Basic quality indicators for clinical care of patients with major depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.

Objective: To identify a set of indicators to monitor the quality of care for patients with major depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder.

Methods: A group of 10 experts selected the most automatically applicable indicators from a total of 98 identified in a previous study. Five online sessions and 5 discussion meetings were performed to select the indicators that met theoretical feasibility criteria automatically.

Phenotypic and environmental correlates of natal dispersal in a long-lived territorial vulture.

Natal dispersal, the movement between the birth and the first breeding site, has been rarely studied in long-lived territorial birds with a long-lasting pre-breeding stage. Here we benefited from the long-term monitoring programs of six populations of Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) from Spain and France to study how the rearing environment determines dispersal. For 124 vultures, we recorded a median dispersal distance of 48 km (range 0-656 km).

Anaesthesia in electroconvulsive therapy. Special conditions.

Objectives: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is one of the main techniques available for the treatment of such serious mental illnesses as schizophrenia and drug-resistant depression. The pre-anaesthetic assessment appropriate for patients with various mental disorders or pathologies does not differ substantially from that of any patient prior to undergoing anaesthesia for a surgical procedure. The present review aims to propose guidelines to achieve a higher level of safety and effectiveness during ECT in the most frequent situations, in accordance with the current literature.

Pattern of use of clozapine in Spain. Variability and under-prescription.

Introduction: International studies on clozapine use usually show lower than expected prescription proportions, under-dosing and delayed initiation of treatment, which has led to a number of initiatives aimed at improving its use and reducing the striking variability observed among practitioners. There are no similar studies on the Spanish population. Therefore we planned initial data collection from 4 territorial samples.

Comparison of serum BDNF levels in deficit and nondeficit chronic schizophrenia and healthy controls.

The aim of this study was to compare serum BDNF levels of chronic schizophrenic patients, with or without deficit syndrome, and healthy controls. A comparative study of serum BDNF levels, determined by ELISA, was performed in 47 chronic patients with schizophrenia matched with 47 healthy controls. A part of the chronic schizophrenic sample was further divided into patients with a deficit (n=14) and a nondeficit syndrome (n=20), according to the Proxy for the Deficit Syndrome Scale.

[Reproductive variables and gynaecological service use in delusional disorder outpatients].

Introduction: Oestrogens have been hypothesized to have a protective effect in psychotic disorders. Women with schizophrenia have a later age of menarche, fewer pregnancies and earlier age of menopause. However, little information is available focusing on delusional disorder (DD).

Delphi consensus on the physical health of patients with schizophrenia: evaluation of the recommendations of the Spanish Societies of Psychiatry and Biological Psychiatry by a panel of experts.

Introduction: Available data from scientific literature show that patients with schizophrenia have higher rates of physical comorbidity and excess mortality due to other physical pathologies. The growing interest to investigate and improve the health of these patients has led a group of Spanish experts to publish in 2008 a "Consensus on physical health of patients with schizophrenia from the Spanish Societies of Psychiatry and Biological Psychiatry" (2008 Consensus). These recommendations imply a significant change to the present model of medical attention.

Long-term outcomes in patients with schizophrenia treated with risperidone long-acting injection or oral antipsychotics in Spain: results from the electronic Schizophrenia Treatment Adherence Registry (e-STAR).

Background: The electronic Schizophrenia Treatment Adherence Registry (e-STAR) is a prospective, observational study of patients with schizophrenia designed to evaluate long-term treatment outcomes in routine clinical practice.

Methods: Parameters were assessed at baseline and at 3 month intervals for 2 years in patients initiated on risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) (n=1345) or a new oral antipsychotic (AP) (n=277; 35.7% and 36.

Antibiotics threaten wildlife: circulating quinolone residues and disease in Avian scavengers.

Antibiotic residues that may be present in carcasses of medicated livestock could pass to and greatly reduce scavenger wildlife populations. We surveyed residues of the quinolones enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin and other antibiotics (amoxicillin and oxytetracycline) in nestling griffon Gyps fulvus, cinereous Aegypius monachus and Egyptian Neophron percnopterus vultures in central Spain. We found high concentrations of antibiotics in the plasma of many nestling cinereous (57%) and Egyptian (40%) vultures.

Geographical variation in cloacal microflora and bacterial antibiotic resistance in a threatened avian scavenger in relation to diet and livestock farming practices.

The impact on wildlife health of the increase in the use of antimicrobial agents with the intensification of livestock production remains unknown. The composition, richness and prevalence of cloacal microflora as well as bacterial resistance to antibiotics in nestlings and full-grown Egyptian vultures Neophron percnopterus were assessed in four areas of Spain in which the degree of farming intensification differs. Differences in diet composition, especially the role of stabled livestock carrion, appear to govern the similarities of bacterial flora composition among continental populations, while the insular vulture population (Fuerteventura, Canary Islands) showed differences attributed to isolation.

Mental disorders and medical conditions. A community study in a small island in Spain.

Objectives: This study focuses on the comorbidity between medical and psychiatric illnesses in a sample taken from the general population.

Methods: We design a two-stage epidemiological community study in the island of Formentera (Spain), using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN). In the first stage, the sample (N=697) was screened using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28).