bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
P02-64 - The Influence of Kryptopyrrole (2, 4-dimethyl, 3-ethylpyrrole) on Taking Aggressive Actions
Authors: Heitzman J. , Silczuk A.
Published: June 2010

Introduction

The purpose of this experiment is to confirm the influence and determine the intensity and mechanisms of Kryptopyrrole (2, 4-dimethyl, 3-ethylpyrrole) effect on taking aggressive actions. Basing on existing literature, we have designed this experiment which consists of 3 different phases. All of these phases are crossing over and they are complement one another, that the outcome we are expecting to receive, will give us more clear and deep insight on this influence.

Methods used

Objects will be selected from material of Department of Forensic Psychiatry of Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw (IP&N). All of selected objects will be convicts for crimes of aggressive acts, which previously were forensic psychiatric examined as suspects. 50 objects, 50 controls will be included.

Phase - 1st.

The forensic psychiatric examination. All of selected objects and controls will undergo MRI and the examination of their general health and mental status.

Phase - 2nd.

From all subjects and controls a sample of the urine will be collected. Level of urinal Kryptopyrrole and its concentration will be detected.

Phase - 3rd.

Post mortem neuropathomorphological assessment of 30 young criminals with known medical history, convicted for aggressive acts, who committed suicide in prison.

Expected results

We are expecting statistical importance of comparison of outcome of neuroimaging vs. post mortem studies, which will correlate to mental status and Kryptopyrrole level in urine vs. controls. Effect of its toxicity may be proved by comparison of neuroimaging vs. post mortem studies of brain morphology.
P02-70 - Child Sexual Abuse: the Truth Behind the Report
Authors: Malta R. , Moura M.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

To review how children's memory, communicative skills, social knowledge, and social tendencies can influence the quality of forensic interviews with children, in the special setting of child sexual abuse.

Methods

A review of the studies designed to evaluate children's capacities as witnesses.

Results

The research demonstrates both

1)

how much researchers and interviewers have collectively learned about children's communicative and memory retrieval capacities and

2)

that this information can be used by interviewers to maximize the value of their investigative interviews with alleged victims of abuse.

Controlled studies have repeatedly shown that the quality of interviewing, reliably and dramatically improves, when interviewers employ a structured interview protocol.

Conclusions

Professional (and popular) interest in child sexual abuse was prompted in part by dramatic increases in the numbers of reported cases, and by awareness that many cases of abuse might go unrecognized because the victims were the only possible sources of information and were seldom given the appropriate opportunities to describe their experiences to those who might have been able to help them.

The use of a structured protocol improves the quality of information obtained by investigators from alleged victims, thereby increasing the likelihood that interventions will be appropriate.
P02-71 - Competence to Give Informed Consent in Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization. Preliminary Results from a Case-control Study
Authors: Mandarelli G. , Parmigiani G. , Tarsitani L. , Polselli G.M. , Biondi M. , Ferracuti S.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

To asses competence to consent to treatment in involuntary committed patients (ICP) for a mental disorder, as compared to matched acute voluntary hospitalized patients (VHP). To evaluate the effect of psychopathology severity and cognitive dysfunction on decisional capacity.

Methods

Cases were recruited among ICP at the Umberto I Hospital, ‘Sapienza’ University of Rome; controls were age- and sex-matched VHP, in the same ward and time period. Subjects were diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR criteria and further evaluated through a) MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment (MacCAT-T) b) Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-24 (BPRS) c) Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM) d) Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE).

Results

Eighteen cases were enrolled (67% women), mean age was 25.1 ± 2.8 years. There were no differences between groups in: diagnostic distribution (40% schizophrenic spectrum disorders, 40% mood disorders, 20% other diagnosis), disease duration, MMSE. ICP had higher BPRS total scores (mean difference ± S.D.= 10.3 ± 19.4; [95% C.I.= 0.6 ÷ -20.0]), and performed worse than VHP in MacCAT-T comprehension (-1.0 ± 1.3; [95% C.I.= -1.6 ÷ -0.3]), appreciation (-1,7 ± 2.0; [95% C.I.= -3.0 ÷ -0.7]), reasoning (-2.1 ± 2.9; [95% C.I.= -3.6 ÷ -0.7]) and expression of a choice (-0.8 ± 1.0 [95% C.I.= -1.3 ÷ -0.3]). Competence to give informed consent was associated with psychopathological dimensions but not with MMSE and CPM scores, in the sample overall.

