The aim of this study is investigate whether the cross-cultural value paradigm 'individualism-collectivism' is a useful explanatory model for mental illness stigma on a cultural level. Using snowball sampling, a quantitative questionnaire survey of 305 individuals from four UK-based cultural groups (white-English, American, Greek/Greek Cypriot, and Chinese) was carried out. The questionnaire included the 'Community Attitudes to Mental Illness scale' and the 'vertical-horizontal individualism-collectivism scale'. The results revealed that the more stigmatizing a culture's mental illness attitudes are, the more likely collectivism effectively explains these attitudes. In contrast, the more positive a culture's mental illness attitudes, the more likely individualism effectively explains attitudes. We conclude that a consideration of the individualism-collectivism paradigm should be included in any future research aiming to provide a holistic understanding of the causes of mental illness stigma, particularly when the cultures stigmatization levels are particularly high or low.

PL should be regarded as part of a wider drinking culture and understood within the context of what individuals require from a night out or staying in when drinking. There is little evidence to suggest that PL is a risk factor for admissions to accident and emergency services.

The magnetic stratigraphly of seven cores of deep-sea sediment established the existence of a short interval of reversed polarity in the upper part of the Brunches epoch of normal polarity. The reversed zone in the cores correlates well with paleontological boundaries and is named the Blake event. Its boundaries are estimated to be 108,000 and 114,000 years ago +/- 10 percent.

Self-reported sleep disturbance can provide clinicians with information to plan better treatment for alcohol misusers.

Self-reported sleep disturbance can provide clinicians with information to plan better treatment for alcohol misusers.

Previous studies in recently detoxified dependent alcoholics have shown severely disturbed sleep and impaired quality of life. Although this association has been found to predict short-term relapse to heavy drinking, no sequential studies have been conducted to monitor significant changes in sleep quality and quality of life in abstaining alcoholics. Fifty-seven inpatients at a voluntary sector 12-Step alcohol detoxification unit in South London were administered a series of questionnaires assessing sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI), Quality of Life (Euro-Qol) and Depression and Anxiety (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales, HADS). Questionnaires were administered at baseline and for 12 weeks at monthly intervals. At baseline, PSQI scores showed that 52 of the 57 participants suffered from impaired sleep. The scores, however, did not correlate significantly with any of the other measurements. All except two participants acknowledged impaired Quality of Life in at least one area. With respect to the follow-up measurements 23 (40%) participants completed the study. Quality of life and depression scores improved significantly over a 12-week period but sleep and anxiety scores did not. At 12 weeks the mean PSQI score was still above the cut-off point for 'sleep caseness'. Quality of life and depression show a significant improvement over a 3-month period of abstinence, although at this point the subjects are still experiencing difficulties with sleep and anxiety. This information could help in the planning of future rehabilitation and treatment programmes.

No abstract

The magnetic inclinations and inten sities of about 650 samples from seven deepsea cores taken in the Antarctic were measured on a spinner magnetometer. This series of measurements provided a magnetic stratigraphy, based on zones of normally or reversally polar ized specimens for each core, which was then correlated with the magnetic stra tigraphy of Cox et al. (1). One core (V16-134) gave a continuous record of the paleomagnetic field back to about 3.5 million years. When selected samples were subject ed to alternatingfield demagnetization, most were found to have an unstable component that was removed by fields of 150 oersteds; all samples from two cores were partially demagnetized in a field of 150 oersteds. The average inclination in these two cores was then in good agreement with the average inclination of the ambient field for the latitude of the core site. It was also found that the intensities of the samples decreased at the points of reversal; this finding is to be expected if, as has been postulated by the dynamo theory, the intensity of the dipole field decreases to zero and builds again with opposite polarity. We believe that the magnetiza tion of the cores results from the pres ence of detrital magnetite, although other magnetic minerals also may be present. Four faunal zones (, X, , and ) have been recognized in these Antarctic cores on the basis of upward sequential disappearance of Radiolaria. The faunal boundaries and reversals consistently have the same relations to one another, indicating that they are both timedependent phenomena. Using previously determined times of reversal, one may date the following events in the cores: 1) Radiolarian faunal boundaries:-X, 2 million years; X-, 0.7 million years; -, 0.4 to 0.5 million years. These dates are in good agreement with ages previously extrapolated from radio metric dates. 2) Initiation of Antarctic diatom ooze deposition, approximately 2.0 mil-lion years ago. 3) First occurrence of ice- rafted detritus, approximately 2.5 million years ago. One can also calculate rates of sedi mentation, which vary in the cores studied from 1.1 to about 8.0 millimeters per 1000 years. Sedimentation rates for the Indian Ocean cores are higher than for the Bellingshausen Sea cores. The near coincidence of faunal changes and reversals in the cores suggests but does not prove a causal relation. We conclude from this study that paleomagnetic stratigraphy is a unique method for correlating and dating deep sea cores, and that future work with such cores may provide a complete or nearly complete record of the history of the earth's magnetic field beyond 4 million years.