The primary goal of this research program was to investigate the effectiveness of virtual reality therapy (VRT) in reducing public speaking anxiety of university students. The prevalence and impact of public speaking anxiety as a type of Social Phobia are discussed. Studies of VRT as an emerging treatment for psychological problems are reviewed. In the present study, eight students completed VRT individual treatment and post-testing, and six students in a Wait-List control group completed post-testing. Assessment measures included four self-report inventories, self-report of Subjective Units of Discomfort during exposure to VRT and physiological measurements of heart rate during speaking tasks. Four weekly individual exposure treatment sessions of approximately 15 min each were conducted by the author serving as therapist. Results on self-report and physiological measures appear to indicate that four virtual reality treatment sessions were effective in reducing public speaking anxiety in university students, corroborating earlier studies of VRT's effectiveness as a psychotherapeutic modality. Future research directions are discussed, primarily the need for research on younger populations, to assess the effectiveness of VRT for earlier intervention with public speaking anxiety.

Venous thromboembolism continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with spinal injury (SI). Recently, we reported on the effectiveness and safety of a low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), tinzaparin, in preventing deep vein thrombosis in motor-complete SI patients. Recently, another LMWH, enoxaparin, was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for prevention of thromboembolism in hip and knee replacement surgery. Since its approval, we have used 30 mg of enoxaparin subcutaneously every 12 h as routine prophylaxis in all hospitalized SI patients. In this retrospective study, we present an analysis of safety and efficacy of the first six months experience, during which 105 patients received the drug. No patient developed clinical evidence of thromboembolism, and none of the 60 venous ultrasound examinations showed a deep vein thrombus. Eleven patients had evidence of hemorrhage, but the LMWH was considered to have contributed to the bleeding in only three. This additional experience with enoxaparin reinforces our previous conclusion that LMWHs are safe and effective thromboprophylactic agents in SI patients.

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