Evaluation of an integrated care program for schizophrenia: concept and study design

Concept and design of an independent scientific evaluation of different pathways of care for schizophrenia patients in Germany with respect to effectiveness and efficiency are presented. In this prospective, observational study, schizophrenia patients receiving an integrated care treatment, the intervention group (IG), are compared with patients under routine care conditions treated by the same physician (first control group, CG 1). A second control group (CG 2) of patients treated by office-based psychiatrists not participating in the integrated care program will be recruited and their data compared with the two other groups. The total amount of psychiatric hospital days after 12 months is defined as primary outcome parameter. Secondary outcome parameters comprise the frequency of psychiatric inpatient readmissions, severity of schizophrenia symptoms, remission rates and quality of life. Patients undergo assessments at baseline, month 6 and 12 using standardized and experimental questionnaires. Routine data of a regional German social health insurance fund complement information on included patients. Additionally, a cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis will be performed. Until now, 137 psychiatrists included 980 patients in the integrated care project in Lower Saxony, Germany, and 47 psychiatrists (IG and both CGs) are willing to participate in the independent evaluation. For the first time, a prospective observational controlled evaluation study of a countrywide integrated care project planning to recruit 500 schizophrenia patients has started using comprehensive assessments as well as routine data of a social health insurance fund.

An evidence-based approach to the efficient use of computed tomography imaging in the neurosurgical patient

BACKGROUND

Computed tomography (CT) is the current standard for rapidly diagnosing some of the more common structural pathologies that affect the neurosurgical patient perioperatively. With this convenience comes the potential for its overuse.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the utility of head CT scans ordered for various clinical indications.

METHODS

All head CT studies ordered by the UCLA Neurosurgery Department from August 15, 2011 through December 15, 2011, were prospectively studied. Variables collected included demographic information, diagnosis, surgical procedures, indication for CT, CT findings, and whether the study led to a documentable change in management.

RESULTS

There were 801 head CT studies ordered for the 462 patients who were admitted to the neurosurgical service. The authors identified 14 indications for ordering a head CT with the following probabilities of a positive finding: examination change (17/56, 30.3%), follow-up (4-6 hours after intracerebral hemorrhage; 16/126, 12.7%), CT angiography (11/30, 36.7%), routine postoperative imaging (6/126, 4.7%), postventriculostomy placement (4/62, 6.5%), immediately before (4/31, 12.9%) or after removal of (2/42, 4.8%) a ventriculostomy, surveillance (>24 hours after intracerebral hemorrhage or external ventricular drain placement) (3/66, 4.5%), headaches (2/8, 25%), ground level fall (1/8, 12.5%), intracranial pressure spikes (2/6, 33.3%), and delayed (6-24 hours after intracerebral hemorrhage; 1/25, 4%).

CONCLUSION

The probability of discovering a clinically significant finding varies widely for each of the listed study indications. This prospective analysis of all CT scans ordered at a single institution suggests that imaging studies obtained without a change in neurological status were unlikely to produce a positive finding, and even when there was a positive finding, it was extremely unlikely to result in any intervention.

Recombinant human erythropoietin delays loss of gray matter in chronic schizophrenia

Neurodevelopmental abnormalities together with neurodegenerative processes contribute to schizophrenia, an etiologically heterogeneous, complex disease phenotype that has been difficult to model in animals. The neurodegenerative component of schizophrenia is best documented by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), demonstrating progressive cortical gray matter loss over time. No treatment exists to counteract this slowly proceeding atrophy. The hematopoietic growth factor erythropoietin (EPO) is neuroprotective in animals. Here, we show by voxel-based morphometry in 32 human subjects in a placebo-controlled study that weekly high-dose EPO for as little as 3 months halts the progressive atrophy in brain areas typically affected in schizophrenia, including hippocampus, amygdala, nucleus accumbens, and several neocortical areas. Specifically, gray matter protection is highly associated with improvement in attention and memory functions. These findings suggest that a neuroprotective strategy is effective against common pathophysiological features of schizophrenic patients, and strongly encourage follow-up studies to optimize EPO treatment dose and duration.

