Hippocampal long-term potentiation is not accompanied by presynaptic spike broadening, unlike synaptic potentiation by K+ channel blockers.

The expression of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) is thought to be at least partly due to increased transmitter release. To test whether this increase is due to a broadening of the presynaptic action potential, we have compared the presynaptic fibre volley before and after LTP induction, or application of K+ channel blockers, in CA1 of rat hippocampal slices. Tetraethylammonium (TEA; 1 mM) induced a parallel increase in the fibre volley duration of the slope of the field EPSP, indicating that a presynaptic spike broadening underlying synaptic potentiation can be detected. In contrast, induction of LTP did not produce any measurable change in the fibre volley, although the average increase in the EPSP slope was larger than with TEA. These results indicate that LTP expression is not primarily due to a presynaptic spike broadening.

Doctors' use of electronic medical records systems in hospitals: cross sectional survey.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the use of three electronic medical records systems by doctors in Norwegian hospitals for general clinical tasks. DESIGN: Cross sectional questionnaire survey. Semistructured telephone interviews with key staff in information technology in each hospital for details of local implementation of the systems. SETTING: 32 hospital units in 19 Norwegian hospitals with electronic medical records systems. PARTICIPANTS: 227 (72%) of 314 hospital doctors responded, equally distributed between the three electronic medical records systems. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportion of respondents who used the electronic system, calculated for each of 23 tasks; difference in proportions of users of different systems when functionality of systems was similar. RESULTS: Most tasks listed in the questionnaire (15/23) were generally covered with implemented functions in the electronic medical records systems. However, the systems were used for only 2-7 of the tasks, mainly associated with reading patient data. Respondents showed significant differences in frequency of use of the different systems for four tasks for which the systems offered equivalent functionality. The respondents scored highly in computer literacy (72.2/100), and computer use showed no correlation with respondents' age, sex, or work position. User satisfaction scores were generally positive (67.2/100), with some difference between the systems. CONCLUSIONS: Doctors used electronic medical records systems for far fewer tasks than the systems supported.

[Psychotherapy of patients with schizophrenia. Study of the significance of group supervision]. / Psykoterapi af skizofrene. En undersøgelse af betydningen af gruppesupervision.

A Danish centre contributed 12 cases to a Nordic multicentre investigation concerning the psychotherapy of psychoses. Patients admitted consecutively to the psychiatric hospital with the diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizophreniform psychosis or schizoaffective psychosis were offered psychotherapy at least once weekly for two years in addition to the other treatment modalities administered. In the Danish design, the process of supervision in relation to the processes of psychotherapy was investigated. In the present article, examples are presented illustrating how core psychotic mechanisms in the patients are reflected not only in process-facilitating but also in process inhibiting psychotherapeutic interventions. The data of the investigation are these interventions which are written down prospectively in the summaries of the supervision.

Psychogenic psychoses. A retrospective study with special reference to clinical course and prognosis.

The study comprises a retrospective evaluation of case records of 220 patients admitted for the first time with psychogenic psychosis with special reference to clinical course and prognosis within a period of 13--14 years. The reliability of the diagnosis at the time of the first admission is about 60% when the evaluation is based on positive criteria for psychosis. If the psychogenic psychoses are divided into subgroups, the reliability of the diagnosis of psychogenic affective psychoses is about 30%, whereas it is over 90% for psychogenic confusional psychoses and psychogenic paranoid psychoses. If subsequent cases of other functional psychoses (manic-depressive psychosis and schizophrenia) are subtracted, the diagnostic reliability is 50% (111 of 220 cases), which represents the number of retrospectively verified psychogenic psychoses. The frequency of recurrence of psychogenic psychosis was 18% (40), corresponding to 36% of psychogenic psychoses verified by retrospective evaluation (111 of 220 cases). The recurrences were mainly homologous, as heterologous recurrences developed only among the psychogenic affective psychoses (slightly less than half of the recurrences in question). Schizophrenia developed in only 10% (23), and subsequent episodes of manic-depressive psychosis occurred in 8% (18). The stability of psychogenic psychosis on recurrence of functional psychosis was 49% expressed in relation to all subsequent cases of functional psychosis. The over-all prognosis for the psychogenic/reactive psychosis is thus good as regards subsequent mental disease. Chronic functional psychosis (schizophrenia) developed in only 10% (and in less than 20% if the prognosis is assessed on the basis of the reliability of the diagnosis at the time of the first admission (about 60%)). However, in the group of psychogenic/reactive psychoses as a whole an overmortality of 100% was observed in the course of the 14 years, highest in the younger age groups.