Academic,community and state mental health program collaboration: The Oregon experience

The authors review the relationship that has evolved over the years between the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health Sciences University and Oregon's community and state mental health programs. They describe the compatibility that exists between the basic requirements of academic psychiatry departments and public mental health programs and demonstrate how these organizations have been able to fulfill one another's needs in Oregon. Specific examples of successful collaborations in the areas of education, administration, research, and service are presented to illustrate how relationships that have been designed to meet specific requirements of one organization can fulfill many requirements of both. Suggestions are provided for those organizations contemplating similar collaborative endeavors.     

An overview of head injury: Its consequences and rehabilitation

This article provides a broad overview of the consequences of head injury and approaches to its rehabilitation. Of necessity, no specific area is covered in depth. Sufficient references are provided, however, for the reader who desires further information in any of the areas discussed. It is hoped that, by providing this broad overview, the reader will develop a generalized picture of head injury rehabilitation. Furthermore, the article is designed for 'novices' in the field of head injury rehabilitation such as (1) the family/significant others of the injured persons—so they may begin to know what to expect and to plan for appropriate services; (2) the rehabilitation student—so he or she may be introduced to this emerging specialization and thereby make more informed career choices; and (3) perhaps most important, the newly hired, novice head injury practitioner. This article could form the nucleus of an orientation or in-service training programme for new employees who are not sufficiently knowledgeable in this specialization. In-service programmes are often a necessity for new employees (even on the graduate level) because of the recent, large increase in the number of facilities and programmes specializing in head injury rehabilitation, and because of the lack of available head injury rehabilitation education and training programmes.     

Effect of Short-Term Ethanol Feeding on Rat Testes as Assessed by 31P NMR Spectroscopy, 1H NMR Imaging, and Biochemical Methods

31P Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and 1H NMR imaging were used to examine the effect of short-term ethanol feeding on the rat testis. Weanling rats were pair-fed for 10 weeks either on ethanol containing liquid diet (36% ethanol of total calories) or a diet in which dextrimaltose was isocalorically substituted for the ethanol of the alcohol-containing diet. In vivo 31P NMR of the testes was used to determine the intratesticular pH and the relative concentrations of various phosphorus-containing metabolites. The integrity of the blood-testes barrier was evaluated using 1H NMR imaging following a gadolinium diethylene tetramine pentaacetic acid derivative (Gd-DTPA) administration as a vascular contrast agent. After the completion of NMR studies, the testis and the liver were freeze-clamped to allow for the assay of their adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) contents. Serum was assayed for its content of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alcohol and testosterone. Ethanol feeding resulted in the following: (a) a reduction in the body weight (p less than 0.05), (b) a reduction in the testicular phosphodiesters (PDE) PDE/ATP ratio (p less than 0.05), (c) an increased change in the testis image intensity difference between pre- and post-iv Gd-DTPA images, (c) a reduction in the testicular and hepatic content of ATP, and (d) increased serum levels of AST and ALT.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Cerebrospinal fluid investigations in tuberculous meningitis.

The results of conventional cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) investigations (CSF cell count, protein and glucose concentrations and Pandy's test for CSF globulin) obtained on admission and sequentially from weekly follow-up lumbar punctures for 4 weeks were evaluated in 99 children (median age 28 months) with stage II (50 children) and stage III (49 children) tuberculous meningitis. On admission, six children (6%) had a CSF cell count greater than 500 x 10(6)/l and nine (9%) a polymorphonuclear predominance. A CSF protein less than 0.8 g/l was found in 17 children (18%) of 97 in whom CSF protein was evaluated. Globulin was either absent or present as a trace only in 26 children (27%). CSF glucose was less than 2.2 mmol/l in 58 cases (60%) and less than 2.5 mmol/l in 67 (69%). In 63 children weekly CSF specimens obtained for the 1st 4 weeks of therapy showed an uninterrupted decline in cell count in 23 (37%), a fluctuating downward trend in 27 (43%) and a fluctuating upward trend in 13 (21%). Sequential CSF protein values in 57 children showed an uninterrupted rise in three (5%), a fluctuating upward course in 19 (33%), an uninterrupted downward trend in seven (12%), and a fluctuating downward course in 28 (49%). Of the 61 children in whom sequential CSF glucose concentrations were available, 11 (18%) experienced fluctuating concentrations, values falling to less than 2.2 mmol/l after being greater than 2.2 mmol/l on admission or after having risen to greater than 2.2 mmol/l.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Effect on fetal mouse development of exposure to MR imaging and gadopentetate dimeglumine

Pregnant mice were exposed to one of five regimens at 9.5 days of gestation: no treatment (group 1), intraperitoneal injection of normal saline (group 2), intraperitoneal injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine (group 3), intraperitoneal injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine and magnetic resonance (MR) exposure (group 4), and MR exposure alone (group 5). At 18 days of gestation, the mice were sacrifice and fetuses were removed and examined for the following end points: litter size, number alive or dead, fetal weight, extremity morphology, eye and ear development, and appearance of the head. A total of 739 fetuses were analyzed: group 1 (n = 161), group 2 (n = 149), group 3 (n = 142), group 4 (n = 136), and group 5 (n = 151). The only statistically significant difference was a lower mean fetal weight in the saline-injection group compared with the control group. The results show that MR exposure with and without gadopentetate dimeglumine had no adverse effect on the end points analyzed.