Utility of the Brief Symptom Inventory in the Assessment of Psychological Distress

Introduction People with intellectual disabilities are now acknowledged to be susceptible to the full range of mental health disorders. This acknowledgement has resulted in the need to develop and evaluate instruments for the assessment and detection of mental health problems. This research evaluates the use of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) with 200 people with mild intellectual disabilities representing community, clinical and forensic populations. Results and conclusions Results illustrate the reliability of the BSI for each of the groups and demonstrates how the Positive Symptom Total (PST) index effectively discriminates between study groups. Case rates for each group are provided. The study illustrates that the BSI could be employed as a brief multitrait assessment instrument and as a treatment outcome measure with people with an intellectual disability.     

Anorectal function in the solitary rectal ulcer syndrome

The anorectal function of nine patients with solitary rectal ulcer syndrome (SRUS) (5 F: 4 M, median age, 27 (range, 19–41 years) and nine control subjects (5 F: 4 M, median age, 47 (35–66)P<0.01) has been investigated by a new technique that radiologically visualizes the anorectum during voiding of a semisolid contrast medium, while simultaneously measuring intrarectal pressure and anal sphincter EMG activity. A degree of rectal prolapse was demonstrated in eight of the SRUS patients; six of these lesions were clinically occult. Abnormal failure of the anal sphincter to relax on voiding was present in seven of the SRUS patients. These abnormalities resulted in the SRUS patients requiring a greater increase in intrarectal pressure (median, 100 cm water) to void than the control subjects (median, 65 cm water,P<0.01). This combination of high intrarectal pressure and rectal prolapse during straining seems to be the cause of SRUS This work was supported by a grant from the Medical Research Council.     

Impact of asthma and air pollution on school attendance of primary school children: are they at increased risk of school absenteeism?

AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of asthma and air pollution on school attendance of primary school children 6 to 12 years of age in Qatar. STUDY DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional population-based study. SUBJECTS: The total 31,400 Qatari school children at the primary school (16,130 boys and 15,270 girls) 6 to 12 of age were studied to investigate school absenteeism caused by asthma and wheezing during the academic year October 2003 to July 2004. METHODS: We have used the School Health Registry for obtaining the student information and school absenteeism due to asthma and wheezing. Again we had double confirmation on the data obtained on asthmatic children by using the modified version of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood [ISAAC] questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 3,270 (10.4%) pupils were diagnosed as having asthma and wheezing. Overall 2,516 (8.02%) pupils were absent from the school for at least one day during the year. There was a statistically significant difference between asthmatic and wheezing students in number of days absent from the school (p < 0.0001). Most absenteeism occurred during spring for both boys (45%) and girls (47%), followed by autumn for boys (33%) and girls (36%). The measured pollutants reached a peak during the spring season and then in autumn of the studied academic year. CONCLUSION: Children with known asthma miss more days of school than those who do not have asthma. This study finding shows that air pollution has an impact on asthma, which results in significant school absenteeism.     

Detection of the carrier state of X-linked retinoschisis

We determined the extent of suppressive rod-cone interaction in 11 obligate carriers and eight potential carriers of X-linked retinoschisis from eight families. Despite otherwise normal ophthalmoscopic and functional testing, all of the obligate heterozygous carriers demonstrated a complete absence of normal rod-cone interaction. Of the potential heterozygous carriers, three had normal rod-cone interactions, two had no detectable interaction, and two yielded technically unsatisfactory results. This lack of rod-cone interactions allows heterozygous individuals to be identified clinically and has implications concerning the origin of this inherited disorder.     

Separable evoked retinal and cortical potentials from each major visual pathway: preliminary results.

Single cell experiments in primates show that there are two major parallel pathways named after the lamination in the lateral geniculate nucleus. Each of these systems can be preferentially excited by appropriate stimuli. Here we report that in man the polarity of the evoked potentials both in retina and in cortex depends on which of these pathways is stimulated. The identification of the resulting waveforms is thereby simplified--a matter of practical importance. The fact that at retina and cortex there are characteristic potentials may reflect the different cell biology of the two pathways.