Intervention to reduce inpatient psychiatric admission in a metropolitan city.

When psychiatric hospitalization is over-used, it represents a financial drain and failure of care. We evaluated implementation and cessation of transporting people medically certified for psychiatric hospitalization to a central psychiatric emergency service for management and re-evaluation of hospitalization need. After implementation, the hospitalization rate declined 89% for 346 transported patients; only four of the nonhospitalized patients presented in crisis again in the next 30 days.

Behavioral and neurochemical effects of repeated MDMA administration during late adolescence in the rat.

Adolescents and young adults disproportionately abuse 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; 'Ecstasy'); however, since most MDMA research has concentrated on adults, the effects of MDMA on the developing brain remain obscure. Therefore, we evaluated place conditioning to MDMA (or saline) during late adolescence and assessed anxiety-like behavior and monoamine levels during abstinence. Rats were conditioned to associate 5 or 10mg/kg MDMA or saline with contextual cues over 4 twice-daily sessions.

Evoked potential correlates of post-traumatic stress disorder in refugees with history of exposure to torture.

The presence and magnitude of information processing deviations associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are far from being well-characterized. In this study we assessed the auditory and visually evoked cerebral responses in a group of Iraqi refugees who were exposed to torture and developed PTSD (N = 20), Iraqi refugees who had been exposed to similar trauma but did not develop PTSD (N = 20), and non-traumatized controls matched for age, gender, and ethnicity (N = 20). We utilized two paired-stimulus paradigms in auditory and visual sensory modalities, respectively.

Brain activation patterns in women with acquired hypoactive sexual desire disorder and women with normal sexual function: a cross-sectional pilot study.

Objective: To examine and compare brain activation patterns of premenopausal women with normal sexual function and those with hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) during viewing of validated sexually explicit film clips.

Design: Cross-sectional pilot study.

Setting: University-based clinical research center.

Escitalopram treatment of menopausal hot flashes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of 10 and 20 mg/day of escitalopram on objectively recorded hot flashes and on the rectal temperature threshold for sweating.

Methods: Two studies were performed: 16 women received 10 mg/day and 26 women received 20 mg/day escitalopram for 8 weeks. They were randomly assigned in equal numbers to receive active drug or placebo in a double-blind fashion.