An eleven item clinician-administered Mania Rating Scale (MRS) is introduced, and its reliability, validity and sensitivity are examined. There was a high correlation between the scores of two independent clinicians on both the total score (0.93) and the individual item scores (0.66 to 0.92). The MRS score correlated highly with an independent global rating, and with scores of two other mania rating scales administered concurrently. The score also correlated with the number of days of subsequent stay in hospital. It was able to differentiate statistically patients before and after two weeks of treatment and to distinguish levels of severity based on the global rating.

Objective: Emerging evidence suggests that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may be negatively impacting mental health. The impact on eating and exercise behaviors is, however, currently unknown. This study aimed to identify changes in eating and exercise behaviors in an Australian sample among individuals with an eating disorder, and the general population, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.Method: A total of 5,469 participants, 180 of whom self-reported an eating disorder history, completed questions relating to changes in eating and exercise behaviors since the emergence of the pandemic, as part of the COLLATE (COvid-19 and you: mentaL heaLth in AusTralia now survEy) project; a national survey launched in Australia on April 1, 2020.Results: In the eating disorders group, increased restricting, binge eating, purging, and exercise behaviors were found. In the general population, both increased restricting and binge eating behaviors were reported; however, respondents reported less exercise relative to before the pandemic.Discussion: The findings have important implications for providing greater monitoring and support for eating disorder patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the mental and physical health impacts of changed eating and exercise behaviors in the general population need to be acknowledged and monitored for potential long-term consequences.

Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre-including this research content-immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

The effects of social isolation measures used to control the spread of COVID-19 are negatively impacting the mental health of many. One of the consequences of exposure to disasters/pandemics is an increase in alcohol use. The current study aimed to examine what predisposing (distal) and pandemic-related (proximal) factors were associated with increased drinking in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: On 1 April 2020, 5158 Australians completed a survey from the COvid-19 and you: mentaL heaLth in AusTralia now survEy (COLLATE) project, a nationwide study aimed at tracking key mental health concerns. Using logistic regression, distal (demographics and previous drinking behaviors) and proximal (employment, lifestyle factors, and mood) factors were assessed for their association with increased drinking since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Distal factors, including heavier drinking prepandemic, middle age, and average or higher income, and proximal factors, including job loss, eating more, changes to sleep as well as stress and depression, were all associated with increased drinking in the COVID-19 pandemic environment. Female sex and self-reported history of mental illness became nonsignificant after proximal measures were added to the model. Living alone, exercise, anxiety, and status as an essential or health-care worker were not associated with increased drinking. Conclusion: These results provide guidance as to who might be targeted to receive support based on predisposing demographic factors and pre-pandemic drinking behavior. Second, they indicate what behaviors/factors accompany increased alcohol use and provide targets for psychosocial and psychoeducational supports to address these proximal factors.

Perceptions of wellness are often used by athletes and coaches to assess adaptive responses to training. The purpose of this research was to describe how players were coping with the demands of elite level Australian football over a competitive season using subjective ratings of physical and psychological wellness and to assess the ecological validity of such a monitoring approach. Twenty-seven players completed ratings for 9 items (fatigue, general muscle, hamstring, quadriceps, pain/stiffness, power, sleep quality, stress, well-being). Players subjectively rated each item as they arrived at the training or competition venue on a 1-5 visual analog scale, with 1 representing the positive end of the continuum. A total of 2,583 questionnaires were analyzed from completions on 183 days throughout the season (92 ± 24 per player, 103 ± 20 per week; mean ± SD). Descriptive statistics and multilevel modelling were used to understand how player ratings of wellness varied over the season and during the week leading into game day and whether selected player characteristics moderated these relationships. Results indicated that subjective ratings of physical and psychological wellness were sensitive to weekly training manipulations (i.e., improve steadily throughout the week to a game day low, p < 0.001), to periods of unloading during the season (i.e., a week of no competition, p < 0.05) and to individual player characteristics (e.g., muscle strain after a game was poorer in players with high maximum speed, p < 0.01). It is concluded that self-reported player ratings of wellness provide a useful tool for coaches and practitioners to monitor player responses to the rigorous demands of training, competition, and life as a professional athlete.

Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) suffer from gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhoea, constipation and abdominal pain. This has stimulated investigations into possible abnormalities of intestinal microbiota in autistic patients. Therefore, we designed this study to identify differences (and/or similarities) in the microbiota of children with autism (without gastrointestinal dysfunction: n = 23; with gastrointestinal dysfunction: n = 28) and their neurotypical siblings (n = 53) who share a similar environment using bacterial tag-encoded FLX amplicon pyrosequencing. Regardless of the diagnosis and sociodemographic characteristics, overall, Firmicutes (70%), Bacteroidetes (20%) and Proteobacteria (4%) were the most dominant phyla in samples. Results did not indicate clinically meaningful differences between groups. The data do not support the hypothesis that the gastrointestinal microbiota of children with ASD plays a role in the symptomatology of ASD. Other explanations for the gastrointestinal dysfunction in this population should be considered including elevated anxiety and self-restricted diets.

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