Diagnostic accuracy of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 3.0) in an urban Indigenous Australian sample.

OBJECTIVE: The Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 is a standardised diagnostic interview commonly used in population-based mental health surveys, but has not been used in community-residing Indigenous Australians. This paper seeks to determine whether the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 can produce valid diagnostic information when compared with a diagnostic interview in an urban Indigenous Australian sample. METHOD: This research was conducted over 10 weeks with adult Indigenous clients of two participating Aboriginal Medical Services in South-East Queensland. Using a cross-sectional, repeated-measures design, participants were administered the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 by an Indigenous interviewer and within 2 weeks attended a second appointment with an Indigenous clinical psychologist, who produced a diagnostic summary. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 diagnoses were compared with the diagnostic summaries and clinical concordance between the two measures was calculated. RESULTS: The diagnostic accuracy of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 differed by module. The Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depression modules had good utility in diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive episodes, respectively; however, the Mania module that provides diagnoses of bipolar disorder was found to be unsuitable for this population. Although there were no identified contraindications for the use of the Generalised Anxiety and Alcohol Use Disorder modules, further research on the diagnostic accuracy of these modules is warranted. CONCLUSIONS: The Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 can accurately diagnose some common mental disorders in an Indigenous Australian population, but was found to be unsuitable for others. Given these findings, care should be taken when using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 in epidemiological prevalence studies with Indigenous Australian populations.

Preserving subject variability in group fMRI analysis: performance evaluation of GICA vs. IVA.

Independent component analysis (ICA) is a widely applied technique to derive functionally connected brain networks from fMRI data. Group ICA (GICA) and Independent Vector Analysis (IVA) are extensions of ICA that enable users to perform group fMRI analyses; however a full comparison of the performance limits of GICA and IVA has not been investigated. Recent interest in resting state fMRI data with potentially higher degree of subject variability makes the evaluation of the above techniques important. In this paper we compare component estimation accuracies of GICA and an improved version of IVA using simulated fMRI datasets. We systematically change the degree of inter-subject spatial variability of components and evaluate estimation accuracy over all spatial maps (SMs) and time courses (TCs) of the decomposition. Our results indicate the following: (1) at low levels of SM variability or when just one SM is varied, both GICA and IVA perform well, (2) at higher levels of SM variability or when more than one SMs are varied, IVA continues to perform well but GICA yields SM estimates that are composites of other SMs with errors in TCs, (3) both GICA and IVA remove spatial correlations of overlapping SMs and introduce artificial correlations in their TCs, (4) if number of SMs is over estimated, IVA continues to perform well but GICA introduces artifacts in the varying and extra SMs with artificial correlations in the TCs of extra components, and (5) in the absence or presence of SMs unique to one subject, GICA produces errors in TCs and IVA estimates are accurate. In summary, our simulation experiments (both simplistic and realistic) and our holistic analyses approach indicate that IVA produces results that are closer to ground truth and thereby better preserves subject variability. The improved version of IVA is now packaged into the GIFT toolbox (http://mialab.mrn.org/software/gift).

Effect of low body temperature on associative interference in conditioned taste aversion.

When two novel conditioned stimuli precede an unconditioned stimulus (US), the interval between the two conditioned stimuli (CS1 and CS2) influences the magnitude of the CS-US associability of each CS. As the interval between CS1 and CS2 increases, the associability of CS1 with the US decreases due to interference by CS2 and the associability of CS2 increases, given its temporal proximity to the US. Because hypothermia has been reported to increase the interval at which conditioned taste aversions can be formed, its influence was examined on the above relationship, i.e., how interference from CS2 affects the associability of CS1 with the US. Rats received a conditioned taste aversion procedure where CS1 and CS2 were presented either one after the other or separated by an 80-min. delay. For all subjects, the US or pseudo-US was presented immediately after CS2. When hypothermia was interpolated between the two flavor stimuli that were spaced 80 min. apart, CS2-interference with the CS1-US association was greatly attenuated. We propose that hypothermia modifies internal timing mechanisms such that the externally timed 80-min. CS1-CS2 interval was perceived as much shorter for rats made hypothermic. As a result of this perceived shortened inter-CS interval, CS2 produced less interference for the CS1-US association than would be expected for such a relatively long delay between CS1 and CS2.

Penile prosthetic surgery for Peyronie's disease: defining the need for intraoperative adjuvant maneuvers.

INTRODUCTION: There are a number of accepted approaches to the patient with Peyronie's disease and erectile dysfunction (ED), including penile prosthesis surgery. During prosthesis surgery for Peyronie's disease some men are left with residual curvature upon maximum device inflation. This analysis was undertaken to define how often and in which patients, intra-operative adjuvant maneuvers are required. METHODS: Men undergoing penile prosthesis surgery for combined Peyronie's disease/ED constituted the study population. Residual curvature >10 degrees was deemed to warrant the use of a secondary maneuver to correct curvature. In this analysis, plaque release incisions were utilized and grafting was performed only if there was overt exposure of the prosthesis. RESULTS: 36 men were included in the analysis. All patients with preoperative curvatures 45 degrees curvature preoperatively, 86% needed plaque incision to achieve adequate penile straightening. Grafting was required in only 5.5% patients and both of these patients had preoperative curvature >60 degrees . CONCLUSIONS: In 61% of patients with combined Peyronie's disease/ED in this study, the placement of a three-piece inflatable penile prosthesis alone corrected the penile curvature. 86% of patients requiring plaque incision had preoperative curvatures >45 degrees . This information should enable surgeons to plan such operations more effectively and to counsel patients more comprehensively prior to operative intervention.