Manic episode with psychotic symptoms induced by subthalamic nucleus stimulation in a patient with Parkinson's disease.

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is an established therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD). A manic episode with psychotic symptoms induced by STN-DBS occurred in a previously psychiatrically healthy patient, focusing on the role of STN-DBS in influencing not only motor but also emotional behaviour.     

Characteristics of open- and closed-loop smooth pursuit responses among obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and nonpsychiatric individuals

Twenty obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and comparison samples of 20 schizophrenia and 20 nonpsychiatric individuals were presented with (a) a step-ramp task designed to measure smooth pursuit initiation and (b) a regular ramp task designed to measure steady-stale tracking performance. Obsessive-compulsive disorder and non-psychiatric individuals had statistically similar pursuit reaction time and average eye accelerations during the open-loop interval. They also had similar closed-loop performance. Schizophrenia patients, however, had delayed pursuit reaction times and reduced eye acceleration during the last 60 ms of the open-loop interval. These findings suggest that brain regions supporting smooth pursuit performance are unimpaired among obsessive-compulsive disorder patients. Furthermore, the deficits found in the schizophrenia patients replicate and extend the results of previous smooth pursuit studies.     

Clinical course and outcome of cycloid psychotic disorder: a three-year prospective study

The course and outcome of cycloid psychotic disorder was explored by means of a prospective three-year follow-up of a sample of patients fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for the disorder provided by Perris & Brockington, compared to patients with a diagnosis of affective or schizoaffective disorder. The most striking difference between cycloids and affectives was the lack of manic episodes during the follow-up period in the former group. Moreover, the mean age at onset was lower in cycloids. No difference between these patient groups was observed with regard to outcome. Compared to schizoaffectives, cycloids showed several differences in the clinical picture during the index episode, and their symptomatological pattern was more consistent from one episode to another during the follow-up. Moreover, the outcome of cycloids was significantly more favourable than that of schizodepres-sives.     

Inhibitory motor control in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: event-related potentials in the stop-signal paradigm.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to investigate the inhibitory control of an ongoing motor response and to identify underlying neural deficiencies, manifested in event-related potentials, that cause poorer inhibitory performance in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. METHODS: A stop-signal paradigm with a primary visual task and auditory stop signal was used to compare performance in 13 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and 13 control children, while event-related potentials were recorded simultaneously. RESULTS: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder showed poorer inhibitory performance through a slower inhibitory process. Inhibitory processing of auditory stop signals was marked by a frontal N2 component that was reduced in the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder group relative to controls. A central positive component (P3) was associated with the success of inhibiting a response, but there were no group differences in its amplitude or latency. CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the hypothesis of deficient inhibitory control in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Slower inhibitory processing appears to be due to a specific neural deficiency that manifests in the processing of the stop signal as attenuated negativity in the N2 latency range.     

Phobic postural vertigo: a first follow-up

Seventy-eight patients with phobic postural vertigo (PPV) and 17 patients with psychogenic disorder of stance and gait (PSG) were asked to evaluate their condition 6 months to 5.5 years after their original referral and short-term psychotherapy. Two results seem most important: (1) PPV had a favourable course with a 72% improvement rate (22% of patients becoming symptom free), whereas the majority of patients with PSG (52%) remained unchanged; (2) the majority of patients with PPV experienced complete remission or considerable improvement even if their condition had lasted between 1 and 20 years prior to diagnosis. Complete remission of PSG was observed only if the disorder had been present less than 4 months; there was no improvement if it had lasted longer than 2 years. PPV can be defined as a distinct clinical entity with a relatively benign course. It can be reliably diagnosed on the basis of typical features.     

Hereditary plasma thromboplastin antecedent (PTA,FXI)

A rare case of factor XI (PTA) deficiency was discovered in a Saudi family in the Riyadh area. Nine members of the family were studied. Two were found to have a severe PTA deficiency’ levels of factor XI clotting activity were 0.01 i.u./ml and 0.02 i.u./ml respectively. Both plasmas were markedly deficient in factor XI antigen and appeared to be negative for cross-reactive material (CRM-). The parents were first cousins and both were found to have a minor PTA deficiency. Factor XI levels were: mother 0.048 i.u./ml and father 0.33 i.u./ml. Another sibling was found to have a FXI level of 0.47 i.u./ml. Menorrhagia and bleeding for 1 day after tooth extraction were the main bleeding manifestations found in one member with severe PTA deficiency. Clinically this member presented with iron deficiency anaemia. Other family members had no significant history of bleeding tendency. This is the first report of a Saudi Arabian family with PTA deficiency.     

