Factors associated with first- versus second-generation long-acting antipsychotics prescribed under ordinary clinical practice in Italy

Background For many years, long-acting intramuscular (LAI) antipsychotics have been prescribed predominantly to chronic and severe patients, as a last resort when other treatments failed. Recently, a broader and earlier use of LAIs, particularly second-generation LAIs, has been emphasized. To date, few studies attempted to frame how this change in prescribing took place in real-world practice. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the clinical features of patients prescribed with LAIs, and to explore possible prescribing differences between first- and second-generations LAIs under ordinary clinical practice in Italy. Methods The STAR Network "Depot" Study is an observational, longitudinal…

Comparing Long-Acting Antipsychotic Discontinuation Rates Under Ordinary Clinical Circumstances: A Survival Analysis from an Observational, Pragmatic Study

Background Recent guidelines suggested a wider use of long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAI) than previously, but naturalistic data on the consequences of LAI use in terms of discontinuation rates and associated factors are still sparse, making it hard for clinicians to be informed on plausible treatment courses. Objective Our objective was to assess, under real-world clinical circumstances, LAI discontinuation rates over a period of 12 months after a first prescription, reasons for discontinuation, and associated factors. Methods The STAR Network ‘Depot Study’ was a naturalistic, multicentre, observational prospective study that enrolled subjects initiating a LAI without restrictions …

Search forBs0→μ+μ−andB0→μ+μ−Decays with CDF II

A search has been performed for B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} and B{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} decays using 7 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity collected by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The observed number of B{sup 0} candidates is consistent with background-only expectations and yields an upper limit on the branching fraction of {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}) < 6.0 x 10{sup -9} at 95% confidence level. We observe an excess of B{sub s}{sup 0} candidates. The probability that the background processes alone could produce such an excess or larger is 0.27%. The probability that the combination of background and the expe…

Measurement of thett¯production cross section inpp¯collisions ats=1.96  TeVusing soft electronb-tagging

The authors present a measurement of the t{bar t} production cross section using events with one charged lepton and jets from p{bar p} collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV. A b-tagging algorithm based on the probability of displaced tracks coming from the event interaction vertex is applied to identify b quarks from top decay. Using 318 pb{sup -1} of data collected with the CDF II detector, they measure the t{bar t} production cross section in events with at least one restrictive (tight) b-tagged jet and obtain 8.9{sub -1.0}{sup +1.0}(stat.){sub -1.0}{sup +1.1}(syst.) pb. The cross section value assumes a top quark mass of m{sub t} is presented in the paper. This result is cons…

Advances in Technology for High-Energy Subnuclear Physics. Contribution of the LAA Project.

Prevalence and correlates of QTc prolongation in Italian psychiatric care: cross-sectional multicentre study.

Aims.In recent years several warnings have been issued by regulatory authorities on the risk of electrocardiogram abnormalities in individuals exposed to psychotropic drugs. As a consequence of these warnings, monitoring of the QT interval corrected for heart rate (QTc) has become increasingly common. This study was conducted to measure the frequency of QTc prolongation in unselected psychiatric patients, and to document the associated factors using a cross-sectional approach.Method.The study was carried out in 35 Italian psychiatric services that are part of the STAR (Servizi Territoriali Associati per la Ricerca) Network, a research group established to produce scientific knowledge by col…