Mentoring may help pregnant women and mothers who experience intimate partner violence

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We know very little about how to increase the safety and wellbeing of mothers who experience intimate partner violence. A good deal of the research in this field focuses on treatments delivered by health professionals, but this cluster randomised trial from Melbourne Australia looked at the impact that non-professional mentor support can have in reducing [read the full story…]

Arthroscopy for temporomandibular disorders

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Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) comprise a group of clinical  problems that involve the masticatory muscles, the temporomandibular joint and associated structures, or both. They may also involve many organic, psychological and psychosocial factors. The aetiology of TMDs is still not clear. The aim of this Cochrane review was to assess the effectiveness of arthroscopy for the [read the full story…]

Music therapy can reduce symptoms of depression

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Music therapy, when combined with standard treatment, is effective in helping people with depression, according to a small Finnish randomised controlled trial published in the August issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. The research team from the University of Jyväskylä, led by Professor Jaakko Erkkilä and Professor Christian Gold, recruited 79 people aged between [read the full story…]

Interceptive treatment of palatally displaced maxillary canines

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Permanent canine usually erupt around 10.5 years in girls and 11.5 in boys.  Between 1-3% do not erupt normally the majority (85%) are displaced palatally.  They can lead to unwanted movement of neighbouring teeth, dental crowding, root resorption of the ectopic tooth, as well as the neighbouring teeth, cyst formation, infection, referred pain and combinations [read the full story…]

Community treatment orders for people with severe mental illness: do they work?

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There is controversy as to whether compulsory community treatment (known in the UK as community treatment orders) for people with severe mental illnesses reduces health service use, or improves clinical outcome and social functioning. Given the widespread use of such powers it is important to assess the effects of this type of legislation. Researchers from [read the full story…]

In deep cavities stepwise excavation of caries can preserve pulp

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Clinicians regularly encounter deep carious cavities which can lead to pulp exposure if the caries is completely removed.  This may lead to pulpectomy and root canal treatment.  However the pulp possess a regenerative ability so stepwise approaches to caries removal have been investigated.  The aim of this review was to investigate the best possible methods [read the full story…]

Maintenance treatments for bipolar disorder: reducing the risk of manic, mixed or depressive relapse

Prescribing of medication for ADHD symptoms in young people with ASD is currently based on low quality evidence with a high risk of bias.

Many people with bipolar disorder have a range of therapies available to them nowadays, including mood stabilisers (or anticonvulsants), antipsychotics and various psychosocial interventions (including CBT, psychoeducation and family therapy). A research team from the University of Barcelona have published a meta-analysis that investigates the efficacy of drug maintenance treatments for bipolar disorder. They searched from [read the full story…]

RCTs in which people with learning disabilities participate are of sufficient quality but small in size

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Antipsychotic medication is widely used to treat behavioural problems in people with learning disabilities. A Cochrane review of the use of these medications for this purpose found very few randomised controlled trials (a method of clinical research in which people are allocated at random to receive a clinical intervention, a placebo, or no intervention at [read the full story…]

Treatments for Oral Lichen Planus

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The aim of this Cochrane review was to assess the effectiveness and safety of interventions to treat symptomatic, biopsy-proven oral lichen planus (OLP). OLP is a common chronic autoimmune disease associated with cell-mediated immunological dysfunction. The prevalence has been reported as 1.27% and it is more frequently seen in women aged between 30 and 60 [read the full story…]

Motivational interviewing is better than doing nothing for people with drug and alcohol problems

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More than 76 million people worldwide have alcohol problems, and another 15 million have drug problems. Motivational interviewing (MI) is a psychological treatment that aims to help people cut down or stop using drugs and alcohol. The drug abuser and counsellor typically meet between one and four times for about one hour each time. The [read the full story…]