Crisis stabilization units for jail diversion: A preliminary assessment of patient characteristics and outcomes

Crisis stabilization units (CSUs), which offer a range of short-term psychiatric and psychological services, are one of several treatment programs that may create "alternative to arrest" options for law enforcement. Here, we examined the characteristics of the population who was referred to a newly established CSU in its first year of operation and examined the impact of the CSU on regional jail bookings. Administrative medical records and regional jail booking data were merged to form our study sample. Adults who had at least one jail booking and/or one CSU admission during our study period were included. We found that from September 1, 2018 to August 30, 2019, 458 people were admitted into the CSU. Approximately one-third (33.8%) had a jail booking during the study period. In the 3 months following CSU admission, 4.1% had an increase in jail bookings, 11.1% had a decrease, and 66.2% had no change. CSU patients self-reported high depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, while also reporting low quality of life scores overall. We conclude that CSUs may be promising components of jail diversion efforts, providing critical services to populations experiencing significant mental health symptoms and who are at risk for incarceration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

An Economic Analysis of the Cost of a Regional Crisis Stabilization Unit

Crisis stabilization units (CSUs) are one type of "alternative to arrest" program used for jail diversion. We aimed to estimate the economic costs of starting and operating a CSU in Arkansas. We estimated the economic costs of the Pulaski County Regional CSU (PCRCSU) located in Little Rock, Arkansas, from September 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. We collected data through interviews about start-up and ongoing management costs. We calculated total annual economic cost, average admission cost, and average 24 hr admission cost. There were 536 admissions to the CSU during the study period. The average length of stay was 60.27 hr. The total annual cost of the PCRCSU was $1,636,831 and average per admission cost was $3,054. Our results provide valuable economic data to government stakeholders who are considering establishing a CSU.

Wear behavior of Al-7%Si-0.3%Mg/melon shell ash particulate composites

The present study examined wear characteristics of A356/melon shell ash particulate composites. Dry-sliding the stainless steel ball against specimen disc revealed the abrasive wear behavior of the composites under loads of 2 and 5N. The composite showed lower wear rate of 2.182 × 10⁻⁴ mm³/Nm at 20 wt% reinforced material under load of 5N. Results showed that wear rate decreased significantly with increasing weight percentage of melon shell ash particles. Microstructural analyses of worn surfaces of the composites reveal evidence of plastic deformation of matrix phase. The wear resistance of A356 increased considerably with percentage reinforcement. In other words, the abrasive mass loss decreased with increasing percentage of reinforcement addition at the both applied loads. The control sample suffered a highest mass loss at 5 N applied load.

Validation of a Yoruba version of the arthritis self-efficacy scale

BACKGROUND

The Arthritis Self Efficacy Scale (ASES) measures a patient's perceived efficacy to cope with the consequences of chronic arthritis. The aim of this, study was to translate ASES in to Yoruba, one of the indigenous Nigerian languages, and to investigate the validity and reliability of the translated version.

METHODS

Forty one (21 males; 20 females).patients diagnosed with arthritis participated in this cross sectional survey, although only thirty seven (87.8%) were available for the reliability study. The ASES was translated to Yoruba language using forward-backward translations. Participants completed both English and Yoruba version of ASES on the first day while the second administration of the two versions of ASES was.. completed at one week after the first administrations. Data was analyzed -using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation and intra-class correlation (at p=0.05).

RESULTS

There was a significant direct correlation (p<0.0001) between the scores obtained on the English and Yoruba versions (r=0.933). Also there was a significant direct correlation (p<0.0001) between the scores obtained on the first and second administrations of the English and Yoruba version of the ASES.

CONCLUSION

The Yoruba version of the ASES is a valid and reliable outcome measure for health outcomes assessment in Yoruba-speaking populations.

Cytotoxicity of hemostatic agents on the human gingival fibroblast

BACKGROUND

Achieving of moisture control especially gingival bleeding control is great challenge in clinical practice. Various hemostatic agents and techniques have been promoted for bleeding control during dental operation. But few studies have focused on the cytotoxicity of hemostatic solutions.

