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The title compound, C16H18N4S2, was prepared by the substitution reaction of two equivalents of 2-mercaptoimidazole for every bromine substituent of 1,4-bis(bromomethyl)-2,5-dimethylbenzene. The molecule is located on a crystallographic centre of inversion and therefore adopts a trans configuration with regards to the orientation of the two sulfur atoms. An intermolecular N—H...N hydrogen bond forms layers of molecules parallel to (overline{1}03). The dihedral angle between the central and terminal rings is 174.8 (2)°.

Objectives: To summarize available knowledge about pharmacologic treatments that are used for first-onset (or early) psychosis in youths, with particular consideration of the prodromal stage and the effectiveness and safety of novel antipsychotic drugs and mood stabilizers.Method: A computerized search of medical databases (for example, Medline and Embase), a manual searching of articles and textbooks, and the use of vignettes to highlight treatment issues.Results: There are limited data about the effectiveness and safety of psychotropic agents for youths with psychosis and scarce information about the drug treatment of the prodromal stage of early psychosis in all age groups. The available data are encouraging, although the newer agents are not without safety concerns.Conclusions: Despite the paucity of studies, there is a range of psychotropics that may be used in the early stages of psychotic illness in youths. Drug choice is influenced by several factors, including the clinical picture, side effect profile, and patient preference. In certain situations, the decision may be not to use medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Following the release of the Australian National Safety and Quality Digital Mental Health (NSQDMH) Standards in November 2020, our objective was to ensure effective implementation of the Standards. This included the development of an accreditation scheme to allow digital mental health services to be formally assessed against the Standards and provide service users with an assurance of safe and high-quality services., Method: The accreditation scheme was adapted from the one used for the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. As the digital mental health sector was largely unfamiliar with standards and accreditation, the scheme was pilot-tested with a range of service providers and further consultation took place to refine it., Results: The accreditation scheme was launched in November 2022 with support resources published to aid implementation., Conclusions: The NSQDMH Standards accreditation scheme provides an assurance of safety and quality for digital mental health service users., Competing Interests: DisclosureThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Work-related fear avoidance beliefs play an important role when considering subjective work ability among people with back pain. Pain-related self-efficacy is known as a predictor for physical activity and subjective work ability., Objectives: The present longitudinal study aims to investigate the relationships between work-related fear avoidance beliefs, pain-related self-efficacy, and subjective work ability among back pain patients., Materials and Methods: A total of 93 people with back pain (M = 35.58 years, SD = 13.45; range: 18-69) were assessed at baseline and 4 weeks later. Of the participants, 54.83% (n = 51) were female. Data analysis was performed with SPSS 25 using descriptive statistics and multiple regression methods., Results: Work-related fear avoidance beliefs were negatively related with subjective work ability at baseline. Pain-related self-efficacy moderated this relationship. The relationship was stronger at low and medium levels of pain-related self-efficacy. The moderation effect was not found when considering subjective work ability after 4 weeks., Conclusion: Work-related fear avoidance beliefs among back pain patients seem to be important for subjective work ability in the short term. This especially holds true when patients have low self-efficacy beliefs. The investigated constructs should be emphasized in the patient-centered therapy. Longitudinal studies with larger samples and more frequent follow-ups should be investigated in future studies.

Background: Mental practice refers to the imaginary representation of a motor action. Mental practice interventions are frequently used among stroke survivors to improve motor function. Individual characteristics that may determine whether a person is able to mentally perform a specific movement have been mainly spared in research. Aims: The aim of the present study is to examine whether gender and age are related to mental practice ability. Methods: The study has a cross-sectional design. Data collection was done via self-report questionnaires on mental practice ability, sociodemographic information, and perceived stroke impact. Data analysis was conducted in R using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. N = 44 stroke survivors ( M = 65.8 years, SD = 11.4, range 48-88), n = 19 of which were female were recruited in two German neurologic rehabilitation facilities. Results: Age ( β = -0.13, p = 0.057) and gender ( β = 0.17, p = 0.260) were not associated with mental practice ability, when controlling for time since stroke and perceived stroke impact (Stroke Impact Scale). Perceived stroke impact was significantly related to mental practice ability ( β = 0.44, p = 0.004). Those who reported less stroke impact showed better mental practice ability. Conclusion: Mental practice ability may be preserved in stroke patients, irrespective of age and gender. We report cross-sectional data on mental practice ability in this study, thus the direction of the relationship between mental practice ability and perceived stroke impact is of interest. Future studies should aim at using a longitudinal design and bigger sample sizes.