Obsessive-compulsive disorder: admission patterns and diagnostic stability

All first-time admissions from 1970 to 1986 with obsessive-compulsive neurosis (OCD) (ICD-8 diagnosis number 300.39) or obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) (ICD-8 diagnosis number 301.49) were analyzed based on an extract from the nationwide Psychiatric Case Register in Denmark. All patients with secondary diagnoses other than neurotic disorders or personality disorders (including “neuroses characterogenes”) were excluded from the study. A total of 284 patients were first-time admitted with a main diagnosis of OCD during the period. The sex ratio was 0.67 (males/females). A total of 126 were first-time admitted with a diagnosis of OCPD, with a sex ratio of 1.18 (males/females). Seventy-seven percent of the readmitted patients with a first-time diagnosis of OCD kept a diagnosis within the “emotional spectrum” at the last admission. About half kept OCD as a main diagnosis, whereas only 15% shifted to a severe psychiatric diagnosis such as schizophrenia or manic-depressive psychosis. Of the readmitted patients with OCPD. 13% later developed a diagnosis of manic-depressive psychosis.     

Acute intermittent porphyria and mental illness – a family study

All cases of acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) are believed to be caused by a mutation in the gene encoding for porphobilinogen deaminase, a rate-limiting enzyme in the haem synthetic pathway. This gene has been mapped to the long arm of chromosome 11, a region of the genome that has recently attracted considerable attention as a possible location for genes implicated in major mental disorder. This study was designed to show whether major mental illness co-segregated with acute intermittent porphyria in families where the two conditions are found. The study also investigated the relation between clinical mental symptoms and biochemical parameters of acute intermittent porphyria. The case records of 344 consecutive patients admitted to the Porphyrias Research Group in the Western Infirmary in Glasgow between 1950 and 1988 with acute intermittent porphyria were examined for evidence of psychiatric contact. Of 16 individuals identified, 12 were available for the study. Forty relatives of these 12 probands, including 9 who were asymptomatic carriers of AIP, were interviewed for lifetime history of mental illness and current symptoms. Comparisons were made between 4 groups of patients based on urinary porphyrin levels and erythrocyte enzyme activity; 1) manifest acute intermittent porphyria, 2) latent acute intermittent porphyria, 3) normal relatives and 4) total acute intermittent porphyria (latent and manifest combined). No association was found between AIP and schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness. Only one patient with schizophrenia was found in the sample of 344 case notes, and in 2 families bipolar illness was found but did not segregate with acute intermittent porphyria. The commonest psychiatric diagnosis in patients was generalized anxiety. In the total AIP group (latent and manifest), compared with normals, the rating scale measures of anxiety were significantly correlated with the level of porphyrin metabolites in the urine at the time of rating. This was true even in subjects with latent AIP, who were not at the time of testing aware that they were asymptomatic carriers of the illness. AIP should be considered in the differential diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder.     

Posttraumatic stress reactions after single and double trauma

This study evaluated the severity and symptom profile of posttraumatic stress reactions of 202 adults exposed in 1988 to political violence in Azerbaijan and/or the earthquake in Armenia. High rates of severe posttraumatic stress reactions were found among the most highly exposed individuals, irrespective of the type of trauma. There was no difference in symptom profile for subjects exposed to earthquake versus violence. These similarities in severity and symptom profile may be attributable to common features of the exposures, which included experiencing life-threat and witnessing injury, mutilation and death. Recent prior exposure to violence contributed to the severity of reaction to the earthquake. The high rates of chronic and severe posttraumatic stress reactions in Armenia constitute a major public mental health problem.     

Parvalbumin neurons in the entorhinal cortex of subjects diagnosed with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Growing evidence indicates that the entorhinal cortex (ECx) might be affected in schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). To test whether distinct interneuronal subpopulations might be altered, numbers of parvalbumin-immunoreactive (PVB-IR) neurons were measured in the ECx of BD and SZ subjects. These neurons play a pivotal role within ECx intrinsic circuits. METHODS: Numbers, numerical density, and soma size of PVB-IR neurons were measured in the ECx of normal control (n = 16), BD (n = 10), and SZ (n = 10) subjects. The volume of the ECx was measured in Nissl-stained sections. RESULTS: In BD, decreases of total numbers (p = .02) and numerical densities (p = .01) of PVB-IR neurons were detected in the ECx. Within distinct subregions, reductions were detected in the superficial layers of the lateral (p = .02), intermediate (p = .04), and caudal (p = .01) ECx. In SZ, total numbers and numerical densities were not altered. A reduction of soma size was present in the intermediate ECx (p = .01). Volume was unaffected in either disorder. CONCLUSIONS: In BD, a decrease of PVB-IR neurons may alter intrinsic inhibitory networks within the superficial layers of the ECx. The likely consequence is a disruption of integration and transfer of information from the cerebral cortex to the hippocampus.