Sedatives are widely prescribed for anxiety or insomnia and include benzodiazepines, selective benzodiazepine receptor subtype agonists (z-drugs), and barbiturates. These sedatives are controlled substances due to their potential for misuse and abuse. Misuse is often self-medication (chemical coping) of psychological symptoms in ways unauthorized by the prescriber, usually as dose escalation le...

PURPOSE We assess the effect of consumer-directed care on the emotional, physical, and financial well-being of the primary informal caregivers of the Medicaid beneficiaries who voluntarily joined Arkansas's Cash and Counseling demonstration. DESIGN AND METHODS The demonstration randomly assigned beneficiaries to a program in which they could direct their own disability-related supportive serv...

Cancer cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome characterized by involuntary loss of skeletal muscle and fat, reduced quality of life and decreased survival. Unlike starvation, weight loss cannot be fully reversed by increasing caloric intake. Interventions, such as nutritional counseling or currently available appetite stimulants such as megestrol acetate have limited benefits. Recently, there ha...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW To discuss recent advances in potential treatments for Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), a typically visually devastating hereditary optic neuropathy caused by mutations in the mitochondrial genome. RECENT FINDINGS Idebenone has been proposed as a means of bypassing defective complex I activity and a free radical scavenger to prevent oxidative damage. EPI-743 may hav...

Developmental disabilities (DDs) are chronic conditions that initially manifest in persons aged < or =18 years and result in impairment of physical health, mental health, cognition, speech, language, or self-care. The majority of persons with DDs require long-term supportive care or services. In 2003, RTI International (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) and CDC analyzed data from multiple...

The purpose of the study was to discover how individuals diagnosed with a life-limiting illness experienced themselves as agents, even in the face of death. In this qualitative, multiple case study design, 4 female outpatient hospice patients with terminal illnesses received humanistic counseling to explore their experiences of themselves and their illness. A graded set of 8 levels of personal ...

For cancer patients, quality of life and satisfaction with care are not only related to patient treatment facilities, but also to ambulatory care. Therefore, the goal of ambulatory care should be to prevent predictable morbidities, to eliminate residual morbidities when possible, to control symptoms, and to lessen discomfort when cure is not likely. Truly multidisciplinary services should be av...

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a disabling condition that affects a child's life and his/her family irreversibly. It is usually a non-progressive condition but improvement over time is rarely seen. The condition can be due to prenatal hypoxia, metabolic, genetic, infectious, traumatic or other causes. It is therefore a heterogeneous group that results in functional motor disability associated with diff...

This research represents the first controlled treatment study of hypnosis and cognitive- behavioral therapy (CBT) of acute stress disorder (ASD). Civilian trauma survivors (N=87) who met criteria for ASD were randomly allocated to 6 sessions of CBT, CBT combined with hypnosis (CBT-hypnosis), or supportive counseling (SC). CBT comprised exposure, cognitive restructuring, and anxiety management. ...

In this cross-sectional survey conducted from August 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010, 400 women with primary infertility attending Valiasr reproductive health research center in Tehran, Iran, were interviewed using the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales questionnaire (CTS2). This instrument was developed to investigate the presence domestic violence. A total of 247 women (61.8%) reported having experi...