General aspects of drug interactions with systemic antifungals in a retrospective study sample.

A retrospective study evaluating hepatic laboratory alterations and potential drug interactions in patients treated for onychomycosis. We evaluated 202 patients, 82% female. In 273 liver enzyme tests, there were changes in only 6%.

Magnetoelastic vibrational biomaterials for real-time monitoring and modulation of the host response.

Magnetoelastic (ME) biomaterials are ferromagnetic materials that physically deform when exposed to a magnetic field. This work describes the real-time control and monitoring capabilities of ME biomaterials in wound healing. Studies were conducted to demonstrate the capacity of the materials to monitor changes in protein adsorption and matrix stiffness.

Differences in patterns of symptom attribution in diagnosing schizophrenia between African American and non-African American clinicians.

The authors examined clinician race differences in symptom attribution patterns in diagnosing psychiatric inpatients from a low-income, African American community. Different decision models were applied to patients based on clinician race. African American clinicians diagnosed schizophrenia with higher odds than non-African American clinicians when they believed hallucinations were present and avoided that diagnosis with lower odds when they considered substance abuse issues.

Clinician race, situational attributions, and diagnoses of mood versus schizophrenia disorders.

This research examined clinicians' consideration of situational factors in diagnostic decisions of mood vs. schizophrenia disorders among psychiatric inpatients from a low-income, African American community. Clinicians completed questionnaires describing their diagnostic decisions.

Methodological innovations in the National Survey of American Life.

This paper provides an overview of the conceptualization and methods used in the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). The objectives of the NSAL are to investigate the nature, severity, and impairment of mental disorders among national samples of the black and non-Hispanic white (n = 1,006) populations in the US, including African American (N = 3,570), and Afro-Caribbean (N = 1,623) immigrant and second and older generation, populations. National multi-stage probability methods were used in generating the samples and race/ethnic matching of interviewers and respondents were employed in the largely face-to-face interview, lasting on average 2 hours and 20 minutes.

The National Survey of American Life: a study of racial, ethnic and cultural influences on mental disorders and mental health.

The objectives of the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) are to investigate the nature, severity, and impairment of mental disorders among national samples of the black and non-Hispanic white (n = 1,006) populations in the US. Special emphasis in the study is given to the nature of race and ethnicity within the black population by selecting and interviewing national samples of African-American (N = 3,570), and Afro-Caribbean (N = 1,623) immigrant and second and older generation populations. National multi-stage probability methods were used in generating the samples and race/ethnic matching of interviewers and respondents were used in the largely face-to-face interview, which lasted on average 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Racial differences in DSM diagnosis using a semi-structured instrument: the importance of clinical judgment in the diagnosis of African Americans.

Schizophrenia is diagnosed more frequently among African Americans while mood disorders are identified more often among whites. Such findings have raised serious questions about the accuracy of clinical judgment. This article analyzes data on 665 African American and white psychiatric inpatients using a semi-structured diagnostic instrument.

Length of stay, referral to aftercare, and rehospitalization among psychiatric inpatients.

Objective: This retrospective study explored the interrelationship among aftercare, length of hospital stay, and rehospitalization within six months of discharge in a sample of psychiatric inpatients.

Methods: Data were analyzed for 1,481 patients who had received inpatient care at a state psychiatric hospital from November 1991 to July 1994. Logistic regression models were estimated to predict the likelihood of referral to aftercare and of readmission to a hospital within six months of the index discharge.

The structure of interpretations in family therapy: a video-enhanced exploration.

A method for assessing the structure of interpretations of family therapy events is described. Family sessions were videotaped; each participant then independently reviewed the tape, stopping it to indicate any significant events and describing the importance of each identified sequence. Qualitative approaches to analyzing the stop points are described, using data from six families and their therapist.

Clinician attributions associated with the diagnosis of schizophrenia in African American and non-African American patients.

The authors examined the schizophrenia diagnosis in 292 psychiatric inpatients in a largely African American community. Clinicians completed a free-response questionnaire that described their diagnostic decisions. Psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, which were attributed to African American and non-African American patients at different rates, did not necessarily correspond to differences in diagnostic rates.

Psychiatric diagnosis of African Americans: diagnostic divergence in clinician-structured and semistructured interviewing conditions.

This study is a primary data collection that varied patient race and diagnosis and used two diagnostic interviewing conditions: one clinician-structured (phase one) and the other a semi-structured diagnostic instrument (phase two). Four basic research questions are addressed: What is the relationship between race and the hospital diagnosis? How is race related to diagnosis in both research interviewing conditions? Why does diagnostic concordance between the hospital diagnosis and the research diagnosis vary by research interviewing condition? Is diagnostic concordance between the hospital and research diagnosis influenced by patient race? A total of 291 patients completed an interview during phase one, while 665 patients completed an interview during phase two. Blacks were more likely to receive a hospital diagnosis of schizophrenia and less likely to be diagnosed with mood disorder.

Long-term effects of internment during early childhood on third-generation Japanese Americans.

A national survey investigated the long-term effects of World War II internment on family communication, ethnic preference, confidence in personal rights, and attitudes to redress among third-generation Japanese Americans (sansei) who were infants or young children during incarceration. Findings were compared to those for noninterned sansei with and without parents who had been interned. Differences between interned and noninterned sansei were found primarily in family communication and family distance.

The local clinical scientist. A bridge between science and practice.

The local clinical scientist brings the attitudes and knowledge base of the scientist to bear on the problems that must be addressed by the clinician in the consulting room. The problems of inadequate generalizability are reduced by a recognition of the value of local observations and local solutions to problems. However, these observations and solutions benefit by the scientific attitude of the clinician and are subjected to the same need for verifiability that greets all scientific enterprises.

Disclosing the cancer diagnosis. Procedures that influence patient hopefulness.

Background: Physicians view enhancing patient hopefulness as a critical aspect of cancer treatment, yet little is known about how the circumstances of the initial disclosure of a cancer diagnosis affects this important psychosocial variable. The authors examined the extent to which various forms of physician disclosure of a cancer diagnosis are seen by patients as more or less hopeful and as favorable or unfavorable.

Methods: Statements describing various circumstances of diagnostic disclosure were generated from interviews with 10 physicians and 10 patients with cancer.

Exploring the Effects of Mood Checklist Pretesting on Experimental Mood Induction Procedures.

Research was conducted to investigate the potential impact of mood checklist (MAACL) pretesting upon the Velten experimental mood induction procedure. Multivariate analyses (MANOVA and ANCOVA) of the three MAACL subscales (Depression, Anxiety, and Hostility) suggest that variance unique to Anxiety, and that shared between Anxiety and the other subscales, is affected by pretesting, including both a main effect and a pretesting X Velten interaction. In contrast, the Velten manipulation impacted only variance unique to Depression and variance shared between Depression and the other two subscales.

Detecting (in)consistencies in personality: reconciling intuitions and empirical evidence.

After Mischel's (1968) critique of the traditional concept of personality, others have attempted to resolve the apparent discrepancy between intuitive (and theoretical) notions of consistency in the behavior patterns of individuals, and the available empirical evidence, much of which seems to suggest that the intuitive/theoretical notions are erroneous. Virtually all of these attempts have been grounded ultimately in some variation of the individual differences paradigm that has long dominated empirical personality research. In contrast, the present article suggests that this apparent discrepancy results from an attempt to reconcile essentially idiographic intuitions with aggregate empirical findings.