L’augmentation de l’obésité en France et dans le monde a entraîné une prise de conscience de l’importance du phénomène et a conduit à réfléchir à de nouvelles propositions thérapeutiques, en particulier dans le cas de l’obésité morbide. Définie par un indice de masse corporelle (IMC) supérieur à 40 kg/m2, l’obésité morbide est estimée entre 0,2 à 0,3 %, ce qui représente 100 à 150 000 personnes. Après échec d’un traitement médical bien conduit, les patients présentant une obésité morbide peuvent bénéficier d’un traitement chirurgical, dont le but principal est de diminuer les risques relatifs à leur surcharge pondérale. Ce traitement nécessite une prise en charge multidisciplinaire, associant principalement médecins nutritionnistes, chirurgiens, psychiatres et/ou psychologues et diététiciens et oblige le patient à accepter un suivi médical « à vie ».

Dans les quinze dernières années, le nombre de patients souffrant d’obésité morbide ayant bénéficié d’un traitement chirurgical a été multiplié par sept.

En pré-opératoire, le psychiatre évalue l’existence de maladies psychiatriques pouvant contre-indiquer ou reporter l’intervention chirurgicale, mais aussi les capacités de compréhension, la motivation et le degré de compliance du patient. Le suivi post-opératoire est le plus souvent proposé aux patients présentant des comorbidités psychiatriques avant l’intervention.

Les études montrent que cette technique d’intervention chirurgicale sur un organe sain permet de réduire significativement la morbi-mortalité, avec une réduction des coûts médico-économiques de l’obésité à long terme.

Si le traitement chirurgical et la perte de poids qui en découle permettent une amélioration de la qualité de vie et d’une forme de « dépressivité », il est souvent nécessaire, en plus du suivi nutritionnel et chirurgical d’accompagner ces patients au plan psychologique et/ou psychiatrique afin de leur permettre de travailler la question d’une restauration narcissique et d’une estime de soi affaiblie. La multidisciplinarité requise pour ce type d’intervention est un exemple du positionnement du psychiatre de liaison.

Les troubles de l’usage de l’alcool représentent un problème de santé publique majeur, et sont souvent associés à des co-morbidités psychiatriques [1]. La recherche clinique est indispensable pour mieux connaître la physiopathologie, et ses mécanismes, pour optimiser le diagnostic, et identifier des marqueurs de suivi et rechutes. Nous pensons que l’étude elle-même peut se greffer sur la pratique de routine et modifier celle-ci. Deux recherches biomédicales ont été menées concernant des sujets alcoolo-dépendants venus pour sevrage d’alcool à l’hôpital psychiatrique : un premier suivi de cohorte (2006–2009) tous les semestres pendant deux ans pour connaître le devenir et la consommation de soins, et ayant également permis de mesurer la variation de taux sériques de la neurotrophine Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) [2,3] entre le sevrage et 6 mois après, et un second (2011–2014) qui a pour objet d’étudier précisément la variation des taux de BDNF et autres facteurs cliniques dans les 6 mois suivant le sevrage en fonction de l’abstinence. Le relevé des variables nécessaires à la recherche permet de mieux connaître la population demandeuse de sevrage en établissement psychiatrique, ainsi que les données associées à leur soin (traitement, suivis médicaux et psychiatriques). L’analyse de ces données montre une bonne insertion des sujets inclus aux études, avec une dépressivité importante à prendre en compte en l’intégrant dans le soin, une intermittence de l’abstinence au cours du temps témoignant de parcours non linéaires, une clinique dépendant du profil d’alcoolisation, une mauvaise concordance des indices biologiques et clinique d’abstinence, un taux de mortalité très élevé (6,4 %), un suivi médical et autre (infirmier…) peu important qu’il importe d’améliorer pour tous. La place et la nature d’indicateurs biologiques et psychométriques dans les suivis doivent être définies.

Social re-entry in the criminal justice system cannot be avoided since virtually all prisoners are released sooner or later. These initiatives are the outcome of a restorative justice approach which aims to reduce future offences by bringing back offenders to normal life by rehabilitation and restoration. Prisoners’ lives in prisons were very difficult in the Indian context till the last decade. Different rehabilitative approaches have been introduced inside prisons but, after release, the number of social re-entry initiatives is much less. The released face many psycho-social and economic issues which may destroy a person’s ability to adjust with the services provided. The national prison policy of India recommends aftercare services for the rehabilitation of released prisoners. The labelling and social stigma due to the crime hinders prisoners’ ability to re-enter society after release. In this context, the present paper explored the issues and challenges faced by the released prisoners during their social re-entry and came up with rehabilitative initiatives for a better restoration process in the Indian context.

