A case report of a patient with primary familial brain calcification with a genetic variant.

Fahr's disease, or primary familial brain calcification (PFBC), is a rare genetic neurologic disease characterized by abnormal calcification of the basal ganglia, subcortical white matter and cerebellum. Common clinical features include parkinsonism, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and cognitive decline. Genes implicated in Fahr's disease include , , , , , and .

Pain Influences Neuropsychological Performance Following Electrical Injury: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective: Electrical injury (EI) is a significant, multifaceted trauma often with multi-domain cognitive sequelae, even when the expected current path does not pass through the brain. Chronic pain (CP) research suggests pain may affect cognition directly and indirectly by influencing emotional distress which then impacts cognitive functioning. As chronic pain may be critical to understanding EI-related cognitive difficulties, the aims of the current study were: examine the direct and indirect effects of pain on cognition following EI and compare the relationship between pain and cognition in EI and CP populations.

Kentucky pharmacists' perceptions regarding provision of hormonal contraception.

Background: Although Kentucky pharmacists recently gained authority to provide protocol-driven care for 13 conditions, provision of prescription hormonal contraception (HC) services is not currently authorized. A board-approved protocol allowing for provision of nonprescription over-the-counter (OTC) emergency contraception (EC) was recently approved by the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy but has yet to be implemented.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were (1) to assess Kentucky pharmacists' interest in providing prescription HC and OTC EC services via protocol and (2) to identify perceived benefits/barriers regarding provision of prescription HC.

Establishing the base rate of performance invalidity in a clinical electrical injury sample: Implications for neuropsychological test performance.

: The base rate of neuropsychological performance invalidity in electrical injury, a clinically-distinct and frequently compensation-seeking population, is not well established. This study determined the base rate of performance invalidity in a large electrical injury sample, and examined patient characteristics, injury parameters, and neuropsychological test performance based on validity status.: This cross-sectional study included data from 101 patients with electrical injury consecutively referred for post-acute neuropsychological evaluation.

The relationship between neuropsychological dispersion, processing speed and memory after electrical injury.

: Previous studies of neuropsychological performance in electrical injury (EI) patients have produced evidence of deficits in various cognitive domains, but studies have yet to investigate relationships among performance in cognitive domains post-EI. This study examined whether dispersion among neuropsychological test scores was associated with injury parameters and neuropsychological performance in EI patients. Additionally, we examined whether dispersion, processing speed and/or executive abilities explain variance in episodic verbal and visual memory performance among EI patients.

Development of the Barriers to Error Disclosure Assessment Tool.

Objectives: An interprofessional group of health colleges' faculty created and piloted the Barriers to Error Disclosure Assessment tool as an instrument to measure barriers to medical error disclosure among health care providers.

Methods: A review of the literature guided the creation of items describing influences on the decision to disclose a medical error. Local and national experts in error disclosure used a modified Delphi process to gain consensus on the items included in the pilot.

Psychiatric Outcome Over a Decade After Electrical Injury: Depression as a Predictor of Long-Term Adjustment.

Electrical injury (EI) produces a variety of physical, cognitive, and emotional consequences. Psychiatric and neurocognitive symptoms may complicate survivors' psychosocial adjustment and ability to return to work. However, due to a paucity of longitudinal research, the long-term course of EI remains poorly understood.

Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Implications for the Pharmacist and Other Health Professionals.

Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription-only medications is big business for pharmaceutical manufacturers and has altered the relationship between patients and health professionals. Seeing promotional messages from the manufacturer of a pharmaceutical can have both positive and negative impacts. These are discussed along with current efforts to control activities in this area as well as possible future developments.

Mood and cognition after electrical injury: a follow-up study.

Individuals who have experienced an electrical injury have been reported to demonstrate both acute and delayed cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. The present study assessed 20 electrically injured patients who underwent neuropsychological evaluations twice following their injury. Time since injury, time between assessments, and longitudinal mood changes were evaluated for their potential impact on simple and complex attention outcomes.

Legal and ethical issues regarding social media and pharmacy education.

Widespread use of social media applications like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter has introduced new complexities to the legal and ethical environment of higher education. Social communications have traditionally been considered private; however, now that much of this information is published online to the public, more insight is available to students' attitudes, opinions, and character. Pharmacy educators and administrators may struggle with the myriad of ethical and legal issues pertaining to social media communications and relationships with and among students.

Educational innovations: Categories of bulletin board postings designed to increase awareness of contemporary pharmaceutical policy issues.

