July-August 2014 coverDear Colleagues:

Welcome to the July-August issue of Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience. We start this issue with an original research article titled, “Transcultural Adaptation of GRID Hamilton Rating Scale For Depression (GRID-HAMD) to Brazilian Portuguese and Evaluation of the Impact of Training Upon Inter-Rater Reliability,” by Araújo et al. In this study, the authors sought to evaluate the inter-rater reliability and impact of rater training as well as verify rater opinion of the transcultural adaptation of GRID-HAMD into the Brazilian Portuguese language. The authors concluded that the scale presented adequate inter-rater reliability even before training began. Training did not have an impact on this measure, except for a few groups with less experience. GRID-HAMD received favorable opinions from most of the participants.

Next, we present a commentary titled, “The Bereavement Exclusion and DSM-5: An Update and Commentary,” by Ronald W. Pies MD, Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Dr. Pies discusses both sides of what was perhaps the most controversial change from DSM-IV to DSM-5: the removal of the bereavement exclusion in the diagnosis of major depression. Dr. Pies concludes that “given the serious risks of unrecognized major depression—including suicide—eliminating the bereavement exclusion from DSM-5 was, on balance, a reasonable decision.”

Following this, Mirshafiey et al provide us with a review article titled, “Receptor Tyrosine Kinase and Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors: New Hope for Success in Multiple Sclerosis Therapy.” The authors discuss the key roles receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) have in numerous processes that control cellular proliferation and differentiation, as well as how they regulate cell growth and cellular metabolism and promote cell survival and apoptosis. Specifically, the authors report the potential role RTKs might play in multiple sclerosis.

Next, in this month’s installment of “Psychotherapy Rounds,” Gentile et al provide us with an interesting, case-based review article titled, “Stress and Trauma: Psychotherapy and Pharmacotherapy for Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder.” The authors review clinical, phenomenological, and epidemiological information regarding the diagnosis and treatment of dissociative disorders in general and derealization/depersonalization disorder in particular. A clinical vignette is used to illustrate recommended psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy interventions as part of a comprehensive multidisciplinary treatment plan for these individuals.

Following this, we present this month’s installment of “Communication of Clinical Trial Results” by Leslie Citrome MD, MPH, who informs us that PubMed isn’t the only viable source of clinical trial results. In his article, “Beyond PubMed: Searching the ‘Grey Literature’ for Clinical Trial Results,” Dr. Citrome tells us that those seeking information on clinical trials who limit their searching to the more traditional databases such as PubMed may, in fact, be missing additional important information, and he describes to readers several different, and less well known, sources of clinical trial results—termed “gray literature.” Worth checking out next time you need to do some research.

Next, Ann McNary, JD, provides us with this month’s “Risk Management” column with her article, “Google: Valuable Source of Information or Pandora’s Box?” Here Ms. McNary describes the pros and cons of “googling” a patient, and provides tips on deciding in what situations this might or might not be an appropriate action as well as how to do it safely and ethically for both you and your patient.

Finally, we wrap this issue up with our monthly “The Interface” column by Sansone and Sansone. In their article titled, “Marijuana and Body Weight,” the authors investigate whether the literature supports that weight gain occurs in those who regularly use marijuana, not only in HIV and cancer patients who might use marijuana medically, but also in normal weight and obese individuals who are not ill but are acute marijuana users. The data was somewhat “paradoxical and perplexing;” however, it seems marijuana is a metabolic regulatory substance that increases body weight in low-weight individuals but not in normal-weight or overweight individuals.

We hope you enjoy the issue. As always, we welcome your feedback and submissions.

Sincerely,
Amir Kalali, MD
Editor, Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience