Andre Tomlin

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André Tomlin is an Information Scientist with 20 years experience working in evidence-based healthcare. He's worked in the NHS, for Oxford University and since 2002 as Managing Director of Minervation Ltd, a consultancy company who do clever digital stuff for charities, universities and the public sector. Most recently André has been the driving force behind the Mental Elf and the National Elf Service; an innovative digital platform that helps professionals keep up to date with simple, clear and engaging summaries of evidence-based research. André is a Trustee at the Centre for Mental Health and an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London Division of Psychiatry. He lives in Bristol, surrounded by dogs, elflings and lots of woodland!

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Early intervention helps reduce depression and long-term sickness absence in office workers

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This randomised controlled trial from Maastricht University in The Netherlands examines how well early intervention can help prevent long-term sickness absence and major depression among office workers who are at high risk of taking time off work with mild to severe depressive complaints. Researchers recruited 139 employees working in an office environment, all of whom were at [read the full story…]

Tooth loss three times higher in people with serious mental illness

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People with severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are over three times more likely to lose their teeth because of poor oral health than the general population. The research, published in the September issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, shows that psychiatric patients have not shared in recent improvements in dental health. [read the full story…]

Smoking cessation for people with severe mental illness

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I’ve blogged before about mental health and smoking cessation, so I was interested to read about this new review on the subject published by a researcher in Spain, which aims to assess the best way for adults with major depression, schizophrenia and psychosis to give up smoking. The review searched a very wide range of [read the full story…]

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation may be a useful treatment for depression, but more well conducted trials are needed

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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a treatment where magnetic coils are placed above the scalp and used to generate magnetic fields, which create short-lasting electrical currents in the brain below the stimulation site.  TMS is used to treat a number of health conditions including depression. This meta-analysis conducted by researchers at Oxford University presents an [read the full story…]

Proactive care from practice nurses improves social functioning for people with severe and recurrent depression

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The results indicate that ICU staff, and particularly nurses, experienced high rates of probable mental illness and thoughts of self-harm.

The mental health charity Mind have published the findings of a three year study which explores whether regular proactive reviews delivered by nurses in GP practices results in better mental health and social outcomes for people living with depression.  The study was a randomised controlled trial carried out by a research team at University College London. [read the full story…]

NICE publish new quality standard on alcohol dependence and harmful alcohol use

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The press release from NICE says that: Quality standards are a set of specific, concise statements and associated measures [that] set out aspirational, but achievable, markers of high-quality, cost-effective patient care, covering the treatment and prevention of different diseases and conditions. NICE have already published quality standards on dementia and depression in adults and they have [read the full story…]

Zinc supplementation may be a useful add-on to treatment for depression

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There is evidence from epidemiological studies that low levels of zinc are associated with depression, but good quality clinical trials that explore the link between zinc supplementation and depression are few and far between. This systematic review conducted by a research team from the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia, aimed to synthesise results from [read the full story…]

Melissa aromatherapy only as good as placebo in treating agitation in people with Alzheimer’s disease

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It has been widely reported that antipsychotics have been frequently used to treat the behavioural and psychological symptoms that affect people with dementia and that this course of action has resulted in an estimated 1,800 excess strokes and 1,600 excess deaths in the UK alone.  This double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled randomised trial looks at one of the [read the full story…]

The health harms of drugs: a new guide from the Department of Health

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The Department of Health have published an updated guide summarising the health harms of drug and alcohol misuse, which is aimed at supporting non-medical practitioners working with substance misuse issues. The document updates the 2003 “Dangerousness of Drugs” guide.  It’s an 80-page PDF report and it outlines acute and chronic problems associated with each substance, [read the full story…]

Childhood psychopathology can predict antidepressant use in young adults

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There are a number of cross-sectional studies that investigate antidepressant use in teenagers and young adults.  These are interesting, but because they don’t tend to follow-up study participants prospectively over a long period of time, there is only so much we can learn from them. However, now researchers in Finland have published a study that [read the full story…]