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- Bejerot, Susanne, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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Teaching psychiatry to large groups in society
- 2019
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Ingår i: BMC Medical Education. - : BioMed Central. - 1472-6920. ; 19:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: There is a need to educate a range of professionals in caring for individuals with long-term mental disability who reside within our communities. Empathy alone is insufficient. The Kognus 4-Step Education Program was developed to achieve this goal.METHOD: The program consisted of independent courses, including an 18-session basic course on psychiatric disability (on-site or online), advanced courses, and highly specialized training programs (Nidotherapy/Peer Consultation). Experts lectured together with clients with psychiatric disabilities. We first report Swedish reforms in which institutionalized patients were relocated to semi-independent individual households. We then describe the design and implementation of the education program. Approximately 50% of participants who were younger than 36 years old lacked any healthcare education. The participants' backgrounds, perceptions, participation in the education program, and costs are presented.RESULTS: Between 2009 and 2014, 8959 participants attended the Kognus psychiatry courses online or on-site in Stockholm (basic on-site course, n = 2111; online course, n = 4480; advanced courses, n = 2322; highly specialized programs, n = 46). A total of 73% of the participants satisfactorily attended the basic sessions on-site compared with 11% of the online participants. The developers conducted the education program for the first 3 years. Thereafter, another course provider continued the program with other types of participants. The program was perceived to be equally interesting and meaningful to participants with low and high levels of education, demonstrating the generalizability of the program. The quality of the basic and advanced courses was rated as 4.4 and 4.3, respectively, on a 5-point Likert scale.CONCLUSIONS: Personnel without appropriate education who work with people with psychiatric/intellectual disabilities can be educated in large numbers. The Kognus program represents a novel and successful way of training people who have no formal education about some essentials of good mental healthcare. Moreover, the model can be easily implemented elsewhere.
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| 2. |
- Bejerot, Susanne, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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Evidence-Based Brief Obsessive-Compulsive Scale
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Central Nervous System Disease. - : Sage Publications. - 1179-5735. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 3. |
- Bejerot, Susanne, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder with increased aquaporin-4 microparticles prior to autoantibodies in cerebrospinal fluid : a case report
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Medical Case Reports. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 1752-1947. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders are severe autoimmune inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system associated with the presence of immunoglobulin G antibodies against the water channel protein aquaporin-4. During exacerbation, specific aquaporin-4 immunoglobulin G may be produced intrathecally. We measured extracellular aquaporin-4 microparticles in the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient who later developed the typical symptoms and signs of a neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.CASE PRESENTATION: A 17-year-old South American girl developed acute severe motor and vocal tics and difficulties in walking, peripheral numbness, muscle pain, and bilateral headache. At age 22, she had a multitude of motor and psychiatric symptoms. Over the years, she fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa, depression, sleep disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, development coordination disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, hypomania, pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections, conversion disorder, psychosis, and schizotypal personality syndrome. At age 24, she was found to have elevated titers of aquaporin-4 antibodies in serum, suggestive of probable neuromyelitis optica. She subsequently developed visual impairment, and swollen optic nerves were verified by magnetic resonance imaging. She was thus treated with a chimeric monoclonal antibody targeted against the pan-B-cell marker CD20 (rituximab), and almost all symptoms, including the psychiatric symptoms, rapidly decreased. We found a significant increase of extracellular microparticles of aquaporin-4 in cerebrospinal fluid sampled from our patient when she was 22 years old, 2 years before the full clinical development of neuromyelitis optica.CONCLUSIONS: Microparticles of aquaporin-4 represent subcellular arrangements that may influence the pathogenesis of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders and may serve as biomarkers for the underlying cellular disturbances. The increase of aquaporin-4 microparticles in cerebrospinal fluid may be used for early diagnostic purposes; for prevention; and for evaluation of effective treatment, long-term follow-up studies, and elucidating the pathophysiology in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders. Further studies of aquaporin-4 microparticles in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neuromyelitis optica and similar neuropsychiatric disorders are thus called for.
