Neuropsychiatric evaluation in subjects chronically exposed to organophosphate pesticides.

Long-term exposure to low levels of organophosphate pesticides (OP) may produce neuropsychiatric symptoms. We performed clinical, neuropsychiatric, and laboratory evaluations of 37 workers involved in family agriculture of tobacco from southern Brazil who had been exposed to OP for 3 months, and in 25 of these workers, after 3 months without exposure to OP. Plasma acetylcholinesterase activity levels of all subjects were within the normal range (3.2 to 9.0 U/l) and were not different between on- and off-exposure periods (4.7 +/- 0.9 and 4.5 +/- 1.1 U/l, respectively). Clinically significant extrapyramidal symptoms were present in 12 of 25 subjects, which is unexpected in such a population. There was a significant reduction of extrapyramidal symptoms after 3 months without exposure to OP, but 10 subjects still had significant parkinsonism. Mini-mental and word span scores were within the expected range for this population and were not influenced by exposure to OP. Eighteen of the 37 subjects (48%) had current psychiatric diagnoses in the first interview (13 with generalized anxiety disorder and 8 with major depression). Among the 25 subjects who completed both evaluations, the total number of current psychiatric diagnoses, after 3 months without using OP, dropped from 24 to 13 and the number of affected individuals with any psychiatric diagnosis dropped from 11 to 7. In conclusion, this study reinforces the need for parameters other than acetylcholinesterase activity to monitor for chronic consequences of chronic low-dose OP exposure, and it suggests that subjects have not only transient motor and psychiatric consequences while exposed, but may also develop enduring extrapyramidal symptoms.     

A comparison of anaesthesia using remifentanil combined with either isoflurane, enflurane or propofol in patients undergoing gynaecological laparoscopy, varicose vein or arthroscopic surgery

BACKGROUND: Anaesthesia comprising remifentanil plus isoflurane, enflurane or propofol was randomly evaluated in 285, 285 and 284 patients, respectively, undergoing short-procedure surgery. METHODS: Anaesthesia was induced with propofol (0.5 mg x kg(-1) and 10 mg x 10 s(-1)), and a remifentanil bolus (1 microg x kg(-1)) and infusion at 0.5 microg x g(-1) x min(-1). Five minutes after intubation, remifentanil infusion was halved and 0.5 MAC of isoflurane or enflurane, or propofol at 100 microg x kg(-1) x min(-1) were started and titrated for maintenance. RESULTS: Patient demography and anaesthesia duration were similar between the groups. Surgery was performed as daycases (52%) or inpatients (48%). The median times (5-7 min) to extubation and postoperative recovery were similar between the groups. Responses to tracheal intubation (15% vs 8%) and skin incision (13% vs 7%) were significantly greater in the total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) group (P<0.05). Fewer patients given remifentanil and isoflurane (21%) or enflurane (19%) experienced > or =1 intraoperative stress response compared to the TIVA group (28%) (P<0.05). Median times to qualification for and actual recovery room discharge were 0.5-0.6 h and 1.1-1.2 h, respectively. The most common remifentanil-related symptoms were muscle rigidity (6-7%) at induction, hypotension (3-5%) and bradycardia (1-4%) intraoperatively and, shivering (6-7%), nausea and vomiting postoperatively. Nausea (7%) and vomiting (3%) were significantly lower with TIVA compared with inhaled anaesthetic groups (14-15% and 6-8%, respectively; P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Anaesthesia combining remifentanil with volatile hypnotics or TIVA with propofol was effective and well tolerated. Times of extubation, postanaesthesia recovery and recovery room discharge were rapid, consistent and similar for all three regimens.     

Capacity and Competence in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Capacity and competence in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry are complex issues, because of the many different influences that are involved in how children and adolescents make treatment decisions within the setting of mental health. This article will examine some of the influences which must be considered, namely: developmental aspects, the paradoxical relationship between the need for autonomy and participation and the capacity of children, family psychiatry, and the duty of care towards children and adolescents. The legal frameworks relevant to consideration of consent and competence will be briefly considered, as well as some studies of children's consent, participation and competence. A case vignette will be used as a focus to consider the complexity of the issue of competence in child and adolescent psychiatry, in the particular mental disorder of anorexia nervosa.     

维多利亚州住院病人满意度监测的方法学

文章全面地介绍了维多利亚州住院病人满意度监测的方法，包括工具设计的目的、原则和开发过程、问卷的结构、数据采集和分析方法，以及监测结果的表达和应用方式。     

肿瘤患者医院感染流行病学分析

目的了解肿瘤患者医院感染的临床流行病学特征.方法于2003～2005年对18 368例肿瘤住院患者进行临床流行病学调查分析.结果住院患者平均感染率为5.0%,不同年度感染率差异无统计学意义（P＞0.05）;平均漏报率为6.9%,不同年度漏报率差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）;化疗科医院感染率最高为7.5%,占全院医院感染的63.20%;外科医院感染率为2.5%,占19.82%;放疗科医院感染率为4.4%,占16.98%.感染部位主要为呼吸道（45.2%）,口腔（18.3%）,胃肠道（13.1%）,手术部位（11.4%）;病原体送检率为57.5%,抗菌药物使用率为51.3%.结论呼吸道感染、口腔真菌感染、胃肠道感染和手术部位感染是今后监控重点.     