Conclusion

Competence to consent to treatment was reduced in ICP compared to VHP. Involuntary commitment was not necessarily associated with incapability of making treatment decisions.
P02-76 - Risk Factors for Criminal Behavior in Persons with Schizophrenia in Rural Community
Authors: Chen P.-Y. , Ran M.-S. , Liao Z.-G. , Mao W.-J. , Tang C.-P. , Chan C.L.W. , Chen E.Y.H. , Conwell Y.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

The risk factors of criminal behavior in patients with schizophrenia are not well explored. This study is to explore the risk factors for criminal behavior in patients with schizophrenia in rural China.

Methods

We used data from a 14-year prospective follow-up study (1994-2008) of criminal behavior among a cohort (n=510) of patients with schizophrenia in Xinjin County, Chengdu, China.

Results

There were 489 patients (95.9%) who were followed up from 1994 to 2008. The rate of criminal behavior was 13.5% among these patients with schizophrenia during the follow-up period. Compared with female subjects (6 cases, 20.0%), male patients had significantly higher rate of violent criminal behavior (e.g., arson, sexual assault, physical assault, and murder) (24 cases, 80.0%) (p< 0.001). Bivariate analyses showed that the risk of criminal behavior was significantly associated with being unmarried, of younger age, previous violent behavior, homelessness, lower family economic status, no family caregivers, and higher scores on measures (PANSS) of positive, negative, and total symptoms of illness. In multiple logistic regression analyses being unmarried and previous violent behavior were identified as independent predictors of increased criminal behavior in persons with schizophrenia.

Conclusions

The risk factors for criminal behavior among patients with schizophrenia should be understood within a particular social context. Criminal behavior may be predicted by specific characteristics of patients with schizophrenia in rural community. The findings of risk factors for criminal behavior should be considered in planning community mental health care and interventions for high-risk patients and their families.
P02-101 - Effect of Acute Care Model in Provision of General Adult Psychiatric Services
Authors: Krishna S. , Alam F. , Jaganathan G.
Published: June 2010

Introduction

The emergence of Acute Care Team has changed the delivery of services in the United Kingdom. The Acute Care Team led by a senior psychiatrist, is composed of in-patient and home treatment teams, which work in close liaison. As this is a relatively new model, the effectiveness is yet to be proven.

Objectives

The study was performed to evaluate the influence of the Acute Care Team on service delivery.

Aims

The aim of the study was to determine the difference in the number of admissions and duration of hospital stay, following the inception of the model at Clatterbridge Hospital, in the Northwest region of England.

Methods

Retrospective data was obtained for a 14 month time period before and after introduction of acute care team in June 2007. All consecutive admissions to a general adult psychiatric ward were included in the study. The outcome measures were the number of admissions, average duration of hospital stay and average bed occupancy. Data was obtained from the hospital register.

Results

There was no difference in the total number of admissions. However, the length of stay reduced significantly from 58.9 days to 14.4 days (reduction by 75%). The average bed occupancy was also reduced by 38%.

Conclusions

Our study suggests that the Acute Care Team is an effective system of health care delivery and can have financial implications on the organization of mental health services in the future.
P02-103 - Medical Students Test Anxiety
Authors: Latas M. , Pantic M. , Obradovic D.
Published: June 2010

Introduction

Most students experience some level of anxiety during the exam. However, when anxiety affects exam performance it has become a problem. Test anxiety is a special form of anxiety, which is characterized with somatic, cognitive and behavioral symptoms of anxiety in situations of preparing and performing the tests and exams. Test anxiety becomes problematic when is so high that it interferes with test preparation and performance.

Aim

The objective of this study was to ascertain the presence of test anxiety in medical students and to analyze some aspects of test anxiety in medical students of different gender, different year of studying and possibility of falling the year of studying.

Sample and methods

Study sample consisted of 198 students of Belgrade University School of Medicine of all grade years. The assessment of test anxiety was conducted by The Test Anxiety Inventory - TAI.

Results

1)

Medical students generally present moderate level of test anxiety;

2)

female students have statistically significant more intense symptoms of test anxiety than male students;

3)

most intense symptoms are in III year and the least are at VI year of studies;

4)

there is no statistically significant difference in presence of symptoms of test anxiety between the students who repeated some year of studies and regular students.

Conclusion

There is considerable number of medical students who have intense symptoms of test anxiety and those students require help and support.
P02-106 - Ascertainment of Individual Specifications of Addicts Admitted to Tehran Treatment Centers
Authors: Moraveji M. , Bazargan M.
Published: June 2010

Purpose

This is an analytical-descriptive study aimed at analyzing individual specifications of addicts who have gone to treatment centers of Tehran in the year 2008.

