CBTp and medication in the treatment of psychosis: summarising the best evidence

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Clive Adams presents a summary of the latest evidence for CBTp and medication in the treatment of psychosis. This blog was published alongside Clive’s talk at the Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia conference in Bath on 11 June 2015

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Pharmacotherapy for anxiety and comorbid alcohol use disorders

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Natasha Clarke summarises a recent Cochrane review of pharmacotherapy for anxiety and comorbid alcohol use disorders, which found only very low quality evidence about the effectiveness of medication (buspirone, paroxetine, sertraline) for treating patients with both conditions.

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Dental Implants placed in fresh sockets have poorer survival

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This review included 44 studies involving a total of 1170 patients and 1974 implants finding significant better outcome in favour of the implants placed in healed ridges (99.4% implant survival) compared with post-extraction implants (95.6% implant survival).

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#WeCATS Critical Appraisal Twitter Session

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Social media legend Teresa Chinn announces the launch of #WeCATS, a new WeNurses tweet chat being run in partnership with Sally Crowe from CASP, Sarah Chapman from the UK Cochrane Centre and your very own Mental Elf. We are very excited about this new critical appraisal endeavour.

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Alveolar ridge preservation: limited evidence for current techniques

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This Cochrane review identified 8 RCTs of alveolar ridge preservation (ARP) techniques. They provide limited evidence that ARP minimises overall changes in residual ridge height and width six months after extraction.

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Oral Cancer diagnosis: biopsy and histology still best method

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This Cochrane review of adjunctive diagnostic tests for oral cancer included 41 studies assessing vital staining, cytology, and light-based tests. The available studies were of poor quality detection with none of the tests being considered as a replacement for the currently used standard of a scalpel biopsy and histological assessment.

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Temporomandibular disorders: is botulinum toxin effective?

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This review of botulinum toxin (BTX) for treating temporomandibular disorders identified 5 RCTs involving a total of 117 patients. There was marked heterogeneity between the studies and the therapeutic benefits are unclear. Well reported high quality RCTs are needed.

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Is aquatic exercise training effective for fibromyalgia?

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One of our female Elf friends has fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes pain all over their body. Do you know that fibromyalgia affects around seven times as many women as men? The condition typically develops between the ages of 30 and 50, but can occur in people of any age, including children and the elderly. [read the full story…]

Motivational interviewing may help people quit smoking, but more research is needed

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Olivia Maynard summarises the recent Cochrane systematic review on motivational interviewing for smoking cessation, which concludes that motivational interviewing may assist people to quit smoking, but does not tell us much about the actual components of MI that optimise the success of the intervention.

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Mouthwashes and toothpastes can improve oral malodour

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This review identified 12 trials of mouthwashes and toothpastes for oral malodour. Those products with active ingredients reduced oral malodour but the overall quality of the available evidence was weak.

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