Depressed youth, suicidality and antidepressants

The document attached has been archived with permission from the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Robert D Goldney, Peter R Mansfield, Melissa K Raven, Jon N Jureidini, Joseph M Rey, Michael J Dudley, Duncan Toplis

"Munchausen by proxy syndrome": not only pathological parenting but also problematic doctoring?

The document attached has been archived with permission from the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Certain social expectations of medicine combine with characteristics of subspecialised technological paediatrics to facilitate the form of child abuse labelled "Munchausen by proxy syndrome". Examining this form of child abuse highlights possible shortcomings of medical practice. The primary medical tasks of diagnosing and curing illness and of preventing suffering are sometimes overridden by other motivations of which doctors may not be fully aware. More open discussion of what motivates health professionals in their work may improve medical practice and lead to a reduced incidence of Munchausen by proxy syndrome.Jon N Jureidini, Allan T Shafer and Terence G Donal

Universal correlations along the BEC-BCS crossover

We show that the long-distance behavior of the two-body density correlation functions and the Cooper-pair probability density of a balanced mixture of a two-component Fermi gas at $T = 0$, is universal along the BEC-BCS crossover. Our result is demonstrated by numerically solving the mean-field BCS model for different finite short-range atomic interaction potentials. We find an analytic expression for the correlation length in terms of the chemical potential and the energy gap at zero momentum.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Restoring Study 329: efficacy and harms of paroxetine and imipramine in treatment of major depression in adolescence

Objectives: To reanalyse SmithKline Beecham’s Study 329 (published by Keller and colleagues in 2001), the primary objective of which was to compare the efficacy and safety of paroxetine and imipramine with placebo in the treatment of adolescents with unipolar major depression. The reanalysis under the restoring invisible and abandoned trials (RIAT) initiative was done to see whether access to and reanalysis of a full dataset from a randomised controlled trial would have clinically relevant implications for evidence based medicine. Design: Double blind randomised placebo controlled trial. Setting: 12 North American academic psychiatry centres, from 20 April 1994 to 15 February 1998. Participants: 275 adolescents with major depression of at least eight weeks in duration. Exclusion criteria included a range of comorbid psychiatric and medical disorders and suicidality. Interventions: Participants were randomised to eight weeks double blind treatment with paroxetine (20-40 mg), imipramine (200-300 mg), or placebo. Main outcome measures: The prespecified primary efficacy variables were change from baseline to the end of the eight week acute treatment phase in total Hamilton depression scale (HAM-D) score and the proportion of responders (HAM-D score ≤8 or ≥50% reduction in baseline HAM-D) at acute endpoint. Prespecified secondary outcomes were changes from baseline to endpoint in depression items in K-SADS-L, clinical global impression, autonomous functioning checklist, self-perception profile, and sickness impact scale; predictors of response; and number of patients who relapse during the maintenance phase. Adverse experiences were to be compared primarily by using descriptive statistics. No coding dictionary was prespecified. Results: The efficacy of paroxetine and imipramine was not statistically or clinically significantly different from placebo for any prespecified primary or secondary efficacy outcome. HAM-D scores decreased by 10.7 (least squares mean) (95% confidence interval 9.1 to 12.3), 9.0 (7.4 to 10.5), and 9.1 (7.5 to 10.7) points, respectively, for the paroxetine, imipramine and placebo groups (P=0.20). There were clinically significant increases in harms, including suicidal ideation and behaviour and other serious adverse events in the paroxetine group and cardiovascular problems in the imipramine group. Conclusions: Neither paroxetine nor high dose imipramine showed efficacy for major depression in adolescents, and there was an increase in harms with both drugs. Access to primary data from trials has important implications for both clinical practice and research, including that published conclusions about efficacy and safety should not be read as authoritative. The reanalysis of Study 329 illustrates the necessity of making primary trial data and protocols available to increase the rigour of the evidence base.Joanna Le Noury, John M Nardo, David Healy, Jon Jureidini, Melissa Raven, Catalin Tufanaru, Elia Abi-Jaoud

Childhood tetanus in Australia: ethical issues for a should-be-forgotten preventable disease

Refusal of a parent to have a child vaccinated against tetanus raised ethical issues for the treating clinicians. The clinicians felt their duty to the child was compromised, but recognised that our society leaves the authority for such decisions with the parents. As there was no reason, other than different beliefs about vaccination, to doubt the parent\u27s care for the child, the clinicians limited their response to providing strong recommendations in favour of vaccination. Other issues raised by this case include community protection, and the costs to the community of treating a vaccine-preventable disease

Ghostwriting at Elite Academic Medical Centers in the United States

Jeffrey Lacasse and Jonathan Leo assess ghostwriting policies at 50 academic medical centers in the United States and find that only 10 explicitly prohibit ghostwriting

