氟桂利嗪对精神分裂症阴性症状的辅助治疗

目的:探讨抗精神病药联用氟桂利嗪辅助治疗精神分裂症阴性症状的疗效及不良反应。方法:采用双盲对照方法,对96例以阴性症状为主的住院慢性精神分裂症患者随机分为两组,在原用抗精神病药基础上,分别合用氟桂利嗪和安慰剂。疗程12周。在治疗前和治疗4、8、12周末应用阳性与阴性症状量表(PANSS)和副反应量表(TESS)评定疗效及不良反应。结果:治疗后氟桂利嗪组在阴性症状因子、情感迟钝、情感交流障碍以及被动/淡漠、社交退缩因子与安慰剂组比较显著较好(P<0.05),而不良反应差异无显著性(P>0.05)。结论:合用氟桂利嗪对改善慢性精神分裂症患者的阴性症状有增效作用,安全性较高。     

Accompanying symptoms and psychiatric comorbidity in migraine and tension-type headache patients

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to assess the prevalence of accompanying symptoms of migraine and tension-type headache in patients with such conditions (both episodic and chronic) and in headache-free controls, and their relationship with depression and anxiety. METHOD: A psychological assessment (Axis I, DSM-IV) was performed, and 21 accompanying symptoms were investigated in 506 patients with episodic migraine (231), chronic migraine (102), episodic tension-type headache (83), and chronic tension-type headache (90) and in 80 controls. The relationship between symptoms, headache type, and psychiatric comorbidity was analyzed. RESULTS: The mean number of symptoms was significantly higher in patients (n=10.3) than in controls (n=3.4). Most symptoms were significantly associated with depression and anxiety, while only some of them were significantly associated with headache, with no relevant difference among groups. CONCLUSION: In headache patients, psychiatric comorbidity (compared with headache type or chronicity) seems to be more strictly associated with an increased burden of accompanying symptoms.     

Clinical analysis of psychiatric symptoms of Japanese encephalitis during the convalescent Period: A single center study in Chongqing,China

BackgroundThis study aimed to analyze clinical and imaging features of children with severe Japanese encephalitis (JE), and to analyze causes and solutions for psychiatric symptoms of JE during the convalescent period.MethodsWe analyzed clinical information for 78 children with severe JE at the Department of Neurology, Department of Infection, and Department of Rehabilitation in our hospital during 2014–2016. Seventy-eight cases of severe JE were divided into patients with psychiatric symptoms and no psychiatric symptoms groups. We focused on analysis of the patients with psychiatric symptoms group.ResultsThe incidence of psychiatric symptoms during the convalescent period was 46.15% (36/78). Antipsychotic drugs can effectively control psychiatric symptoms and shorten duration of symptoms. Seventy-one patients underwent reexamination with a head MRI. Of these, 8 cases (8/36 = 22.22%) in patients with psychiatric symptoms group showed new lesions in the basal ganglia, insula, and hippocampus. During the 12-month follow-up, two cases showed reappearance of psychiatric symptoms that had been relieved previously.ConclusionThis study found that severe JE cases revealed a considerable proportion with psychiatric symptoms during the convalescent period.     

Electrophysiological evidence for changes in attentional orienting and selection in functional somatic symptoms

ObjectiveWe investigated changes in attention mechanisms in people who report a high number of somatic symptoms which cannot be associated with a physical cause.MethodBased on scores on the Somatoform Disorder Questionnaire (SDQ-20; Nijenhuis et al., 1996) we compared two non-clinical groups, one with high symptoms on the SDQ-20 and a control group with low or no symptoms. We recorded EEG whilst participants performed an exogenous tactile attention task where they had to discriminate between tactile targets following a tactile cue to the same or opposite hand.ResultsThe neural marker of attentional orienting to the body, the Late Somatosensory Negativity (LSN), was diminished in the high symptoms group and attentional modulation of touch processing was prolonged at mid and enhanced at later latency stages in this group.ConclusionThese results confirm that attentional processes are altered in people with somatic symptoms, even in a non-clinical group. Furthermore, the observed pattern fits explanations of changes in prior beliefs or expectations leading to diminished amplitudes of the marker of attentional orienting to the body (i.e. the LSN) and enhanced attentional gain of touch processing.SignificanceThis study shows that high somatic symptoms are associated with neurocognitive attention changes.     

Risk the Change or Change the Risk? The Nonlinear Effect of Job Insecurity on Task Performance

Job insecurity has been recognized for its negative effect on employee performance. Nevertheless, this study argues that, under the threat of job insecurity, employees may also be likely to seek to reduce the threat by proactively crafting their tasks and improving performance. Drawing from the perspective of Vroom’s expectancy theory, it is proposed that, only when job security is at moderate level will employees expect it as possible to make such a change to respond to the situation. Accordingly, a curvilinear mediated model is developed that links job insecurity and task performance indirectly through task crafting, and a two-waved time-lagged survey involving 328 employees was conducted to test the model. The results showed that job insecurity had an inverted U-shaped relationship with task crafting and that this relationship was moderated by strengths-based psychological climate, a measure of how employees feel their strengths are appreciated in the organization. In this sense, strengths-based psychological climate can enhance the positive relationship between job insecurity and task crafting. Overall, the finding suggests that job insecurity may not always be detrimental. Thus, there will be significant managerial implications in creating favorable conditions for increased task performance.     

