Zolpidem-induced suicide attempt: a case report.

Zolpidem is a popular drug indicated for the short-term treatment of insomnia. Side effects are not uncommon with zolpidem. Herein we describe an Iranian 27-year-old man with no known mood disorder or neuropsychological disease who attempted suicide upon taking zolpidem. There are two interesting facts about this case: Firstly, the patient had not history of suicide attempt or thinking. Secondly, this case had experienced suicide ideation after taking 20 mg of zolpidem, suggesting a possible correlation between zolpidem psychological effects and dangerous psychological behaviors.

Academic disintegrity among medical students: a randomised response technique study.

OBJECTIVES: Medical students, as tomorrow's doctors, are responsible for their patients' health; cheating may affect their academic knowledge and clinical skills. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of and attitudes towards academic disintegrity among medical students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). METHODS: Anonymous questionnaires including questions about various types of academic disintegrity were distributed among medical students during the clerkship and internship phases of the curriculum. Randomised response technique (RRT) was used to maintain the responders' privacy. Because the study design guaranteed the confidentiality of respondents, the TUMS Institutional Review Board declared that formal ethical approval was not required. RESULTS: A total of 124 students were enrolled in this study, of whom 63 were in the clerkship phase and 61 were in the internship phase. Of these respondents, 29% (n = 36) were male. The most frequently reported type of academic disintegrity was found to be 'impersonating an absent student in a class' (93%) and the least frequent to be 'legitimising absences by using bribes' (5%). Only a small number of interns considered 'buying hospital shifts', 'selling hospital shifts', 'impersonating an absent student' and 'helping others to cheat in examinations' as representing academic disintegrity. Approximately one third of participants stated that the RRT increased their confidence in anonymity and 90% of students found the use of RRT not difficult. CONCLUSIONS: Academic integrity is widely disrespected in different ways among medical students. Effective policies and interventions are required to control these misbehaviours in future doctors in order to optimise medical practice. Almost all respondents found it not difficult to use the RRT; the technique proved to be an effective and easily applied method of eliciting truthful responses to sensitive questions and represents an alternative to conventional anonymising techniques.

Antibiotics for treating human brucellosis.

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is the most common zoonotic infection in the world. Several antibiotics, separately or in combination, have been tried for treatment of human brucellosis. The inconsistencies between different treatment regimens warrants the need for a systematic review to inform clinical practice and future research. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of various antibiotic regimens, monotherapy or in combination with other antibiotics, for treating human brucellosis. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group Specialized Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and LILACS until May 2012. We browsed the abstract books of several international infectious diseases conferences. We also checked the reference lists of all studies identified SELECTION CRITERIA: We included the randomized controlled trials on the pharmaceutical interventions in treatment of acute, chronic, non-complicated, and complicated human brucellosis. The outcomes of interest were relapse, persistence of symptoms at the end of treatment, and adverse drug effects. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently assessed the studies for inclusion, risk of bias, and extracted relevant data using pre-designed extraction forms. The findings of homogenous studies were pooled using fixed-effect meta-analysis. MAIN RESULTS: In total we included 25 studies comparing various antibiotic regimens. Methods of allocation and concealment were inadequately described in half the studies, and only three were blinded. In comparisons of doxycycline plus rifampicin versus doxycycline plus streptomycin we found eight studies with 694 participants. For treatment failure, the doxycycline plus rifampicin regimen was less effective (risk ratio (RR) 1.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07 to 3.42, seven studies, 567 participants), relapse (RR 2.39, 95% CI 1.17 to 4.86), and minor adverse drug reactions (RR 1.38, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.92). In comparisons of doxycycline plus rifampicin against quinolone (ciprofloxacin or ofloxacin) plus rifampicin we found five studies of 336 participants. The pooled analysis did not demonstrate any significant difference between two regimens in terms of relapse and symptom persistence, but showed a non-significant higher risk of minor adverse reactions in doxycycline plus rifampicin (RR 1.80, 95% CI 0.78 to 4.18). Other comparisons were reported in a few heterogenous studies, and the pooled analyses, where applied, did not show any significant difference. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Doxycycline (six weeks) plus streptomycin (two or three weeks) regimen is more effective regimen than doxycycline plus rifampicin (six weeks) regimen. Since it needs daily intramuscular (IM) injection, access to care and cost are important factors in deciding between two choices. Quinolone plus rifampicin (six weeks) regimen is slightly better tolerated than doxycycline plus rifampicin, and low quality evidence did not show any difference in overall effectiveness.