Risperidone is used to help manage short term aggression, temper tantrums, and self injury in children with autism. But what if these behaviors become chronic? A six month trial in children aged 5 to 17 found that risperidone continued to be efficacious (in over 80% of the children) and was tolerated well. But when the drug was stopped after six months, the troubling behavior rapidly returned in most of them (American Journal of Psychiatry 2005;162: 1361-9

People who take an overdose and then present to the emergency department are often given activated charcoal to adsorb the poison. A randomized trial of charcoal versus no decontaminant in one Australian hospital over 16 months (excluding patients who were suspected of having taken lethal drugs) reports no difference in patient outcomes such as length of stay, vomiting, death, or intensive care admission between the two groups (QJM 2005;98: 655-60

Young people (under the age of 50) who have ischemic strokes but do not have any obvious risk factors may not need long term secondary prevention, according to a study in Neurology (2005;65: 609-11). …