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| 4. |
- Bejerot, Susanne, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS), developmental regression and autism
- 2017
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Ingår i: European psychiatry. - : Elsevier. - 0924-9338 .- 1778-3585. ; 41:Suppl., s. S123-S123
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction: Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) is a term used to describe a clinical picture which includes sudden onset of psychiatric symptoms and a possible autoimmune genesis. The sudden decline in neuropsychiatric functioning as well as the multiple combinations of symptoms may lead to a clinical phenotype similar to that in infantile autism (IA) with regressive features. We are conducting a study with the aim to evaluate a diagnostic test for PANS currently marketed by Moleculera Labs. All patients in Sweden who had taken the test (n = 154) were invited to the study.Objectives: The aim of the study is to characterize a subgroup of patients with IA within the PANS diagnosis study.Methods: Participants (n = 53) were examined for psychiatric and somatic symptoms and evaluated for PANS caseness by an experienced psychiatrist. Because the criteria for entering the study was having taken the diagnostic test for PANS, the participants in the study comprise a group with mixed symptoms.Results: Twelve participants had IA. Eleven of these reported a developmental regression with loss of abilities. Two of the IA patients also fulfill criteria for PANS. Eight of the IA patients had been treated with antibiotics for psychiatric symptoms and 4 reported a positive effect of this treatment. Nine of the patients had elevated test results suggesting possible PANS according to Moleculera Labs.Conclusions: Very early onset on PANS may be phenotypically similar to IA with regressive features. Further analysis of the immunological attributes of patients with autism with regressive features is warranted.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Bejerot, Susanne, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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The Cunningham Panel : concerns remain
- 2019
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Ingår i: Translational Psychiatry. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2158-3188. ; 9:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Bileviciute-Ljungar, Indre, et al.
(författare)
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Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome do not score higher on the autism-spectrum quotient than healthy controls : comparison with autism spectrum disorder
- 2018
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0036-5564 .- 1467-9450. ; 59:4, s. 428-432
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Clinically, there is an overlap of several symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including fatigue; brain “fog”; cognitive impairments; increased sensitivity to sound, light, and odour; increased pain and tenderness; and impaired emotional contact.Methods: Adults with CFS (n = 59) or ASD (n = 50) and healthy controls (HC; n = 53) were assessed with the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) in a cross-sectional study. Non-parametric analysis was used to compare AQ scores among the groups. Univariate analysis of variance (ANCOVA) was used to identify if age, sex, or diagnostic group influenced the differences in scores.Results: Patients with ASD scored significantly higher on the AQ than the CFS group and the HC group. No differences in AQ scores were found between the CFS and HC groups. AQ results were influenced by the diagnostic group but not by age or sex, according to ANCOVA. Conclusions: Despite clinical observations of symptom overlap between ASD and CFS, adult patients with CFS report few autistic traits in the self-report instrument, the AQ. The choice of instrument to assess autistic traits may influence the results.
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| 10. |
- Blomqvist, My, et al.
(författare)
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A cross-sectional study on oral health and dental care in intellectually able adults with autism spectrum disorder
- 2015
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Ingår i: BMC Oral Health. - : BioMed Central. - 1472-6831 .- 1472-6831. ; 15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, restricted patterns of behaviour, and unusual sensory sensitivities. The hypotheses to be tested were that adult patients with ASD have a higher caries prevalence, have more risk factors for caries development, and utilize dental health care to a lesser extent than people recruited from the normal population.Methods: Forty-seven adults with ASD, (25 men, 22 women, mean age 33 years) and of normal intelligence and 69 age-and sex-matched typical controls completed a dental examination and questionnaires on oral health, dental hygiene, dietary habits and previous contacts with dental care.Results: Except for increased number of buccal gingival recessions, the oral health was comparable in adults with ASD and the control group. The group with ASD had less snacking, but also less frequent brushing of teeth in the mornings. The stimulated saliva secretion was lower in the ASD group, regardless of medication. Frequencies of dental care contacts were equal in both groups. The most common reason for missing a dental appointment was forgetfulness in the ASD group.Conclusions: Adults with ASD exhibited more gingival recessions and considerably lower saliva flow compared to healthy controls. Despite equal caries prevalence, the risk for reduced oral health due to decreased salivary flow should be taken into consideration when planning dental care for patients with ASD. Written reminders of dental appointments and written and verbal report on oral health status and oral hygiene instructions are recommended.
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