Health worker perspectives on user fee removal in Zambia.

Background: User fees for primary care services were removed in rural districts in Zambia in 2006. Experience from other countries has suggested that health workers play a key role in determining the success of a fee removal policy, but also find the implementation of such a policy challenging. The policy was introduced against a backdrop of a major shortage in qualified health staff.

Availability of essential medicines in Ethiopia: an efficiency-equity trade-off?

Objective: To investigate the availability and cost of essential medicines in health centres in rural Ethiopia, and to explore if the fee waiver system protects patients from having to pay for medicines.

Methods: The study took place in five health centres in rural Ethiopia. Availability and price of selected key essential medicines was established in the budget and special pharmacy of the health centre, as well as private outlets.

Disruption of prepulse inhibition after stimulation of central but not peripheral alpha-1 adrenergic receptors.

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) refers to the attenuation of startle when a weak prestimulus precedes the startling stimulus. PPI is deficient in several psychiatric illnesses involving poor sensorimotor gating. Previous studies indicate that alpha1 adrenergic receptors regulate PPI, yet the extent to which these effects are mediated by central vs peripheral receptors is unclear.

Yohimbine disrupts prepulse inhibition in rats via action at 5-HT1A receptors, not alpha2-adrenoceptors.

Rationale: Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response is an operational measure of sensorimotor gating that can be assessed in both humans and animals. The noradrenergic system appears to play a role in PPI as the alpha1 agonist cirazoline disrupts PPI and the alpha1 antagonist prazosin blocks the disruptions in PPI produced by phencyclidine.

Objectives: To better understand the role of adrenergic receptors in the modulation of PPI, we assessed the effects of the alpha2 adrenergic antagonist yohimbine (2.

Prepulse inhibition and habituation of the startle response are stable neurobiological measures in a normal male population.

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) and habituation of the startle response are operational measures of sensorimotor gating and information processing. Changes in the normal inhibition and habituation of the startle response may provide trait markers for illnesses such as schizophrenia that have altered neurotransmitter control of the neural circuitry that modulates these measures. The stability of PPI and habituation was assessed in 10 normal male subjects.