Thursday, April 21, 2005

Keeping Youth in Treatment Reduces Suicide Attempts  Psychiatric News story - "Two protocols for treating adolescents who have attempted suicide appear to work equally well, but retaining the youngsters in treatment may be more important than the type of therapy used. About 15 percent of adolescents who attempt suicide unsuccessfully try again within six months, and repeat attempts increase the risk of completed suicide, so treatments that reduce that rate are critical. A new study found little difference between two such treatment protocols but retained most patients in treatment through the six-month trial."  
  

Schizophrenia's Suicide Risk May Be Less Than Thought  Psychiatric News story - "A new meta-analysis estimates that 5.6 percent of people with schizophrenia will commit suicide—half the rate usually reported in the psychiatric literature. The lifetime risk of suicide among persons diagnosed with schizophrenia is about half of the rate routinely quoted in the psychiatric literature, according to a meta-analysis of 61 studies. Rather than the conventional estimate that 10 percent of those with schizophrenia will die by suicide, the new study estimates that 5.6 percent will commit suicide during their lifetime, with most deaths occurring shortly after the onset of illness..."  
  

Scientists Add Clout in NIH Fight LA Times story - "Scientists at the National Institutes of Health who are fighting new rules that would end their financial ties to the drug industry have hired, at a favorable rate, a law and lobbying firm that also represents the companies. The hiring has added firepower to the government scientists' campaign, which already is getting results: Senior aides to NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni now are discussing whether to soften a requirement that employees sell any stock they hold in a biomedical company, according to an agency spokesman. The divestiture requirement — scheduled to take effect in October — was part of a package of reforms announced by Zerhouni on Feb. 1. The new rules also immediately prohibit all NIH scientists from taking fees, stock options or any other compensation from pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies."