UK Medical Cannabis Registry: a cohort study of patients prescribed cannabis-based oils and dried flower for generalised anxiety disorder.

Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common mental health condition. The endocannabinoid system has become a focus for new therapies, increasing interest in cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs). This study uses data from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry (UKMCR) to investigate real-world outcomes and safety of different CBMP formulations in GAD patients.

UK Medical Cannabis Registry: a case series analyzing clinical outcomes of medical cannabis therapy for generalized anxiety disorder patients.

This study aims to analyze changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and safety in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) prescribed a homogenous selection of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs). Patients prescribed Adven CBMPs (Curaleaf International, UK) for GAD were identified from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. Primary outcomes were changes in patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) from baseline up to 12 months, including GAD-7, Single-Item Sleep Quality Scale (SQS), and EQ-5D-5L.

The potential for medicinal cannabis to help manage challenging behaviour in people with intellectual disability: A perspective review.

Background: Around 2% of the population have intellectual disabilities. Over one-third people with intellectual disabilities (PwID) present with 'challenging behaviour', which nosologically and diagnostically is an abstract concept. Challenging behaviour is influenced by a range of bio-psycho-social factors in a population, which is unable to suitably comprehend and/or communicate concerns.

Statin prescription and CV risk assessment in adult psychiatric outpatients with intellectual disability.

We performed a single-centre study to assess the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in psychiatry outpatients with intellectual disability (ID) using the QRISK-3 score. There were 143 patients known to the ID psychiatry clinic enrolled. Of these, 28 (19.

Sleep: the neglected life factor in adults with intellectual disabilities.

Sleep is vital for our physical and mental health. Studies have shown that there is a high prevalence of sleep disorders and sleep difficulties amongst adults with intellectual disabilities. Despite this, sleep is often overlooked or its disorders are considered to be difficult to treat in adults with intellectual disabilities.

Patterns of comorbidity and psychopharmacology in adults with intellectual disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: an UK national cross-sectional audit.

: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is higher in people with intellectual disability (ID) compared to the general population. Available limited evidence suggests this population has increased psychological problems, diagnostic overshadowing and psychotropic prescribing. This audit Identifies and analyzes real-world characteristics, diagnostic practices, treatment, and management of ADHD in adults with ID.

Formalizing the ban: my experience in the Reagan Administration.

The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) is a success story. As of September 20, 2011, one of the most egregious cases of modern day government-sanctioned discrimination has been overturned. But my (Lawrence Korb) involvement with military policy toward gays and lesbians began early in our country's journey toward open service--18 years before the creation of DADT and 30 years before the Obama Administration successfully opened the armed forces to gay and lesbian service members.

Modern brachytherapy for localized prostate cancers: the northwest hospital (Seattle) experience.

Modern ultrasound-guided prostate brachytherapy is rapidly changing the way localized prostate cancer is managed. With routine use of prostate-specific antigen screening, prostate cancer is being diagnosed in younger men, who are understandably concerned about the morbidity of radical treatments that may significantly decrease their quality of life. Numerous studies of prostate brachytherapy have shown the excellent disease control rates achieved while maintaining low levels of urinary and erectile difficulties.

Modern prostate brachytherapy. Prostate specific antigen results in 219 patients with up to 12 years of observed follow-up.

Background: The purported lack of long term modern prostate brachytherapy outcome data continues to lead many physicians to recommend other, more traditional treatments. This concern for long term results has encouraged the authors to supplement their earlier 10-year follow-up of patients receiving brachytherapy; in the process, an additional 77 patients (> 50%) were added to the original cohort, and the follow-up time was increased by 2 years.

Methods: Between January 1987 and September 1989, 229 patients with T1-T3 prostate carcinoma underwent transperineal prostate brachytherapy using iodine-125 (I-125).

Radiotherapy for the palliation of prostate cancer.

The large population of men who will develop metastatic prostate cancer creates a strong need for good palliative care. For many men, androgen ablation works well; however, when this fails, the quality of a man's life can quickly degrade. Pain from skeletal metastases, neurologic involvement, bleeding, and obstruction can all occur.

Brachytherapy for clinically localized prostate cancer.

Prostate brachytherapy is an effective treatment option for clinically organ-confined prostate carcinoma. Observed 5- and 10-year follow-up have documented prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels that were comparable to published radical prostatectomy series and were better than several published external-beam radiation series. Between January 1987 and June 1988, a total of 152 consecutive patients with Stage T1 to T3 low to high Gleason grade prostate cancer were studied at Northwest Hospital in Seattle, Washington.

Functional characterization of soluble and membrane-bound forms of vaccinia virus complement control protein (VCP).

Vaccinia virus secretes a 35 kD protein, vaccinia virus complement control protein (VCP), that inhibits the classical and alternative pathways of complement at several points, indicating that it may be a viral analogue of human complement receptor type 1 (CR1; CD35). Structurally, however, CR1 is composed of 30 short consensus repeats (SCRs), whereas VCP consists entirely of four SCRs. We have begun a structure-function analysis of VCP to define the minimum number of SCRs necessary for function, the functional differences between VCP and CR1, and the potential therapeutic roles for VCP.

Systemic lupus erythematosus and complement deficiency: clues to a novel role for the classical complement pathway in the maintenance of immune tolerance.

