a column by Jennifer Hunt and Ryan Nunn for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Over the last five decades, middle-wage jobs diminished in the US as wage inequality increased.
This column investigates the relationship between these two phenomena, and finds no evidence that either computerisation or automation (often cited as a source of both trends) produced employment polarisation or increased wage inequality.
By examining wages at the individual level (rather than occupation-average wages), the column suggests that the evolution of wages can be better explained by distinct causes — ranging from changing labour market institutions to globalisation — than by observable demographic factors.
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Thursday, 24 October 2019
Antipsychotics for Amphetamine Psychosis. A Systematic Review
an article by Dimy Fluyau (Emory University, Atlanta, USA), Paroma Mitra (NYU, New York, USA) and Kervens Lorthe (Miami Regional University, Miami Springs, USA) published in frontiers in Psychiatry (15 October 2019)
Background
Among individuals experiencing amphetamine psychosis, it may be difficult to rule out schizophrenia.
The use of antipsychotics for the treatment of amphetamine psychosis is sparse due to possible side effects.
Some arguments disfavor their use, stating that the psychotic episode is self-limited.
Without treatment, some individuals may not fully recover from the psychosis and may develop full-blown psychosis, emotional, and cognitive disturbance.
This review aims to investigate the clinical benefits and risks of antipsychotics for the treatment of amphetamine psychosis.
Methods
Electronic search on trials on antipsychotic drugs for amphetamine psychosis from their inception to November 2018 was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Cochrane Review Database, Medline Ovid, and EMBASE following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines.
The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool assessed the risk of bias, the methodological quality of individual trials was assessed by the Oxford Quality Scoring System, and the quality of evidence for recommendations was judged by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE).
The results were synthesized qualitatively and quantitatively.
Results
The investigation of six randomized controlled trials of 314 participants showed that aripiprazole, haloperidol, quetiapine, olanzapine, and risperidone were able to reduce or control the psychotic episode (positive and negative symptoms) induced by amphetamine use with no adverse event.
Although the side-effect profile of these agents varied, no drug was clinically superior to others.
Conclusions
This review suggests that antipsychotics seem to be efficacious for amphetamine psychosis on both positive and negative symptoms.
Practitioners need to tailor their use based on risks for side effects individually.
Full text (PDF 14pp)
Please note:
This source produces information for practitioners but sometimes, as now, contains something which I think is of more general interest.
Background
Among individuals experiencing amphetamine psychosis, it may be difficult to rule out schizophrenia.
The use of antipsychotics for the treatment of amphetamine psychosis is sparse due to possible side effects.
Some arguments disfavor their use, stating that the psychotic episode is self-limited.
Without treatment, some individuals may not fully recover from the psychosis and may develop full-blown psychosis, emotional, and cognitive disturbance.
This review aims to investigate the clinical benefits and risks of antipsychotics for the treatment of amphetamine psychosis.
Methods
Electronic search on trials on antipsychotic drugs for amphetamine psychosis from their inception to November 2018 was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Cochrane Review Database, Medline Ovid, and EMBASE following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines.
The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool assessed the risk of bias, the methodological quality of individual trials was assessed by the Oxford Quality Scoring System, and the quality of evidence for recommendations was judged by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE).
The results were synthesized qualitatively and quantitatively.
Results
The investigation of six randomized controlled trials of 314 participants showed that aripiprazole, haloperidol, quetiapine, olanzapine, and risperidone were able to reduce or control the psychotic episode (positive and negative symptoms) induced by amphetamine use with no adverse event.
Although the side-effect profile of these agents varied, no drug was clinically superior to others.
Conclusions
This review suggests that antipsychotics seem to be efficacious for amphetamine psychosis on both positive and negative symptoms.
Practitioners need to tailor their use based on risks for side effects individually.
Full text (PDF 14pp)
Please note:
This source produces information for practitioners but sometimes, as now, contains something which I think is of more general interest.
Wednesday, 23 October 2019
Top 7 Evidence-Based Mental Health Apps
a post by John M. Grohol for the World of Psychology blog
According to a recently-published interview with John Torous, MD, MBI, Director of the Digital Psychiatry Division at the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, there are seven great evidenced-based mental health apps you should consider. Evidence-based means they’ve met the minimum requirements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or have at least one randomized clinical research study that supports their use and effectiveness.
The recommendation for these evidence-based mental health apps comes in an interview with Dr. Torous found in the Oct. 2019 issue of The Carlat Psychiatry Report (subscribe here [at $129 I think not), a professional publication targeted toward physicians and psychiatrists. In that interview, Dr. Torous warns:
Continue reading
According to a recently-published interview with John Torous, MD, MBI, Director of the Digital Psychiatry Division at the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, there are seven great evidenced-based mental health apps you should consider. Evidence-based means they’ve met the minimum requirements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or have at least one randomized clinical research study that supports their use and effectiveness.
