Evolving treatment strategies in mantle cell lymphoma.

Mantle cell lymphoma is an incurable, moderately aggressive B cell lymphoma. While a small proportion of patients with indolent disease can be managed expectantly, most patients require treatment. The therapeutic approach is driven by physician recommendation, patient choice, age, fitness and comorbidities. Young, fit patients often receive combination chemoimmunotherapy, including high dose cytarabine, with autologous stem cell transplant. Recent data has indicated benefit from maintenance rituximab following autologous stem cell transplant. Ongoing trials are investigating combinations of chemotherapy and targeted agents as well as the role of minimal residual disease guided therapy. Older, less fit patients often receive bendamustine and rituximab or anthracycline based regimens. Maintenance rituximab is typically administered in older MCL patients after anthracycline based chemotherapy although its use after bendamustine based therapy is not supported by current data. Current trials focus on refining this regimen with the addition of targeted agents. In the relapsed and refractory setting, novel agents have demonstrated activity although durability of responses remains unsatisfactory.

Stigma and Attitudes toward Patients with Psychiatric Illness among Postgraduate Indian Physicians.

BACKGROUND: Due to paucity of psychiatrists in India, psychiatric patients often present to other doctors. We aimed to study nonpsychiatric residents' attitude and stigma toward psychiatric patients. METHODS: A total of 57 postgraduate trainees participated in a cross-sectional study in a tertiary hospital in New Delhi. Attitudes to psychiatric patients were assessed using the attitude to mental illness questionnaire (AMIQ) and the perceived stigma questionnaire. This was correlated with sociodemographic information. RESULTS: Over 70% residents accepted mentally ill patients as friends and felt they were equally employable. However, AMIQ demonstrated a negative attitude towards patients with schizophrenia. Perceived competence in dealing with psychiatric patients was associated with adequate undergraduate exposure (Chi-square = 7.270, P = 0.026) and correlated with positive attitudes (t-test, P = 0.0008). CONCLUSIONS: While the questionnaires revealed some prejudice toward psychiatric patients with schizophrenia, the postgraduate trainees who felt competent to deal with the mentally ill had the most positive attitudes toward them.

Dealing with requests for pharmacological cognitive enhancement from healthy students.

The use of drugs to enhance cognitive function and academic performance is clearly a global phenomenon, with the reported prevalence of stimulant use among medical students ranging from 15-20%. A multi-institution study from the USA reported a 6.9% lifetime prevalence of non-prescription use of cognitive enhancers among college students. A comprehensive systematic review indicates a 16-29% use of non-prescribed stimulants among all students for reasons that include increasing concentration and alertness. While mental health professionals and guidance counsellors anecdotally recall requests for pharmacological cognitive enhancement from otherwise healthy students, the exact magnitude of this problem in the Indian context is not clear.

Recurrent venous thromboembolism in glioblastoma.

BACKGROUND: Patients with glioblastoma (GBM) are at increased risk of initial and recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE) but rates of recurrence and real-world treatment choices are incompletely understood. OBJECTIVES: We aim to describe the treatment of incident VTE, report incidence and risk factors for recurrence. PATIENTS/METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of consecutive Cleveland Clinic patients with GBM presenting with objectively diagnosed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) from 2007 to 2013 with at least 6-month follow-up. We collected information on patient demographics, VTE incidence, treatment and recurrence. Data were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Of 450 patients with GBM, 145 (32.2%) developed VTE and comprised the study population. Of these, 11 (7.6%) experienced PE, 117 (80.7%) had DVT and 16 (11%) had DVT as well as PE. Fifty five (37.9%) VTE events occurred in the first 30 post-operative days and 56 (38.6%) during chemotherapy. Thirty one (21.4%) patients were untreated. Treatments included enoxaparin (N=36, 24.8%), warfarin (15, 10.3%) or vena cava filters either alone (N=39, 26.9%) or in combination with anticoagulation (N=21, 14.5%). Recurrent VTE occurred in 39 patients (26.9%).In multivariate analysis, lack of long term anticoagulation (HR 11.2, CI 1.5-86.3, p<0.05) and the presence of second primary malignancy (HR 3.69, CI 1.2-11.1, p<0.05) were significantly associated with recurrent VTE. CONCLUSION: VTE and recurrent VTE are highly prevalent throughout the disease course among patients with GBM. Long term anticoagulation is associated with reduced risk of recurrent VTE but is often not utilized.

The emergency physician's assessment of suicide risk in intentional self-poisoning using the modified SAD PERSONS scale versus standard psychiatric evaluation in a general hospital in South India: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: The reliable identification, by emergency physicians, of those with intentional self-poisoning at risk of repeating attempts is crucial, particularly in countries with a shortfall of mental health professionals. METHODS: This cross-sectional study of intentional self-poisoning in India compared an emergency physician's assessment for the need for psychiatric referral, using the modified SAD PERSONS Scale (MSPS) as an interview guide, with a standard psychiatric interview. RESULTS: In 67 consecutive adults with intentional self-poisoning, MSPS cut-off scores of 5 or more best approximated psychiatric assessments for the need for psychiatric referral (positive likelihood ratio 2.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.8-10.2; negative likelihood ratio 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.8). CONCLUSIONS: MSPS-guided emergency physicians' assessments after self-poisoning showed modest concordance with psychiatric assessments of suicide-risk. Concordance with psychiatric assessments may improve if risk factors prevalent in different settings are identified and incorporated in the MSPS.