Disaster Psychiatry in Taiwan: A Comprehensive Review.

Natural disasters have caused millions of deaths worldwide, and hundreds of millions of people have suffered from various types of physical or mental traumas. Disasters change patterns of thinking and the concept of security among members of a community, which highlights the importance of mental rehabilitation in disaster psychiatry. Mental rehabilitation is not only a short-term intervention, but also involves long-term follow-up and referral of cases to regular psychiatric management.

The incidence and relative risk of stroke in patients with schizophrenia: a five-year follow-up study.

Objective: This study aimed to estimate the incidence and relative risk of stroke and post-stroke all-cause mortality in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: This study identified a study population from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) between 1999 and 2003 that included 80,569 patients with schizophrenia and 241,707 age- and sex-matched control participants without schizophrenia. The participants were randomly selected from the 23,981,020-participant NHIRD, which consists of 96% Taiwanese participants.

The implication of functional connectivity strength in predicting treatment response of major depressive disorder: a resting EEG study.

Predicting treatment response in major depressive disorder (MDD) has been an important clinical issue given that the initial intent-to-treat response rate is only 50 to 60%. This study was designed to examine whether functional connectivity strengths of resting EEG could be potential biomarkers in predicting treatment response at 8 weeks of treatment. Resting state 3-min eyes-closed EEG activity was recorded at baseline and compared in 108 depressed patients.

Impairment of perceptual and motor abilities at the end of a night shift is greater in nurses working fast rotating shifts.

Objective: A three-shift work schedule with fast rotation is common among healthcare workers in Taiwan. This study compared cognitive performance at the time of maximum fatigue (3-4am on the last night shift of the rotation) between nurses working two, three, and four consecutive night shifts.

Methods: Sixty-two nurses [mean age 26.

Cation-selective exhaustive injection and sweeping micellar electrokinetic chromatography for the analysis of methadone and its metabolites in serum of heroin addicts.

Methadone (MET) metabolism has been largely demonstrated with a high inter-individual variability and, therefore, quantification of MET is very important for therapeutic drug monitoring. A cation-selective exhaustive injection and sweeping MEKC (CSEI-Sweeping) was first developed to analyze MET and its two metabolites, 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP) and 2-ethyl-5-methyl-3,3-diphenyl-1-pyrroline (EMDP), in human serum. After pretreatment, the samples were electrokinetically injected into capillary (10 kV, 500s) and swept by the separation phosphate buffer (100 mM, pH 4.

Predictors of fluoxetine remission for hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder.

Aim: The goal of treating major depressive disorder is to achieve remission. This prospective study aimed to identify predictors of remission in a cohort of depressive inpatients who received fluoxetine.

Methods: A total of 131 newly hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder received a fixed dose of 20 mg/day (the recommended dose from the literature) of fluoxetine for 6 weeks.

Pain has a strong negative impact on the fluoxetine response in hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder.

Objectives: Response to an antidepressant is frequently the main goal in treating depression. The purpose of this study was to identify predictor(s) of response to the antidepressant, fluoxetine.

Methods: One hundred thirty-one newly hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder received fluoxetine (20 mg/d) for 6 weeks.

Benzodiazepine prescription among patients with severe mental illness and co-occurring alcohol abuse/dependence in Taiwan.

Objective: Because benzodiazepines (BZDs) may be abused, prescribing them is debatable. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prescription of BZDs to explore the current status of BZD use at discharge and at 4 months after discharge.

Methods: From 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2006, prescribed doses for BZDs at discharge and at 4 months after discharge were recorded for all discharged inpatients with schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, and major depressive disorder.

The incidence and relative risk factors for developing cancer among patients with schizophrenia: a nine-year follow-up study.

Objective: To estimate the incidence and relative risk of developing cancer as well as the mortality rate after cancer diagnosis for patients with schizophrenia compared with the general population.

Methods: Our population for this study was identified before the end of 1999. The study included 59,257 patients with schizophrenia and 178,156 age- and gender-matched individuals without schizophrenia as controls, who were selected from the 23,981,020 subjects in the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), which consists of 96% of the entire Taiwanese population.