There is a wide international consensus that there is an urgent need to compile national inventories of animal genetic resources, supported by periodic monitoring of trends and threats, to underpin their effective management. This paper gives an overview of how to set about this task, primarily through national strategies but also through ad hoc surveys. It is important to establish stakeholder involvement at an early stage of setting up the national strategy so that the surveys can be made more effective and the emergent actions can be more readily implemented. There are a wide variety of tools available for surveying and monitoring, ranging from mapping expeditions to household surveys and censuses, encompassing methods associated with rapid rural appraisals. Tools have different strengths and weaknesses and their relative cost effectiveness will depend on objectives. Performing a baseline survey is a key step because it serves as a reference point for future monitoring; however, to be cost effective, more rudimentary surveys may be needed beforehand to establish reliable design parameters. Calibration of one method to another is an important task when several methods are being used for monitoring. Planning and design, communication, sensitive field work, data management and an analysis appropriate to the objectives are all necessary elements of a successful survey.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether older age is associated with increasing loneliness in people aged 60 and over. Data came from TamELSA, a population-based prospective longitudinal study in Tampere, Finland. The follow-up time was 20 years. Loneliness was measured by a single question – “Do you feel lonely?“ – with the possible answers often, sometimes, or never. Cross-sectional analysis showed that the percentage of subjects feeling lonely increased toward older age groups, but in a multivariate analysis, only household composition and social participation were independently associated with loneliness. Longitudinal analysis showed that loneliness increased with higher age. Over a 10-year period, loneliness increased most in those who, at baseline, were married and living alone with their spouse. In conclusion, only a minority of older people continuously suffer from loneliness. Loneliness does increase with age, not because of age per se, but because of increasing disability and decreasing social integration.

The red locust, Nomadacris septemfasciata (Serville) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), is a threat to agricultural productivity in Malawi. The country has a single known red locust outbreak area, the Lake Chilwa flood plains in southern Malawi, in addition to several other areas where the locust occasionally breeds. Activities of the red locust in Malawi during the period 1988 to 1998 are discussed. Four major outbreaks occurred during the period—in 1993, 1995, 1996 and 1997. Control of these outbreaks was conducted by air except for the 1995 outbreak in Mpatsanjoka River Valley which was controlled by spot treatment on the ground. The use of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft, where the helicopter locates locust swarms and their concentrations and guides the spray aircraft, appears to be the most efficient and effective strategy for controlling locust outbreaks in Malawi.

Certain demographic characteristics, including the limited size and stabiliiy of the population of Denmark, account for the development of genetic, epidemiological and prospective studies in the Danish psychiatric research context. Moreover, despite the predominance of biological psychiatry, psychotherapy arouses the interest of young psychiatrists.

Research is especially concentrated in university centers such as Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense. The Institute of Psychiatric Demography, directed by Annalise Dupont, is responsible for centralizing data concerning hospitalized patients. It lias thus been possible to carry out longitudinal studies of patients presenting manic-depressive disorders, schizophrenia and mental retardation, as well as surveys on the prevalence of suicide according to region, and genetic studies based on the observation of monozygotic twins. The studies on schizophrenia particularly deal with the incidence of cancer and the influence of life events. The cytogenetics laboratory, directed by Johannes Nielsen, is especially concerned with the follow-up of 25,000 children born in the Obstetrics Department of the Aarhus University Hospital.

There are numerous other areas of research: comparative studies of the ICD 8 and the DSM III; studies dealing with the use of lithium in affective disorders; studies on the response to and modes of action of electroconvulsive therapy; ongoing studies of neurotic patients, conducted for more than 20 years; surveys on the efficacy of psychotherapy in schizophrenic patients.

The existence of benzodiazepine receptors was discovered by the research cenrter of the St Hans Hospital in Copenhagen. Current research at this center is devoted to the study of dopamine receptors, the relations between LSD receptors and serotonine, and study of the GABA System.

Although research is thriving in Denmark at present, it is threatened by a reduction in credits; the author analyzes the reasons behind this threat.