AIM

The aim of this study was to evaluate cytotoxic effect of hemostatic agents on human gingival fibroblast cells by using real-time cell analysis method.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Two hemostatic solutions, Hemoban (Sultan Healthcare, Hackensack, NJ, USA) and Hemasatic Solutions (W.P. Dental, Hamburg, Germany) that includes mainly aluminum chloride were used with different concentration. Gingival fibroblasts were isolated from gingival connective tissue during crown lengthening surgery of systemically healthy subjects. Gingival fibroblasts were maintained with Dulbecco's modified eagle medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum. A real-time cell analyzer (RT-CES, xCELLigence; Roche Applied Science, Mannheim, Germany, and ACEA Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA) was used to evaluate cell survival. After seeding 200 mL of the cell suspensions into the wells (10,000 cells/well) of the E-plate 96, gingival fibroblasts were treated with hemostatic solutions (1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 dilutions) and monitored every 15 minutes for 72 hours. For the proliferation experiments, the statistical analyses used were 1-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey HSD multiple comparisons tests.

RESULTS

According to statistically analysis, when evaluated at 48 and 72 hours, there were significant differences between the cell indexes of the control and all hemostatic agents groups (p < 0.001). Agent reduced cell index value significantly when compared to untreated control group.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that using of Hemoban or Hemostatic Solutions as astringent solutions have a significant cytotoxic effect on gingival fibroblast cells.

Comparison of two hospital stroke scores with computerized tomography in ascertaining stroke type among Nigerians

BACKGROUND

Stroke, a major cause of morbidity and mortality is on the increase in Nigeria, routine Computerized Tomography (CT) for all Nigerians with stroke is not available to most doctors, and this poses management problems. We compared two available clinical scores with brain CT for the differential diagnosis of cerebral ischemia and hemorrhage among adult Nigerians with first-ever acute stroke.

METHODS

The study was conducted at the State Specialist Hospital Maiduguri. Ninety-five adult Nigerians presenting with first-ever acute stroke onset within 48 hours were evaluated with the Siriraj Hospital Stroke (SHS) score on presentation and the Guy's Hospital Stroke (GHS) score 24 hours after admission. CT brain scan was considered as gold standard. These two stroke scores were compared with the results of CT brain and sensitivity, specificity; positive predictive and negative values were calculated.

RESULTS

Applying the recommended optimum cut-off points for the 2 scores, diagnoses were classified by the Guy's Hospital Stroke and Siriraj Hospital Stroke score as probable hemorrhagic strokes (49% and 25% respectively) and probable ischemic (40% and 65% respectively). The remainder were classified as "uncertain." The prevalence of hemorrhage diagnosed by gold standard (CT) was 29.5% while the prevalence of ischemic stroke diagnosed by CT was 54.7%. The CT brain was normal in 15.8%. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for cerebral hemorrhage was 0.64, 0.48, 0.4 and 0.71 for Guy's Hospital Stroke score and 0.35, 0.73, 0.4 and 0.68 for Siriraj Hospital Stroke score.

CONCLUSION

It is evident from the study that these clinical scoring systems alone are not sufficient and one has to employ the use of computerized tomography scan in establishing stroke type in Nigerians with stroke.

Biochemical differences (O-acetyl and glycolyl groups) in erythrocyte surface sialic acids of trypanotolerant N'dama and trypanosusceptible Zebu cattle

Differences in the distribution and concentration of O-acetyl and glycolyl groups in erythrocyte sialic acids of trypanotolerant N'dama and trypanosusceptible Zebu cattle were investigated. Erythrocyte surface sialic acid concentrations were 25.4 +/- 5.5 mg per dl and 5.9 +/- 0.97 mg per dl in N'dama and Zebu animals, respectively. In N'damas, O-acetyl and glycolyl groups were present in concentrations of 16.4 +/- 4.3 mg per dl and 12.8 +/- 2.9 mg per dl, respectively, whereas the corresponding values in Zebus were 2.8 +/- 5.0 mg per dl and 7.6 +/- 1.7 mg per dl, respectively. The differences between N'dama and Zebu cattle in surface sialic acids and in O-acetyl and glycolyl groups were significant (P < 0.01 to < 0.001). N'dama erythrocyte sialic acids had more O-acetyl than glycolyl groups while those of Zebus had less O-acetyl than glycolyl groups. These findings may be relevant to the trypanotolerance of N'dama cattle.