Long-term cognitive outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a population-based study.

Objective: To report the neurologic outcomes in long-term survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with ventricular fibrillation as the presenting rhythm (OHCA VF) at a population level.

Methods: All adults who experienced OHCA VF in Olmsted County, MN, from 1990 to 2008, survived more than 6 months postarrest, and were alive at the time of study recruitment were invited to participate in structured neuropsychological testing and a neurologic examination. Cognitive test results were compared to the normal population using the Mayo's Older Adults Normative Studies.

Comparing EndoPAT and BIOPAC measurement of vascular responses to mental stress.

There are currently no comparison measurements of stress-induced changes in vascular function during acute mental stress tests to measurements made by BIOPAC MP150 systems technology, a standard polygraph device used to detect deception during polygraph examinations in military or law enforcement applications. Vascular responses to reactive hyperaemia and acute mental stress in 25 healthy subjects were measured by both peripheral arterial tonometry (EndoPAT) and a blood pressure cuff attached to a pressure transducer (BIOPAC) and compared. Reactive hyperaemia was performed at baseline and following three acute mental stress tests.

A randomized controlled trial comparing the memory effects of continuation electroconvulsive therapy versus continuation pharmacotherapy: results from the Consortium for Research in ECT (CORE) study.

Objective: To compare the memory effects of continuation electroconvulsive therapy (C-ECT) versus continuation pharmacologic intervention (C-PHARM) at 12 and 24 weeks after completion of acute electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Method: Eighty-five patients with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-diagnosed unipolar major depressive disorder, enrolled in a multisite, randomized, parallel-design trial conducted at 5 academic medical centers from 1997 to 2004, who had remitted with an acute course of bilateral ECT and remained unrelapsed through 24 weeks of continuation therapy, were included in this analysis. They were randomly assigned to C-ECT (10 treatments) or nortriptyline plus lithium (monitored by serum blood levels) for 24 weeks.