Risk and protective factors for release in outpatients with schizophrenia

eposterWe aim to determine risk and protective factors influencing relapse incidence in outpatient with schizophrenia. A longitudinal, observational study was done with outpatients with schizophrenia (F20) or schizoaffective disorder (F25)(DMS-IV and ICD-10), without hospitalization during the previous 6 months. The patients were consecutively included into the study to received oral (O-A) or long-acting injectable (depot-A) antipsychotics. Clinical stage evolution, compliance, efficacy and safety assessments (including PANSS, CGI-SSI, hospitalization rates, and adverse events) were recorded before and after 6 and 12 months of treatment. Results: 60 outpatients (aged 34.5±8.9, male 73%), 75% schizophrenia and 25% schizoaffective disorder diagnosis, 68.3% fewer than 15 years of schizophrenia evolution, 76.7% fewer than 5 times previous hospitalizations were treated with O-A (41.7%) or depot-A (58.3%) antipsychotics for at least one year. Depot-A treated patients showed a significant higher compliance compared to O-A patients during the all following time, lower PANSS (total, positive and negative) scores and CGI-SSI score (p<0.01), and a delayed relapse incidence and re-hospitalization to more than 1 year in the 48% of patients (relapse % depot/% oral) after 6 months 22.9%/52.0%, and after 12 months 48.6%/4.0%. Conclusion: There were protective factors which delayed relapse incidence in schizophrenia: Use of sustained-release preparations, family support. There were risk factors for occurrence of relapse in schizophrenia: cocaine, heroin and alcohol consumption, absence of family support, greater severity of patients assessed through CGI-SI, male sex, age older than 25 years and long-term evolution of the disorder.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Pair Creation of Dilaton Black Holes in Extended Inflation

Dilatonic Charged Nariai instantons mediate the nucleation of black hole pairs during extended chaotic inflation. Depending on the dilaton and inflaton fields, the black holes are described by one of two approximations in the Lorentzian regime. For each case we find Euclidean solutions that satisfy the no boundary proposal. The complex initial values of the dilaton and inflaton are determined, and the pair creation rate is calculated from the Euclidean action. Similar to standard inflation, black holes are abundantly produced near the Planck boundary, but highly suppressed later on. An unusual feature we find is that the earlier in inflation that the dilatonic black holes are created, the more highly charged they can be.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX, 6 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.

Bounds on isocurvature perturbations from CMB and LSS data

We obtain very stringent bounds on the possible cold dark matter, baryon and neutrino isocurvature contributions to the primordial fluctuations in the Universe, using recent cosmic microwave background and large scale structure data. In particular, we include the measured temperature and polarization power spectra from WMAP and ACBAR, as well as the matter power spectrum from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey. Neglecting the possible effects of spatial curvature, tensor perturbations and reionization, we perform a Bayesian likelihood analysis with nine free parameters, and find that the amplitude of the isocurvature component cannot be larger than about 31% for the cold dark matter mode, 91% for the baryon mode, 76% for the neutrino density mode, and 60% for the neutrino velocity mode, at 2-sigma, for uncorrelated models. On the other hand, for correlated adiabatic and isocurvature components, the fraction could be slightly larger. However, the cross-correlation coefficient is strongly constrained, and maximally correlated/anticorrelated models are disfavored. This puts strong bounds on the curvaton model, independently of the bounds on non-Gaussianity.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, some minor corrections; version accepted in PR

Metric perturbations in two-field inflation

We study the metric perturbations produced during inflation in models with two scalar fields evolving simultaneously. In particular, we emphasize how the large-scale curvature perturbation $\zeta$ on fixed energy density hypersurfaces may not be conserved in general for multiple field inflation due to the presence of entropy as well as adiabatic fluctuations. We show that the usual method of solving the linearized perturbation equations is equivalent to the recently proposed analysis of Sasaki and Stewart in terms of the perturbed expansion along neighboring trajectories in field-space. In the case of a separable potential it is possible to compute in the slow-roll approximation the spectrum of density perturbations and gravitational waves at the end of inflation. In general there is an inequality between the ratio of tensor to scalar perturbations and the tilt of the gravitational wave spectrum, which becomes an equality when only adiabatic perturbations are possible and $\zeta$ is conserved.Comment: RevTex, 9 pages, 1 uuencoded figure appended, also available on WWW via http://star.maps.susx.ac.uk/index.htm

