An ethics analysis of antipsychotic dose reduction and discontinuation: Principles for supporting recovery from psychosis.

Objective: To examine the evidence and practice of antipsychotic dose reduction from the lens of biomedical ethics (specifically principlism) to support evidence-based practice and patient choice and self-determination.

Methods: An overview of the evidence from randomized controlled trials of antipsychotic dose reduction versus maintenance is presented. This is followed by a theoretical examination of the four key biomedical ethical principles of autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice and how they apply in the case of antipsychotic dose reduction.

Heart rate characteristic index monitoring for bloodstream infection in an NICU: a 3-year experience.

Background: Bloodstream infection (BSI) among neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) infants is a frequent problem associated with poor outcomes. Monitoring for abnormal heart rate characteristics (HRCs) may decrease infant mortality by alerting clinicians to sepsis before it becomes clinically apparent.

Methods: HRC scores were acquired using the HRC (HeRO) monitor system from Medical Predictive Science Corporation and entered into the electronic medical record by bedside staff.

Attachment as a partial mediator of the relationship between emotional abuse and schizotypy.

Developmental theories highlight the salience of attachment theory in explaining vulnerability towards psychosis. At the same time there is increasing recognition that psychosis is associated with childhood trauma variables. This study explored the interaction between attachment and several trauma variables in relation to schizotypy levels in a non-clinical sample.