Dynamic Informed Consent Processes Vital for Treatment with Antidepressants

Advances in technology and transparency have greatly accelerated the ability of clinicians to remain current with regards to being informed and informing patients about the risk/benefit ratio when considering antidepressant medication. In spite of this, the current climate of pharmaceutical industry influence on medical practice does much to hinder informed consent processes. Recent findings of previously unknown and potentially dangerous adverse effects of the second- and third-generation classes of antidepressants underscore the importance of enhancing the practice of informed consent. After considering the concept of informed consent as it has evolved over time, the authors summarize some of the newer side effects associated with second- and third-generation antidepressants and then move on to describe impediments in the way of achieving adequate informed consent at the clinical encounter. Among these impediments, the authors discuss the impact of industry influence, cognitive bias in decision-making, and time constraints. These obstacles and the notion that modern antidepressants are not as safe as once thought offer an opportunity to revisit the process of informed consent. A dynamic concept of informed consent is proposed with the acknowledgement that a mere listing of side effects or pro forma approach to informed consent is inadequate, and that a deep and ongoing conversation with patients will more likely result in patient empowerment and a strengthening of the therapeutic alliance. This process is analogized to an “n=1” approach where patients’ idiosyncratic responses to second- and third-generation antidepressants can be used to update prior beliefs based on large-scale trials and allow patient and doctor to shoulder the burden of uncertainty together, thereby enhancing placebo and minimizing nocebo response and leading to more optimal treatment outcomes

Development of motion control method for laser soldering process

Development of a method to generate the motion control data for sealing an electronic housing using laser soldering is described. The motion required to move the housing under the laser is a nonstandard application and was performed with a four-axis system using the timed data streaming mode capabilities of a Compumotor AT6400 indexer. A Microsoft Excel 5.0 spreadsheet (named Israuto.xls) was created to calculate the movement of the part under the laser, and macros were written into the spreadsheet to allow the user to easily create this data. A data verification method was developed for simulating the motion data. The geometry of the assembly was generated using Parametric Technology Corporation Pro/E version 15. This geometry was then converted using Pro/DADS version 3.1 from Computer Aided Design Software Inc. (CADSI), and the simulation was carried out using DADS version 8.0 from CADSI

Characterization of the Damping of a Free Vibrating Piezoelectric Motor Stator by Displacement Measurements

This report talks about Characterization of the Damping of a Free Vibrating Piezoelectric Motor Stator by Displacement Measurement

Evaluation of surface mount component misalignment using an automatic machine vision system. Final report

A system manufactured by Synthetic Vision Systems Inc. was evaluated for its ability to automatically inspect surface mount components on a densely populated printed wiring board assembly for component presence and proper alignment before and after soldering. The system was evaluated for its use as a process verification tool in the presoldered mode and as a supplement to visual inspection in the postsoldered mode. To test the ability of the three-dimensional imaging system to locate the component edges in both the presoldered and postsoldered cases, data was gathered by inspecting four printed wiring board assemblies with the system