Uncertainties of predictions in models of eternal inflation

In a previous paper \cite{MakingPredictions}, a method of comparing the volumes of thermalized regions in eternally inflating universe was introduced. In this paper, we investigate the dependence of the results obtained through that method on the choice of the time variable and factor ordering in the diffusion equation that describes the evolution of eternally inflating universes. It is shown, both analytically and numerically, that the variation of the results due to factor ordering ambiguity inherent in the model is of the same order as their variation due to the choice of the time variable. Therefore, the results are, within their accuracy, free of the spurious dependence on the time parametrization.Comment: 30 pages, RevTeX, figure included, added some references and Comments on recent proposal (gr-qc/9511058) of alternative regularization schemes, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Searches for gauge mediated SUSY breaking at LEP

The four LEP collaborations have performed searches for supersymmetric particles in light gravitino scenarios, when neutralinos and sleptons are produced and may present measurable decay lengths. The highest energy data has been analysed including centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV. No evidence for such particles is found, but preliminary limits from the combination allow to exclude at 95% confidence level neutralino masses up to 97 GeV if neutralinos decay promptly and stau masses up to 86.9 GeV for all stau lifetimes. The interpretation of these results in general models is studied to set limits on the parameters of the theory

Unambiguous probabilities in an eternally inflating universe

``Constants of Nature'' and cosmological parameters may in fact be variables related to some slowly-varying fields. In models of eternal inflation, such fields will take different values in different parts of the universe. Here I show how one can assign probabilities to values of the ``constants'' measured by a typical observer. This method does not suffer from ambiguities previously discussed in the literature.Comment: 7 pages, Final version (minor changes), to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Avatars and Cartoons reduce anxiety in pediatric inpatients

Avatars and Cartoons reduce anxiety in pediatric inpatients I Bellido1, MV Bellido2, A Gomez-Luque3. 1University of Malaga, Pharmacology and Clinical Therapeutics, Spain, 2Regional University Hospital, Malaga, Surgery Service, Spain, 3Virgen de la Victoria University Hospital, Malaga, Anaesthesia Service, Spain Background and aim: Pain induces fear, stress and anxiety in young children. Avatars and cartoons explaining analgesic and sedative drugs administration routes may reduce children’s anxiety in young children. We quantify the possible antianxiety effect of avatars and cartoons explaining analgesic and sedative drug’s administration routes to inpatients children. Methods: A prospective, aleatorized, controlled study (blinded for the analyser) in inpatients children (< 6 years old) was done. Clinical stage, diagnostic, surgery, anaesthesia and all treatment procedures were recorded. Anxiety (STAIC test) was recorded before and 5 h and 24 h after drugs administration. A 15 minutes movie with avatars and cartoons explaining how the analgesic and sedative drugs were going to be administered was use in 120 children (movie group) and was compared to other group that could not see the movie (control group n=120). Results: Children, N=240, aged 3-6 years, 4.5±1 years old, 55% male, treated in emergency 50%, surgery (31.3%) and intensities care unit (18.8%) were enrolled. The drugs routes administration were oral (25%), intramuscular (29.6%), intravenous (39.6%), inhalatory (3.8%), others (2.1%). Children saw part or the full movie an average of 5.2±2.1 times. At 24 h of follow-up anxiety was higher in control than in movie group (8.5±3 vs. 4.3±1.6, p<0.05, Student t test). Children of the control group wept, complained, and called their parents during more time than movie group. Conclusion: The use of avatars and cartoons to explain analgesics and sedative drugs routes administration to inpatients young children reduced children’s anxiety.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech