ObjectiveThis study surveyed medical teaching faculty to determine their attitudes toward psychiatry and psychiatrists.MethodWe conducted a multisite survey of a probability sample of 1057 teaching medical faculty members from 15 academic teaching centers in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia stratified by early, middle, and late career stage. The average response rate across countries was 65%.ResultsThe outstanding findings were that 90% of respondents considered that psychiatrists were not good role models for medical students, 84% thought psychiatric patients were unsuitable to be treated outside of specialized facilities, and 73% thought psychiatric patients were emotionally draining. We noted statistically significant differences by country, gender, career stage, and specialty.ConclusionThese results highlight why recruitment into psychiatry is problematic in many countries and suggest that greater attention should be given to improving the perception of psychiatrists as good role models and the efficacy of psychiatric treatments.

Objective Our paper presents findings from the first population survey of stigma in Canada using a new measure of stigma. Empirical objectives are to provide a descriptive profile of Canadian's expectations that people will devalue and discriminate against someone with depression, and to explore the relation between experiences of being stigmatized in the year prior to the survey among people having been treated for a mental illness with a selected number of sociodemographic and mental health—related variables. Method Data were collected by Statistics Canada using a rapid response format on a representative sample of Canadians ( n = 10 389) during May and June of 2010. Public expectations of stigma and personal experiences of stigma in the subgroup receiving treatment for a mental illness were measured. Results Over one-half of the sample endorsed 1 or more of the devaluation discrimination items, indicating that they believed Canadians would stigmatize someone with depression. The item most frequently endorsed concerned employers not considering an application from someone who has had depression. Over one-third of people who had received treatment in the year prior to the survey reported discrimination in 1 or more life domains. Experiences of discrimination were strongly associated with perceptions that Canadians would devalue someone with depression, younger age (12 to 15 years), and self-reported poor general mental health. Conclusions The Mental Health Experiences Module reflects an important partnership between 2 national organizations that will help Canada fulfill its monitoring obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and provide a legacy to researchers and policy-makers who are interested in monitoring changes in stigma over time.

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Chronic foreign-body responses and muscular changes were examined following the implantation of active miniature stimulators into the hind limb muscles of cats for periods of up to three months. The radio-frequency (RF)-powered stimulators were injected into muscles through a 12-gauge hypodermic needle. The tissue responses around the active stimulators were compared histologically to those provoked by passive devices, broken glass, silicone tubing, polyester suture material coated with polybutylate, and two of the internal components of the stimulator (ferrite, integrated circuit chip). Active and passive stimulators produced similar, benign foreign-body reactions that resulted in an essentially identical fibrous capsule over time. The responses were similar to those produced by the internal components and the suture material, and were more modest than those produced by the broken glass. The capsule did not appear to interfere with the functionality of active devices because thresholds measured during the post-implantation survival period did not change significantly over time. Unexpectedly, the severity of the reaction differed significantly amongst the various target muscles. Medial gastrocnemius exhibited the most severe response, whereas tibialis anterior had the least reaction.

A combination of fluorescent retrograde tracers and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was used to compare the spinal distributions of motoneurons supplying shoulder muscles with attachments to the skull and cervical spinal cord that suggest a significant role in head movement. Two muscles, the rhomboideus and the levator scapulae, were innervated by multiple segmental nerve bundles that entered the muscles at different rostrocaudal locations. Motoneurons that were labelled retrogradely from rhomboideus nerve bundles formed a single, long column in the ventral horn from C4 to C6, lateral to previously studied motor nuclei supplying deep neck muscles. When different tracers were used to differentiate motoneurons supplying specific nerve bundles, discrete subnuclei could be identified that were organized in a rostrocaudal sequence corresponding to the rostrocaudal order of the nerve bundles. Levator scapulae motoneurons formed a second elongate column immediately lateral to the rhomboidues motor nucleus. Three other muscles, that trapezius, sternomastoideus, and cleidomastoideus, were supplied by cranial nerve XI. Labelled motoneurons from these muscles formed a single column from the spinomedullary junction to middle C6. Within this column, the three motor nuclei supplying the sternomastoideus, cleidomastoideus, and trapezius were laminated mediolaterally. Sternomastoideus and cleidomastoideus motoneurons were confined to upper cervical segments, whereas trapezius motoneurons were found from C1 to C6. In C1 and C6, the motoneuron column was located centrally in the gray matter, but, between C2 and C5, the column lay on the lateral wall of the ventral horn in a position dorsolateral to motor nuclei supplying the rhomboideus and the deeper neck muscles. The findings in this study suggest that descending and propriospinal systems responsible for coordinating head movement may have to descend as far caudally as C6 if they are to project onto muscles controlling the mobility of the lower neck.