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Buprenorphine maintenance treatment has become a major intervention in the care and treatment of drug dependence in Europe. Still little is known about sexual behaviour and sexual dysfunction especially under buprenorphine or methadone maintenance treatment. Our study aimed to evaluate patterns of sexual behaviour and dysfunction prevalence within buprenorphine and methadone maintenance treatment. Significant differences between both groups could be observed regarding sexual excitation disturbances and ability to orgasm. 33.3 of the methadone-maintained group showed significantly higher sexual excitation disturbances (p 0.006). Future studies of sexual dysfunction in opioid-treated persons should examine the potential benefits of dose reduction, androgen replacement, and choice of opioid.

The purpose of this work was to gather information about the benefits in patient care caused by the introduction of digital radiography. In particular, the possibility of reducing the number of image repeats and thus unnecessary patient radiation was sought. Waste films of conventional radiography were collected - in digital radiography each image delete command at the post-processing workstation was documented. Rejected images were analysed retrospectively. The overall reject rate was 27.6% in the conventional and 2.3% in the digital department. While in the conventional department the main reason for rejection was 'exposure' and 'others' (i.e. problems related to film handling), the main reason in the digital environment was 'positioning'. Reject analysis yields representative data about the current performance of a radiology department. A marked reduction of repeated X rays and consequently reduced radiation exposure of the patient was clearly shown in this study comparing two differently working radiology departments. This is one of several benefits of digital radiography in patient care.

The relation between image and visual perception of the human eye is an important point in digital imaging systems. Research aims should therefore pay attention to psychophysical aspects. Optimising of digital imaging systems can only be reached if the important final steps in the diagnostic process - visual perception and signal detection - are taken into account.