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For adherents of theistic religions, God representations are an important factor in explaining associations between religion/spirituality and well-being/mental health. Because of limitations of self-report measures of God representations, we developed an implicit God representation instrument, the Apperception Test God Representations (ATGR) and examined its reliability and validity. Its scales could be scored reliably and were within a clinical sample associated more strongly than explicit God representation scales with the Global Assessment of Functioning scale. Compared to the ATGR scores of a nonclinical sample, the clinical sample had less complex, positive, and mature God representations, indicating discriminant validity.

Sergei Bulgakov (1871−1944) grew up in a time of rapid economic progress and increasingly despotic state authority in Russia. His adult life coincides with the Russian Silver Age (1890−1920), a period of tumultuous cultural and political development. Bulgakov’s Sophiology, which is the study of the Wisdom of God, is a reaction to the time he lived in and to the exigencies of his contemporary world, culture, and science. As the integration of sociology, philosophy, and theology, Sophiology had to provide an answer and an alternative to the fragmentation, disintegration, and differentiation of life spheres in the increasingly modern societies of Russia and the Western countries. Although a topical theory, Sophiology is also concerned with the future. In fact, in this chapter I argue that Bulgakov developed his Sophiology to save the future of creation order by studying the relation of Sophia to the world as created order (what Palamas called the divine energies), which I call his sociological Sophiology, and the relation of Sophia to the Trinity (i.e., the order of creation itself—what Palamas called the divine essence), which I call his theological Sophiology. Both are complementary and essentially one, since Sophia is the object of both Sophiologies—but they use different perspectives.

Background: The law on medical research with humans enables researchers to request exemption from the 'mandatory' insurance for such test-subjects. Because this type of insurance is expensive, some research projects are abandoned at an early stage. AIM: To argue that exemption from 'mandatory' test-subject insurance is very rarely requested and granted. METHOD: We discuss the problems involved, using an example from clinical practice and the literature. RESULTS: The second evaluation report concerning the law on medical research mentions that very few requests are made with regards to exemptions from this type of test-subject insurance. In fact, not only researchers but also medical-ethical committees seem to be unclear about the rules and procedures for requesting and granting exemptions. As a result, there is always a real danger that medical-ethical committees make arbitrary decisions and withhold exemptions. conclusion: More use needs to be made of the opportunities that the law provides for requesting exemptions from test-subject insurance.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary coagulopathy is a hallmark of lung injury following inhalation trauma. Locally applied heparin attenuates lung injury in animal models of smoke inhalation. Whether local treatment with heparin benefits patients with inhalation trauma is uncertain. The present trial aims at comparing a strategy using frequent nebulizations of heparin with standard care in intubated and ventilated burn patients with bronchoscopically confirmed inhalation trauma. METHODS: The Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Efficacy and Safety of Nebulized HEParin versus Placebo in BURN Patients with Inhalation Trauma (HEPBURN) is an international multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled, two-arm study. One hundred and sixteen intubated and ventilated burn patients with confirmed inhalation trauma are randomized to nebulizations of heparin (the nebulized heparin strategy) or nebulizations of normal saline (the control strategy) every four hours for 14 days or until extubation, whichever comes first. The primary endpoint is the number of ventilator-free days, defined as days alive and breathing without assistance during the first 28 days, if the period of unassisted breathing lasts for at least 24 consecutive hours. DISCUSSION: As far as the authors know, HEPBURN is the first randomized, placebo-controlled trial, powered to investigate whether local treatment with heparin shortens duration of ventilation of intubated and ventilated burn patients with inhalation trauma. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01773083 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov), registered on 16 January 2013.Recruiting. Randomisation commenced on 1 January 2014

In half of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients the disorder runs a chronic course despite treatment. The factors determining this unfavourable outcome remain unknown. The Netherlands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Association (NOCDA) study is a multicentre naturalistic cohort study of the biological, psychological and social determinants of chronicity in a clinical sample. Recruitment of OCD patients took place in mental health organizations. Its design is a six-year longitudinal cohort study among a representative clinical sample of 419 OCD patients. All five measurements within this six-year period involved validated semi-structured interviews and self-report questionnaires which gathered information on the severity of OCD and its co-morbidity as well as information on general wellbeing, quality of life, daily activities, medical consumption and key psychological and social factors. The baseline measurements also include DNA and blood sampling and data on demographic and personality variables. The current paper presents the design and rationale of the study, as well as data on baseline sample characteristics. Demographic characteristics and co-morbidity ratings in the NOCDA sample closely resemble other OCD study samples. Lifetime co-morbid Axis I disorders are present in the majority of OCD patients, with high current and lifetime co-morbidity ratings for affective disorders (23.4% and 63.7%, respectively) and anxiety disorders other than OCD (36% current and 46.5% lifetime). © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Contains fulltext : 109737.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) In half of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients the disorder runs a chronic course despite treatment. The factors determining this unfavourable outcome remain unknown. The Netherlands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Association (NOCDA) study is a multicentre naturalistic cohort study of the biological, psychological and social determinants of chronicity in a clinical sample. Recruitment of OCD patients took place in mental health organizations. Its design is a six-year longitudinal cohort study among a representative clinical sample of 419 OCD patients. All five measurements within this six-year period involved validated semi-structured interviews and self-report questionnaires which gathered information on the severity of OCD and its co-morbidity as well as information on general wellbeing, quality of life, daily activities, medical consumption and key psychological and social factors. The baseline measurements also include DNA and blood sampling and data on demographic and personality variables. The current paper presents the design and rationale of the study, as well as data on baseline sample characteristics. Demographic characteristics and co-morbidity ratings in the NOCDA sample closely resemble other OCD study samples. Lifetime co-morbid Axis I disorders are present in the majority of OCD patients, with high current and lifetime co-morbidity ratings for affective disorders (23.4% and 63.7%, respectively) and anxiety disorders other than OCD (36% current and 46.5% lifetime). Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.