Electroconvulsive therapy use in adolescents: a systematic review

Abstract\ud \ud \ud \ud Background\ud \ud Considered as a moment of psychological vulnerability, adolescence is remarkably a risky period for the development of psychopathologies, when the choice of the correct therapeutic approach is crucial for achieving remission. One of the researched therapies in this case is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The present study reviews the recent and classical aspects regarding ECT use in adolescents.\ud \ud \ud \ud Methods\ud \ud Systematic review, performed in November 2012, conformed to the PRISMA statement.\ud \ud \ud \ud Results\ud \ud From the 212 retrieved articles, only 39 were included in the final sample. The reviewed studies bring indications of ECT use in adolescents, evaluate the efficiency of this therapy regarding remission, and explore the potential risks and complications of the procedure.\ud \ud \ud \ud Conclusions\ud \ud ECT use in adolescents is considered a highly efficient option for treating several psychiatric disorders, achieving high remission rates, and presenting few and relatively benign adverse effects. Risks can be mitigated by the correct use of the technique and are considered minimal when compared to the efficiency of ECT in treating psychopathologies

Reformas de sistemas eleitorais: mudanças, contextos e conseqüências

This analysis of the reform processes that have occurred in New Zealand?s, Italy?s, Japan?s, and Mexico?s electoral systems begins by examining the initial context of each reform. It then describes the changes put in place and observes subsequent effects on party systems. Reform took a common route in these four countries, that is, some type of mixed system was adopted, where each voter casts two ballots in the Lower House: the first is cast for candidates who run in single-vote districts under the plurality system; the second is cast for a proportional closed list, which may be national or state/provincial in scope. The article strongly questions the thesis that the effects of institutional changes can be controlled, since relatively similar electoral reforms have had different consequences in the cases analyzed. In New Zealand, such changes brought significant improvements to existing institutions. In Italy, the only evident effect was the breakdown of the previous party system. In Japan, one sole party no longer dominated the system, which developed instead into a moderately fragmented one. Lastly, in Mexico, one could not say the system is effectively democratic but one can detect a trend towards party diversification and less manipulation of the polls

Presidential elections: centrality, context, and implications

The author argues that the conjugation of certain democratic, socioeconomic and political factors has led to the "nationalization" of presidential elections in Brazil since 1960. The expansion of the electoral market resulting from urbanization and the growth of the electorate, together with the progressive removal of the obstacles to voting - due to income, gender, age, and education - has democratized the electoral process by diversifying the social structure of the electorate. Since then, the president's election has ceased to depend solely upon rural political forces and now involves multiple combinations of rural and urban political forces. Candidates can no longer count on specific social groups in order to guarantee their election, and need to widen their appeal. Based on the results of the direct presidential elections of 1960, 1989, 1994 and 1998, the author contends that the "nationalization" of the vote is part of the political integration of Brazilian society and that this, together with the social complexity of the electorate, means that the candidate's appeal and political stance need to be more wide-ranging in order to prevent potential conflicts from arising during the election campaign

The Brazilian Multi-Party System: a Case for Contextual Political Rationality.

This dissertation analyzes the Brazilian political parties from a systemic perspective using state data for all legislative elections held during the 1945-1962 period. By a systemic perspective we mean that the party system is defined as an analytical unit and that we seek to identify its main trends and behavioral aspects of its parties. The central hypothesis states that Brazil had a highly fragmented party system which, from an institutional point of view, nominally comprised thirteen parties; in reality the party system functioned with a much smaller number of parties. A second important point concerns the diversity of party structures within the same legally established party system. As a matter of fact, three different types of party sub-systems are identified: these are a two-party system; a moderately fragmented three-to-five party system; and a highly fragmented party system comprising at least six parties. These party structures varied across the states of the federation over time and depending on whether the level of political competition was federal or state. In order to demonstrate our central hypothesis, we examine three problem areas showing that the different political processes which characterized each problem area had one aspect in common. Regardless of their intrinsic nature, all these processes implied variations in the number of effective parties and electoral preferences. The problem areas that we analyze include the process of alliance formation, the growth and decline of parties, and the effect of electoral laws on the dynamics of the party system. In each of these problem areas, the following procedures are taken: first, we present and discuss the existing conventional hypotheses and their pertinent evidence. Secondly, we review these hypotheses showing that they do not adequately account for the evidence and that they are consistent with a premise of invariant political rationality. Finally, we substitute for the notion of invariant political rationality the notion of contextual political rationality and present our own hypotheses which are consistent with the notion of contextual rationality. We offer as well the evidence we gathered to prove them.Ph.D.Political scienceUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/157947/1/8025716.pd