BACKGROUND Despite harmful drinking causing a significant burden on global health, there is a large treatment gap, especially in low- and middle-income countries. A major barrier to care is the lack of adequately skilled human resources to deliver contextually appropriate treatments. This paper describes the systematic process used to develop Counselling for Alcohol Problems (CAP), a brief psyc...

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers an alternative to traditional psychotherapies designed to regulate affect. ACT is based on the premise that normal cognitive processes distort and enhance the experience of unpleasant emotion, leading clients to engage in problematic behaviors designed to avoid or attenuate those unpleasant emotions. Such avoidant behavior patterns can hinder and p...

Playwriting guides, creative writing handbooks, and screenwriting manuals are replete with guidance as to how an author should express their themes. One common rule of thumb is that the climax where themes, characters, narrative’s result converge in terminal thematic statement. If theme established elaborated on during a film, then its film’s authors position matter through or lack thereof. As ...

Background: This study investigated patients' understanding of the role of music in coping and in influencing their well-being. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with 17 cancer patients. Participants were chosen from a group of patients who had listened to or played music as a means of coping with their illness. Results: The study shows the importanc...

Among the thousands of unicellular phytoplankton species described in the sea, some frequently occurring and bloom-forming marine dinoflagellates are known to produce the potent neurotoxins causing paralytic shellfish poisoning. The natural function of these toxins is not clear, although they have been hypothesized to act as a chemical defence towards grazers. Here, we show that waterborne cues...

The obesity epidemic cannot be reversed without substantial improvements in the food marketing environment that surrounds children. Food marketing targeted to children almost exclusively promotes calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods and takes advantage of children's vulnerability to persuasive messages. Increasing scientific evidence reveals potentially profound effects of food marketing on child...

When the body detects something that can cause disease, like a virus or bacteria or a cancer cell, the immune system sends out specific cells to try to destroy the invader. Antibodies connect to harmful molecules. The antibodies act as flags for other immune system cells to attack the harmful molecule. Monoclonal antibodies are made in a lab and are engineered to attach to very specific targets...

This issue of PLoS Genetics contains the second of two important papers describing the high levels of meiotic failure caused by exposure of female mice to a chemical known as Bisphenol A (BPA) [1]. In the first article [2], Pat Hunt and her collaborators demonstrated high levels of meiotic failure in females exposed to BPA, suggesting that BPA exposure affects maturing oocytes. This conclusion ...

We construct an infinite horizon model of harmful addiction. Consumption is compulsive if it differs from what the individual would have chosen had commitment been available. A good is addictive if its consumption leads to more compulsive consumption of the same good. We analyze the welfare implications of drug policies and find that taxes on drugs decrease welfare while prohibitive policies ma...

At this time, when we have still some months to wait for the findings of the Royal Commission, it may be of interest to consider the certification of the lunatic. It is unfortunate that on this point (as on others) there is still a conflict between the ideas of the doctor?interested solely in the ultimate as well as the immediate mental and physical welfare of the patient?and various people int...