Contralateral Breast Cancer in BRCA1/2 Mutation Carriers: Risk Assessment by Age at Diagnosis of the First Primary Breast Cancer

Purpose Age at diagnosis of the first breast cancer is a known predictive factor of the risk of contralateral breast cancer (CBC) in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. However, accurate risk estimates for different age subgroups are scarce.Methods We studied the risk of CBC in 560 women with a primary breast cancer (PBC) from families with a proven BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation in relation to the age at diagnosis of the first PBC, taking into account history of oophorectomy. Time at risk was the period between diagnosis of the first PBC and date of contralateral breast cancer, contralateral mastectomy, metastatic disease, death or last follow-up. Oophorectomy was treated as a time-dependent covariate. Patients with bilateral breast cancer diagnosed before the first visit at the family cancer clinic were excluded.Results We observed 96 CBCs in 423 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 21 cases in 137 BRCA2 mutation carriers. Actuarial risk of CBC at 5, 10 and 15 years was 14%, 34% and 39%, respectively, for BRCA1-, and 13%, 22% and 27%, respectively, for BRCA2 mutation carriers. For BRCA1 carriers 10-year actuarial risk of CBC was 54% for women with a PBC ≤ 30 years, 39% for the group with PBC between 31-40 years, 26% for the 41-50 group and 17% for those with PBC > 50 years. In BRCA2 carriers 10-year risk of CBC was 28% for women with a PBC ≤ 40 years, 19% for the 41-50 group and 10% for those with PBC > 50 years. For BRCA1 carriers who had an oophorectomy, 10-year risk of CBC was 33% and 26%, respectively, for those with PBC younger and older than 40 years, against 44% and 24% in women who had no such treatment. In BRCA2 carriers with a history of oophorectomy 10-year risk of CBC was 21% and 14%, respectively, for those with PBC younger and older than 40 years, while the risk was 29% and 17%, respectively, in women without oophorectomy. Effect of adjuvant therapy is being analyzed and will be presented at the meeting.Conclusions The availability of risk estimates of CBC by more detailed age groups at PBC is a helpful tool in the counselling process concerning screening and/or preventive surgery for breast cancer patients with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 903.

Calorimetric observation of the melting of free water nanoparticles at cryogenic temperatures

We present an experimental study of the thermodynamics of free, size-selected water cluster anions consisting of 48 and 118 molecules. The measured caloric curves of the clusters are bulklike at low temperatures but show a well-defined, particle-size specific transition at 93+/-3 K for (H2O)48- and 118+/-3 K for (H2O)118-. At the transition temperature the heat capacity strongly increases, which marks the onset of melting.

CHARMM: the biomolecular simulation program

CHARMM (Chemistry at HARvard Molecular Mechanics) is a highly versatile and widely used molecular simulation program. It has been developed over the last three decades with a primary focus on molecules of biological interest, including proteins, peptides, lipids, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and small molecule ligands, as they occur in solution, crystals, and membrane environments. For the study of such systems, the program provides a large suite of computational tools that include numerous conformational and path sampling methods, free energy estimators, molecular minimization, dynamics, and analysis techniques, and model-building capabilities. The CHARMM program is applicable to problems involving a much broader class of many-particle systems. Calculations with CHARMM can be performed using a number of different energy functions and models, from mixed quantum mechanical-molecular mechanical force fields, to all-atom classical potential energy functions with explicit solvent and various boundary conditions, to implicit solvent and membrane models. The program has been ported to numerous platforms in both serial and parallel architectures. This article provides an overview of the program as it exists today with an emphasis on developments since the publication of the original CHARMM article in 1983.

[Fighting the flu with soap and water. Hand washing as an infection control recommendation to the population--7 hypotheses from a qualitative study about hygiene, flu and pandemic]

Medical interventions like vaccination and antiviral prophylaxis are only two ways of protecting the population from infectious diseases. A third and decisive method is to apply non-pharmaceutical interventions like hand hygiene. A qualitative study identified the role hand washing actually plays in the daily life of the population. Based on the results, seven hypotheses are proposed which point to the need for further research about promotion of hand hygiene, e.g. the conception and evaluation of hand washing advertising campaigns. HYPOTHESIS 1: Health tips are more likely to be followed if they communicate clearly and understandably the personal relevance of the information to the recipients. HYPOTHESIS 2: For many, hygiene serves above all to make them feel good and more comfortable around others. HYPOTHESIS 3: The feeling of disgust is an emotional connection between health and hygiene. HYPOTHESIS 4: People mainly wash their hands ritually and when they actually feel the need to clean their hands. HYPOTHESIS 5: As far as most people are aware, the means of transmission of influenza and other respiratory diseases are only the ones they can observe, namely coughing, sneezing, and the resulting visible droplets. HYPOTHESIS 6: People are more motivated to wash their hands after learning that infections can be spread via the hands. HYPOTHESIS 7: A pandemic situation increases the population's demand for information and people's willingness to protect themselves from infection.

[On the reliability of severely brain damaged persons as witnesses of their own injury]

We report a court verdict in the second retrial of a murder case that was based exclusively on the witness account of a severely brain damaged victim, and its reversal by the German Federal Court. The assessment of evidence had to weigh up the probability of the presence of real accounts of the crime versus the possibility of alternative explanations, i. e. trauma related confabulation. The defendant was acquitted.