EHealth behaviour change interventions that help participants to adhere to professional physical activity recommendations can help to prevent future events of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Therefore, identifying user groups of such interventions based on stages of health behaviour change is of great importance to provide tailored content to users instead of one-size-fits-all approaches. Our study used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to identify underlying classes of users of an eHealth behaviour change intervention based on stages of change and associated variables. We compared participants' self-allocated stage with their latent class stage membership to display the correlation and mean differences between the two approaches. This was done by analysing baseline data of N = 310 people interested in reducing their CVD risk. LCA identified a three-class solution: (non-)intenders (19.4%), non-habituated actors (43.2%) and habituated actors (37.4%). The interrelation between self-allocated and latent class stage membership was moderate ( ρ (308) = .49, p  < .001). Significant mean differences for (non-)intenders and non-habituated actors were found in social-cognitive variables. Results showed that self-allocated stage outcomes represent a pseudo stage model - linear trends can be reported for stage-associated social-cognitive variables. The study provides information on the validity of stage measures, which can inform future interventions.

Background: Regular physical activity treatment has been advocated for the prevention and rehabilitation of patients at risk of cardiovascular diseases and depressive symptoms. How physical activity is related to depressive symptoms is widely discussed., Objective: The aim of this internet-based study was to investigate the role of perceived social support in the relationship between physical activity habit strength and depressive symptoms., Methods: In total, 790 participants (mean 50.9 years, SD 12.2, range 20-84 years) who were interested in reducing their cardiovascular risk were recruited in Germany and the Netherlands. Data collection was conducted via an internet-based questionnaire addressing physical activity habit strength, depressive symptoms, and perceived social support. Cross-sectional data analysis was done with SPSS version 24 using the Macro PROCESS version 2 16.3 by Hayes with bootstrapping (10,000 samples), providing 95% CIs., Results: Physical activity habit strength was negatively related to depressive symptoms (r=-.13, P=.006), but this interrelation disappeared when controlling for perceived social support (beta=-.14, SE 0.09, P=.11). However, there was an indirect relationship between physical activity habit strength and depressive symptoms, which was mediated via perceived social support (beta=-.13; SE 0.04, 95% CI -0.21 to 0.06). The negative relationship between physical activity habit strength and depressive symptoms was fully mediated by perceived social support., Conclusions: We suggest that physical activity treatment in people interested in reducing their cardiovascular risk should also embed social support to target depressive symptoms. Internet-based interventions and electronic health may provide a good option for doing so., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01909349; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01909349 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/73Y9RfdiY)., (©Vera Storm, Dominique Alexandra Reinwand, Julian Wienert, Shu-Ling Tan, Sonia Lippke. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (http://mental.jmir.org), 14.11.2018.)

Background: Due to the increase in unhealthy lifestyles and associated health risks, the promotion of healthy lifestyles to improve the prevention of non-communicable diseases is imperative. Thus, research aiming to identify strategies to modify health behaviors has been encouraged. Little is known about addressing multiple health behaviors across age groups (i.e., young, middle-aged, and older adults) and the underlying mechanisms. The theoretical framework of this study is Compensatory Carry-Over Action Model which postulates that different health behaviors (i.e., physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake) are interrelated, and they are driven by underlying mechanisms (more details in the main text). Additionally, restful sleep as one of the main indicators of good sleep quality has been suggested as a mechanism that relates to other health behaviors and well-being, and should therefore also be investigated within this study. The present study aims to identify the interrelations of restful sleep, physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, and their associations with sleep quality as well as overall quality of life and subjective health in different age groups. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Germany and the Netherlands. 790 participants aged 20-85 years filled in the web-based baseline questionnaire about their restful sleep, physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, sleep quality, quality of life, and subjective health. Descriptive analysis, multivariate analysis of covariance, path analysis, and multi-group analysis were conducted. Results: Restful sleep, physical activity, and fruit and vegetable intake were associated with increased sleep quality, which in turn was associated with increased overall quality of life and subjective health. The path analysis model fitted the data well, and there were age-group differences regarding multiple health behaviors and sleep quality, quality of life, and subjective health. Compared to young and older adults, middle-aged adults showed poorest sleep quality and overall quality of life and subjective health, which were associated with less engagement in multiple health behaviors. Conclusion: A better understanding of age-group differences in clustering of health behaviors may set the stage for designing effective customized age-specific interventions to improve health and well-being in general and clinical settings. Trial Registration: A clinical trial registration was conducted with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01909349) https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01909349.