Materials and methods

Investigation members were all addicts admitted to treatment centers of Tehran, investigation method was random sampling, investigation place was Behzisty rehabilitating drug addicts and NGOs, the number of all members was 256 and input assembling instrument was questionnaires comprising Demography and MMPI questionnaire. The results are derived from descriptive and deductive statistics and are analyzed by SPSS software.

Results

The results demonstrate the fact that 19.1% of addicts are jobless, 38% are lessees, 2.3% are illiterate, 60.5% are single and 57.8% of them have an income of less than 2,000,000 Rials, reflecting the fact that unemployment has no relation with the tendency to addiction - Even those with high economic and educational position have a great tendency to addiction mirroring the failure of society's supporting. Based upon MMPI, the amount of exposition to danger in addicts consists of 7.81% in mania, 28.12% SC, 12.5% in paranoia, 33.98% in unsociability, 12.5% mysterious?,57.42% in depression and 22.26 in self-assumption of illness, reflecting disorder in their personality.

Conclusion

So, according to MPI, if the results of D, PD and SC in addicts are high and the L and K rates are low, treatment and consulting service is advised.
P02-108 - A Survey of Letters of New Patients to General Practitioners
Authors: Najim H. , Rafiq R.
Published: June 2010

Communication between primary and secondary care is the cornerstone of care for patients in general, and it is more important in community psychiatry.

A survey was done about the standard of new a patient's assessment letter send to General Practitioner was done in the Mental Health Unit Basildon University Hospital.

It reviewed 90 letters sent to GPs from six Consultant Psychiatrists clinics from January to July 2008.

99% had the date of the clinic stated.

70% stated the place of the clinic.

48% mentioned others attended.

75% stated the diagnosis.

64% stated current medication.

80% stated the current mental state.21% stated the risk assessment.

39% stated current social situation.

29% stated investigation arranged

71% stated change of medication.

13% indicated who will prescribe medication.

57% mentioned other therapeutic interventions.

16% indicated that Community Psychiatric Nurse is involved.

29% indicated that other agencies are involved in providing care.

69% arranged for a follow up.

No letter indicated anything about prognosis.

Only 4% mentioned that information was given to patients.

This survey indicated that communication with General practitioner was good and it needed to be improved on areas such as diagnosis, which should mentioned in all letters Risk assessment also should be covered in 100% of letters. Management plan was missing from 31% of the assessment, an area which needed to be improved. Prognosis was missing from all, practice should be improved in that area also.
P02-114 - Cliniko-psychopathological Features of Patients with the Syndrome of Angry Intestines
Authors: Pugach E. , Simonenko E. , Zinkovskaia E.
Published: June 2010

Research objective

To study kliniko-psychopathological features at persons about a syndrome of angry intestines.

Objective

47 patients with a syndrome of angry intestines at age from 18 till 40 years Have been surveyed.

Methods

method of a colour choice - Lusher, «the Clinical questionnaire for revealing and an estimation of neurotic conditions», the Scale of jet and personal uneasiness Spilberger-Hanin; a statistical method of research.

Results

In RDC the universal system on differentiated diagnostics of organic and functional frustration is created. By results of diagnostics «the Clinical questionnaire for revealing and an estimation of neurotic conditions» indicators on scales: “Uneasiness” - 42 persons (89,4%,) «Neurotic depression» - 29 persons (61,7%), and «Vegetative infringements» - 32 person (68,1%) (р< 0,05) clinically significant level. «A scale of jet and personal uneasiness Spilbergera-Hanina»: high level of personal uneasiness at 36 persons (76,6%.). (р < 0,05). By results of psychodiagnostics by technique Lusher high level of uneasiness at 34 people (72,3%) is diagnosed; high level of an emotional pressure within 8-11 balls at 39 people (82,9%), decrease in working capacity at 18 people (38,3%). (р < 0,05)

Conclusions

Revealing at the patient of psychopathological symptoms, such as the alarm, depression, phobia and high personal uneasiness at an exception of organic disease of intestines, confirm the diagnosis «a syndrome of angry intestines» that allows to appoint adequate treatment.
P02-117 - Quality Improvement in Ambulatory Mental Health Settings
Authors: Secret-Bobolakis I. , Laborie H. , Aziz F. , Benazzouz L. , Cariclet N. , Rimlinger L.
Published: June 2010

Ten ambulatory Mental Health Settings have been commited in a national pilot intervention aiming at improving the quality of the service they deliver from July 2008 to July 2009. This twelve months intervention allowed teams to set operational objectives, to describe their organization, to implement an actions’plan and to evaluate their results.

