In the past, studies of weight-control diets that are high in protein
or low in glycemic index have reached varied conclusions, probably
owing to the fact that the studies had insufficient power.
Because of this, a team of researchers enrolled overweight adults
from eight European countries who had lost at least 8% of their initial
body weight with a low-calorie diet. Participants were randomly
assigned, in a two-by-two factorial design, to one of five diets to
prevent weight regain over a 26-week period. These were: a low-protein
and low-glycemic-index diet, a low-protein and high-glycemic-index diet;
a high-protein and low-glycemic-index diet; a high-protein and
high-glycemic-index diet; or a control diet.
Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College in London, UK, looked at the efficacy of treating hot flashes and night sweats (HFNS) with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in post cancer breast cancer patients, where hormone replacement therapy is often seen as undesirable or contraindicated.
In this randomized controlled trial, 96 women were recruited from breast clinics in London who had problematic HFNS (a minimum of ten problematic episodes a week) after breast-cancer treatment.
Researchers from the Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, Washington conducted a meta-analysis on whether cognitive behavioral therapy is more efficacious than medication for depressive disorders vs. anxiety disorders.
The investigators selected randomized controlled studies comparing CBT and pharmacotherapy, with or without placebo, in adults with major depressive or anxiety disorders.
Researchers from Bright Path Yoga in Plano, Texas looked at the efficacy of an 8-week strategy of using yoga and meditation to help manage fibromyalgia symptoms, which typically consist of widespread pain, sleep disturbance, stiffness, fatigue, headache, and mood disorders.
The small pilot study looked at the impact of this program on 11 participants.
Results revealed significant improvement in the overall health status of the participants and in symptoms of stiffness, anxiety, and depression. Significant improvements were also seen in the reported number of days "felt good" and number of days "missed work" because of fibromyalgia.
Researchers from Leipzig University in Germany mounted a pilot to see if treatment over the internet, with therapist support, could remediate trauma symptoms suffered by Iraqi civilians in conflict areas. (Web-based treatment is badly needed, as ongoing violence has driven many of Iraq’s physicians and mental health professionals out of the country.)
A therapist-supported cognitive-behavioral treatment manual* that has been evaluated in Western countries was translated into Arabic and culturally adapted to the population. The treatment was conducted via the Internet by Arabic-speaking therapists and was evaluated in an uncontrolled pilot study with 15 participants.
Main outcome measures were PTSD (Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale - PDS), depression, anxiety (Hopkins Symptom Check List-25 (HSCL-25)), and quality of life (EUROHIS).
Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden investigated the efficacy of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) with therapist support for obsessive compulsive disorder. CBT is widely regarded as an effective treatment for OCD, but access to CBT therapists is limited – thus the internet-based program as an intermediate solution.
This pilot was an open trial where 23 patients received a 15-week ICBT program with therapist support, consisting of psycho-education, cognitive restructuring and exposure with response prevention.
Faculty from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom conducted a systematic review to assess the effectiveness of yoga as a treatment option for any type of pain.
Seven databases were searched from their inception to February 2011. Randomized clinical trials were considered if they investigated yoga in patients with any type of pain and if they assessed pain as a primary outcome measure.
Ten randomized clinical trials (RCTs) met the inclusion criteriam with methodological quality ranging between 1 and 4 on the Jadad scale. Nine RCTs suggested that yoga leads to a significantly greater reduction in pain over various control interventions, such as standard care, self care, therapeutic exercises, relaxing yoga, touch and manipulation, or no intervention. One RCT failed to provide between-group differences in pain scores.
Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle examined whether an early intervention targeting negative beliefs of female assault survivors could mediate the subsequent development of chronic PTSD.
Ninety recent female assault survivors were randomized to 3 four-week early intervention programs: (1) brief cognitive behavioral therapy, (2) weekly assessment or (3) supportive counseling. Changes in negative beliefs were examined before and after the intervention.
Researchers from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA investigated whether trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) could be effective with very young children, ages 3-6, exposed to heterogeneous types of traumas.
A feasibility study with 11 children was followed by a pilot with 64 children, randomly assigned to either a 12-session manualized TF-CBT protocol or a 12-weeks wait list condition.
In the randomized design the intervention group improved significantly more on symptoms of PTSD, but not on depression, separation anxiety, oppositional defiant, or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders.
Researchers at Simmons College in Boston compared the immediate effects of mindful breathing (MB) to two alternate stress management techniques: progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on negative reactions to repetitive thoughts. The study tested whether decentering (a term that means gaining detached distance and perspective from thoughts and beliefs, so that one no longer adheres to them as if they were Absolute Truth) is unique to mindfulness meditation or common across all three of these approaches. (More information on the concept of decentering is found here.)
Since the sense of smell plays a prominent role in traumatic memories, investigators from the mental health division of the Israeli Defense Forces conducted an open, prospective study with patients suffering from chronic combat-related PTSD, whose condition had not improved with other treatment modalities, to see if the olfactory sense could be utilized for healing the symptoms of PTS.
A technique called hypnotherapeutic olfactory conditioning (HOC)1 was tested with 36 outpatient combat veterans with chronic PTS that featured resistant olfactory-induced flashbacks. They were treated with six 1.5-hour sessions using hypnosis.
Since the sense of smell plays a prominent role in traumatic memories, investigators from the mental health division of the Israeli Defense Forces conducted an open, prospective study with patients suffering from chronic combat-related PTSD, whose condition had not improved with other treatment modalities, to see if the olfactory sense could be utilized for healing the symptoms of PTS. 
