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Case Reports 2012; 33(5): 477-482 PubMed PMID: 23090263 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Anorexia Nervosa:diagnosis, Anthropometry, Body Mass Index, Body Weight, Case-Control Studies, Female, Humans, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:diagnosis, Outpatients:psychology, Pilot Projects, Thinness:diagnosis, Young Adult,.   

OBJECTIVE: Weight preoccupations have been frequently reported in normal-weight subjects. Subthreshold anorexia nervosa (s-AN, all DSM IV TR criteria except amenorrhea or underweight) is a form of eating disorder not otherwise specified that has received scarce scientific attention. Under a case-control design we compared the general characteristics, body composition, and psychopathological features of normal-weight patients with s-AN with those of BMI- and sex-matched controls.

DESIGN: Participants in this pilot study included 9 normal-weight women who met the DSM IV TR criteria for s-AN and 18 BMI-matched normal-weight controls. The general characteristics of the study participants were collected by questionnaire. Body composition was measured by bioelectrical impedance. Behavioral and psychological measures included the standardized symptom checklist (SCL-90-R) and the eating disorder inventory (EDI-2).

RESULTS: There were no differences in age, education, employment status, marital status, and history of previous slimming treatment in the two study groups. In addition, anthropometric measures and body composition of s-AN patients and BMI-matched normal weight controls were not significantly different. In the s-AN subgroup, we found a significant relationship between waist circumference and the SCL-90-R obsessivity-compulsivity scale (n=9, r=-0.69, p<0.05). After multiple regression analysis, the SCL-90-R obsessivity-compulsivity scale (beta = 0.61, t=2.7, p=0.017) was the only independent predictor of the presence s-AN in our study cohort.

CONCLUSIONS: These pilot results suggest that psychopathological criteria (particularly related to the obsessivity-compulsivity dimension) may be more useful than anthropometric measures for screening of s-AN in normal-weight women....

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Case Reports 2012; 33(4): 372-374 PubMed PMID: 22936268 Citation  Keywords:  Alzheimer Disease:nursing, Antipsychotic Agents:therapeutic use, Caregivers:psychology, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Psychotic Disorders:etiology, Risperidone:therapeutic use, Severity of Illness Index, Spouses:psychology, Stress, Psychological:complicati.   

OBJECTIVES: Caring for demented people has been associated with negative effect on caregiver health. One or more severe stress factors can precipitate brief reactive psychosis.

METHODS: A 59-year-old Caucasian married woman with no prior psychosis has been caring for her severely demented husband for more than 3 years. She was treated for anxiety disorder and reaction to severe stress in our clinic for 1 year.

RESULTS: Five days after husband's nursing home placement our patient developed the abnormal thought, that someone might tell her neighbours of her laziness and failures. She believed that she was under constant surveillance. These ideas grew rapidly into delusions and hallucinations. She was diagnosed as having transient psychosis with associated acute stress and was treated with risperidone. The psychosis lasted for two months.

CONCLUSION: Careful differential diagnosis is necessary in the cases of transient psychosis. Psychotic symptoms in overloaded individuals may be more common than was previously thought....

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Journal Article 2012; 33(2): 224-235 PubMed PMID: 22592206 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Estrogens:blood, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone:blood, Intelligence:physiology, Intelligence Tests:statistics & numerical data, Male, Memory:physiology, Mental Disorders:blood, Military Personnel:psychology, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales:statist.   

BACKGROUND: Cortisol, along with other hormones of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis, belongs to one of the main factors influencing psychological and pathognomic factors, intelligence, and memory.

METHODS: The aim of our study was to review a large battery of psychological, performance, IQ and memory tests as to their relation with cortisol, testosterone and estrogen levels in groups of 100 men and 93 women who attended the Central Military Hospital in Prague for regular entrance psychological examinations for military personnel.

RESULTS: In men, we detected positive correlations between cortisol and emotional lability, and negative correlations with impulsivity, while in women hypochondria and psychopathology were negatively correlated, and aggression measured with the Meili selective memory test had a positive relation to cortisol level. Testosterone correlated positively with emotional liability and negatively with impulsivity in men, and negatively with hypochondria and psychasteny, indirect aggression, irritability and paranoia in women. Estradiol correlated positively with psychopathology in men, and negatively with phobia. It was positively correlated with negativism in women. No clear correlation was observed between the concentration of steroid hormones and psychomotor performance or intelligence.

CONCLUSIONS: Concentrations of steroid hormones correlate with results of several psychological tests, the sign and magnitude of these correlations, however, very often differ in military men and women....

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Journal Article 2012; 33(2): 201-206 PubMed PMID: 22592202 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity:diagnosis, Case-Control Studies, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Parents:psychology, Prospective Studies, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales:statistics & numerical data,.   

BACKGROUND: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental health disorders in childhood; symptoms persist into adulthood in a majority of patients. It is among the most heritable of psychiatric disorders with a high risk for familial aggregation and has been linked in adulthood with impairment across a variety of domains, including parenting. Parental gender, ADHD status and symptom expression could be related to the severity of ADHD symptoms in the child.

METHODS: We used prospective, observational study of clinical group of 30 children with diagnosed ADHD and control group of 37 healthy subjects. Only children with both biological parents available were included. Data on ADHD symptomatology for all subjects was gathered by a set of clinical tools (CBCL1991, TRF1991, WURS, self-report scale modified from DSM IV). Under the assumption that ADHD is a dimensional disorder, raw scores from questionnaires were used as they display the complete range of values.

RESULTS: Clinical group showed higher values in all areas of children symptomatology, the same was observed for parental ADHD symptomatology. Significant correlation was found between children and paternal current ADHD symptomatology in the clinical group. This was not confirmed for mothers.

CONCLUSION: Our study stresses an importance of screening for ADHD symptoms in parents of clinically referred children with ADHD as the correlation between severity of paternal and child's ADHD symptoms was confirmed. Our results stress the importance of including the father into the clinical assessment....

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Journal Article 2011; 32(Suppl 2): 21-23 PubMed PMID: 22101877 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, C-Reactive Protein:analysis, Czech Republic:epidemiology, Family Characteristics, Fatigue:psychology, Female, Humans, Immunochemistry, Male, Middle Aged, Nephelometry and Turbidimetry, Poverty:psychology, Socioeconomic Factors, Stress, Psychologica.   

BACKGROUND: C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase serum protein produced by the liver. High plasma levels of CRP have been associated primarily with infection, but elevated CRP levels have also been found to be associated with more than one hundred conditions and factors, including social and economic factors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: To evaluate the possible association between individuals' number of children and plasma levels of C-reactive protein, we studied a representative population of 2,426 adults. CRP was analyzed using the high sensitivity method (hsCRP). Individuals were divided into five groups of zero, one, two, three and four and more children.

RESULTS: We found that individuals with more children had significantly higher levels of plasma hsCRP than individuals without children or than individuals with a low number of children (p for trend <0.001). This association could reflect the known associations between CRP and higher economic stress, exhaustion, episodic stress and chronic stress.

CONCLUSIONS: We found significantly elevated levels of plasma CRP in individuals with more children than in individuals without children or with a low number of children....

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Journal Article 2011; 32(4): 400-404 PubMed PMID: 21876494 Citation  Keywords:  Brain Chemistry:physiology, Choice Behavior:physiology, Humans, Mental Disorders:physiopathology, Models, Psychological, Suicide:psychology,.   

: Suicidal behavior is a leading cause of injury and death worldwide. Suicide has been associated with psychiatric illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia, as well as economic uncertainty, and social/cultural factors. This study proposes a neuroeconomic framework of suicide. Neuroeconomic parameters (e.g., risk-attitude, probability weighting, time discounting in intertemporal choice, and loss aversion) are predicted to be related to suicidal behavior. Neurobiological and neuroendocrinological substrates such as serotonin, dopamine, cortisol (HPA axis), nitric oxide, serum cholesterol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, gonadal hormones (e.g., estradiol and progesterone), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in brain regiouns such as the orbitofrontal/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and limbic regions (e.g., the amygdala) may supposedly be related to the neuroeconomic parameters modulating the risk of suicide. The present framework puts foundations for "molecular neuroeconomics" of decision-making processes underlying suicidal behavior....

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Journal Article 2011; 32(3): 221-225 PubMed PMID: 21712792 Citation  Keywords:  Adolescent, Algorithms, Behavior, Addictive:psychology, Choice Behavior, Economics, Humans, Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychophysics, Time Perception:physiology,.   

: Neuroeconomic conditions for "rational addiction" (Becker & Murphy 1988) have been unknown. This paper derived the conditions for "rational addiction" by utilizing a nonlinear time-perception theory of "hyperbolic" discounting, which is mathematically equivalent to the q-exponential intertemporal choice model based on Tsallis' statistics. It is shown that (i) Arrow-Pratt measure for temporal cognition corresponds to the degree of irrationality (i.e., Prelec's "decreasing impatience" parameter of temporal discounting) and (ii) rationality in addicts is controlled by a nondimensionalization parameter of the logarithmic time-perception function. Furthermore, the present theory illustrates the possibility that addictive drugs increase impulsivity via dopaminergic neuroadaptation without increasing irrationality. Future directions in the application of the model to studies in neuroeconomics are discussed....

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Case Reports 2011; 32(3): 226-233 PubMed PMID: 21712779 Citation  Keywords:  Administration, Cutaneous, Adult, Capsaicin:administration & dosage, Electric Stimulation Therapy, Electrodes, Implanted, Female, Humans, Neuralgia:psychology, Neurologic Examination, Neurosurgery, Peripheral Nerves:physiology, Ulnar Nerve:physiology, Uln.   

: Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) is a neurostimulation analgesic technique. PNS is utilized to treat peripheral neuropathic pain. It is highly sophisticated and a specialized technique used where other forms of treatment have failed. This paper describes the PNS procedure, its therapeutic principles, indications, and the comprehensive care for patients after the PNS implant. First, we summarize our experience using this type of invasive treatment. In the second part, a case of intractable neuropathic pain following repeated surgery to the ulnar nerve is reported. Prior to PNS, the patient underwent multiple types of antineuralgic treatment with no significant result. Only after the PNS application, was a significant analgesic effect achieved....

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