True conversive hallucinations

A case of true conversive hallucinations in a 19-year-old female soldier is described. This phenomenon is rare and should be distinguished from psychotic or dissociative states.     

Patterns of teen exposure to a community-based violence prevention project

This paper describes the implementation of a community-based youth violence prevention project that utilized an educational curriculum and a mass media campaign. The extent of penetration of the intervention into target areas and the degree of contamination of control areas are assessed, and the most frequently contacted forms of educational outreach are identified. Two sources of data, provider interviews and a random digit dialed telephone survey, were used to track the source and extent of teens' exposure to the intervention. Agency provider data revealed that 40% of the 92 contacted agencies actually conducted violence prevention education, reaching 22% of the target area teens. Approximately one-half of the surveyed teens reported some exposure to the program, with 13% of the teens in target areas reporting participation in interactive educational activities associated with the project. The most common source of exposure was the media campaign. Most teens report a single exposure, usually to the media campaign, although 29% report contact with more than one form of violence prevention education. While the project did not achieve community saturation, the data show that the community-based model of intervention for violence prevention is feasible and effective in reaching teenagers. This research highlights some difficulties in evaluating prevention programs, including reconciling community ownership with project identification, the ethics of curtailing services for control purposes, and factors influencing recall of participation.     

Antinuclear autoantibodies in chronic schizophrenia

We determined the presence of antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA), antinative DNA and histone-reactive ANA in 3 groups of chronic schizophrenic patients (n= 85): haloperidol-treated patients (for at least 3 months) (n= 35), drug-free for at least 3 months (n= 35) and neuroleptic-naive patients (n= 15). The autoantibody titers were compared with those of healthy controls (n= 37). A significantly higher frequency of positive ANA was found among chronic schizophrenic patients (～20%) as compared with the controls (～5 %), irrespective of drug treatment, sex and age. No antinative ANA autoantibodies or histone reactive ANA were detected in either schizophrenic patients or controls. Further studies are needed to isolate and characterize in ANA-positive schizophrenic patients 1 a putative specific ANA profile.     

Effect of digital filtering of ABR on scorer variability

The utility of digital filtering for the purpose of improving waveform morphology and improving peak detection was investigated. Unfiltered (i.e., only standard analog filtering) and digitally filtered (i.e., analog plus post hoc digital filtering) ABRs from both young and elderly subjects were independently scored by eight experienced clinicians. Measures of intrascorer and interscorer variability were obtained for the absolute latencies of waves I, III, and V. Results suggest that digital filtering tends to increase the reliability of latency measurements when ABRs are characterized by poor morphology.     

Thoracolumbar Spine Trauma: II. Principles of Management

The care of patients with thoracolumbar spine trauma with or without neurologic deficits has evolved dramatically over the past 20 years with the emergence of tertiary-care spinal injury centers and the development of more effective spinal instrumentation and anesthesia techniques. Despite these advances, the majority of patients with thoracolumbar injuries are still treated nonoperatively with cast or brace immobilization and early ambulation. More aggressive treatment is guided by the use of classification systems that detail the mechanism of injury, the degree of compromise of spinal structures, and the potential for late mechanical instability or neural injury. The goal of treatment remains attainment of spinal stability with protection or improvement of the patient's neurologic status, allowing rapid and maximal functional recovery.