Emergency detention of elderly psychiatric inpatients appears to have attracted very little or no attention in published studies. In this retrospective review, all applications of sections 5(2) and 5(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983, detaining elderly inpatients in North Cheshire between 1985 and 1997 were reviewed. Forty-three percent of elderly inpatients under s.5(2) regained their voluntary status, while 57% were detained under another section by the end of the 72 hours (p < 0.05). Duration in hospital prior to applying s.5(2), clinical diagnosis of functional mental illness and use of s.5(4) appear to increase the likelihood of converting s.5(2) into other sections. The high rate of non-conversion of s.5(2) in the elderly to s.2 or 3 may imply that in almost half of the cases, emergency detention may have been used to control isolated incidents of disturbed behaviour in otherwise co-operative patients. Educating doctors and nurses in guidance put forward by the Code of Practice (1993) remains, probably, the main key to a better use of emergency holding powers.

Risperidone treatment of amphetamine psychosis Amiodaroneinduced depression Psychological treatments for hypochondriasis Antipsychotic polypharmacy and early death rn Shotguns and blunderbusses: suicide in farmers Satisfaction ofcarers at home Hair analysis for substance use Risperidone treatment of amphetamine psychosis Sir: Risperidone is an atypical antipsychotic drug indicated for psychoses in which both positive and negative symptoms are prominent. Misra & Kofoed (1997) have reported for the first time a case of methamphetamine-associated psychosis responding to risperidone. In that report risperidone was prescribed after the discontinuation of methamphetamine. We report another case of amphetamine psychosis responding to risperidone while still on amphetamine.

In this 17-year review of death certificates of elderly inpatients of a large psychiatric hospital in North Cheshire, the frequency, trend and value of performing autopsies were examined. Details of death certificates were compared with certificates issued after post-mortem examination to see whether an autopsy yielded any additional or relevant information about conditions that are not directly related to death but might well be of importance to public health. The rate of post-mortem examination, at 9.5% of total hospital deaths, did not show any significant trend over most of the review period. The vast majority of autopsies examined had been requested by the coroner and not by the clinicians. The review showed that an autopsy may be of some value in providing more information regarding any underlying causes of death in elderly psychiatric patients, but has no value in ensuring higher rate of the recording of conditions such as dementia, in particular Alzheimer's disease. Selective hospital autopsy in elderly psychiatric patients to verify, neuropathologically, the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, will improve our diagnostic accuracy and provide valid statistics to be used in estimating prevalence, trends, risk factors and for use in all aspects of future research into Alzheimer's disease.

New digital technologies allow unprecedented access to information about crises and disasters. A small collection of organizations and individuals are taking advantage of these new flows and forms of information to seek out human rights violations. In this working paper, Angela Ambrose situates these organizations within the umbrella of human rights investigations labs. She explores some of the social and political shifts within which these new practices should be understood, arguing that the practices raise important new ethical, research, and technical questions.