Objectives: This article explores the relevance of gossip and rumour to health organisations and presents what limited empirical research is available specific to the management of gossip and rumour in health organisations., Conclusion: The concept of a sentinel function for gossip and rumour in health organisations is proposed as a topic worthy of further research.

Compensatory health beliefs (the beliefs that an unhealthy behaviour can be compensated by a healthy behaviour) can interfere with adherence to fruit and vegetable consumption recommendations. Fruit and vegetable consumption, social cognitive variables and compensatory health beliefs were investigated via self-report at baseline (T0) and 8-week follow-up (T1) in N = 790 participants. Self-efficacy predicted fruit and vegetable consumption intentions. Planning mediated between intentions and T1 fruit and vegetable consumption. Compensatory health beliefs negatively predicted intentions at low self-efficacy levels only. The results propose the use of self-efficacy interventions to diminish the negative effects of compensatory health beliefs when forming fruit and vegetable consumption intentions and foster planning to translate intentions into behaviour.

Background: In order to improve the transition from an intention to a change in health behaviour, action planning is a frequently used behavioural change method. The quality of action plans in terms of instrumentality and specificity is important in terms of supporting a successful change in health behaviour. Until now, little has been known about the predictors of action plan generation and the predictors of high quality action plans and, therefore, the current study investigates these predictors., Method: A randomised controlled trial was conducted to improve physical activity (PA) and fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption using a web-based computer tailored intervention. During the 8-week intervention period, participants in the intervention arm (n = 346) were guided (step-by-step) to generate their own action plans to improve their health behaviours. Demographic characteristics, social cognitions, and health behaviour were assessed at baseline by means of self-reporting. Whether participants generated action plans was tracked by means of server registrations within two modules of the intervention., Results: The action planning component of the intervention regarding physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption was used by 40.9 and 20.7 % of the participants, respectively. We found that participants who were physically active at baseline were less likely to generate action plans concerning physical activity. With regards to generating fruit and vegetable action plans, participants with a high risk perception and a strong intention to eat fruit and vegetables on a daily basis made more use of the action planning component for this behaviour. Finally, the large majority of the action plans for physical activity (96.6 %) and fruit and vegetable consumption (100 %) were instrumental and about half of the action plans were found to be highly specific (PA = 69.6 %/FV = 59.7 %). The specificity of the action plans is associated with having a relationship and low levels of negative outcome expectancies., Conclusion: Risk perception and intention are predictors of using the application of action planning. Increasing the motivation to change behaviour should be prioritised in interventions concerning changes in health behaviour before participants are asked to generate action plans. This would also make the intervention suitable for unmotivated people. For those participants who already perform the desired health behaviour prior to the intervention, action plans might be less relevant. Nevertheless, using a guided step-by-step approach to generate action plans resulted in highly instrumental and specific action plans and might be integrated into other interventions concerning changes in health behaviour., Trial Registration: Netherlands Trial Register: NTR 3706, ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01909349 .

