Repeated oral ketamine for out-patient treatment of resistant depression: randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept study.

Background: Ketamine has been demonstrated to improve depressive symptoms.AimsEvaluation of efficacy, safety and feasibility of repeated oral ketamine for out-patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).

Method: In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept trial, 41 participants received either 1 mg/kg oral ketamine or placebo thrice weekly for 21 days (ClinicalTrials.

Clinical utility of biomarkers of the hand in the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

A number of biomarkers were assessed in photos and prints of the hands of 95 patients with a variety of mental disorders to determine whether patients with schizophrenia could be distinguished from the others. Patients were recruited as consecutive admissions from an outpatient psychiatric day hospital population. Fourteen patients were diagnosed with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder and 81 were diagnosed with other mental disorders.

Ten Years of Abstinence in Former Opiate Addicts: Medication-Free Non-Patients Compared to Methadone Maintenance Patients.

Fifty-five former opioid addicts who have been methadone maintained patients for 10 or more years and whose urine has tested negative for drugs for 2 or more years were compared to 99 former opioid addicts who have been medication-free for 10 or more years. Groups were comparable in age and education, but the medication-free subjects were younger when having started opioids with more severe addiction scores. Methadone maintained patients presented with a higher proportion of psychiatric comorbidity and chronic pain.

Impact of lifetime psychiatric diagnosis on long-term retention and survival of former opiate addicts in methadone maintenance treatment.

Objectives: To characterize lifetime psychiatric diagnosis groups among methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) patients and associations of diagnosis to long-term (up to 20 years) retention and survival either during treatment or post discontinuation.

Methods: A total of 758 patients with available psychiatric diagnosis (98% of those ever admitted between June 1993 and June 2012) were followed-up until June 2013. Lifetime psychiatric diagnosis was assessed according to DSM-IV-TR (Axis I, II, I & II, or none).

Achievement of take-home dose privileges is associated with better-perceived sleep and with cognitive status among methadone maintenance treatment patients.

Objectives: Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) patients may achieve up to a 2-week privilege of methadone take-home doses (THD), which is associated with considerable responsibility. MMT patients are characterized as having poor sleep quality and low cognitive states. We studied sleep indices and cognitive status with respect to THD privileges.

Use of intraoperative epiaortic ultrasonography to delineate aortic atheroma.

Objective: A cerebrovascular accident (CVA) is a devastating complication of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and a major cause for morbidity and mortality. Aortic manipulation, cannulation, and clamping during CABG may lead to release of atheromatous material from the ascending aorta, which may cause a CVA. This study assessed the hypothesis that the use of intraoperative epiaortic ultrasonography (EAUS) would supplement imaging information with that derived from manual aortic palpation and influence the surgical decision-making approach accordingly.