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A recent meta-analysis of 17 randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) showed that Short-term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (STPP) for functional somatic disorders (FSD) reduced somatic symptoms compared to wait list, minimal treatment, and treatment-as-usual controls. A clinically important yet unanswered question is how much improvement patients experience within STPP treatment.

Following a systematic search, we identified STPP trials presenting data at baseline and post-treatment/follow-up. Meta-analyses determined the magnitude of changes in somatic symptoms and other outcomes from before to after STPP, and analyses examined effect sizes as a function of study, therapy, and patient variables.

We identified 37 trials (22 pre-post studies and 15 RCTs) totaling 2094 patients treated an average of 13.34 sessions for a range of FSD. Across all studies, somatic symptoms improved significantly from pre-treatment to short-term follow-up with a large effect size (SMD=-1.07), which was maintained at long-term follow-up (SMD=-0.90). After excluding two outlier studies, effects at short- and medium-term follow-up remained significant but were somewhat reduced in magnitude (e.g., short-term SMD=-0.73). Secondary outcomes including anxiety, depression, disability, and interpersonal problems had medium to large effects. Effects were larger for studies of STPP that were longer than 12 sessions or used an emotion-focused type of STPP, and for chronic pain or gastrointestinal conditions than for functional neurological disorders.

STPP results in moderate to large improvements in multiple outcome domains that are sustained in long-term follow-up. STPP is an effective treatment option for FSD and should be included in treatment guidelines.

STPP results in moderate to large improvements in multiple outcome domains that are sustained in long-term follow-up. STPP is an effective treatment option for FSD and should be included in treatment guidelines.

Organ transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage organ disease. From early on, the psychological perspective on integrating the organ has been of interest. As quantitative studies on organ integration are scarce, we aimed at evaluating this aspect in a large sample of kidney transplant (KTx) recipients.

For this cross-sectional study, 684 patients after KTx were recruited within the structured post-transplant care program KTx360°. To measure organ integration and donor relationship, a previously developed and published questionnaire (FOSP), generated explicitly for this purpose, was used. AMI1 Associations with sociodemographic, medical, donation-specific, and psychological variables were investigated.

Overall, more than 90% of the patients perceived the transplant as part of themselves; however, a small minority reported perceiving it as a foreign object. Frequent thoughts about the donor and the belief of having adopted some of the donor’s traits were common (52% and 14%, respectively), specifically in living donor recipients. Higher anxiety and depression scores and reduced kidney functioning were associated with less ideal organ integration, while a more extended period since KTx and more perceived social support correlated with better organ integration. No association between organ integration and adherence, as well as organ integration and cognitive functioning, could be found.

Organ integration and donor relationship were unproblematic in most KTx patients. However, offering psychosocial support to those struggling with organ integration and donor relationship is crucial from a clinical perspective.

Organ integration and donor relationship were unproblematic in most KTx patients. However, offering psychosocial support to those struggling with organ integration and donor relationship is crucial from a clinical perspective.

To ensure safe patient care, regulatory bodies worldwide have incorporated non-technical skills proficiency in core competencies for graduation from surgical residency. We describe normative data on non-technical skill ratings of surgical residents across training levels using the US-adapted Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS-US) assessment tool.

We undertook an exploratory, prospective cohort study of 32 residents-interns (postgraduate year 1), junior residents (postgraduate years 2-3), and senior residents (postgraduate years 4-5)-across 3 US academic surgery residency programs. Faculty went through online training to rate residents, directly observed residents while operating together, then submitted NOTSS-US ratings on specific resident’s intraoperative performance. Mean NOTSS-US ratings (total range 4-20, sum of category scores; situation awareness, decision-making, communication/teamwork, leadership each ranged 1-5, with 1=poor, 3=average, 5=excellent) were stratified by residents’ training leg materials can support US residency programs in determining competency-based performance milestones to develop surgical trainees’ non-technical skills.

Federal initiatives have recently addressed the sex bias that exists in biomedical and clinical research. However, improvement to the inclusion of sex as a biological variable remains unknown.

We performed a 5-year follow-up study of all clinical and biomedical research articles published in 5 surgical journals from January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2018. Human, animal, and cell subjects were analyzed for study/subject type, sex of participants, sex matching, and sex-based data reporting, analysis, and discussion.

Comparing 2017 to 2018 with 2011 to 2012, slightly more articles reported the sex of the human studied (87% vs 83%; P= .001). Inclusion of both sexes remained high (94% vs 95%; P= .22), but sex-based data reporting (36% vs 38%; P= .17), analysis (35% vs 33%; P= .39), and discussion of results (10% vs 23%; P < .0001) remained unchanged or worsened. Regarding animal research, the number of articles that stated the sex studied remained unchanged (79% vs 78%; P= .67); if stated, slightly more included both sexes (7% vs 3%; P= .002). Regarding cell research, fewer articles reported the sex of the cells studied (5% vs 24%; P= .0001); if stated, more articles included both sexes, but the difference did not reach statistical significance (25% vs 7%; P= .34). Sex matching remained poor with only 50% of human, 4% of animal, and 9% of cell studies matching the inclusion of both sexes by at least 50%.

Sex bias persists in surgical research. The majority of articles failed to report, analyze, or discuss results based on sex, which will negatively affect clinical translatability and outcomes of evidence-based medicine.

Sex bias persists in surgical research. The majority of articles failed to report, analyze, or discuss results based on sex, which will negatively affect clinical translatability and outcomes of evidence-based medicine.