The main operational objectives they chose were the following:

·

Delay for an initial appointment.

·

Delay for an appointment following a discharge from hospitalization.

·

Rate of non attendance.

The framework to analyse their organisation included a focus on Human ressources, on Operations, on Strategy and on Information Sharing.

The main findings were awide variations in performance from a setting to one another (median delay for a first appointment with a psychiatrist ranging from one to seven weeks, paid psychiatrist working time for a single appointment ranging from 0.6 to 2.5 hours…), lack of formalisation of processes, the absence of objectives set by the managemers.

Actions'plans included very basical actions as setting dashboards and objectives, setting strategy to decrease non attendance, sharing diaries, reorganising meetings, mapping patient's pathway, descriptive brochure for ambulatory Mental Health Settings.

Finally, some results were obtained as:

·

reduction of delays for first appointments.

·

reduction of delays for a appointment after hospital discharge.

·

Reduction of rate of non attendance.
P02-123 - Home-based Care Compared with Hospital Care for Acute Psychiatric Illness: Impact on Consumer Satisfaction and Family Burden
Authors: Apantaku-Olajide T. , Gibbons P. , Cocoman A.
Published: June 2010

Aims and Methods

This study compares levels of satisfaction of patients and carers in the provision of home-provided acute care with traditional in-patient care, and further compares subjective level of family burden in both treatment settings.

Patients and their carers completed Verona Satisfaction Questionnaires, and carers completed family burden scale. Responses were compared between groups receiving home-delivered acute care and those receiving hospital-based care.

Results

Satisfaction scores for home-care patients are higher for 28 of the 34 questions, and this difference reaches statistical significance (p < 0.05) for four questions, and approaches significance (p< 0.1) for two further questions. Carers in home care group indicate a higher degree of satisfaction on all 18 Verona Questionnaire items, this difference reached significance at p< 0.05 level for 4 items and p< 0.1 level for a further 5 items.

Results from family burden measure indicate consistent lowering of subjective burden in home care group, with lower burden scores in 20 of the 22 questions. This difference reached statistical significance (p< 0.05) for 5 items, including the summative item (Total Family Burden Score), and was close to significance (p< 0.1) for 3 other items.

Clinical Implications

These results indicate both patients and carers express a consistent preference for home-delivered care for acute psychiatric illness, compared with hospital-based model. In-addition, families report a reduction in burden related to illness episodes. These findings provide evidential support for continued development of community delivered care in meeting the increasing demand for acute psychiatric care services in Ireland.
P02-85 - Health State and Academic Performance in a Sample of Undergraduate Students
Authors: Amaral A. , Fernandes C.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of health variables and work variables on academic performance of undergraduate students. We have two main goals:

1)

Examining the relationship between emotional and physical disturbances and academic performance;

2)

Investigating the influence of a parallel professional activity on academic performance.

Methods

Data was obtained on Superior School of Health Technology of Coimbra, in 2 different times: time 1 (T1), at the beginning of the academic term (195 students) and time 2 (T2), at the end of this term (177 students). A correlational design was used.

Results

Main results suggest that:

1)

Students that have a parallel professional activity have a performance academic worst than those who haven’t this activity;

2)

From all the variables considered, only age may be considered predictor of the academic performance;

3)

Students that have been medically assisted had a worst performance;

4)

No statistically relevant differences were found on the academic performances of individuals with and without chronic diseases, and of individuals with and without emotional disturbances;

5)

No statistically relevant differences were found either the start and the end of the academic term, on the physical and emotional symptoms under evaluation.

Conclusions

Given the results obtained, the main conclusion can be drawn from this study is: Although the emotional and physical symptoms are not relevant, when they are medically assisted, they report worst academic performance.
P02-92 - Mental Health and Defenses Mechanism of Thai Inmates and Prisoners
Authors: Graipaspong D.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

The purposes of this study were to determine the mental health and defenses mechanism level, to compare mental health with defenses mechanism, personal and cases data, and to compare defenses mechanism with personal and cases data among country-wide Thai inmates and prisoners.