Objective: The goal of this project was to categorize and classify bulletin board postings pertaining to pharmaceutical policy from both the professional and lay press.

Methods: Bulletin board postings were used to supplement in-class discussion to keep students, faculty and staff up-to-date on emerging trends. A bulletin board located in the main classroom area of the College of Pharmacy Building where students would pass by on the way to class and congregate during break periods was used to display articles from various sources concerning topics related to pharmaceutical policy.

Pharmacists on Facebook: online social networking and the profession.

Objective: To provide a brief history of Facebook and online social networking and discuss how it has contributed and can contribute in the future to a paradigm change in social communications.

Summary: When student pharmacists complete school and enter practice, they encounter enhanced expectations to act appropriately and professionally. Facebook expands the dilemma of separating private and public life--a challenge for individuals in all professions.

State boards of pharmacy regulation of the supervision of pharmacist interns.

Objectives: To compare the regulations of state boards of pharmacy for pharmacist intern supervision and review publications of service-learning experiences in pharmacy curricula for methods of supervision.

Methods: Online state pharmacy statutes and board of pharmacy regulations were searched to characterize which states' regulations included provisions for the supervision of pharmacist interns, permitted nonpharmacist supervision for student volunteers, and included provisions on interns participating in the practice of pharmacy. Additionally, a PubMed search was conducted for articles describing the supervision of service-learning experiences of pharmacy students at various colleges and schools of pharmacy.

Alternative ways to resolve contract disputes: implications for pharmacists, facilities, and patients.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has been developed as an alternative to going to court to resolve disputes. Arbitration and mediation are the two most common forms, with arbitration involving a neutral third party who decides the controversy, the award being either binding or nonbinding on the parties base d on prior agreement. Mediation also involves a neutral third party, but the decision comes from the parties themselves reaching an agreement, with the mediator focused more on the process of securing a meeting of the minds.

Psychiatric morbidity following electrical injury and its effects on cognitive functioning.

Objective: This study examines the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in a large sample of electrical injury (EI) patients in three phases of recovery and its effects on cognitive functioning.

Methods: Eight-six self-referred EI patients received psychiatric and neuropsychological evaluations. Descriptive statistics were conducted to examine the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity.

Alteration in functional brain systems after electrical injury.

Neuropsychological studies in electrical injury patients have reported deficits in attention, learning, and working memory, but the neural substrates of these deficits remain poorly characterized. In this study we sought to examine whether electrical injury subjects demonstrate abnormal patterns of brain activation during working memory and procedural learning tasks. Fourteen electrical injury subjects and fifteen demographically matched healthy control subjects performed a spatial working memory paradigm and a procedural learning paradigm during functional MRI studies.

Issues surrounding lethal injection as a means of capital punishment.

Lethal injection as a method of state-sanctioned capital punishment was initially proposed in the United States in 1977 and used for the first time in 1982. Most lethal injection protocols use a sequential drug combination of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. Lethal injection was originally introduced as a more humane form of execution compared with existing mechanical methods such as electrocution, toxic gassing, hanging, or firing squad.

Official position of the military TBI task force on the role of neuropsychology and rehabilitation psychology in the evaluation, management, and research of military veterans with traumatic brain injury.

This Position Statement is a summary of the literature and learning regarding current issues raised by the occurrence, treatment, and study of traumatic brain injury in military service members and veterans. The Report has been approved by the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN), Divisions 40 (Neuropsychology) and 22 (Rehabilitation Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN), with the goal of providing information of relevance on an important public policy matter within their respective areas of expertise. The Report is not intended to establish guidelines or standards for the professional practice of psychology, nor has it been adopted as official policy by the American Psychological Association or any other division or subunit of APA.

Prevalence of neurocognitive dysfunction and other clinical manifestations in disabled patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: While work disability is common in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), it is not known which lupus disease characteristics predispose toward work disability. We examined demographic, clinical, serological, and neuropsychological factors in a group of disabled and nondisabled patients with SLE.

Methods: Fifty patients meeting American College of Rheumatology criteria for SLE were assessed for work status, disease characteristics, fatigue, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and quality of life.

Neuropsychological changes following electrical injury.

The clinical presentation of electrical injury commonly involves physical, cognitive, and emotional complaints. Neuropsychological studies, including case reports, have indicated that electrical injury (EI) survivors may experience a broad range of impaired neuropsychological functions, although this has not been clarified through controlled investigation. In this study, we describe the neuropsychological test findings in a series of 29 EI patients carefully screened and matched to a group of 29 demographically similar healthy electricians.