Use of mobile devices and the internet for multimedia informed consent delivery and data entry in a pediatric asthma trial: Study design and rationale.

Introduction: Phase III/IV clinical trials are expensive and time consuming and often suffer from poor enrollment and retention rates. Pediatric trials are particularly difficult because scheduling around the parent, participant and potentially other sibling schedules can be burdensome. We are evaluating using the internet and mobile devices to conduct the consent process and study visits in a streamlined pediatric asthma trial.

Predictors of professional and personal satisfaction with a career in psychiatry.

Background: Many factors, including personal experience and personality traits, contribute to the emotional difficulties that psychiatrists experience in their professional work. The nature of the work itself also plays a significant role.

Objective: To determine those personal and professional characteristics that predict satisfaction with the practice of psychiatry.

Relationship between bipolar illness and binge-eating disorders.

In this study we describe the frequency of eating disorders (EDs) in a group of bipolar (BP) patients. We evaluated a sample of 51 outpatients, diagnosed as having BP I disorder on the basis of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). Each of these subjects was administered the Binge Eating Disorder Clinical Interview (BEDCI) to determine the presence of binge eating disorder (BED) or bulimia nervosa (BN).

Gender differences in the practice characteristics and career satisfaction of psychiatrists in Ontario.

Objective: The authors explored practice characteristics, activities, and career satisfaction of male and female psychiatrists.

Method: A questionnaire was mailed to all practicing psychiatrists in Ontario, Canada, to which 52% responded.

Results: More women specialized in child, women's mental health and geriatrics than did men, while men specialized more in forensics and psychosomatics.

Characteristics of eating disorder patients without a drive for thinness.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate two samples of patients affected by anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN), respectively, with and without the diagnostic feature of drive for thinness (DT).

Method: The samples comprised 70 consecutive eating disorder (ED) outpatients at the Department of Psychiatry (University of Pisa) and 106 AN patients admitted to a day hospital in Toronto, Canada. Subjects were assessed on clinical and psychometric parameters.