Can Tetris help to reduce the intensity and distress of traumatic intrusive memories?

Sometimes life seems like Tetris: it throws at you several, different and unrelated things, and you try to mix and match them, and fit together everything at your best in a seemingly infinite struggle. 
Trying to clear the stage now and then, and maybe get that winning combo, just before everything becomes too overwhelming...

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Shot on Canon 550D, edit in Lightroom Classic CC.

Tanya Garg blogs a study which finds that visuospatial tasks like playing Tetris, do not reduce the intensity and distress of intrusions after watching a traumatic film.

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Bioactive glass and hydroxyapatite to occlude dentinal tubules

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In her first blog for the Dental Elf Rebecca Manson takes a look at an in-vitro review of bioactive glass and hydroxyapatite for the occlusion of dentinal tubules. The findings provide some evidence that that bioactive glass/hydroxyapatite are effective in occluding dentinal tubules in an in-vitro setting. Well conducted long term clinical trials are needed to assess effectiveness in a clinical setting.

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Antidepressant withdrawal or depression relapse? International guidelines on antidepressant discontinuation are unclear

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Adele Framer summarises a systematic review which finds that major guidelines on antidepressant discontinuation only give clinicians vague guidance on distinguishing withdrawal from relapse.

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Peer support does not reduce hospital readmissions: the final word?

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Danielle Lamb reviews a recent large randomised controlled trial on peer support for discharge from inpatient mental health care versus care as usual in England (the ENRICH study).

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Schizophrenia and educational attainment: mind the gap

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Ian Kelleher considers a new systematic review of papers from across the world, which looks at the enduring gap in educational attainment for people with schizophrenia.

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Preformed metal crown on primary molars – Conventional or Hall techniques?

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This review of the outcomes of preformed metal crowns placed on primary molars using conventional and Hall techniques included 5 studies. The findings suggest similar overal sucess and survival rates for both techniques.

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Half of all frontline health workers were mentally ill during early months of COVID-19 pandemic

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Kate Chartres and Dafni Katsampa summarise a systematic review exploring anxiety, depression, trauma-related, and sleep disorders among healthcare workers during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Global prevalence of edentulism in the over 45s

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This review summarising global data on the prevalence of edentulism and dental caries of people aged ≥45 years living in the community included 86 studies. The estimated global prevalence of edentulism in those ≥45 years was 22% (95%CI; 19 to 24%).

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Telemental health: mega-blog on remote mental health care during the pandemic

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In her debut blog, Philippa Clery presents the findings of three studies from the NIHR Mental Health Policy Research Unit, which explore the acceptability and efficacy of telemental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Omega-3 fatty acids as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal therapy

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This review assessing the adjunctive effect of omega-3 (ω-3) fatty acids and non-surgical periodontal therapy (SRP)on probing pocket depth (PPD) and the clinical attachment level (CAL) included 10 RCTs. The findings suggest that adjunctive ω-3 fatty acids provides a 0.39 mm improvement in PPD and 0.41 mm of CAL gain.

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