Ketamine infusions at a lower rate than previously reported have demonstrated similar efficacy and excellent tolerability and may be more practically available for routine clinical care. Serial ketamine infusions appear to be more effective than a single infusion. Further research to test relapse prevention strategies with continuation ketamine infusions is indicated.

No abstract

Previously restricted primarily to Hawaii and California, methamphetamine abuse has reached epidemic proportions throughout the United States during the past decade, specifically in rural and semirural areas. Particular characteristics of methamphetamine production and use create conditions for a "perfect storm" of medical and social complications. Unlike imported recreational drugs such as heroin and cocaine, methamphetamine can be manufactured locally from commonly available household ingredients according to simple recipes readily available on the Internet. Methamphetamine users and producers are frequently one and the same, resulting in both physical and environmental consequences. Users experience emergent, acute, subacute, and chronic injuries to neurologic, cardiac, pulmonary, dental, and other systems. Producers can sustain life-threatening injuries in the frequent fires and explosions that result when volatile chemicals are combined. Partners and children of producers, as well as unsuspecting first responders to a crisis, are exposed to toxic by-products of methamphetamine manufacture that contaminate the places that serve simultaneously as "lab" and home. From the vantage point of a local emergency department, this article reviews the range of medical and social consequences that radiate from a single hypothetical methamphetamine-associated incident.

We investigated the psychometric validity and reliability of the Suicide Status Form-II (SSF-II) developed by Jobes, Jacoby, Cimbolic, and Hustead (1997). Participants were 149 psychiatric inpatients (108 suicidal; 41 nonsuicidal) at the Mayo Clinic. Each participant completed assessment measures within 24 hours of admission and 48-72 hours later. Factor analyses of the SSF core assessment produced a robust two-factor solution reflecting chronic and acute response styles. The SSF core assessment had good to excellent convergent and criterion validity; pre-post SSF ratings also demonstrated moderate test-retest reliability. The results replicated previous research and show that the SSF-II is psychometrically sound with a high-risk suicidal inpatient sample.