Alcohol misuse and alcohol withdrawal are associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric syndromes, some of which are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. B vitamin deficiency is known to contribute to the aetiology of a number of these syndromes, and B vitamin supplementation thus plays a significant part in prophylaxis and treatment. In particular, the Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome (WKS). due to thiamine deficiency, is a common condition in association with alcohol misuse, and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Nicotinamide deficiency may result in a rarer condition, alcoholic pellagra encephalopathy, which often has a similar clinical presentation to WKS. This review considers the role of B vitamins in the aetiology and treatment of neuropsychiatric syndromes associated with alcohol misuse, with particular emphasis on WKS.

The present study showed it is possible to use a modified Stroop task as a measure of implicit processing of alcohol stimuli. Despite the fact that all participants were asked to ignore the words, they were unable to do so. Alcohol-related words produced more interference than neutral category words in a group of problem drinkers and a control group of high alcohol drinkers.

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The outputs from an 11-element, linear diode laser array with broad stripes have been beam combined into a single beam with a beam quality of ~20x diffraction limited in the plane of the junction. This beam combining was achieved by use of a common external cavity containing a grating, which simultaneously forces each array element to operate at a different, but controlled, wavelength and forces the beams from all the elements to overlap and propagate in the same direction. The power in the combined beam was 50% of the output from the bare laser array.

SummaryResearch demonstrates important associations between religiosity and well-being; spirituality and religious faith are important coping mechanisms for managing stressful life events. Despite this, there is a religiosity gap between mental health clinicians and their patients. The former are less likely to be religious, and recent correspondence in the Psychiatric Bulletin suggests that some at least do not consider it appropriate to encourage discussion of any spiritual or religious concerns with patients. However, it is difficult to see how failure to discuss such matters can be consistent with the objective of gaining a full understanding of the patient's condition and their self-understanding, or attracting their full and active engagement with services.

Background:Religious themes are commonly encountered in delusions and hallucinations associated with major mental disorders, and the form and content of presentation are significant in relation to both diagnosis and management.Aims:This study aimed to establish what is known about the frequency of occurrence of religious delusions (RD) and religious hallucinations (RH) and their inter-relationship.Methods:A review was undertaken of the quantitative empirical English literature on RD and RH.Results:A total of 55 relevant publications were identified. The lack of critical criteria for defining and classifying RD and RH makes comparisons between studies difficult, but prevalence clearly varies with time and place, and probably also according to personal religiosity. In particular, little is known about the content and frequency of RH and the relationship between RH and RD.Conclusion:Clearer research criteria are needed to facilitate future study of RD and RH, and more research is needed on the relationship between RD and RH.

The agentive aspects of communicative religious experiences remain somewhat neglected in the social sciences literature. There is a need for phenomenological descriptions of these experiences and the ways in which they differ from culturally defined psychopathological states. In this semi-structured interview study, eight congregants attending an evangelical church in London were asked to describe their experiences of God communicating with them. Communications from God were related to current events rather than to the prediction of future events. These communications were received as thoughts and do not generally reveal metaphysical insights, but rather they relate to the mundane world. They provided direction, consolation and empowerment in the lives of those receiving them. Individuals recounted that on occasion God sometimes speaks audibly, or accompanied by supernatural phenomena, but in the vast majority of cases, the way God speaks is through thoughts or impressions. In all instances, agency is maintained, individuals can choose to obey the thoughts/voices or not. The findings are discussed in relation to externalisation of agency and the phenomenon of thought insertion in schizophrenia.

The activity of glucose oxidase is reduced by inkjet printing and is a function of the printing conditions. Standard characterisation methods show no significant change to enzyme molecular weight, secondary structure and general molecular shape as a function of printing parameters. This indicates that a more subtle alteration of the protein structure may occur during printing.