoencephalography (MEG). The MEG data was transformed into the time-frequency domain and beta responses (16-24 Hz) during motor planning and execution phases were imaged separately using a beamformer approach. Whole-brain maps were examined for group (cannabis user/nonuser) and time window (planning/execution) effects. As expected, there were no group differences in task performance (e.g., reaction time, accuracy, etc.). Regular cannabis users exhibited stronger beta oscillations in the contralateral primary motor cortex compared to nonusers during the execution phase of the motor sequences, but not during the motor planning phase. Similar group-by-time window interactions were observed in the left superior parietal, right inferior frontal cortices, right posterior insular cortex, and the bilateral motor cortex. We observed differences in the neural dynamics serving motor control in regular cannabis users compared to nonusers, suggesting regular users may employ compensatory processing in both primary motor and higher-order motor cortices to maintain adequate task performance. Future studies will need to examine more complex motor control tasks to ascertain whether this putative compensatory activity eventually becomes exhausted and behavioral differences emerge.

A Co(TAML)-based artificial metalloenzyme for asymmetric radical-type oxygen atom transfer catalysis.

We show that the incorporation of a biotinylated Co(TAML) cofactor within streptavidin enables asymmetric radical-type oxygen atom transfer catalysis with improved activity and enantioselectivity.

Binding Interactions and Inhibition Mechanisms of Gold Complexes in Thiamine Diphosphate-Dependent Enzymes.

Thiamine diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzymes possess the unique ability to generate a carbene within their active site. In this study, we sought to harness this carbene to produce a Au(I) N-heterocyclic complex directly in the active site of ThDP enzymes, thereby establishing a novel platform for artificial metalloenzymes. Because direct metalation of ThDP proved challenging, we synthesized a ThDP mimic that acts as a competitive inhibitor with a high affinity (Ki = 1.5 µM). Upon metalation with Au(I), we observed that the complex became a more potent inhibitor (Ki = 0.7 µM). However, detailed analysis of the inhibition mode, native mass spectrometry, and size exclusion experiments revealed that the complex does not bind specifically to the active site of ThDP enzymes. Instead, it exhibits unspecific binding and exceeds the 1:1 stoichiometry. Similar binding patterns were observed for other Au(I) species. These findings prompt an important question regarding the inherent propensity of ThDP enzymes to bind strongly to Au. If this phenomenon holds true, it could pave the way for the development of Au-based drugs targeting these enzymes.

A case series to test the acceptability, feasibility and preliminary efficacy of AVATAR therapy in anorexia nervosa.

BACKGROUND: Patients with anorexia nervosa tend to experience an inner "eating disorder" voice. They struggle to recognise and assert their own identity over the illness's identity and relate to it from a powerless and subordinate position. AVATAR therapy was developed to help patients with psychosis to gain greater power and control over distressing voices. The goal of this study was to test the feasibility, acceptability, safety and preliminary efficacy of an adaptation of AVATAR therapy for anorexia nervosa. METHODS: Twelve adult patients with anorexia nervosa were recruited. Ten completed an assessment session and between five to seven therapy sessions. The assessment session consisted in the creation of an avatar to represent the "eating disorder". This was accomplished by manipulating auditory and visual characteristics through a specialist computer software. During the therapy sessions, patients interacted with the avatar to assert their own desires and will. Patients completed baseline, end of intervention and follow-up (4-week) online questionnaires. A non-concurrent multiple baselines single case experimental design (SCED) was used (A1BA2). Feasibility, acceptability, safety and preliminary efficacy of the intervention were assessed. RESULTS: The therapy met pre-specified criteria relating to (1) Feasibility: sample recruited within three months; retention rate at the end of the treatment phase = 81.9%; therapy completion rate = 90.1%. (2) Safety: no serious adverse events associated with the intervention. (3) Acceptability: mean ratings = 7.5 (SD = 2.61) out of ten, on a 0-10 scale of acceptability (10 = complete satisfaction). With regards to efficacy, participants reported significantly lower levels of distress associated with the eating disorder voice and higher levels of self-compassion at the end of treatment. No other significant changes were observed in frequency of the eating disorder voice, voice's characteristics, such as omnipotence and malevolence, eating disorder symptoms and symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress. Patients' feedback indicated that the therapy had helped with their ability to stand up to the illness, make positive changes around eating, and increase their motivation to recover and self-compassion. CONCLUSION: AVATAR therapy for anorexia nervosa is feasible, acceptable and safe for patients. Larger studies are needed to test clinical efficacy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was pre-registered on the clinicaltrials.gov registry (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04778423).

People with anorexia nervosa often struggle with connecting to their identity beyond the illness. They tend to relate to the eating disorder from a powerless and submissive position. The aim of this study was to test AVATAR therapy for anorexia nervosa. The goal of the intervention was to help patients to assert themselves, their identity, will, power and desires, when confronted with the "voice" of the illness. Twelve patients with anorexia nervosa were recruited and 10 completed one assessment session and five to seven therapy sessions. During the assessment session, patients were guided by the therapist to create a representation of their illness ("the avatar") by manipulating visual and auditory characteristics through a computer software. During treatment, they were supported by the therapist to assert themselves over the illness, responding to the abusive and critical comments of the eating disorder delivered by "the avatar". Patients' qualitative feedback indicated that the therapy was meaningful to them, and that it helped to recognise their own voice as distinct from the illness. The distress perceived in relation to the eating disorder voice decreased over time, and feelings of self-compassion increased at the end of therapy. Findings point towards the acceptability and usefulness of AVATAR therapy for anorexia nervosa. Larger studies are needed expand these results.