Abnormal illness behavior and psychiatric disorders: a study in an outpatient clinic in Japan

Abnormal illness behavior, such as hypochondriacal attitude and inappropriate treatment-seeking, has been associated with various psychiatric disorders in which patients tend to abuse medical services and seek inappropriate treatment in general practice clinics rather than psychiatric clinics. However, the relationship between illness behavior and psychiatric disorders in Japan is yet to be elucidated. We examined the abnormal illness behavior of 243 patients who visited the outpatient department of psychiatry at Saga Medical School Hospital, Saga, Japan, using a Japanese version of the Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ). Multivariate analysis indicated significant association between some of the IBQ scale scores and age, sex and employment status. Patients with anxiety disorder scored higher on five of the seven IBQ scales compared with patients with another major disorder (mood disorder, schizophrenia or somatoform disorder). When compared with the IBQ scale scores reported in Australian patients in a psychiatric hospital, most of the IBQ scale scores differed significantly in our patients; a higher score among Japanese patients on the general hypochondriasis scale was most prominent. A similar trend in IBQ scale scores was also noted among Japanese patients visiting the hospital's general medicine clinic in comparison with Australian patients visiting a general practice clinic. Japanese patients with anxiety disorder may display the most salient abnormal illness behaviors among patients with psychiatric disorders. Sociocultural background may contribute to the characteristic abnormal illness behaviors of Japanese patients.     

糖尿病及其并发症患者的住院费用分析

目的:了解糖尿病及其并发症相关的住院费用和疾病负担情况.方法:将广州市7家三甲医院2002年度2 465例糖尿病患者按国际疾病分类分组,采用方差分析方法,研究不同组别患者的住院费用及其构成.结果:糖尿病住院患者中,无并发症的比例为42.6%,而57.4%的患者发生一种以上并发症;不同并发症之间的平均住院费用存在统计学差异,以糖尿病足病的平均费用为最大;糖尿病的药费占医疗费用的比例平均为40%.结论:糖尿病及其并发症带给患者家庭和社会沉重的经济负担,在加强糖尿病及其并发症防治研究的同时,必须加强对糖尿病的卫生经济学研究.     

精神科与综合科护士工作压力源调查分析

目的:了解精神科护士工作中主要的压力来源及程度,为减轻护士的压力提供科学依据.方法:采用问卷调查法,对精神科109名护士和综合科124名护士进行护士工作压力源的调查和对照分析.结果:两组在压力源量表5个子条目均分的比较无显著性差异(P＞0.05),但在各分条目的比较中存在差异.精神科护士在护理专业及工作方面的问题压力程度较高,在病人护理方面,担心出现差错事故、病人不礼貌、病人不合作、3个压力源与综合科护士相比差异有显著性意义(P＜0.05-0.01),在其他3项有差异的分条目比较中,精神科护士的压力程度均低于综合科护士.结论:精神科护士的压力源主要来自服务对象及精神科专业方面.提示:提高精神科护士的福利待遇和社会地位,增强安全设施,降低职业风险是减轻精神科护士工作压力的有效措施.     

‘No “Sane” Person Would Have Any Idea’: Patients’ Involvement in Late Nineteenth-century British Asylum?Psychiatry

In his 1895 textbook, Mental Physiology, Bethlem Royal Hospital physician Theo Hyslop acknowledged the assistance of three fellow hospital residents. One was a junior colleague. The other two were both patients: Walter Abraham Haigh and Henry Francis Harding. Haigh was also thanked in former superintendent George Savage’s book Insanity and Allied Neuroses (1884). In neither instance were the patients identified as such. This begs the question: what role did Haigh and Harding play in asylum theory and practice? And how did these two men interpret their experiences, both within and outside the asylum? By focusing on Haigh and Harding’s unusual status, this paper argues that the notion of nineteenth-century ‘asylum patient’ needs to be investigated by paying close attention to specific national and institutional circumstances. Exploring Haigh and Harding’s active engagement with their physicians provides insight into this lesser-known aspect of psychiatry’s history. Their experience suggests that, in some instances, representations of madness at that period were the product of a two-way process of negotiation between alienist and patient. Patients, in other words, were not always mere victims of ‘psychiatric power’; they participated in the construction and circulation of medical notions by serving as active intermediaries between medical and lay perceptions of madness.