Search

S100A8/A9, also known as “calprotectin” or “MRP8/14,” is an alarmin primarily secreted by activated myeloid cells with antimicrobial, proinflammatory, and prothrombotic properties. Increased plasma levels of S100A8/A9 in thrombo-inflammatory diseases are associated with thrombotic complications. We assessed the presence of S100A8/A9 in the plasma and lung autopsies from patients with COVID-19 and investigated the molecular mechanism by which S100A8/A9 affects platelet function and thrombosis. S100A8/A9 plasma levels were increased in patients with COVID-19 and sustained high levels during hospitalization correlated with poor outcomes. Heterodimeric S100A8/A9 was mainly detected in neutrophils and deposited on the vessel wall in COVID-19 lung autopsies. Immobilization of S100A8/A9 with collagen accelerated the formation of a fibrin-rich network after perfusion of recalcified blood at venous shear. In vitro, platelets adhered and partially spread on S100A8/A9, leading to the formation of distinct populations of either P-selectin or phosphatidylserine (PS)-positive platelets. By using washed platelets, soluble S100A8/A9 induced PS exposure but failed to induce platelet aggregation, despite GPIIb/IIIa activation and alpha-granule secretion. We identified GPIbα as the receptor for S100A8/A9 on platelets inducing the formation of procoagulant platelets with a supporting role for CD36. The effect of S100A8/A9 on platelets was abolished by recombinant GPIbα ectodomain, platelets from a patient with Bernard-Soulier syndrome with GPIb-IX-V deficiency, and platelets from mice deficient in the extracellular domain of GPIbα. We identified the S100A8/A9-GPIbα axis as a novel targetable prothrombotic pathway inducing procoagulant platelets and fibrin formation, in particular in diseases associated with high levels of S100A8/A9, such as COVID-19.

This review synthesises the views of young people and their family members regarding their perspectives of therapeutic change within family therapies for Anorexia Nervosa (AN), including both manualised eating disorder-focussed family therapy models (family-based treatment; FBT and AN-focussed family therapy; FT-AN), as well as systemic family therapy (SyFT), to understand which aspects of these treatment approaches are helpful versus hindering to recovery from an eating disorder (ED). Parental involvement was crucial in facilitating the restoration of physical health through the process of parents taking temporary responsibility for the young person’s eating behaviours until they can feed themselves again. However, treatment often failed to acknowledge and address the psychological and emotional difficulties that made the young person vulnerable to developing AN, as well as the psychological distress caused by increasing food-intake and weight. A positive therapeutic relationship in which families felt well supported by their therapist was important in providing containment during a time of familial strain and instability, yet there was a need for greater flexibility and individualisation within manualised ED-focussed family therapy approaches, particularly FBT. The findings highlight the importance of eliciting the young person’s voice to enhance their personal agency in treatment and the value of therapeutic space to improve family functioning and enhance family unity. Lastly, they illuminate the need for manualised ED-focussed family therapy models to allow space for the therapist to emotionally attune to young people and families in order to contain their experience of distress.

The majority of psychotherapeutic approaches work on the basis that addressing what is “wrong” with individuals will facilitate recovery. Positive therapies adopt a different approach, demonstrating that adaptive change can be achieved by addressing well-being and what is “right”. Unfortunately, research indicates the effectiveness of positive psychotherapeutic interventions is sometimes suboptimal, perhaps due to their reliance on written and talk-based strategies. Drawing on evidence from leading theories of cognition (e.g. Interacting Cognitive Subsystems and Dual Representation theories), the present paper suggests that therapeutic effects positive interventions might be augmented through greater use of experiential methods, namely ‘chairwork’. The practice-focused paper sets out the PPIs in their current form and describes how chairwork could be applied in these areas of well-being, including gratitude, personal strengths, forgiveness, benefit-finding, and existential meaning. Research is needed to establish the efficacy of experiential PPIs and to determine whether are advantageous compared to traditional positive interventions.

In this article, the author focuses on the use and potential of chairwork. It mentions the gestalt therapy as the first to apply chairwork within one-to-one therapy contexts actualised within psychodrama. It also mentions work with self-criticism provides an effective illustration of the creative ways in which chairwork has been applied; and mentions role of chairwork in bringing the practice of psychology to life.

ABSTRACTPoor treatment outcomes have fuelled calls for the development of novel maintenance models of anorexia nervosa. Experiences of an internal ‘anorexic voice' are often reported in eating disorders but remain little understood. This article reviews anorexic voice research and examines how these experiences may be implicated in the persistence of eating pathology. Criticisms of the anorexic voice are then debated on both empirical and theoretical grounds. Frameworks for understanding the anorexic voice and guiding future research are lastly discussed.

No Abstract

'My intention in writing "Pull up a chair" in The Psychologist in 2017 was to demystify how practicing psychologists might utilise "chairwork": a somewhat enigmatic collection of experiential interventions which are well-known for their therapeutic power and transformational effects. I am certain that had The Psychologist not shown such confidence in my writing, and had its readers not been interested in the use of "the chairs", I would have never undertaken this task. 'Illusions are always experienced in context, and writing for The Psychologist significantly helped us think about the contextual parallels in scientific and folk performances of illusions. [Extracted from the article]

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract, please click on HTML or PDF.

For Abstract see ChemInform Abstract in Full Text.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.