Complete deficiency of C1q, the first component of the classical pathway of complement activation, is almost invariably associated with the development of systemic lupus erythematosus. Understanding why complement deficiency results in the specific autoimmune phenotype of SLE may provide valuable clues to the role of complement in the maintenance of immune tolerance. The following review will focus on the characteristics of complement-deficient SLE and the experimental evidence in support of our hypothesis that C1q may critically influence the immune response to self-antigen contained within surface blebs generated by apoptotic cells.

Induction of T cell anergy by low numbers of agonist ligands.

Engagement of TCR by its ligand, the MHC/peptide complex, causes T cell activation. T cells respond positively to stimulation with agonists, and are inhibited by antagonist MHC/peptide ligands. Failure to induce proper conformational changes in the TCR or fast TCR/MHC dissociation are the leading models proposed to explain anergy induction by antagonist ligands.

Ten-year disease free survival after transperineal sonography-guided iodine-125 brachytherapy with or without 45-gray external beam irradiation in the treatment of patients with clinically localized, low to high Gleason grade prostate carcinoma.

Background: The authors report observed 10-year brachytherapy results in the treatment of 152 consecutive patients with clinically organ-confined prostate carcinoma.

Methods: One hundred and fifty-two consecutive patients with T1-T3, low to high Gleason grade, prostate carcinoma were treated between January 1987 and June 1988 at Northwest Hospital in Seattle, Washington. Their median age was 70 years (range, 53-92 years).

Independent technique of verifying high-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment plans.

Purpose: An independent technique for verifying high-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment plans has been formulated and validated clinically.

Methods And Materials: In HDR brachytherapy, dwell times at respective dwell positions are computed, using an optimization algorithm in a HDR treatment-planning system to deliver a specified dose to many target points simultaneously. Because of the variability of dwell times, concerns have been expressed regarding the ability of the algorithm to compute the correct dose.

C1q binds directly and specifically to surface blebs of apoptotic human keratinocytes: complement deficiency and systemic lupus erythematosus revisited.

Complete deficiency of C1q is almost invariably associated with the development of systemic lupus erythematosus. It has been suggested that this association may result from a generalized failure to clear Ag-Ab complexes. However, it has not been demonstrated how such a broad impairment results in this specific and consistent autoimmune phenotype, in which photosensitive skin disease is the most prominent manifestation.

Local temperature and pressure variations and its effects on daily ionometric measurements of radiation beam outputs from linear accelerators.

As part of the quality assurance protocol for linear accelerators at West Virginia University Hospitals, the local temperature and pressure are recorded on a daily basis by the radiation therapists. These temperature and pressure values are not used for temperature and pressure correction unless the ionometric measurements of radiation beam outputs from linear accelerators are outside the established tolerance levels. This paper presents a study on the variation of temperature and pressure over the past two years.

Dose distributions through the supraclavicular-axillary region of patients undergoing breast cancer treatment.

The supraclavicular-axillary region is often irradiated if multiple lymph nodes are found to be positive in the staging of breast cancer. The doses delivered to supraclavicular-axillary region are typically computed using IRREG program. As such, the dose distributions through these regions are rarely examined.

Relationship of wedge isodose angle to percent depth-dose curves.

Purpose: An expression that relates the wedge isodose angle to the gradient of the percent depth-dose curves for photon beams has been formulated and verified experimentally.

Methods And Materials: The expression that relates a wedge angle to another via the gradient of their corresponding percent depth-dose curves was derived. Because the field size affects the percent depth-dose curves, measurement of wedged isodose distributions were carried out for different field sizes to validate the expression.

Dose volume assessment of high dose rate 192Ir endobronchial implants.

Purpose: To study the dose distributions of high dose rate (HDR) endobronchial implants using the dose nonuniformity ratio (DNR) and three volumetric irradiation indices.

Methods And Materials: Multiple implants were configured by allowing a single HDR 192Ir source to step through a length of 6 cm along an endobronchial catheter. Dwell times were computed to deliver a dose of 5 Gy to points 1 cm away from the catheter axis.

Dose distribution considerations of medium energy electron beams at extended source-to-surface distance.

Purpose: To determine the effects of extended source-to-surface distance (SSD) on dose distributions for a range of medium energy electron beams and cone sizes.

Methods And Materials: The depth-dose curves and isodose distributions of 6 MeV, 10 MeV, and 14 MeV electron beams from a dual photon and multielectron energies linear accelerator were studied. To examine the influence of cone size, the smallest and the largest cone sizes available were used.

Dosimetric considerations of commercially fabricated esophageal applicators.

Two commercially fabricated esophageal applicators for low dose rate intraluminal brachytherapy were compared using the dose non-uniformity ratio (DNR). One of the applicators has a single afterloading catheter while the other applicator has six afterloading catheters to accommodate low dose rate 192Ir ribbon or wire sources. Five sets of source configurations, each with a different ribbon length in the range of 5-17 cm were analysed using the DNR.

Effects of extended SSD on electron-beam depth-dose curves.

The effects of extended source-to-surface distance (SSD) on the electron-beam depth dose curves were examined for five electron beam energies ranging from 6 MeV to 20 MeV. The depth dose curves were measured with the water phantom surface set at 100 cm, 110 cm, and 120 cm from the source. Except for the dose in the build-up region, negligible depth dose curve changes due to extended SSD were observed for electron energies less than or equal to 12 MeV.