Group cognitive analytic music therapy: a quasi-experimental feasibility study conducted in a high secure hospital

This study conducted a feasibility patient preference quasi-experimental study of group cognitive analytic music therapy (G-CAMT) for mentally disordered offenders. Participants either chose or were randomised to 16 sessions of manualised G-CAMT (N = 10) plus treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU alone (N = 10). Self-rated and staff-rated outcomes were assessed at baseline, post-intervention and 8-weeks post-intervention. Residency was assessed at 2-year follow-up. Results indicate that G-CAMT was easily implemented; 9/10 participants completed G-CAMT and attendees had high satisfaction with the approach. Session attendance was high; 4/10 participants attended all sessions. At the 8-week follow-up, 3/9 G-CAMT participants had reliable reductions (i.e. statistically reliable pre to 8-week follow-up change results) in intrusive/possessive behaviours and fear of separation/abandonment. On the staff-rated outcome measure G-CAMT participants as a group were statistically significantly friendlier compared to TAU at 8-week follow-up (U = 0.50, p = 0.009, d = 1.92, CI 0.44 to 3.11). There were no differences between the arms in terms of residency outcomes at 2-year follow-up. The study is discussed in terms of G-CAMT’s theoretical grounding and high acceptability. The study is limited by its small sample size, but indicates the possibility of progressing onto a full trial

There is no age limit for methadone: a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Data from the US indicates that methadone-maintained populations are aging, with an increase of patients aged 50 or older. Data from European methadone populations is sparse. This retrospective cohort study sought to evaluate the age trends and related developments in the methadone population of Basel-City, Switzerland. METHODS: The study included methadone patients between April 1, 1995 and March 31, 2003. Anonymized data was taken from the methadone register of Basel-City. For analysis of age distributions, patient samples were split into four age categories from '20-29 years' to '50 years and over'. Cross-sectional comparisons were performed using patient samples of 1996 and 2003. RESULTS: Analysis showed a significant increase in older patients between 1996 and 2003 (p < 0.001). During that period, the percentage of patients aged 50 and over rose almost tenfold, while the proportion of patients aged under 30 dropped significantly from 52.8% to 12.3%. The average methadone dose (p < 0.001) and the 1-year retention rate (p < 0.001) also increased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Findings point to clear trends in aging of methadone patients in Basel-City which are comparable, although less pronounced, to developments among US methadone populations. Many unanswered questions on medical, psychosocial and health economic consequences remain as the needs of older patients have not yet been evaluated extensively. However, older methadone patients, just as any other patients, should be accorded treatment appropriate to their medical condition and needs. Particular attention should be paid to adequate solutions for persons in need of care

Experimental comparison of the Marcus-Hush and Butler-Volmer descriptions of electrode kinetics. the one-electron oxidation of 9,10-diphenylanthracene and one-electron reduction of 2-nitropropane studied at high-speed channel microband electrodes

We present an experimental comparative evaluation of the Marcus-Hush (MH) and Butler-Volmer (BV) kinetic formalisms. Numerical simulations using both kinetic models are used to fit experimental voltammetry of the one-electron oxidation of 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA) and the one-electron reduction of 2-nitropropane (NP) at a high-speed channel microband electrode. For DPA the Butler-Volmer and Marcus-Hush formalisms yield indistinguishable fits, as expected for a system with fast electrode kinetics. For the BV formalism best fits were obtained using k0 = 0.83 cm s-1 and α = 0.49; for MH the best fit parameters were k0 = 0.85 cm s-1 and λ = 0.58 eV. For NP neither Butler-Volmer nor Marcus-Hush models are able to obtain very accurate fits to experiment, although it was possible for the Butler-Volmer model to yield more accurate fits if the transfer coefficients, α and β, are not required to sum to unity, which is possibly justifiable due to the very large difference between oxidative and reductive peak potentials. The best fit obtained using MH kinetics used k 0 = 7.0 × 10-6 cm s-1 and λ = 1.0 eV, while BV kinetics was able to fit using k0 = 9.5 × 10 -4 cm s-1 and α = β = 0.24. © 2011 American Chemical Society