Clinical studies have shown greater sex differences in symptoms of schizophrenia, with men having more negative symptoms than women, which may be related to the action of the reproductive hormones.
The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between negative symptoms and the plasma levels of testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) in male patients with schizophrenia.
The participants were 50 male patients with chronic schizophrenia. The psychopathology of the patients was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) and the Drug-induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale (DIEPSS) were also used to exclude the effects of depression or drug-induced extrapyramidal symptoms.
The PANSS negative scores showed a significant inverse correlation with the serum testosterone levels without a correlation with serum DHEAS.
This study indicates that testosterone but not DHEAS may play an important role in the severity of negative symptoms in male patients with schizophrenia.
Egypt experienced its first nationally televised antistigma campaign in 2007. This independent study aims at a scientific evaluation of the potential benefits of this campaign.
Two educational clips lasting 1 or 2 min each were aired daily on prime time television between 1 and 31 October 2007. Five messages were relayed as the clip rolled on. A specially designed questionnaire covering six areas was used; these included demographics, identifying those who have seen the clips, memory and opinion about each message, stigma-related attitudes, and behavior toward the mentally ill persons. Twenty mental health workers with experience in field work ranging in training from 1 to 13 years received two training sessions. The questionnaire was piloted on 82 participants and subsequently modified. A total of 3000 participants who consented to being interviewed were selected to participate. The data of 2274 participants from the Greater Cairo region are reported in this study (75.8%).
The study sample is more representative of the younger, as only 21% of the sample were above 46 years, educated, as only 18% were illiterate, married, as 55% of the sample were married, and employed sections of the population. A total of 55% reported that daily life stressors were the cause of mental illness. Only 17% of the study sample actually acknowledged seeing the antistigma adverts (campaign exposed, CE) and 83% were campaign unexposed. There were no statistically significant demographic differences between both groups. Among those who saw the campaign adverts, a significant proportion reported a number of positive effects on attitude and behavior. However, when CE and campaign unexposed participants were compared, no statistically significant differences emerged. A total of 50% of the participants remembered that mental illness is curable. The question that psychiatric patients are dangerous to self or others showed a statistically significant difference between participants who were CE and those who were not exposed.
The public were willing to express their opinions as they showed significant cooperativeness and validity of their answers, especially those exposed to the campaign. The television is the medium of choice that the public prefer is the evidence stated in the paper. The antistigma media campaign leads to changes in the attitude of participants who are exposed to mental illness. Positive messages influenced attitude change more.
Bipolar disorder in adolescents is often referred to as juvenile bipolar disorder. A peak in the prevalence of bipolar disorder has been documented between the ages of 15 and 19 years. Wide-ranging neuropsychological deficits have been found in many studies of juvenile bipolar disorder. Persistent neuropsychological deficits present in the euthymic state suggest that such deficits could be vulnerability trait markers of the illness.
To identify and assess cognitive functioning in euthymic adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
A case–control cross sectional study, in which 30 euthymic bipolar adolescents were recruited from the psychiatric adolescent clinic of Kasr al Ainy and compared with 30 healthy controls.
The Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression, the Young Mania Rating Scale, the letter cancellation test, the digit span and digit symbol/coding tests, the Bender gestalt test and the Wisconsin card sorting test were used.
Cases had significantly higher mean scores than controls in the letter cancellation test and its omission errors as well as in the perseverative errors of the Wisconsin card sorting test, and lower mean scores in the digit span, digit symbol coding and the Bender gestalt tests. There was a significant positive correlation between the number of omission errors on the letter cancellation test and both of the number of manic episodes and the age of onset of the illness.
There are neuropsychological deficits in the areas of sustained attention, set shifting, processing speed and visual and auditory short-term memory in euthymic bipolar adolescent patients, type I. There is a significant correlation between the number of manic episodes as well as age of illness onset and sustained attention.
High levels of homocysteine are associated with vascular disease, changes in the levels of monoamine neurotransmitters and depression. A plausible hypothesis for these associations is that high homocysteine levels are implicated in vascular disease and neurotransmitter deficiency, which are in turn linked to depression.
To investigate the association between elevated homocysteine levels and depressive symptoms in patients with ischaemic heart disease (IHD).
Eighty patients with a confirmed diagnosis of IHD were consecutively selected in a cross-sectional study from the inpatient and outpatient cardiology department of Kasr-Al-Ainy hospital. All IHD patients were diagnosed according to the criteria of the American College of Cardiology. Depression was evaluated using the Present State Examination-10 Short English–Arabic Version and the Beck Depressive Inventory. The serum level of homocysteine was determined using the chemiluminescent technique.
Thirty-six ischaemic heart patients (45%) had depressive disorders. Depressed patients were older and had a longer duration of the IHD. The level of homocysteine was higher in depressed patients (P=0.098). Positive correlations were found between age and the serum level of homocysteine (P=0.028) but no correlations were found between the serum level of homocysteine and the severity of depression. Sleep disturbances correlated significantly with homocysteine levels irrespective of age.
Depressive symptoms are common in IHD patients, especially patients with prolonged duration of the disease. They are more apparent in IHD patients at times of emergency and intervention. In IHD patients, the serum level of homocysteine is associated with the occurrence of vegetative depressive symptoms.
To study sexual behavior among substance users, to find an association between substance use and risky sexual behaviors, and to determine whether there is an association between personality traits and risky sexual behaviors among substance users.
Our participants (100) were divided into two groups: group 1 (cases) included 50 individuals (diagnosed with substance abuse according to the DSM-VI criteria) recruited from the Kasr El Aini psychiatric inpatient ward and group 2 (controls) included 50 normal control individuals, matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. All patients were men, ranging age from 18 to 40 years, were taking substances for at least 6 months, and all of them could read and write. Those with a comorbid axis I diagnosis were excluded from the study. Both groups were subjected to a full psychiatric sheet, risk assessment battery (RAB), and the Eysenck personality questionnaire. The Addiction Severity Index was determined for cases, urine sampling was carried out using drug screening strips, and a laboratory test was performed for HIV and hepatitis C virus detection.
Both groups showed nonsignificant differences in terms of age, education, employment, education, and social status. The most prevalent substance used was tramadol (96%), followed by cannabis (72%) and heroin (58%). Hepatitis C virus infection was detected in (16%); none of the patients had HIV (AIDS). There were statistically significant differences in extroversion and neuroticism between the cases and the controls. There was a statistically significant difference between the cases and the controls in terms of the sexual subscale of RAB. There was a significant correlation between psychoticism and criminality subscales in Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the RAB in the case group.
Patients with substance abuse have more sexual risk than normal controls. Sexual risk is not related to the severity of addiction, but to psychoticism and criminal behavior of personality.