Background: Web-based computer-tailored interventions for multiple health behaviors can improve the strength of behavior habits in people who want to reduce their cardiovascular risk. Nonetheless, few randomized controlled trials have tested this assumption to date., Objective: The study aim was to test an 8-week Web-based computer-tailored intervention designed to improve habit strength for physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption among people who want to reduce their cardiovascular risk. In a randomized controlled design, self-reported changes in perceived habit strength, self-efficacy, and planning across different domains of physical activity as well as fruit and vegetable consumption were evaluated., Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial involving an intervention group (n=403) and a waiting control group (n=387). Web-based data collection was performed in Germany and the Netherlands during 2013-2015. The intervention content was based on the Health Action Process Approach and involved personalized feedback on lifestyle behaviors, which indicated whether participants complied with behavioral guidelines for physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption. There were three Web-based assessments: baseline (T0, N=790), a posttest 8 weeks after the baseline (T1, n=206), and a follow-up 3 months after the baseline (T2, n=121). Data analysis was conducted by analyzing variances and structural equation analysis., Results: Significant group by time interactions revealed superior treatment effects for the intervention group, with substantially higher increases in self-reported habit strength for physical activity (F1,199=7.71, P=.006, Cohen's d=0.37) and fruit and vegetable consumption (F1,199=7.71, P=.006, Cohen's d=0.30) at posttest T1 for the intervention group. Mediation analyses yielded behavior-specific sequential mediator effects for T1 planning and T1 self-efficacy between the intervention and habit strength at follow-up T2 (fruit and vegetable consumption: beta=0.12, 95% CI 0.09-0.16, P<.001; physical activity: beta=0.04, 95% CI 0.02-0.06, P<.001)., Conclusions: Our findings indicate the general effectiveness and practicality of Web-based computer-tailored interventions in terms of increasing self-reported habit strength for physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption. Self-efficacy and planning may play major roles in the mechanisms that facilitate the habit strength of these behaviors; therefore, they should be actively promoted in Web-based interventions. Although the results need to take into account the high dropout rates and medium effect sizes, a large number of people were reached and changes in habit strength were achieved after 3 months., Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01909349; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01909349 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6g5F0qoft) and Nederlands Trial Register NTR3706 http://www.trialregister.nl/ trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=3706 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6g5F5HMLX).

Objectives: To examine the characteristics of those mental health clients of an Australian metropolitan health service who died during a 6 year period, 2005 - 2010., Methods: The medical records, and where available, coronial post-mortem examinations were audited for 109 people with schizophrenia who died while they were clients of the mental health service., Results: The mean age of death for men was 45 years and for women, 47 years, compared to the general population's male and female life expectancy of 79 and 84 years, respectively. About one-half of the deaths were due to suicide (n = 55), followed by natural causes (n = 42; 39%), undetermined causes (n = 7), and accidents or acts of violence (n = 5). Smoking rates, diagnosed diabetes and hypertension were higher in the group that died from natural causes. Morbid obesity (body mass index (BMI) > 35 kg/m(2)) rates were higher in the group that died of natural causes (38%), compared with the suicide group (5%)., Conclusions: While suicide accounts for the majority of those dying prematurely in this study cohort, it appears that for those who survive the risk of suicide in the earlier period of a chronic psychotic illness, there is yet another threat to life expectancy: death from preventable cardiorespiratory disorders, due to a poor lifestyle and social deprivation.

A substantial number of refugees arriving in Australia are the victims of torture and other forms of organised violence. In this article, the authors provide an overview of the broad range of physical and emotional disabilities that arise from these experiences, examine the special difficulties in identifying and assessing patients at the primary health care level, and offer an approach to counselling for survivors and their families.

Pre-pubertal depression has attracted a great deal of interest recently. The literature is reviewed with a particular focus on the better designed studies. While isolated symptoms of depression are relatively common, definite depressive disorder is much less prevalent. The majority of studies have focused on the most severely depressed subgroup of children. While effective treatment regimes are being developed for this small group of children, there is no evidence that such regimes should be applied to every depressed child. Major gaps exist in our knowledge of the range of depressive symptomatology in pre-pubertal children, the relationship of developmental factors to depressive symptoms, the reliability and validity of existing diagnostic tools, and the effectiveness of traditional child psychiatric treatment modalities for depression.