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Since the inception of quantum anomalies in the 1960’s, the topic has come to be generally quite well-understood. Nonetheless, it is still not clear how exactly anomalous effects can be observed on a macroscopic scale within the context of particle physics. Through hydrodynamic considerations, one finds that certain anomalies could macroscopically produce what is known as anomalous response, a process giving rise to P-odd, T -even transport phenomena. The associated anomalous conductivities have been computed in the absence of dynamical gluons using a variety of approaches, which have lead to the belief that the conductivities obey a universality restriction. We attempt to compute radiative corrections to such universal values by including dynamical gluons within the setting of the quark gluon plasma. Due to the difficulty of studying quantum chromodynamics using perturbation theory, we compute the conductivities using a holographic model, namely V-QCD. Our model recovers the universal values of the conductivities in the absence of dynamical gluons. After including such dynamical effects, we observe no radiative corrections to the Chiral Magnetic Effect or Chiral Vortical Effect. However, we find that the Chiral Separation Effect does receive radiative corrections.

The crisis in Syria has resulted in vast numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Syria’s neighbouring countries as well as in Europe. Refugees are at considerable risk of developing common mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most refugees do not have access to mental health services for these problems because of multiple barriers in national and refugee specific health systems, including limited availability of mental health professionals. To counter some of challenges arising from limited mental health system capacity the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a range of scalable psychological interventions aimed at reducing psychological distress and improving functioning in people living in communities affected by adversity. These interventions, including Problem Management Plus (PM+) and its variants, are intended to be delivered through individual or group face-to-face or smartphone formats by lay, non-professional people who have not received specialized mental health training, We provide an evidence-based rationale for the use of the scalable PM+ oriented programmes being adapted for Syrian refugees and provide information on the newly launched STRENGTHS programme for adapting, testing and scaling up of PM+ in various modalities in both neighbouring and European countries hosting Syrian refugees.

Background: Melancholic and atypical depression are widely thought to moderate or predict outcome of pharmacological and psychological treatments of adult depression, but that has not yet been established. This study uses the data from four earlier trials comparing cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) versus antidepressant medications (ADMs; and pill placebo when available) to examine the extent to which melancholic and atypical depression moderate or predict outcome in an “individual patient data” meta-analysis. Methods: We conducted a systematic search for studies directly comparing CBT versus ADM, contacted the researchers, integrated the resulting datasets from these studies into one big dataset, and selected the studies that included melancholic or atypical depressive subtyping according to DSM-IV criteria at baseline (n = 4, with 805 patients). After multiple imputation of missing data at posttest, mixed models were used to conduct the main analyses. Results: In none of the analyses was melancholic or atypical depression found to significantly moderate outcome (indicating a better or worse outcome of these patients in CBT compared to ADM; i.e., an interaction), predict outcome independent of treatment group (i.e., a main effect), or predict outcome within a given modality. The outcome differences between patients with melancholia or atypical depression versus those without were consistently very small (all effect sizes g < 0.10). Conclusions: We found no indication that melancholic or atypical depressions are significant or relevant moderators or predictors of outcome of CBT and ADM.

Aims The standardised mean difference (SMD) is one of the most used effect sizes to indicate the effects of treatments. It indicates the difference between a treatment and comparison group after treatment has ended, in terms of standard deviations. Some meta-analyses, including several highly cited and influential ones, use the pre-post SMD, indicating the difference between baseline and post-test within one (treatment group). Methods In this paper, we argue that these pre-post SMDs should be avoided in meta-analyses and we describe the arguments why pre-post SMDs can result in biased outcomes. Results One important reason why pre-post SMDs should be avoided is that the scores on baseline and post-test are not independent of each other. The value for the correlation should be used in the calculation of the SMD, while this value is typically not known. We used data from an 'individual patient data' meta-analysis of trials comparing cognitive behaviour therapy and anti-depressive medication, to show that this problem can lead to considerable errors in the estimation of the SMDs. Another even more important reason why pre-post SMDs should be avoided in meta-analyses is that they are influenced by natural processes and characteristics of the patients and settings, and these cannot be discerned from the effects of the intervention. Between-group SMDs are much better because they control for such variables and these variables only affect the between group SMD when they are related to the effects of the intervention. Conclusions We conclude that pre-post SMDs should be avoided in meta-analyses as using them probably results in biased outcomes.

Introduction: There are many proven treatments (psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy or their combination) for the treatment of depression. Although there is growing evidence for the effectiveness of combination treatment (psychotherapy + pharmacotherapy) over pharmacotherapy alone, psychotherapy alone or psychotherapy plus pill placebo, for depression, little is known about which specific groups of patients may respond best to combined treatment versus monotherapy. Conventional meta-analyses techniques have limitations when tasked with examining whether specific individual characteristics moderate the effect of treatment on depression. Therefore, this protocol outlines an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis to explore which patients, with which clinical characteristics, have better outcomes in combined treatment compared with psychotherapy (alone or with pill placebo), pharmacotherapy and pill placebo. Methods and Analysis: Study searches are completed using an established database of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on the psychological treatment of adult depression that has previously been reported. Searches were conducted in PubMed, PsycInfo, Embase and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. RCTs comparing combination treatment (psychotherapy + pharmacotherapy) with psychotherapy (with or without pill placebo), pharmacotherapy or pill placebo for the treatment of adult depression will be included. Study authors of eligible trials will be contacted and asked to contribute IPD. Conventional meta-analysis techniques will be used to examine differences between studies that have contributed data and those that did not. Then, IPD will be harmonised and analysis using multilevel regression will be conducted to examine effect moderators of treatment outcomes. Dissemination: Study results outlined above will be published in peer-reviewed journals. Study results will contribute to better understanding whether certain patients respond best to combined

In response to the tender specifications the study consists of two parts. The first examines whether divergences in national procedural laws and practices constitute obstacles to mutual trust and, in the affirmative, identifies the locus and the scale of such obstacles; it thereby facilitates the identification of the areas in which mutual trust needs to be further enhanced in line with the European Council Conclusions of 26/27 June 2014. In addition, the study addresses possible obstacles to legal certainty when businesses and citizens engage in cross-border litigation. The second strand of the study evaluates whether and to what extent national procedural laws and practices ensure the effective procedural protection of EU consumers. Both strands of the study investigate the legal and the practical situations in the civil procedural laws of the 28 EU Member States.

The crisis in Syria has resulted in vast numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Syria’s neighbouring countries as well as in Europe. Refugees are at considerable risk of developing common mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most refugees do not have access to mental health services for these problems because of multiple barriers in national and refugee specific health systems, including limited availability of mental health professionals. To counter some of challenges arising from limited mental health system capacity the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a range of scalable psychological interventions aimed at reducing psychological distress and improving functioning in people living in communities affected by adversity. These interventions, including Problem Management Plus (PM+) and its variants, are intended to be delivered through individual or group face-to-face or smartphone formats by lay, non-professional people who have not received specialized mental health training, We provide an evidence-based rationale for the use of the scalable PM+ oriented programmes being adapted for Syrian refugees and provide information on the newly launched STRENGTHS programme for adapting, testing and scaling up of PM+ in various modalities in both neighbouring and European countries hosting Syrian refugees. © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.