1,203 research outputs found
Imaging the effects of exercise on the brain
No full textIn this issue of Schizophrenia Research, Woodward et al. (2020) report on changes in cortical thickness and volume within the medial
temporal lobe in people with early psychosis, following exposure to
12 weeks of either aerobic exercise or yoga practice. A longstanding
body of neuroimaging research in the general population has demonstrated that physical activity can improve various aspects of ‘brain
health’, with evidence from randomized trials and epidemiological
studies showing beneficial effects from aerobic exercise on both cognitive functioning and neural architecture (Erickson et al., 2019). The potential for using exercise-induced neuroplasticity in the treatment of
psychotic disorders has gained considerable interest since the seminal
study by Pajonk et al. (2010); a proof of concept randomized controlled
trial, which reported a 12% increase in hippocampal volume after
3 months of aerobic exercise in males with schizophrenia, along with
significant improvements in cognitive functioning and symptoms compared to a time-and-attention matched control condition (table football). A number of subsequent studies have emerged examining
neurocognitive outcomes from various types of exercise interventions
for people with psychotic disorders, while seeking to identify the underlying mechanisms of beneficial cognitive effects (Firth et al., 2017). Despite the overall promising message of neurocognitive benefits from
exercise in the treatment of psychotic disorders, the earlier findings by
Pajonk et al. (2010) on increased hippocampal volume from aerobic
training have failed to replicate in some subsequent studies (Firth
et al., 2017; Malchow et al., 2016). Interestingly, a previously published
study (using data from the same trial as Woodward et al. (2020)) has
replicated the findings of Pajonk et al. (2010) observing significant increases in hippocampal volume from aerobic exercise (Lin et al., 2015)
- only this time in females with early psychosis (whereas Pajonk et al.
(2010) examined males with established schizophrenia)
Firth Ballad
No full textChoice Christmas carols: Christmas chimes: While shepherds watch'd their flocks by night: The holy well: The sunny bank: Shepherds, rejoice: Christ in the manger: Righteous Joseph: Rest for the weary: The Christian's hope of Canaan: The birth of ChristL The holly and the ivy/Jesus, our triumphant head/Ye saints, proclaim/Triburary hymn/Heavenly union/The moon shone bright/Christmas carol ['Twas when the world was sleeping]/The believer's hope/The bellman/To glory I will go/The judgement day/The Creator's praise: The star of Bethlehem: God rest you merry gentlemen:The first good joy: Glory to God on high:Fly awa
Food and mood:how do diet and nutrition affect mental wellbeing?
No full textPoor nutrition may be a causal factor in the experience of low mood, and improving diet may help to protect not only the physical health but also the mental health of the population, say Joseph Firth and colleague
Firth logistic regression results.
No full text<p>Site-specific results of Firth logistic regression between sampling periods.</p><p>**denotes 0.01 significance level.</p
The nature of domestic electricity-loads and effects of time averaging on statistics and on-site generation calculations
No full textWright was lead author. Firth is a Research Assistant, supervised by Wright
Phono-semantically Motivated Lexical Patterns: Evidence from English and Modern Greek.
No full textGenerally, linguistic theory assumes that the association between sound and meaning is essentially arbitrary: a meaning can theoretically be represented by almost any set of sounds in a language. This study, however, will show that linguistic signs appear to be less arbitrary and their meaning highly motivated by their sound. In particular, of the sound-symbolic forms, as exposed in Hinton et al (1994), I will confine myself only to those referred to as phonaesthemes (Firth, 1930). In Mela-Athanasopoulou (2001), I argued that phonaesthemes do meet the criteria for being full morphemes, due to their ability to recur with the same meaning at the same position operating as root-forming elements. Here, I will provide a more detailed analysis of the multiple parameters of expressive elements in both English and Modern Greek and indicate that the semantic features of such forms are more evaluative and subjective as well as language specific
Storegga Slide
No full textGlasgow-based author of short stories and psychological thrillers, Louise has developed a poetic statement about our shared origins and culture, accompanied by a series of words translated between Scots and European mainland languages which demonstrate that though our dialects are different we can still be understood.
Emlyn Firth will use a typographic approach to illustrate Louise’s work, playing with themes of language and communication
The Impact of Pharmacologic and Nonpharmacologic Interventions to Improve Physical Health Outcomes in People With Dementia:A Meta-Review of Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials
No full textOBJECTIVES: We summarized and compared meta-analyses of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions targeting physical health outcomes among people with dementia.DESIGN: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis.SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: People with dementia, confirmed through validated assessment measures.METHODS: Major databases were searched until October 21, 2019. Effect sizes [standardized mean difference (SMD)/Hedges g or risk ratio (RR)] were compared separately.RESULTS: Of 3773 search engine hits, 4 meta-analyses were included, representing 31 meta-analyzed trials and 10,054 study participants. Although meta-analyses were generally of adequate high quality, meta-analyzed studies were less so. Nutritional supplements were the only one to show a weight-increasing effect [SMD 0.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.38-0.68, ie, medium effect; N = 12, n = 748]. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are associated with an increased risk for weight loss (RR 2.1, 95% CI 1.5‒3.0; N = 9, n = 7010). For the treatment of pain, sensory stimulation has a medium effect (SMD -0.58, 95% CI -0.99 to -0.17; N = 6, n = 199), whereas physical activity has a small effect (SMD -0.24, 95% CI -1.06 to 0.59; N = 2, n = 75). When exploring the characteristics of the psychosocial interventions, group-based interventions demonstrated a medium (SMD -0.55, 95% CI -1.02 to -0.09; N = 6, n = 157) and individual psychosocial interventions a small effect (SMD -0.27, 95% CI -1.06 to 0.53; N = 2, n = 55).CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Despite frequent physical comorbidities, the current evidence for pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions in people with dementia to prevent and treat these conditions is still in its infancy, and larger trials targeting a wide range of physical health outcomes are urgently needed. Based on the SMDs and RRs, nutritional supplements can be recommended as an intervention to treat malnutrition. Clinicians should be careful in treating patients with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, as it shows medium weight reducing effects. For the treatment of comorbid pain, sensory stimulation and psychosocial interventions are recommended.</p
Issues with inclusion and interpretation : a cause for concern in mHealth reviews?
No full textWe read with interest the systematic review by Wang et al. (2018) on “the effectiveness of mobile apps for monitoring and management of mental health symptoms or disorders”; which sought to identify all studies of mobile apps for ‘mental health in all ages’, across a broad range of outcomes (including mood disorders, psychotic disorders, along with sleep, substance use and suicidal behaviours), including both single-arm studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Given this very broad scope, we were surprised to see the authors included just 16 apps, only 5 from RCTs - particularly given that recent metaanalyses of smartphone interventions focused on single mental health outcomes, such as anxiety (Firth et al., 2017a) and depression (Firth et al., 2017b) identified 9 and 18 RCTs, respectively, for these outcomes alone
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