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Viral infections and chronic diseases have been associated with psychiatric disorders. Among these, increased depression has been reported in HTLV-1 patients. However, no studies on the prevalence of other mental disturbances have been carried out in these patients. Salvador is the city with the highest rate of infection with HTLV-1 in Brazil and it is estimated that approximately 40,000 inhabitants are infected. In our cross sectional study, we examined the frequency of mental disturbances in 50 HTLV-1 seropositive patients followed at the Centro Integrativo e Multidisciplinar de HTLV e Hepatites Virais (CHTLV) of the Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saude Pública (EBMSP) in Salvador from January to November 2007. We used a questionnaire to collect clinical-epidemiologic data and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview Brazilian Version 5.0.0 (M.I.N.I.) to evaluate the psychiatric disorders. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the analyses. Twenty-one (42%) HTLV-1 patients had a psychiatric co-morbidity; 17(34%) had mood disorders, 11 (22%) were anxious and one (2%) was an alcoholic. We found a high frequency of mental disturbances among HTLV-1 infected individuals, suggesting a possible association of this infection with psychiatric diseases.

A growing number of people are seeking health recovery treatments with a holistic approach to the human being. Meditation is a mental training capable of producing connection between the mind, body and spirit. Its practice helps people to achieve balance, relaxation and self-control, in addition to the development of consciousness. At present, meditation is classified as a complementary and integrative technique in the area of health. The purpose of this review of the literature was to describe what meditation is, its practices and effects on health, demonstrated by consistent scientific investigations. Recently, the advances in researches with meditation, the discovery of its potential as an instrument of self-regulation of the human body and its benefits to health have shown that it is a consistent alternative therapy when associated with conventional medical treatments.

1As a result of the potent drug combinations of reverse transcriptase inhibitors and protease inhibitors currently available, it is now possible to achieve extreme reductions in the numbers of viral particles in the peripheral blood of HIV-positive patients undergoing treatment, to the point that they are undetectable. Moreover, the immunological recovery resulting from continued and prolonged use of these drugs significantly reduces both mortality and the incidence of opportunistic infections. However, the strict therapeutic regimens required, the number of pills, adverse events and the stigma of a disease that requires the patient to introduce pill-taking into his/her lifestyle brings into question one aspect of mental health, which is motivation to do that which is being proposed. We investigated the influence of each of the components of the adherence trilogy: information, motivation and behavioral abilities, as risk factors in a population of HIV-positive/ AIDS patients undergoing antiretroviral treatment in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Material and Methods: An intervention study was carried out by introducing motivational assistance into the routine recommendations for the treatment of patients who were initiating antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. Seventy-six treatment-naive patients, who had been selected to initiate ARV therapy, were included. These patients were divided into two groups. Group A, in which the regular routine of the institution was followed, received information on the disease and its treatment;patients in group B had the same routine, but they were also followed-up fortnightly and given motivational intervention. Evaluations of viral load and CD 4 count before and following treatment were used to measure adherence. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusions: As the rates of non-adhesion were at the lower limits of the ranges reported in the literature, it would appear that providing motivation and information can be of help to the patient.

In this case report, which includes a statement related by the patient himself, the authors also discuss the importance of a good doctor-patient relationship in treating HIV patients and in assuring the patient's adherence to his treatment. Related issues, such as the importance of treating psychiatric comorbidities, of preserving the patient's hope and motivation, and of giving him an adequate amount of information regarding the disease and its treatment, are also discussed.

The SNOT-22 was unable to predict the outcome of surgical patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.

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OBJECTIVE:Few instruments are available in Brazil to evaluate psychomotor activity in psychiatric emergency, clinical, and research settings. This study aimed to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the behavioral activity rating scale (BARS) into Brazilian Portuguese and assess the psychometric properties of the scale. METHODS:An expert committee consensus conducted a translation and back-translation of the original scale, resulting in the BARS-BR. Four pairs of physicians applied the BARS-BR and the Sedation-Agitation Scale (SAS) to patients admitted in the psychiatry emergency room and patients in the psychiatric hospital wards. BARS-BR was compared to SAS, in order to assess the concurrent validity, and internal consistency was evaluated with the Bland-Altman technic. RESULTS:In the emergency room, the correlation coefficients between the first and second assessments were r = 0.997 and r = 1.0, respectively. In the hospital wards, the correlation coefficient between the pair of evaluators was r = 0.951. There was a strong correlation between the BARS-BR score of the first examiner and the SAS score of the second examiner (r = 0.903) and between the SAS score of the first examiner and the BARS-BR score of the second examiner (r = 0.893). CONCLUSION:The BARS-BR showed good psychometric properties, and we suggest its use because it is easy to assess changes in psychomotor activity. Further studies are suggested to evaluate the adoption and comprehension of the BARS-BR scale by all healthcare professionals.