The devil's in the defaults: An interrupted time-series analysis of the impact of default duration elimination on exposure to fluoroquinolone therapy.

Objective: To determine whether removal of default duration, embedded in electronic prescription (e-script), influenced antibiotic days of therapy.

Design: Interrupted time-series analysis.

Setting: The study was conducted across 2 community hospitals, 1 academic hospital, 3 emergency departments, and 86 ambulatory clinics.

The IMBG Test for Evaluating the Pharmacodynamic Response to Immunosuppressive Therapy in Kidney Transplant Patients: Current Evidence and Future Applications.

Immunosuppressive drugs are widely used to prevent rejection after kidney transplantation. However, the pharmacological response to a given immunosuppressant can vary markedly between individuals, with some showing poor treatment responses and/or experiencing serious side effects. There is an unmet need for diagnostic tools that allow clinicians to individually tailor immunosuppressive therapy to a patient's immunological profile.

The Immunobiogram, a novel in vitro diagnostic test to measure the pharmacodynamic response to immunosuppressive therapy in kidney transplant patients.

Background: Diagnostic tools to measure the response to individual immunosuppressive drugs for transplant patients are currently lacking. We previously developed the blood-based Immunobiogram bioassay for in-vitro characterization of the pharmacodynamic response of patients' own immune cells to a range of immunosuppressants. We used Immunobiogram to examine the association between patients' sensitivity to their prescribed immunosuppressants and clinical outcome.

The Immunobiogram, a Novel Assay to Evaluate Treatment Resistance in Patients Receiving Immunosuppressive Therapy.

Immunosuppressive drugs are widely used to treat several autoimmune disorders and prevent rejection after organ transplantation. However, intra-individual variations in the pharmacological response to immunosuppressive therapy critically influence its efficacy, often resulting in poor treatment responses and serious side effects. Effective diagnostic tools that help clinicians to tailor immunosuppressive therapy to the needs and immunological profile of the individual patient thus constitute a major unmet clinical need.

Medication adherence in schizophrenia: factors influencing adherence and consequences of nonadherence, a systematic literature review.

Background: Nonadherence to medication is a recognized problem and may be the most challenging aspect of treatment.

Methods: We performed a systematic review of factors that influence adherence and the consequences of nonadherence to the patient, healthcare system and society, in patients with schizophrenia. Particular attention was given to the effect of nonadherence on hospitalization rates, as a key driver of increased costs of care.

Dosing frequency and adherence in chronic psychiatric disease: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of dosing frequency on adherence in severe chronic psychiatric and neurological diseases.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted for articles in English from medical databases. Diseases were schizophrenia, psychosis, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder.

Impact of depressive symptoms on subjective well-being: the importance of patient-reported outcomes in schizophrenia.

Objective: The subjective experience of psychotic patients toward treatment is a key factor in medication adherence, quality of life, and clinical outcome. The aim of this study was to assess the subjective well-being in patients with schizophrenia and to examine its relationship with the presence and severity of depressive symptoms.

Methods: A multicenter, cross-sectional study was conducted with clinically stable outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Factors associated with the effectiveness of a telephone-based nursing strategy for enhancing medication adherence in schizophrenia.

A post hoc analysis was made to identify factors associated with success following a 4-month telephone-based strategy for enhancing adherence to antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia. A total of 928 stable outpatients were randomized to receive a monthly telephone call provided by a nurse or routine clinical care. Logistic regression with a backward stepwise procedure was used.

Estimation of a multiattribute utility function for the Spanish version of the TooL questionnaire.

Objectives: To estimate and assess the psychometric properties of a multiattribute utility function (MAUF) for the Spanish version of the Tolerability and Quality of Life (TooL questionnaire).

Methods: Balanced data on 243 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder were gathered. In addition to the demographic and clinical variables and the usual generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaires (EuroQol-5D [EQ-5D] and Short Form-6D [SF-6D]), instruments considered included the Spanish versions of the Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia Scale (PANSS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Udvalg for Kliniske Undersogelser (UKU), and Clinical Global Impression Severity (CGIS) scale.

Prevalence of depression and its relationship with other clinical characteristics in a sample of patients with stable schizophrenia.

Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of depression using the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) in a sample of Spanish patients with stable schizophrenia and without a diagnosis of depression.

Methods: We included stable outpatients of 18 to 50 years of age, with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophreniform disorder who had not been diagnosed with depression. In this cross-sectional study, we administered the CDSS, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD), the Simpson Angus Scale (SAS), and the Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale (BARS).

[Validation of the Spanish version of the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptic Scale (SWN-K) in patients with schizophrenia].

Background And Objective: The subjective experience of patients with psychoses towards neuroleptic treatment is a key factor in medication adherence, quality of life, and clinical outcome. The aim was to achieve a linguistic adaptation and psychometric validation into Spanish of the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptic Scale (SWN-K) among patients with schizophrenia.

Material And Method: Cross-sectional validation study conducted in two phases (cultural adaptation into Spanish and psychometric validation) in clinically stable patients under antipsychotic treatment.

Validation of a specific measure to assess health-related quality of life in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: the 'Tolerability and quality of life' (TOOL) questionnaire.

Background: Perception of quality of life may differ depending on the perspective. The aim of the study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the 'TOlerability and quality Of Life' (TOOL) questionnaire, a specific self-rated instrument to evaluate the impact of side effects of antipsychotic drugs on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The questionnaire consists of eight items answered on a four-point Likert scale.

Telephone-based nursing strategy to improve adherence to antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia: A controlled trial.

Abstract Objective. Adherence to prescribed antipsychotic medication is a major factor in achieving optimal long-term clinical outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a telephone-based strategy provided by a nurse on adherence to antipsychotic treatment among patients with schizophrenia.

Oxidative stress status, clinical outcome, and β-globin gene cluster haplotypes in pediatric patients with sickle cell disease.

Objective: To correlate the clinical and hematological features of β-globin gene haplotypes with the oxidative stress status in pediatric patients with sickle cell disease (SCD).

Methods: A total of 95 patients with SCD and 40 healthy children were studied. The β-globin cluster, plasma lipid peroxidation (LPO) and plasma nitrite plus nitrate (NOx), and erythrocyte content of glutathione (GSH) and glutathione disulfide (GSSG), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), reductase (GRd), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were measured.

Pattern of healthcare resource utilization and direct costs associated with manic episodes in Spain.

Background: Although some studies indicate that bipolar disorder causes high health care resources consumption, no study is available addressing a cost estimation of bipolar disorder in Spain. The aim of this observational study was to evaluate healthcare resource utilization and the associated direct cost in patients with manic episodes in the Spanish setting.

Methods: Retrospective descriptive study was carried out in a consecutive sample of patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of bipolar type I disorder with or without psychotic symptoms, aged 18 years or older, and who were having an active manic episode at the time of inclusion.

Clinical usefulness of the screen for cognitive impairment in psychiatry (SCIP-S) scale in patients with type I bipolar disorder.

Background: The relevance of persistent cognitive deficits to the pathogenesis and prognosis of bipolar disorders (BD) is understudied, and its translation into clinical practice has been limited by the absence of brief methods assessing cognitive status in Psychiatry. This investigation assessed the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP-S) for the detection of cognitive impairment in BD.

Methods: After short training, psychiatrists at 40 outpatient clinics administered the SCIP three times over two weeks to a total of 76 consecutive type I BD admissions.

Screening for bipolar disorder in a Spanish sample of outpatients with current major depressive episode.

Objective: Bipolar spectrum disorders often go unrecognised and undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. One of the underlying reasons is the poor recognition of bipolar disorder among patients presenting depressive episodes. The specific aim of this study was to estimate the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) rate of positive screens for bipolar disorder in a Spanish sample of outpatients with a current major depressive episode and compare it with their current psychiatric diagnosis.

Spanish version of the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP-S): psychometric properties of a brief scale for cognitive evaluation in schizophrenia.

Objective: The Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP) is a brief scale designed for detecting cognitive deficits in several psychotic and affective disorders. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the SCIP in a sample of outpatients suffering schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

Methods: Psychometric properties were evaluated in a sample of 126 stable patients with schizophrenia.

A 6-month prospective, observational, naturalistic, uncontrolled study to evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of oral ziprasidone in patients with schizophrenia.

This multicenter, uncontrolled, naturalistic study evaluated the effectiveness and tolerability of 6 months of treatment with ziprasidone in 1266 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The percentage of responders (at least 30% reduction in PANSS total score) in the primary analysis sample (n=1022) was 47.3% (95% CI 44.

Improvement in antipsychotic-related metabolic disturbances in patients with schizophrenia switched to ziprasidone.

Purpose: This study evaluated changes in weight, glucose and lipid metabolism in patients with schizophrenia and antipsychotic-related metabolic disturbances who were switched to ziprasidone.

Methods: Eighty-four outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder also having glucose intolerance, diabetes, dyslipidemia or weight gain related to their antipsychotic treatment were switched to ziprasidone. Clinical status was assessed using the Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S) and Improvement (CGI-I) scales and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

Ziprasidone: from pharmacology to the clinical practice. One year of experience.

More than a year after the marketing of the atypical anti-psychotic ziprasidone, data from research studies and clinical practice have provided a fair amount of useful information for its practical use in the treatment of schizophrenia. Its pharmacodynamical characteristics and the results from clinical trials with a flexible dose seem to justify the need to administer doses in a range higher than what was initially foreseen, with an initial minimum of 120 mg per day and a fast titulation up to 160 mg per day. Such doses make it possible to achieve sufficient plasma concentrations to occupy at least 60 % of the D2 receptors from which the anti-psychotic effect derives.

Sertraline treatment of pathological gambling: a pilot study.

Objective: Several open-label and double-blind studies have suggested that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may be useful in the treatment of pathological gambling. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of sertraline in the treatment of pathological gambling.

Method: Sixty patients meeting the DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling were treated for 6 months in a double-blind, flexible-dose, placebo-controlled study of sertraline 50 to 150 mg/day.

Sertraline for the prevention of relapse in detoxicated alcohol dependent patients with a comorbid depressive disorder: a randomized controlled trial.

Aims: We performed a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial of sertraline in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients with current depressive symptoms. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the efficacy of sertraline at achieving stable abstinence, at ameliorating depressive symptoms and at improving quality of life in these patients.

Methods: The study included 83 patients, who received either sertraline (50-150 mg/day) or placebo for 24 weeks.

Role for gap junctional intercellular communications in wound repair.

The participation of fibroblasts in wound repair is a coordinated effort requiring sequential cellular modulations to behavior including migration (entering), proliferation (increasing cell numbers), synthesis (depositing a collagen matrix), remodeling (organizing collagen), transformation into myofibroblasts, apoptosis, and elimination. Disruptions in that orderly sequence of behaviors will alter repair. Insights into controlling wound repair have focused on soluble factors such as cytokines and growth factors.