"Accept voices©" group intervention for the management of auditory verbal hallucinations-results at 6 and 12 months.

"The Accept Voices© is a useful intervention for the management and acceptance of auditory verbal hallucinations in people with schizophrenia. This study aims at determining if the clinical effects remained at six- and 12-month follow-ups. Results show that participants (N = 22) maintained a decrease in auditory hallucinations, at the six and 12 months follow ups for severity and acceptance of Voices, anxiety and depression. Accept Voices© shows promise as a potential treatment for people with schizophrenia struggling with Voices.

Impact of the group intervention "Accept Voices©" for the management of auditory hallucinations.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential impact of a third wave CBT group intervention for the management of auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. METHOD: 38 patients with schizophrenia presenting with auditory hallucinations, followed in mental health services, participated in six sessions of a group based on acceptance and engagement therapy (ACT). The study followed a repeated single case experimental design (type A-B-A) based on the principle of a control phase followed by an intervention phase and a follow-up phase of similar duration. The various measurements were administered during the control phase, at pre-/post-group and six weeks after the last group session. RESULTS: The results show a significant decrease in auditory hallucinations, as measured by the PSYRATS scale, during the treatment and follow-up phase, compared to the control phase. In addition, the participants saw significant reductions in depressive and anxious symptomatology (assessed with CDSS and SEAS), and increases in coping and acceptance in regards to voices (assessed using a study scale and VAAS). The level of Malevolence beliefs about voices (measured with BAVQ-R) also decreased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: A brief group intervention based acceptance show promise in the reduction of the intensity of auditory hallucinations, depression and anxiety in patients with schizophrenia, while improving their acceptance.

Translational studies within the TAMRAD randomized GINECO trial: evidence for mTORC1 activation marker as a predictive factor for everolimus efficacy in advanced breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Everolimus is an agent frequently associated with specific toxicities. Predictive markers of efficacy are needed to help define which patients could benefit from it. The goal of this exploratory study was to identify potential predictive biomarkers in the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1 (mTORC1) activation pathway using primary tumor samples collected during the phase II tamoxifen plus everolimus (TAMRAD) trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Tumor tissues were collected retrospectively from the TAMRAD trial. Immunohistochemistry was carried out using specific antibodies directed toward proteins that result in mTORC1 activation [canonical phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/mTOR or alternative pathways]. DNA was extracted from the tumor tissue; mutation screening in the PIK3CA gene (exons 9 and 20) and the KRAS gene (exons 2 and 3) was first carried out using Sanger direct sequencing, and then completed by next-generation sequencing for PIK3CA. An exploratory analysis of everolimus efficacy in terms of a time-to-progression (TTP) increase was carried out in each biomarker subgroup (high versus low expression referring to the median percentage of marked cells). RESULTS: A total of 55 primary tumor samples from the TAMRAD trial­25 from the tamoxifen-alone group and 30 from the tamoxifen/everolimus group­were evaluated for biomarkers. The subgroups most likely to have an improvement in TTP with tamoxifen/everolimus therapy, compared with tamoxifen alone, were patients with high p4EBP1, low 4EBP1, low liver kinase B1, low pAkt, and low PI3K. Among the 45 samples screened for mutation status, nine samples (20%; 95% CI 9.6-34.6) had a PIK3CA mutation. KRAS mutation was observed in one patient. CONCLUSIONS: A positive correlation between late effectors of mTORC1 activation, a positive correlation between Akt-independent mTORC1 activation, and an inverse correlation between canonical PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway and everolimus efficacy were observed in this exploratory analysis. However, these correlations need to be validated in larger studies before applying the findings to routine clinical practice.

Contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging underestimates residual disease following neoadjuvant docetaxel based chemotherapy for breast cancer.

AIMS: We prospectively compared the ability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure residual breast cancer in patients treated with different neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen. METHODS: Forty patients with locally advanced breast carcinoma underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Twelve patients received 5-fluoro-uracyl-epirubicin-cyclophosphamide (FEC-group, six cycles), 28 (DXL-group) received docetaxel-based chemotherapy (six cycles DXL-epirubicin: 13 patients, eight cycles DXL alone: 15 patients). All patients had baseline and preoperative MRI. The spread of pathologic residual disease (PRd) was compared to preoperative MRI measures according to chemotherapy regimen. RESULTS: MRI over/underestimation of the spread of residual tumour was never superior to 15mm in FEC group, whereas it appeared in 11/28 (39%, 30-48%-95% CI) patients in DXL group (p=0.017). Tumour shrinkage led to single nodular residual lesions in FEC group, whereas vast numerous microscopic nests were observed in docetaxel group in pathology. CONCLUSION: Among tumours treated with a taxane-containing regimen, residual disease was frequently underestimated by MRI because of PRd features.

Nonsurgical therapy for stress incontinence.

This article discusses the therapies that have been developed for the treatment of stress incontinence due to female pelvic-floor dysfunction. A combination of pelvic muscle exercises, biofeedback, behavioral modification, and electrical stimulation are all treatment options that do not involve surgery. When physiotherapy proves successful, and surgery is avoided, it is necessary for the patient to be put on a maintenance program to avoid relapse. The authors also discuss the link between urinary stress incontinence and women involved in sports.

Physical therapy for female pelvic floor disorders.

Non-surgical, non-pharmacological treatment for female pelvic floor dysfunction is represented by rehabilitation in urogynecology. Since Kegel, in 1948, who proposed the concept of functional restoration of the perineal muscles, no specific term has actually been established. Owing to the number of specialists involved in the management of female pelvic floor disorders (such as gynecologists, urologists, coloproctologists, and neurologists) and the different types of health care providers concerned (such as physicians, physical therapists, nurses, and midwives), it is difficult to make the proper choice between 'physical therapy for pelvic floor', 'pelvic floor rehabilitation', 'pelvic muscle re-education', and 'pelvic floor training'. Because muscle re-education is under the control of physical therapists, we have chosen the term of physical therapy for female pelvic floor disorders. Muscle re-education has an important role in the primary treatment of lower urinary tract dysfunction. A multidisciplinary collaboration may be of particular interest, and a thorough evaluation is useful for a proper selection of patients.

[The neurophysiology of micturition (author's transl)]. / Neurophysiologie de la miction.

The ortho and parasympathetic nervous system as well as the somatic nervous system make up the innervation of the lower urinary tract. This constitutes the autonomic nervous system of these organs. There are control centres in the cortex, the sub-cortex and the medullary areas of the brain as well as this peripheral innervation. Together they make possible by their various connections a variety of regulatory circuits and a series of reflexes for micturition which bring about a complex assembly coming from the cortex to the sphincter mechanism of the bladder.