[Schizophrenia in the "New Zurich Newspaper". A media analysis]. / Schizophrenie in der "Neuen Zürcher Zeitung". Eine Medienanalyse.

Social representations of mental illness and psychiatry are largely influenced by mass media. This study explores the use of the term "schizophrenia" in the Swiss newspaper NZZ in 1994 and 1995, the text of which is available on CD-ROM. In 31% of the cases the term is used figuratively, i.e. as a metaphor. When used as a name of an illness, it reflects contradictory connotations: schizophrenics as mentally ill offenders or criminal in the local columns, schizophrenics featuring as creative writers or artists in the cultural columns. Information on schizophrenia as disease is rare. If it does occur, reporting is rather sociopsychiatric than neurobiological.

Transoesophageal echocardiography is unreliable for cardiac output assessment after cardiac surgery compared with thermodilution.

This randomised, single-blind, double-control study compared and established prospectively the best transoesophageal echocardiography methods for determining cardiac output in patients after cardiac surgery. Thirty patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting were included. Measurements were taken postoperatively, after stabilisation in the intensive care unit. Cardiac output was determined by transoesophageal echocardiography in randomised order through the aortic, mitral, and pulmonary valves, right and left ventricular outflow tracts, transgastric surface areas of the left ventricle and left ventricle two-dimensional volumes (Simpson's rules). 'Eyeball guessing' was done off-line. The best results were transaortic measurements using the triangular shape assumption of valve opening, but some values deviated considerably, and none of these approaches reached the limit of agreement set at 30% when compared to thermodilution. Eyeball guessing was comparable to the best transoesophageal echocardiography measurements. We conclude that transoesophageal echocardiography is an unreliable tool for determination of cardiac output in intensive care after cardiac surgery.