Early prediction of fluoxetine response for Han Chinese inpatients with major depressive disorder.

The onset of antidepressant action is vital clinically. This study aimed to testify whether early symptom improvement can predict eventual treatment response at week 6 among depressive hospitalized patients taking fluoxetine. One hundred thirty-one hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder received 20 mg/d of fluoxetine for 6 weeks.

Mental health implications of music: insight from neuroscientific and clinical studies.

Neuroscientific and clinical studies of music over the past two decades have substantially increased our understanding of its use as a means of therapy. The authors briefly review current literature related to music's effect on people with different mental illnesses, and examine several neurobiological theories that may explain its effectiveness or lack thereof in treating psychiatric disorders. Neuroscientific studies have shown music to be an agent capable of influencing complex neurobiological processes in the brain and suggest that it can potentially play an important role in treatment.

A randomized, double-blind comparison of risperidone versus low-dose risperidone plus low-dose haloperidol in treating schizophrenia.

Monotherapy is recommended for schizophrenia treatment, but the risk-benefit issue of antipsychotic drug combination (except for clozapine) remains unclear. Risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic drug, has a lower incidence of extrapyramidal syndrome but higher risks of prolactinemia and metabolic syndrome than haloperidol, a typical agent. This study compared efficacy and safety of risperidone monotherapy versus low-dose risperidone plus low-dose haloperidol in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia patients discharged against medical advice at a mental hospital in Taiwan.

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the risk factors associated with discharge against medical advice (AMA) and compare the time to rehospitalization between patients with AMA discharges and those with regular discharges.

Methods: All schizophrenia inpatients discharged from a psychiatric hospital between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2006 were monitored. The clinical variables were compared between the patients discharged AMA and those with regular discharges.

Time to rehospitalization in patients with major depression vs. those with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder in a public psychiatric hospital.

Compared rehospitalization rates in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder to patients with major depressive disorder remains unclear. This study aimed to compare the time to rehospitalization of the three groups. Other clinical variables were also examined.

Diagnosis and treatment of comorbidities of Tourette's syndrome and bipolar disorder in a 10-year-old boy.

Changes in moods are one of the comorbid psychiatric manifestations that frequently occur in patients with Tourette's syndrome. The assessment of a manic episode in children with Tourette's syndrome is challenging. Furthermore, the treatment of children with comorbid mania and Tourette's syndrome has not been extensively studied.

Factors predicting transferal after psychiatric emergency management in the elderly.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the demographic and clinical characteristics that differentiate between elderly and non-elderly visitors in the psychiatric emergency room (ER), and to identify factors predicting transferal after psychiatric emergency management in the elderly.

Methods: Data were collected over four years for patients who visited the psychiatric ER. The elderly were defined as patients older than 65 years old.

Correlation of attention deficit, rapid eye movement latency and slow wave sleep in schizophrenia patients.

Aim: Schizophrenia patients present both reduced slow wave sleep (SWS) and shortened rapid eye movement latency (REML) in polysomnographic (PSG) profiles, which have been linked to dopaminergic and muscarinic impairment, respectively. Two main selective attentional systems involve different anatomical structures. The first system is the parietal cortical areas and thalamic areas, which are linked to cholinergic neurotransmission.

Zotepine-induced spontaneous ejaculation.

A man with schizophrenia received regular haloperidol ester therapy, but his psychotic symptoms were not mitigated. A combination of zotepine and haloperidol was then used to relieve the psychotic symptoms. However, the patient developed spontaneous ejaculations, which occurred many times a day while undergoing haloperidol and zotepine therapy.

Factors affecting time to rehospitalization in Han Chinese patients with schizophrenic disorder in Taiwan.

Schizophrenic disorder is a lifelong illness. Hospitalization is a major event for the patient and his/her family, often indicating that the clinical symptoms have reached an intolerable level. The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors affecting the time to rehospitalization.