The occurrence of closely related strains of maternally transmitted endosymbionts in distantly related insect species indicates that these infections can colonize new host species by lateral transfer, although the mechanisms by which this occurs are unknown. We investigated whether ectoparasitic mites, which feed on insect haemolymph, can serve as interspecific vectors of Spiroplasma poulsonii, a male-killing endosymbiont of Drosophila. Using Spiroplasma-specific primers for PCR, we found that mites can pick up Spiroplasma from infected Drosophila nebulosa females and subsequently transfer the infection to Drosophila willistoni. Some of the progeny of the recipient D. willistoni were infected, indicating successful maternal transmission of the Spiroplasma within the new host species. However, the transmission rate of the infection from recipient flies to their offspring was low, perhaps due to low Spiroplasma density in the recipient flies.

Background:Despite an increase in psychiatry trainees’ interest in global mental health (GMH), there is a lack of relevant training competencies developed using educational frameworks that incorporate viewpoints from high- and low-income countries.Objective:The aim of this study was to determine competencies for a two-year post-graduate GMH fellowship for psychiatrists utilizing Kern’s six-step process as a theoretical framework for curriculum development.Methods:We conducted a targeted needs assessment via key informant interviews with a purposive sample of stakeholders (n = 19), including psychiatry trainees, generalist clinicians, medical directors, psychiatrists, researchers, and GMH educators from high- and low-resource settings in the United States and abroad. We analyzed data using a template method of thematic analysis.Findings:We tabulated learning objectives across 20 domains. Broadly, clinical objectives focused on providing supervision for short-term, evidence-based psychotherapies and on identifying red flags and avoiding harmful medication use among vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly. Non-clinical objectives focused on social determinants of health, education, and clinical supervision as part of capacity-building for non-specialists, engagement in a systems-wide project to improve care, and ethical and equitable partnerships that involve reciprocal and bidirectional education. Several competencies were also relevant for global health work in general.Conclusions:A theory-informed framework for curriculum development and a diverse set of key informants can provide educational objectives that meet the priorities of the trainees and the clinical sites in both low- and high-income settings. Limitations of this study include a small sample size and a focus on clinical needs of specific sites, both of which may affect generalizability. Given the focus on training specialists (psychiatrists), the low-resource sites highlighted the importance of educating and supervising their permanent, generalist clinicians, rather than providing direct, independent patient care.

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The fields of cultural psychiatry and global mental health have distinct lineages but share domains of interest. The movement for global mental health has been successful in making mental health a priority in global health and securing grants to study interventions in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Lessons learned from global mental health efforts in LMICs are relevant to addressing health disparities and improving care for vulnerable populations in high-income countries. These interventions stress community collaboration in designing and delivering mental health care, integration of mental health into primary care settings, and engagement of trained and supervised nonspecialist health workers in care delivery. The framework of structural competence provides a path forward for psychiatry to collaborate with community organizations to adapt global interventions to local settings. [Psychiatr Ann. 2018;48(3):149-153.] G lobal mental health and cultural psychiatry both have roots in the field of comparative psychiatry. Its early practitioners included Emil Kraepelin, a German psychiatrist considered the father of modern psychiatric classification, and W.H.R. Rivers, a British psychiatrist and anthropologist. These physicians undertook the first major expeditions in comparative psychiatry at the turn of the 19th century. 1 Rivers traveled to the Torres Strait between Papua New Guinea and Australia to study mental illness and healing among its residents. Rivers eventually used this work to develop treatments for mental health problems experienced by British soldiers in World War I. 1 Around the same time, Kraepelin traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia, to study the mental health of Javanese patients in a Dutch asylum and compared their symptoms to those of his German patients. 2 He used his