BackgroundCognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) improves persistent psychotic symptoms.AimsTo test the effectiveness of added CBT in accelerating remission from acute psychotic symptoms in early schizophrenia.MethodA 5-week CBT programme plus routine care was compared with supportive counselling plus routine care and routine care alone in a multi-centre trial randomising 315 people with DSM–IV schizophrenia and related disorders in their first (83%) or second acute admission. Outcome assessments were blinded.ResultsLinear regression over 70 days showed predicted trends towards faster improvement in the CBT group. Uncorrected univariate comparisons showed significant benefits at 4 but not 6 weeks for CBTv. routine care alone on Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total and positive sub-scale scores and delusion score and benefits v. supportive counselling for auditory hallucinations score.ConclusionsCBT shows transient advantages over routine care alone or supportive counselling in speeding remission from acute symptoms in early schizophrenia.

Longer DUP results partly from a pattern of symptoms and social functioning which reduces concern by the sufferer and relevant others. DUP's relationship to outcome is strongest in the initial months of psychosis. This has implications for targeting early intervention.

Adjunctive psychological treatments can have a beneficial long-term effect on symptom reduction.

Objective. Histopathology of parotid gland tumors is extremely varied and complex due to heterogeneous cellular composition. Preoperative diagnostic tools include fine needle aspiration cytology, the role of which remains controversial. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of parotid gland tumors. Methods. We retrospectively reviewed charts of 129 patients who underwent parotidectomy for parotid lesions at Aga Khan University Hospital from 2002 to 2010. We compared the results of preoperative FNAC with final histopathological diagnosis. Results. Concordance with histological results was observed in 86%, specificity was 98%, sensitivity was 84%, and diagnostic accuracy was 94%. Conclusion. Our results demonstrate that preoperative cytology in parotid lesions is fairly accurate and useful in diagnosing benign from malignant and in planning appropriate approach for treatment.

Objectives:DiabCare India 2011 was a cross-sectional study in patients with diabetes mellitus, undertaken to investigate the relationship between diabetes control, management and complications in a subset of urban Indian diabetes patients treated at referral diabetes care centres in India.Materials and Methods:This was a cross-sectional, multicentre (330 centres) survey in 6168 diabetes patients treated at general hospitals, diabetes clinics and referral clinics across India. Patient data, including medical and clinical examination reports during the past year were collected during their routine visit. The patients’ and physicians’ perceptions about diabetes management were recorded using a questionnaire.Results:A total of 6168 subjects with diabetes (95.8% type 2), mean age 51.9 ± 12.4 years and mean duration of diabetes, 6.9 ± 6.4 years were included. Mean HbA1c was 8.9 ± 2.1% and the mean fasting (FPG), post prandial (PPG) and random (RBG) plasma glucose levels were 148 ± 50 mg/dl 205 ± 66 mg/dl and 193 ± 68mg/dl respectively. Neuropathy was the most common complication (41.4%); other complications were: Foot (32.7%), eye (19.7%), cardiovascular (6.8%) and nephropathy (6.2%). The number of diabetic complications increased with mean duration of diabetes. Most (93.2%) of the patients were on oral anti-diabetic drugs (OADs) and 35.2% were on insulin (±OADs). More than 15% physicians felt that the greatest barrier to insulin therapy from patient's perspective were pain and fear of using injectable modality; 5.2% felt that the greatest barrier to insulin therapy from physician's perspective was the treatment cost; 4.8% felt that the major barriers to achieve optimum diabetic care in practice was loss to follow-up followed by lack of counselling (3.9%) and treatment compliance (3.6%).Conclusion:DiabCare India 2011 has shown that type 2 diabetes sets in early in Indians and glycaemic control is often sub-optimal in these patients. These results indicate a need for more structured intervention at an early stage of the disease and need for increased awareness on benefits of good glycaemic control. It cannot be overemphasized that the status of diabetes care in India needs to be further improved. (ClinTrials.gov identifier: NCT01351922)