Prospective study of muscle cramps in Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth disease

Introduction: This study aims to assess the frequency, location, severity, duration, and fluctuation over time of muscle cramps in Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth disease (CMT). Methods: Inherited Neuropathies Consortium Contact Registry participants recorded the occurrence and characteristics of muscle cramps using an 11‐question survey administered 3 times over 8 weeks. Results: A total of 110 adult patients with CMT completed the survey. Weekly cramp frequency was 9.3 (SD 12.3), and 23% had daily muscle cramps. Twenty‐two percent reported a significant impact on quality of life. Over 8 weeks, the daily frequency and severity of muscle cramps did not change significantly. Conclusions: Patients with CMT have muscle cramps that vary little over an 8‐week period, and they may interfere with quality of life. These data may be useful in the planning of clinical trials of agents to treat adults with CMT‐associated muscle cramps. Muscle Nerve 51: 485–488, 2015     

Development of the psychometric property of a Minimum Data-Set-Based Depression Rating Scale for use in long-term care facilities in Taiwan

Objectives: Our aim is to develop the psychometric property of the Minimum Data-Set-Based Depression Rating Scale (MDS-DRS) to ensure its use to assess service needs and guide care plans for institutionalized residents.

Methods: 378 residents were recruited from the Haoran Senior Citizen Home in northern Taiwan. The MDS-DRS and GDS-SF were used to identify observable features of depression symptoms in the elderly residents.

Results: A total of 378 residents participated in this study. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve indicated that the MDS-DRS has a 43.3% sensitivity and a 90.6% specificity when screening for depression symptoms. The total variance, explained by the two factors ‘sadness’ and ‘distress,’ was 58.1% based on the factor analysis.

Conclusions: Reliable assessment tools for nurses are important because they allow the early detection of depression symptoms. The MDS-DRS items perform as well as the GDS-SF items in detecting depression symptoms. Furthermore, the MDS-DRS has the advantage of providing information to staff about care process implementation, which can facilitate the identification of areas that need improvement. Further research is needed to validate the use of the MDS-DRS in long-term care facilities.     

Personality,psychosocial and health-related predictors of quality of life in old age

Objectives: Beyond its well-documented association with depressive symptoms across the lifespan, at an individual level, quality of life may be determined by multiple factors: psychosocial characteristics, current physical health and long-term personality traits.

Method: Quality of life was assessed in two distinct community-based age groups (89 young adults aged 36.2 ± 6.3 and 92 older adults aged 70.4 ± 5.5 years), each group equally including adults with and without acute depressive symptoms. Regression models were applied to explore the association between quality of life assessed with the World Health Organization Quality of Life - Bref (WHOQOL-Bref) and depression severity, education, social support, physical illness, as well as personality dimensions as defined by the Five-Factor Model.

Results: In young age, higher quality of life was uniquely associated with lower severity of depressive symptoms. In contrast, in old age, higher quality of life was related to both lower levels of depressive mood and of physical illness. In this age group, a positive association was also found between quality of life and higher levels of Openness to experience and Agreeableness personality dimensions.

Conclusion: Our data indicated that, in contrast to young cohorts, where acute depression is the main determinant of poor quality of life, physical illness and personality dimensions represent additional independent predictors of this variable in old age. This observation points to the need for concomitant consideration of physical and psychological determinants of quality of life in old age.     

The new DSM-5 diagnosis of mild neurocognitive disorder and its relation to research in mild cognitive impairment

The Diagnostic Statistical Manual-5 (DSM-5) has included a category named the neurocognitive disorder which was formally known in DSM-IV as ‘dementia, delirium, amnestic, and other cognitive disorders’. The DSM-5 distinguishes between ‘mild’ and ‘major’ neurocognitive disorders. Major neurocognitive disorder replaces the DSM-IV's term ‘dementia or other debilitating conditions’. A pivotal addition is ‘mild neurocognitive disorder (mNCD)’ defined by a noticeable decrement in cognitive functioning that goes beyond normal changes seen in aging. It is a disorder that may progress to dementia – importantly, it may not.

Presently, our understanding of mNCD is derived from research on mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Whereas there is currently no clear treatment for mNCD, many experimental therapies now and into the future will focus upon secondary prevention, namely decreasing the risk of progression to major NCD. In this article, we will focus on mNCD by reviewing the relevant literature on MCI. We will review the research on the incidence and prevalence of MCI, conversion rates from MCI to dementia, risk factors for conversion of MCI to dementia, comorbidity of MCI with other neuropsychiatric disorders (NPS), and the development of treatment strategies for neuropsychiatric disorders in MCI.

The presence of NPS is common among individuals with MCI and is an important risk for progression to dementia. However, there has been little research on effective treatments for NPS in MCI. Clinicians and investigators must determine if the treatment of the NPS in mNCD will improve quality of life and help reduce the progression of the cognitive impairment.     

阿尔茨海默病与血管性痴呆患者精神行为症状和认知功能损害的比较

目的:探讨阿尔茨海默病(AD)和血管性痴呆(VD)患者精神行为症状和认知功能损害特点。方法:分析53例AD患者(AD组)及49例VD患者(VD组)近1个月精神行为症状及发生率;采用简明精神状态检查(MMSE)、世界卫生组织-加利福尼亚大学听觉词语学习测验(WHO-UCLA AVLT)和画钟测验(CDT)评估两组患者的认知功能。结果:AD组攻击行为、行为紊乱发生率明显高于VD组,抑郁发生率明显低于VD组(P均0.05);AD组MMSE中记忆、言语能力评分显著低于VD组,注意力评分显著高于VD组(P均0.05);AD组WHO-UCLA AVLT中延时记忆、长时记忆评分显著低于VD组(P均0.05);两组间CDT评分差异无统计学意义。结论:AD患者较VD患者有更多的攻击行为及行为紊乱,认知功能损害以记忆、言语能力下降更重;VD患者较多出现抑郁症状,注意力损害更明显。