Total oxidant-scavenging capacities of plasma from glycogen storage disease type Ia patients as measured by cyclic voltammetry, FRAP and luminescence techniques.

It has been suggested that the very low incidence of atherosclerosis in glycogen storage disease type Ia (GSD Ia) subjects might be attributed to elevated levels of uric acid, one of the potent low molecular- weight antioxidants found in plasma. The present communication describes a use of two analytical methods-cyclic voltammetry and ferric reducing ability of plasma-and also two chemiluminescence methods to evaluate the total oxidant-scavenging capacities (TOSC) of plasma from GSD Ia patients. Our results verified the elevation of TOSC in GSD Ia patients and we propose the inclusion of luminescence and cyclic voltammetry assays as reliable methods for estimating TOSC in a variety of clinical disorders. Our findings with the cyclic voltammetry method add support to the assumption that the elevated uric acid levels might be the main contributor to plasma antioxidant capacity and possible protection against atherosclerosis.

The implant supported mandibular bar overdenture: diagnosis and treatment planning.

In selecting the treatment most appropriate to the patient, the practitioner should consider all of the factors mentioned in this paper, as well as the patient's economic status. A written treatment plan should be provided to the patient, and a signed authorization for treatment should be obtained before treatment begins.

Pediculosis prevention and control strategies of community health and school nurses: a descriptive study.

Pediculus humanus capitis (pediculosis capitis) affects several million school children in the United States every year and is more prevalent among children than all other childhood communicable diseases combined. Traditional treatment of pediculosis involves the direct application of pesticides to the scalp of infested individuals. Yet, a single-treatment, 100% ovicidal pediculicide has not been developed. Head lice can be easily detected by an educated screener. The National Pediculosis Association (NPA) recommends regular screenings to control lice outbreaks in school settings. Screening is utilized as a prevention strategy to facilitate early detection and minimize exposure to potentially toxic chemicals. Nurses working with children in the country's schools are in key positions to develop, initiate, and incorporate prevention and control strategies into their child healthcare agenda. An NPA national survey identified specific lice management strategies used by community health nurses (CHNs) and school nurses working in school systems. The purpose of this article is to report the prevention and control strategies used by the nurses. Results of this national survey indicated significant variation in management strategies. A national standardized approach toward prevention and control is not being utilized.

DRGs and psychiatry: work in progress.

A study is presented in which a number of variables describing psychiatric patients hospitalized within Veterans Administration Medical Centers are being investigated as potentially more predictive discriminators of resource consumption than the currently formulated diagnostic-related groups.

Vietnam veterans and posttraumatic stress disorder.

As many as four million Americans were stationed in Indochina during the Vietnam War; some 800,000 were assigned to the combat zone. These individuals are at especially high risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder, a diagnostic category that appeared for the first time in DSM-III. The authors explore the reasons why many Vietnam veterans have developed the disorder. They discuss four broad types of disorders now being found among veterans, the problems in diagnosing and treating the disorder, and the theoretical basis in ego psychology for the behavior of veterans with the disorder. Also briefly outlined are some clinical considerations for therapists treating Vietnam veterans.

The future of Veterans Administration Hospital programs for psychiatric patients.

In planning for the continued care of its large veteran population, the Veterans Administration is taking into account needs generated by trends such as a decreasing incidence of schizophrenia among veterans, an increasing use of outpatient services, and an increasing number of veterans suffering from alcoholism and substance abuse. The authors discuss the characteristics of the three types of VA medical centers that serve psychiatric patients: small general hospitals without a medical school affiliation; large general hospitals with a medical school affiliation; and large general hospitals with large psychiatric populations. One major goal of future planning is to institute psychiatric services at all of the 172 VA medical centers. Another goal is to ensure that each facility with a medical school affiliation will have a day hospital, a day treatment center, and a mental hygiene clinic.

Drug therapy decisions. A social judgment analysis.

Seventy psychiatric staff members at various Veterans Administration hospitals made decisions concerning appropriate medication for 40 hypothetical cases. A profile presented for each case described the patient's status on eight symptom dimensions. The physician-judges examined each profile and specified appropriate drugs and dose levels for the case. Analyses focused on agreement among judges and on prescriptive strategies, the manner in which symptoms were weighted in specific drug decisions. When base rates were taken into account in determining chance levels, the judges failed to agree with each other significantly more than would be expected by change; this was true for their prescriptions of general class of medications, specific drugs, and dose levels. Differences among physicians were traceable to inconsistency in the use of symptom information and individual variations in prescriptive strategies, cue (symptom) weighting strategies of judges being dissimilar and sometimes contradictory.

Telemetered EEG-EOG during psychotic behaviors of schizophrenia.

In an effort to establish correlations between abnormal behaviors characteristic of schizophrenia and simultaneous cerebral electrical activity, EEGs and electro-oculograms (EOGs) were continuously recorded for 2 to 24 hours by radiotelemetry from 40 patients with schizophrenia and 12 normal control subjects. Trained observers recorded specific behavior patterns permitting visual and computer analysis of EEG during hallucinations, stereotypy, catatonia, psychomotor blocking, and other characteristic manifestations of schizophrenia. Electroencephalographic abnormalities consisting of focal slow or spike activity over either temporal region were found in nearly half of the patients so recorded. In contrast to the EEG during ictal episodes of epilepsy, the abnormal wave forms of schizophrenic patients seldom coincided with episodes of blocking, stereotypy, or other abnormal behaviors. Increased extraocular activity or blinking were recorded in a majority of patients, but were not consistently associated with the abnormal behavior or perceptual events.