Suchergebnisse

"Many international studies show that adolescents in coercive institutional care display high prevalences of mental disorders, especially in the form of disruptive behavior disorders [including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder], anxiety disorders, and mood disorders. High degrees of overlap across mental disorders have also been reported. In addition, institutionalized adolescents are often traumatized. Despite this well-documented psychiatric morbidity, the mental health care needs of detained adolescents are often overlooked. The main objective of this study is to assess prevalences of psychiatric disorders, results of intelligence tests, and previous contacts with child and adolescent psychiatric services among adolescents in institutional care. DSM-IV diagnoses, mental health contacts, substance abuse, neurocognitive abilities, and school performance were registered in 100 adolescents (92 boys, 8 girls) aged 12–19 years (mean age 16.0; SD ± 1.5) consecutively committed to Swedish juvenile institutions between 2004 and 2007. At least one psychiatric disorder was diagnosed in 73% of the subjects: 48% met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for AD/HD, 17% for an autism spectrum disorder, and 10% for a mental retardation. The collapsed prevalence for psychiatric disorders requiring specialist attention was 63%. Our data indicate that systematic diagnostic procedures are crucial in the treatment planning for institutionalized adolescents. Adequate treatment strategies need to be designed and implemented to meet the extensive mental health care needs of this vulnerable population." [author's abstract]

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Personality traits, such as self-directedness (SD) and cooperativeness (CO), may be indicative of problematic alcohol and/or drug use. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> The aim of this study was to quantify the association of substance use with SD and CO in a large cohort of adolescents. <b><i>Method:</i></b> A total of 6,917 individuals (58% women) at the age of 18 who had filled in the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) and Drug Use Disorder Identification Test (DUDIT), and the SD and CO scales from the Temperament and Character ­Inventory, as part of the Child and Adolescent Twin study in Sweden were included in the analyses. <b><i>Results:</i></b> High AUDIT scores (&#x3e;15) were found in 2.4% of the population and high DUDIT scores (&#x3e;7) in 1.2% of the population. Total score on the AUDIT was negatively correlated (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001) with SD (<i>r</i> = –0.18) and CO (<i>r</i> = –0.15), as well as total DUDIT with SD (<i>r</i> = –0.11) and CO (<i>r</i> = –0.08). The risk of high AUDIT (&#x3e;15) and DUDIT (&#x3e;7) was highest for those with a low (1 standard deviation below mean) SD score (ORs 4.1 and 4.5, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001) and a low CO score (ORs 3.5 and 4.5, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). However, at 1 standard deviation above mean, no association between alcohol or drug use and SD or CO was seen. Using SD and CO scores to predict AUDIT &#x3e;15 or DUDIT &#x3e;7 yielded a sensitivity between 62.4 and 71.3% and a specificity between 64.9 and 70.4%. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Personality traits of low SD and CO are associated with increased alcohol and drug use. These findings support the notion that personality traits can be used to identify individuals at high risk of substance abuse.

To test the theory that sexual offenders who abuse very young children (0-5 years) have more severe mental health and psychosocial problems than those who victimize older children, authors compared psychiatric diagnoses, social circumstances, and crime-related data in all sexual offenders against minors referred to forensic psychiatric investigation in Sweden during a 5-year period. Thirty-one men had committed index crimes involving victims between the ages of 0 and 5 years (Group 1), 90 had 6-to 11-year-old victims (Group 2), and 41 had 12- to 15-year-old victims (Group 3). All three offender groups were characterized by severe mental health problems, in many cases fulfilling American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) criteria for both Axis I and Axis II diagnoses, but these problems did not differ between groups. Neither did social situation or sexual orientation. Offenders with 0- to 5-year-old victims significantly more often abused both boys and girls. Frequencies of retrospectively diagnosed childhood-onset behavior disorders were high in all three offender groups. The authors' data did not support previous findings of increasingly severe mental health problems with decreasing victim age.

The current evaluation of the triple-α reaction rate assumes that the α decay of the 7.65 MeV, 0 + state in C12, commonly known as the Hoyle state, proceeds sequentially via the ground state of Be8. This assumption is challenged by the recent identification of two direct α-decay branches with a combined branching ratio of 17(5)%. If correct, this would imply a corresponding reduction in the triple-α reaction rate with important astrophysical consequences. We have used the B11(He3,d) reaction to populate the Hoyle state and measured the decay to three α particles in complete kinematics. We find no evidence for direct α-decay branches, and hence our data do not support a revision of the triple-α reaction rate. We obtain an upper limit of 5×10 -3 on the direct α decay of the Hoyle state at 95% C.L., which is 1 order of magnitude better than a previous upper limit. © 2012 American Physical Society. ; Support of the Spanish CICYT Research Grants No. FPA2009-07387 and No. FPA2010-17142 and the MICINN Consolider Project No. CSD 2007-00042 as well as the support of the European Union VI Framework through RII3-EURONS/JRA4-DLEP(Contract No. 506065). O. S. K. acknowledges support from the Villum Kann Rasmussen Foundation. ; Peer Reviewed

We have used the 10B(3He,p¿¿¿) reaction at 4.9 MeV and the 11B(3He,d¿¿¿) reaction at 8.5 MeV to determine the energy, width, and decay mechanism of resonances in 12C above the triple-¿ threshold up to 21 MeV in excitation energy. Comparison with various models has allowed us to estimate the degree of clustering of the states studied. © 2012 American Physical Society. ; Support by the Spanish Research Grant FPA2009-07387 and Consolider Project CSD2007-00042, by the European Union Sixth Framework through RII3- EURONS/ JRA4-DLEP (Contract No. 506065). Support of the CSIC I3P program cofinanced by the European Social Fund, and the support of the US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. O.S.K. Support from the Villum Kann Rasmussen Foundation. ; Peer Reviewed