The recommendation for these evidence-based mental health apps comes in an interview with Dr. Torous found in the Oct. 2019 issue of The Carlat Psychiatry Report (subscribe here [at $129 I think not), a professional publication targeted toward physicians and psychiatrists. In that interview, Dr. Torous warns:
“Patients are starting to use health apps and they may not be telling you, which can be a problem because most of the apps that are available are poorly designed and lack research support. So you want to consider privacy, evidence, and ease of use. Some of the better-studied apps are coming out as prescription only products that are approved by the FDA as digital therapeutics.”I couldn’t agree more. Just because an app appears in the App Store or on Google Play doesn’t mean it’s been vetted in any manner whatsoever as being safe and effective for the condition or concern it targets. Most mental health apps are surprisingly not designed in conjunction with a mental health expert — it may be written by some guy who took a single psychology course in college. Because of that lack of expertise, some apps give just plain bad advice, such as suggesting using alcohol to relieve stress or negative feelings.
Continue reading
Climate Change Could Erase Human History. These Archivists Are Trying to Save It
an article by Caroline Haskins for MOTHERBOARD: Tech by VICE [via Library Link of the Day]
Climate change making the word hotter, more humid, and more stormy—all conditions that put sensitive paper archives at risk. This problem is forcing us to ask, which histories will we choose to remember?
Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery is a giant place of memory.
For one, there’s the gravestones, mausoleums, statues, and stone structures. It’s hard to describe the scale of it. They rise up, respectfully spaced out, on nearly every patch of ground for miles, up and down hills, under trees, unfurling everywhere for 478 acres.
Then there’s the archives. Not every grave at Green-Wood gets an intentional visitor, like a descendent, or a history-lover seeking out a specific name and story. But every grave, every lot, and every person is meticulously documented, and thereby remembered by dozens of paid archivists and volunteers. Everyone buried in Green-Wood has the privilege of being considered a part of capital-H History. If Green-Wood is a city, then the archives are a census for everyone lucky enough to be a resident.
IMAGE: GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY ARCHIVES. TAKEN BY CAROLINE HASKINS.
Continue reading This is not only about the records maintained for one cemetery but about climate change and the danger to people as well as paper records.
Climate change making the word hotter, more humid, and more stormy—all conditions that put sensitive paper archives at risk. This problem is forcing us to ask, which histories will we choose to remember?
Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery is a giant place of memory.
For one, there’s the gravestones, mausoleums, statues, and stone structures. It’s hard to describe the scale of it. They rise up, respectfully spaced out, on nearly every patch of ground for miles, up and down hills, under trees, unfurling everywhere for 478 acres.
Then there’s the archives. Not every grave at Green-Wood gets an intentional visitor, like a descendent, or a history-lover seeking out a specific name and story. But every grave, every lot, and every person is meticulously documented, and thereby remembered by dozens of paid archivists and volunteers. Everyone buried in Green-Wood has the privilege of being considered a part of capital-H History. If Green-Wood is a city, then the archives are a census for everyone lucky enough to be a resident.
IMAGE: GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY ARCHIVES. TAKEN BY CAROLINE HASKINS.
Continue reading This is not only about the records maintained for one cemetery but about climate change and the danger to people as well as paper records.
The inflation puzzle in the euro area – it’s the trend not the cycle!
a column by Thomas Hasenzagl, Filippo Pellegrino, Lucrezia Reichlin and Giovanni Ricco for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
What is happening to inflation and output in the euro area? The ECB has apparently lost the ability to raise inflation and price expectations have been sliding since the last recession. Much of the policy debate has focused on the flattening of the Phillips curve.
Yet, as this column shows, estimations of the joint output-inflation process point to a decline of both output potential and trend inflation as the most relevant elements of the puzzle.
Continue reading
What is happening to inflation and output in the euro area? The ECB has apparently lost the ability to raise inflation and price expectations have been sliding since the last recession. Much of the policy debate has focused on the flattening of the Phillips curve.
Yet, as this column shows, estimations of the joint output-inflation process point to a decline of both output potential and trend inflation as the most relevant elements of the puzzle.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 22 October 2019
The cash hoarding puzzle
a column by Sayuri Shirai and Eric Alexander Sugandi for VOX: CEPR&rsquo's Policy Portal
Although cashless payments are becoming increasingly common, the demand for cash is rising in many advanced economies. One reason for this is cash hoarding.
The column uses data on cash issuance to examine the scale of, and motives for, cash hoarding. The two most important drivers are monetary easing and the preference of older people for cash.
Continue reading
I found the graphs particularly informative.
On a personal note I wish I had cash to hoard!
Although cashless payments are becoming increasingly common, the demand for cash is rising in many advanced economies. One reason for this is cash hoarding.
The column uses data on cash issuance to examine the scale of, and motives for, cash hoarding. The two most important drivers are monetary easing and the preference of older people for cash.
Continue reading
I found the graphs particularly informative.
On a personal note I wish I had cash to hoard!
'The West' is, in fact, the world's biggest gated community
a post by Frank Jacobs for the Big Think blog
A review of the global "wall" that divides rich from poor.
A giant global wall separates the rich from the poor
A review of the global "wall" that divides rich from poor.
A giant global wall separates the rich from the poor
- Trump's border wall is only one puzzle piece of a global picture.
- Similar anxieties are raising similar border defenses elsewhere.
- This map shows how, as a result, "the West" is in fact one large gated community.
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