Eye movement deficits in schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: Deficits in antisaccade (AS) and smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM) are promising endophenotypes in genetic studies of schizophrenia. The Icelandic population lends itself ideally to genetic studies due to its ethnic homogeneity and well-documented genealogy. The primary aim of this study was to assess AS and SPEM performance in a large Icelandic sample. Additional aims were to investigate the relationship between AS and SPEM task performance and to assess internal consistency, within-session performance changes and effects of SPEM target velocity on performance. METHOD: Patients with schizophrenia (N = 118) and healthy controls (N = 109) matched for age and gender underwent infrared oculographic assessment of AS and SPEM (at target velocities of 12 degrees , 24 degrees and 36 degrees /s). RESULTS: On the AS task patients displayed significantly more reflexive errors, longer latency, increased intra-individual latency variability, and reduced amplitude gain compared to controls. On the SPEM task, patients had significantly lower velocity gain and more frequent saccades during pursuit at all velocities, but group differences in velocity gain increased with increasing target velocity. Internal consistency of performance was high for all variables in both groups (Cronbach's alpha >0.77 for AS and >0.85 for SPEM) except for AS spatial error in patients (alpha = 0.38). A moderate association was found between AS and SPEM performance. By and large, patients and controls showed similar patterns of systematic within-session performance changes. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirm the existence of robust eye movement deficits in schizophrenia in a large sample. These measures may be studied as endophenotypes in future studies of potential schizophrenia risk genotypes in the genetically homogenous Icelandic population.     

Genotype of the cystic fibrosis population of the Hunter Region of New South Wales

Objective : To determine the genotype of patients attending the cystic fibrosis clinic at John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, Australia.
Methodology : Seventy-five of the 76 patients attending the clinic over a 6 month period had blood collected for genetic analysis of 17 of the cystic fibrosis (CF) gene mutations.
Results : Sixty-one per cent of the patients were homozygous for the ΔF508 mutation and all except one child had at least one ΔF508 mutation.
Discussion : Nearly 80% of the CF genes were the ΔF508 mutation. This prevalence suggests that the obligatory false negative rate of a newborn screening programme for CF based on a combination of immunoreactive trypsin and the ΔF508 gene may be as low as 4-5%.     

CSF rhinorrhea: detection and localization using overpressure cisternography with Tc-99m-DTPA

We performed 32 overpressure radionuclide cisternography (ORNC) studies to examine 26 patients who were clinically suspected of having cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistula with rhinorrhea. Fifteen (47%) of these cisternography studies were positive, and the site of the leak was identified. No leak could be demonstrated in the other 17. Of 23 examinations performed in patients who had clinically documented CSF rhinorrhea, 15 (65%) were scintigraphically positive. The rapid cephalad transit of the radionuclide bolus allowed completion of the study within 30 to 45 minutes. Seven examinations were also performed with overpressure metrizamide CT cisternography (OMCTC), and five demonstrated concordant results with the radionuclide study. Patient discomfort and side effects were minimal. We conclude that radionuclide infusion cisternography is a safe, rapid, and accurate method of investigating a suspected or proven CSF rhinorrhea and that it is complementary to metrizamide cisternography.     

Effective treatment of experimental acute otitis media by application of volatile fluids into the ear canal

Essential oils are volatile and can have good antimicrobial activity. We compared the effects of oil of basil (Ocimum basilicum) and essential oil components (thymol, carvacrol, and salicylaldehyde) to those of a placebo when placed in the ear canal of rats with experimental acute otitis media caused by pneumococci or Haemophilus influenzae. Progress was monitored by otomicroscopic examination and middle ear cultures. The treatment with oil of basil or essential oil components cured or healed 56%-81% of rats infected with H. influenzae and 6%-75% of rats infected with pneumococci, compared with 5.6%-6% of rats in the placebo group. Essential oils or their components placed in the ear canal can provide effective treatment of acute otitis media.