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Christoph U Correll,1–3 Thomas Brevig,4 Cecilia Brain4 1The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Glen Oaks, NY, USA; 2The Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Department of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Hempstead, NY, USA; 3Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Berlin, Germany; 4H. Lundbeck A/S, Copenhagen, DenmarkCorrespondence: Christoph U CorrellThe Zucker Hillside Hospital, Psychiatry Research, 75–59 263rd Street, Glen Oaks, NY 11004, USATel +1 718 470-4812Fax +1 718 343-1659Email ccorrell@northwell.eduObjective: To explore and describe potential subgroups within the treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) population, using data from a survey of US psychiatrists.Methods: Psychiatrists completed an online survey of demographic/clinical characteristics and treatment history for two of their patients with TRS. Patients were stratified according to number of suicide attempts, number of hospitalizations, employment status, and TRS onset time frame.Results: Of the 408 patients with TRS described by psychiatrists, 37.5% had ≥1 suicide attempt, 78.9% had ≥2 hospitalizations, 74.5% were unemployed, 45.0% had TRS onset within 5 years of first treatment (a further 8.0% had TRS from first treatment), and 31.5% had TRS onset after 5 years (15.5% unknown). Patients with ≥1 (vs 0) suicide attempts had statistically significantly more psychiatric (3.6 vs 2.2) and physical (2.2 vs 1.6) comorbidities. Patients with ≥2 (vs ≤1) hospitalizations were statistically significantly more likely to have hallucinations, conceptual disorganization, social withdrawal, and cognitive dysfunction, and had more psychiatric (3.0 vs 1.9) and physical (2.0 vs 1.1) comorbidities. Unemployed (vs employed) patients were statistically significantly more likely to have delusions, hallucinations, blunted affect, social withdrawal, and cognitive dysfunction, and had more psychiatric (2.9 vs 2.3) and physical (2.1 vs 1.2) comorbidities. Patients with TRS onset ≤5 (vs >5) years were statistically significantly younger (35.0 vs 43.7 years), less likely to have hallucinations and social withdrawal, and had fewer psychiatric (2.6 vs 3.3) and physical (1.7 vs 2.3) comorbidities.Conclusions: Greater clinical burden in TRS is associated with greater illness severity and chronicity markers, suggesting a dimensional gradient from non-TRS to mild–moderate and more severe forms of TRS. Time to onset of TRS may have implications for outcomes, with data indicating greater burden in those with late-onset TRS. Accumulation of illness over time may be more important than time to onset.Keywords: clinical burden, demography, psychiatry, schizophrenia, surveys and questionnaires, treatment resistance

Peter M Haddad,1,2 Cecilia Brain,3,4 Jan Scott5,6 1Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, 2Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Salford, UK; 3Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 4Nå Ut-teamet, Psychosis Clinic, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden; 5Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, 6Centre for Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK Abstract: Nonadherence with medication occurs in all chronic medical disorders. It is a particular challenge in schizophrenia due to the illness's association with social isolation, stigma, and comorbid substance misuse, plus the effect of symptom domains on adherence, including positive and negative symptoms, lack of insight, depression, and cognitive impairment. Nonadherence lies on a spectrum, is often covert, and is underestimated by clinicians, but affects more than one third of patients with schizophrenia per annum. It increases the risk of relapse, rehospitalization, and self-harm, increases inpatient costs, and lowers quality of life. It results from multiple patient, clinician, illness, medication, and service factors, but a useful distinction is between intentional and unintentional nonadherence. There is no gold standard approach to the measurement of adherence as all methods have pros and cons. Interventions to improve adherence include psychoeducation and other psychosocial interventions, antipsychotic long-acting injections, electronic reminders, service-based interventions, and financial incentives. These overlap, all have some evidence of effectiveness, and the intervention adopted should be tailored to the individual. Psychosocial interventions that utilize combined approaches seem more effective than unidimensional approaches. There is increasing interest in electronic reminders and monitoring systems to enhance adherence, eg, Short Message Service text messaging and real-time medication monitoring linked to smart pill containers or an electronic ingestible event marker. Financial incentives to enhance antipsychotic adherence raise ethical issues, and their place in practice remains unclear. Simple pragmatic strategies to improve medication adherence include shared decision-making, regular assessment of adherence, simplification of the medication regimen, ensuring that treatment is effective and that side effects are managed, and promoting a positive therapeutic alliance and good communication between the clinician and patient. These elements remain essential for all patients, not least for the small minority where vulnerability and risk issue dictate that compulsory treatment is necessary to ensure adherence.Keywords: adherence, nonadherence, antipsychotics, schizophrenia, long-acting injections, relapse, risk factors

Xiao-Li Meng's recent article 'Desired and Feared--What Do We Do Now and Over the Next 50 Years?' (2009) was of particular interest to me as a former undergraduate statistics major and as an Associate Professor who teaches 12 sections of introductory statistics annually at Montgomery College, a two-year college in Montgomery County, Maryland (an adjoining county to Washington, D.C.). I approach my comments from these perspectives as I believe that these groups very much need to be represented/addressed in the discussion of Meng's observations and proposals. My remarks are also influenced by a Washington Post article published during the 2009 Joint Statistical Meetings that referred to statisticians as 'superheroes,' described some of the challenges we face, and ultimately presented a favorable light (in my opinion) on our discipline. KEY WORDS: Introductory statistics; Statistical education; Two-year college; Undergraduate education.

The evolution of gender dimorphism is proposed as a means of restoring outcrossing after polylpoidization causes the loss of self-incompatibility. The intraspecific variation is examined in floral morphology and DNA content in populations of Lycium californicum to determine correlations between sexual system and cytotype.

A timescale, when used carefully and appropriately, is the most efficient tool for understanding the long-term effects of carbon dioxide gas emissions on the atmosphere. Timescales provide general rules of thumb that are useful in formulating guidelines for the treatment of carbon dioxide and of other greenhouse gases. Unfortunately, timescales are often misused because scientists have not fully considered timescales for greenhouse gases.