Rapid tranquillisation in a psychiatric emergency hospital in Lebanon: TREC-Lebanon - a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of intramuscular haloperidol and promethazine intramuscular haloperidol, promethazine and chlorpromazine.

Background: Agitated patients constitute 10% of all emergency psychiatric treatment. Management guidelines, the preferred treatment of clinicians differ in opinion and practice. In Lebanon, the use of the triple therapy haloperidol plus promethazine plus chlorpromazine (HPC) is frequently used but no studies involving this combination exists.

Are eating disorders associated with bipolar disorder type I? Results of a Lebanese case-control study.

Objectives: To assess the association between disordered eating and bipolar disorder (BD).

Methods/design: A case-control study, conducted between April and September 2018, enrolled 50 patients and 50 controls.

Results: Higher eating attitude test scores were significantly associated with the presence of BD.

Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of haloperidol plus promethazine plus chlorpromazine versus haloperidol plus promethazine for rapid tranquilisation for agitated psychiatric patients in the emergency setting (TREC-Lebanon).

Agitated and aggressive behaviours are common in the psychiatric setting and rapid tranquilisation is sometimes unavoidable. A survey of Lebanese practice has shown that an intramuscular haloperidol, promethazine and chlorpromazine combination is a preferred form of treatment but there are no randomised trials of this triple therapy. This is a pragmatic randomised trial.

Factors associated with anxiety disorders among patients with substance use disorders in Lebanon: Results of a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Estimate the rate of anxiety disorders (AD) and associated factors among patients with substance use disorder (SUD) in Lebanon.

Methods: A cross-sectional study, conducted between April and September 2017, enrolled 57 inpatients with SUD.

Results: The rate of AD in patients with SUD was 61.

Identification of Factors Affecting the Quality of Life Among Patients With Addiction in Lebanon.

Our objective was to assess factors associated with the physical (Short-Form 12-physical component summary [SF-12-PCS]) and mental (Short-Form 12-mental component summary [SF-12-MCS]) quality of life (QOL) in the Lebanese population. A cross-sectional study, conducted between July and September 2017, enrolled 57 patients with substance use disorder from the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross. The SF-12 scale was used to assess the QOL among participants.

Affective temperaments in Lebanese people with substance use disorder.

Purpose: To examine these temperaments among patients with substance use disorder (SUD) in the Lebanese population.

Design: Case-control.

Methods: Fifty-seven controls and 57 patients with SUD were enrolled between April and September 2017.

Managing acutely aggressive or agitated people in a psychiatric setting: a survey in Lebanon.

Violent patients constitute 10% of all psychiatric admissions. Treatment options and clinical practice interventions vary across the globe and no survey of practice in a Middle Eastern setting exists. Surveying treatments in Lebanon will show treatment interventions used in this part of the world and, most importantly, provide the treatment options that could potentially be used for clinical trials pertaining to emergency psychiatry.

Impact of psychosis in bipolar disorder during manic episodes.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of psychosis on prognosis as measured by the course of a manic episode, symptoms severity and time to remission and identify existing differences in positive and negative symptoms between psychotic and non-psychotic patients.

Study Design: 40 bipolar patients presenting with a diagnosis of acute mania were enrolled (18 psychotic patients and 22 non-psychotic patients) in this cross-sectional study. Subjects were required to complete two self-reported questionnaires, the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) for manic symptoms, and Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS) for psychotic symptoms.

Risk Factors for Salmonella, Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli and Campylobacter Occurrence in Primary Production of Leafy Greens and Strawberries.

The microbiological sanitary quality and safety of leafy greens and strawberries were assessed in the primary production in Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, Norway and Spain by enumeration of Escherichia coli and detection of Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and Campylobacter. Water samples were more prone to containing pathogens (54 positives out of 950 analyses) than soil (16/1186) and produce on the field (18/977 for leafy greens and 5/402 for strawberries).

Impact of maximum levels in European legislation on exposure of mycotoxins in dried products: case of aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A in nuts and dried fruits.

In this study the impact of setting European criteria on exposure to aflatoxin B1 via nuts and figs and ochratoxin A via dried fruits is evaluated for the Belgian population, as an example of the European population. Two different scenarios were evaluated. In scenario 1 all collected literature data are considered, assuming that there is no border control nor legal limits in Europe.