Routine Outcomes Monitoring to Support Improving Care for Schizophrenia: Report from the VA Mental Health QUERI

In schizophrenia, treatments that improve outcomes have not been reliably disseminated. A major barrier to improving care has been a lack of routinely collected outcomes data that identify patients who are failing to improve or not receiving effective treatments. To support high quality care, the VA Mental Health QUERI used literature review, expert interviews, and a national panel process to increase consensus regarding outcomes monitoring instruments and strategies that support quality improvement. There was very good consensus in the domains of psychotic symptoms, side-effects, drugs and alcohol, depression, caregivers, vocational functioning, and community tenure. There are validated instruments and assessment strategies that are feasible for quality improvement in routine practice

Photochemistry of Transition Metal Complexes Induced by Outer-Sphere Charge Transfer Excitation

The intermolecular (outer sphere, OS) interaction of a reducing and an oxidizing metal complex generates a new optical transition involving charge transfer (CT) from the electron donor to the acceptor. OS CT transitions are classified according to the redox site (metal or ligand). Generally, the interaction between donor and acceptor is facilitated by ion pairs consisting of an oxidizing complex cation and a reducing complex anion. There are also ion pairs which are composed of a metal complex and an organic counter ion as electron donor or acceptor. In addition, the review includes examples of OS CT interaction which do not involve ion pairs at all. — A short introduction into the theory is followed by the discussion of the spectroscopy of OS CT of transition metal complexes. Finally, photoreactions induced by OS CT transitions are reviewed. The optical transfer is frequently followed by a rapid back electron transfer which regenerates the starting complexes. In many cases the primary products are kinetically labile and substitution reactions compete successfully with back electron transfer. As a result stable redox products may be formed. As an alternative, the substitution can be followed by back electron transfer. Product formation appears then as a substitution of the starting complexes. The various possibilities are illustrated by appropriate examples

Morphological and cellular aspects of tail and limb regeneration in lizards: a model system with implications for tissue regeneration in mammals

The present Review summarizes studies on the process of tissue regeneration of lizards, intended as amodel to understand the process of regeneration in amniote