Obsessive-compulsive disorder in callers to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.

BACKGROUND: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic, impairing and often comorbid disorder. METHODS: 1000 subjects who called the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) were surveyed and divided in three groups: (a) callers with OCD (OCD) and two overlapping control groups: (b) callers with no axis I disorder (NAC) and (c) with no-OCD (NOC) using a 97-item questionnaire. RESULTS: The rate of OCD was 14.5% (N = 145). Relative to the NOC group, OCD subjects were more likely to be female, White, younger and not married. Relative to the NAC group, subjects with OCD were more likely to be White, not married and younger. OCD was accompanied by significant comorbidity and was associated with an increased number of visits to health professionals than NAC subjects. There was no significant difference regarding unemployment rates among the three groups. However, OCD callers were more likely than both control groups to have missed work or have decreased productivity due to their mental condition. OCD subjects took an average of 1 psychotropic medication in the past year and were statistically more likely than the control groups to experience sleepiness and nervousness as side effects. CONCLUSIONS: OCD was fairly prevalent among ADAA callers and presented high levels of comorbidity, impairment, health care utilization and sensitivity to psychotropic side effects.     

Third, fourth, and sixth cranial nerve palsies following closed head injury.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between the circumstances and severity of closed head injury (CHI) and the clinical and imaging features of cranial nerve 3, 4, and 6 palsies has not been rigorously addressed in a large study. METHODS: Retrospective chart review of 210 consecutive patients with CHI examined at a single tertiary care center from 1987 to 2002. Patients were located by searching the ophthalmology inpatient consultation and neuro-ophthalmology outpatient databases and hospital emergency room billing codes for a diagnosis of traumatic 3, 4, or 6 cranial nerve palsy (Cranial Nerve Injury Group) and a diagnosis of CHI without traumatic 3, 4, or 6 nerve palsy (Control Group). The Cranial Nerve Injury Group was then subdivided into two groups: those with injuries to an individual cranial nerve and those with multiple (including bilateral) cranial nerve injuries. Comparisons between groups were based on age, gender, type of accident, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), documented loss of consciousness (LOC), type of ocular injury, presence of systemic injury, need for rehabilitation, physical therapy and cognitive scores, and imaging features. RESULTS: The Cranial Nerve Injury Group had a significantly higher severity of head injury, more CT abnormalities, and worse short-term neurologic outcomes as compared with the Control Group. These trends were also found when each cranial nerve injury subgroup was compared with the Control Group. Those with cranial nerve 3 palsy had the most severe head injury; those with cranial nerve 4 palsy had an intermediate level of head injury; and those with cranial nerve 6 palsy had the lowest level of head injury. There were no consistent associations between the location of the imaging abnormalities and which cranial nerve was damaged. CONCLUSIONS: CHI with palsy of an ocular motor nerve was more severe than CHI without ocular motor nerve palsy, as measured by the GCS, intracranial and skull imaging abnormalities, and a greater frequency of inpatient rehabilitation. Palsy of cranial nerve 3 was associated with relatively more severe CHI than was palsy of cranial nerves 4 or 6. The location of the imaging abnormalities did not correlate with a particular cranial nerve injury.     

Cortical plasticity: effect of high and low intensity conditioning electrical stimulations (100 Hz) on SEPs to painful finger stimulation.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of high-frequency (100 Hz) repetitive conditioning electrical stimulation (CES, 10 min) on human somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to evaluate if short-term cortical plasticity could be induced. METHODS: Painful electrical stimulations were applied to thumb (D1) and little finger (D5) fingertips, respectively. The 124-channel EEG was recorded from 10 healthy male volunteers. Peak stages around 34, 45, 212, 331 ms were analyzed with focal maximum amplitude (FA) and area magnitude (AM) of scalp field potential, topography, and equivalent current dipole source localisation, comparing before and after two-level CES (high- vs. low-level) applied to the He-Gu acupoint. RESULTS: After a high-level CES, the positive FA and AM of the current efflux showed a significant increase at the early phase 34 ms, and significantly decreased at 45 ms in D1 SEPs. The negative FA and AM of the current influx were significantly increased at late phase 350 ms of the D5 SEPs. Only 36 ms, the z-axis position of dipole was significantly changed from (x: -15.9 mm, y: 29.6 mm, z: 43.9 mm) to (x: -12.9 mm, y: 29.4mm, z: 51.5mm) for the D5 SEPs. CONCLUSIONS: The high-level CES significantly attenuated the subsequent cortical activation (45 ms peak for D1 stimulation). Both low- and high-level CES significantly enhanced the late activities (226, 350 ms) in D5 stimulation. This may be explained by pain sensation change at the level of subcortical cingulate cortex induced by the site-dependent post-effect of CES. SIGNIFICANCE: This study showed cortical plasticity induced by conditioning somatosensory stimulation.     

Early, but not late therapy with a vasopressin V1a-antagonist ameliorates the development of renal damage after 5/6 nephrectomy.

INTRODUCTION: Vasopressin, mainly through the V1a-receptor, is thought to be a major player in the maintenance of hyperfiltration. Its inhibition could therefore lead to a decrease in progression of chronic renal failure. To this end, the effect of the vasopressin V1a-receptor-selective antagonist, YM218, was studied on proteinuria and focal glomerulosclerosis in early and late intervention after 5/6 nephrectomy in rats, and compared with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I). MATERIALS AND METHODS: After 5/6 nephrectomy, early intervention was performed between week 2 and 10 thereafter with the V1a-receptor-selective antagonist (VRA, 10 mg/kg/day, n=10), enalapril (ACE-I, 10 mg/kg/day, n=9), or vehicle (n=8). Late intervention was performed in another group between week 6 and 12 with VRA (10 mg/kg/day, n=7), lisinopril (ACE-I, 5 mg/kg/day, n=7), or vehicle (n=7). RESULTS: In early intervention, proteinuria and focal glomerulosclerosis were significantly decreased by VRA compared to vehicle (44+7% and 59+8% respectively). ACE-I significantly decreased proteinuria (67+7%) and a trend towards a decrease in focal glomerulosclerosis was observed (30+18%). In late intervention, VRA did not decrease proteinuria and focal glomerulosclerosis compared to vehicle (21+20% and 0%, respectively), ACE-I significantly lowered proteinuria (92+2%) and a focal glomerulosclerosis (69+1%) lowering trend was observed. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that VRA may protect against early progression of renal injury after 5/6 nephrectomy, whereas its effectiveness seems limited in established renal damage.