[User evaluation of a psychiatric day center]. / Brugerevaluering af psykiatrisk dagcenter.

When community mental health centres were introduced in Copenhagen, day centres were attached to them. With the purpose of highlighting users' perspective in psychiatry, 48 patients in a psychiatric day centre were included in the study one year after the opening of the day centre. User satisfaction was investigated by means of a questionnaire, which was completed by the patient, while information on other aspects of the patients' lives was gathered from interviews with the patients and from case-records. The users of psychiatric day centres were mostly schizophrenic patients. The average number of years since first contact with psychiatric services was 12. In comparison with an age and sex-matched population in Copenhagen, patients were more isolated. There was a insignificant tendency towards use of psychiatric bed capacity decreasing from the one year period before the opening of the day centre to the one year period after. The users were very satisfied with the treatment in the day centre. The majority expressed that they trusted the staff, and that they believed that the treatment in the centre had affected their situation in a positive way. It is concluded that psychiatric day centres are useful and should form a part of psychiatric services.

Thiamine pyrophosphate effect and erythrocyte transketolase activity during severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

The thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) effect and erythrocyte transketolase activity (ETKA) in a group of 28 patients admitted to a psychiatric emergency ward because of severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome were compared with the TPP effect and ETKA in a control group of 20 healthy nonalcoholic volunteers. The patients were treated with 300 mg thiamine 3 times daily as intramuscular injections, and the TPP effect and ETKA were measured after 1 and 4 days of treatment. No difference was found between the patient group and the control group with regard to the TPP effect and ETKA and no decline in the TPP effect was found in the patient group after 4 days of intensive treatment with thiamine. ETKA increased with intensive thiamine treatment, which suggests that ETKA is a sensitive indicator of thiamine deficiency. Serum magnesium, which is a cofactor for thiamine pyrophosphate, decreased significantly with the disappearance of alcohol from the blood in patients with high initial blood alcohol levels, but this shift did not interfere with biological thiamine activity.