Intestinal intussusception and occlusion caused by small bowel polyps in the Peutz-Jeghers syndrome. Management by combined intraoperative enteroscopy and resection through minimal enterostomy: case report

A síndrome de Peutz-Jeghers é uma doença de caráter hereditário que freqüentemente requer intervenções endoscópicas e cirúrgicas repetidas, levando a complicações secundárias como, por exemplo, a síndrome do intestino curto. RELATO DE CASO: Relatamos neste artigo o caso de paciente de 15 anos, masculino, com história familiar para a doença, que foi submetido ao procedimento cirúrgico para tratar oclusão devido a intussucepção de intestino delgado. DISCUSSÃO: Associou-se método fibroscópico intra-operatório com a finalidade de detecção e ressecção de numerosos pólipos distribuídos em todo o intestino delgado. Realizaram-se enterotomias para a retirada dos pólipos maiores, restringindo-se, portanto, a ressecção intestinal a segmentos menores. A evolução clínica foi boa. CONCLUSÃO: Ressalta-se a importância do manejo de forma conservadora dos pacientes portadores desta síndrome, principalmente naqueles cujas manifestações clínicas de importância cirúrgica aparecem precocemente.The Peutz-Jeghers syndrome is a hereditary disease that requires frequent endoscopic and surgical intervention, leading to secondary complications such as short bowel syndrome. CASE REPORT: This paper reports on a 15-year-old male patient with a family history of the disease, who underwent surgery for treatment of an intestinal occlusion due to a small intestine intussusception. DISCUSSION: An intra-operative fiberscopic procedure was included for the detection and treatment of numerous polyps distributed along the small intestine. Enterotomy was performed to treat only the larger polyps, therefore limiting the intestinal resection to smaller segments. The postoperative follow-up was uneventful. CONCLUSION: We point out the importance of conservative treatment for patients with this syndrome, especially those who will undergo repeated surgical interventions because of clinical manifestation while they are still young

Relation between therapeutic response and side effects induced by methylphenidate as observed by parents and teachers of children with ADHD

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The desired (therapeutic) and undesired (side) effects of methylphenidate might have underlying correlations. The aim of this study was to explore the strength and the possible sources of these correlations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>One hundred and fifty-seven children with ADHD (6-12 years) were administered placebo and methylphenidate (0.5 mg/kg in a divided b.i.d. dose), each for a one-week period, in a double-blind, crossover trial. Therapeutic response was assessed using the Conners' Global Index for parents (CGI-Parents) and teachers (CGI-Teachers), while side effects were assessed using the Barkley Side Effects Rating Scale (SERS).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The side effect profile as assessed by the SERS was similar to that of previous studies with insomnia, decreased appetite, and headaches showing significant treatment effects (p < 0.005). These "somatic/physical" side effects did not correlate with CGI-Parents or CGI-Teachers. However, the side effects of "irritability", "proneness to crying", and "anxiousness" showed significant relationships with CGI-Parents. These "mood/anxiety" side effects showed no significant correlations with the CGI-Teachers.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The greater "mood/anxiety" side effects on methylphenidate and placebo, the less the parents observe improvement of their children while treated with methylphenidate. This suggests that the correlations between "mood/anxiety" side effects and poor response to treatment may be driven by observer effects rather than biological commonalities between therapeutic and side effects of methylphenidate.</p

Surgical reconstruction of the left main coronary artery with patch-angioplasty

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Conventional coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has been established as the treatment of choice for left main coronary artery (LMCA) stenosis However, the conventional grafting provides a retrograde perfusion to extensive myocardial area and leads prospectively to competitive flow of the non-occluded coronaries thus consuming the grafts. Surgical reconstruction of the LMCA with patch-angioplasty is an alternative method that eliminates these drawbacks.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between February 1997 and July 2007, 37 patients with isolated LMCA stenosis were referred for surgical ostial reconstruction. In 27 patients (73%) surgical angioplasties have been performed. All patients were followed up clinically and with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and coronary angiography when required.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 10 patients (27%) a LMCA stenosis could not be confirmed. There were no early mortality or perioperative myocardial infarctions. The postoperative course was uneventful in all patients. In 25 patients, TEE demonstrated a wide open main stem flow pattern one to six months after reconstruction of the left main coronary artery with one patch mild aneurysmal dilated.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The surgical reconstruction with patch-angioplasty is a safe and effective method for the treatment of proximal and middle LMCA stenosis. Almost one third of the study group had no really LMCA stenosis: antegrade flow pattern remained sustained and the arterial grafts have been spared. In the cases of unclear or suspected LMCA stenosis, cardio-CT can be performed to unmask catheter-induced coronary spasm as the underlying reason for isolated LMCA stenosis.</p