Materials and methods

The samples, selected from jails and prisons around country by stratified systematic random sampling, comprised of 5,274 inmates and prisoners during March to May, 2003. Data were collected by three sets of questionnaires, which were personal and case data, Thai Mental Health Indicators (66-items version), and Defense Style Questionnaire 40 (DSQ-40) respectively. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Pearson chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results

Most of samples, classified by types of jails and prisons, had poor mental health. Their mature defenses mechanism score was higher than neurotic and immature defenses mechanism respectively. The respondents who stay in different types of jails and prisons; who had different age, educational levels, sentenced status, numbers of crime-doing and numbers of criminal cases, had significantly different mental health level. They used different defenses mechanism significantly among different mental health, age, sex and educational level. The samples who had different numbers of crime-doing and numbers of criminal cases, and who convicted to different crimes, used some different immature defenses mechanism significantly.

Conclusion

The results of this study can be used as the basic benchmark for mental health development monitoring in the jails and prisons.
P02-98 - Improving Cognitive Functions of Seniors by Reading and Solving Arithmetic Problems
Authors: Nakamura K. , Taira M. , Kawashima R.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

In general, recent cognitive training has received increasing interest as a solution to age-related cognitive decline. Although the general public's interest in cognitive or brain training is increasing, the generalizing or transfer effect of such training remains unclear. We previously introduced a new cognitive intervention program for senile dementia, named learning therapy. The principle of learning therapy is to activate the prefrontal cortex by solving simple mathematical and language problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the beneficial effects of a new cognitive intervention program designed for normal aged people, the concepts of which are is derived from learning therapy.

Methods

We applied a similar daily cognitive training program to community-dwelling seniors to determine the effects of training on cognitive functions, particularly on the function of the prefrontal cortex, by a single-blind randomized controlled trial and a large scale cohort study. In these studies, neuropsychological measures were determined prior to and after six months of the intervention (post-test) by mini-mental state examination (MMSE), frontal assessment battery at bed side (FAB), and a digit-symbol substitution test (DST) of WAIS-R.

Results

The results indicate that the transfer effect of cognitive intervention by reading and solving arithmetic problems on non-targeted cognitive functions was demonstrated in both studies, and are convincing evidence that cognitive training has the beneficial effects of maintaining and improving cognitive functions.

Conclusion

The psychological stimulations made possible by expertise and technology in brain science can improve the higher cognitive functions of seniors.
P02-99 - Can Emotional Intelligence Predicts Addiction to Internet in University Students?
Authors: Khatiri Yanesari M. , Homayouni A. , Gharib K.
Published: June 2010

Objective

Positive influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on psychological functions originaly indicated and entered by Golman (1995) in scientific literature. Now it is fast growing use in academic settings organizations and showed that higher levels of it can be important in positive behavior of humans. So the aim of this study was measuring the relationship of emotional intelligence and addiction to internet.

Method

100 university students randomly selected and Schutte's Self- Report E / I Test (SSREIT) and Addiction to Interne Inventory (AII) administered on participants. It was hypothesized that higher levels of emotional intelligence would be associated with lower levels of addiction to internet.

Results

Findings showed that there is negative significant correlation between components of emotional intelligence including appraisal of emotion, utilization of emotion and general score of emotional intelligence. It confirmed that higher levels of emotional intelligence related to lower levels of addiction to internet.

Conclusion

For decreasing of addiction to internet it is advised to apply plans to foster and increase of emotional intelligence components and decrease addiction to internet.
P02-132 - Evaluation of Psychological Impact of Facial Lipoatrophy in HIV: the “Assessment of Face & Body Change and Distress” Questionnaire
Authors: Ferrara M. , Murri R. , Bertaccini E. , Orlando G. , Vandelli M. , De Paola M. , Bucciardini R. , Rigatelli M. , Esposito R. , Guaraldi G. , Ferrari S.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

To construct and test the validity of a new psychometric questionnaire to assess psychological impact of facial lipoatrophy (ABCD-F), that is the most stigmatizing feature of HIV-related lipodystrophy.

Methods

Construction: The development went through Focus groups and Content Validity, Item reduction and Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Validation: ABCD-F questionnaire was administered together with ABCD and MOS HIV questionnaires. The Cronbach's Alfa was used to test internal consistency, while convergent validity and divergent validity were analyzed by the correlations with MOS, ABCD items and BMI and CD4 counts respectively.

Results

42 HIV+ people participated to focus groups. In the EFA the 17 Items were aggregated around psychological distress and role functioning domains.

ABCD-F showed high internal consistency (Chronbach's alpha = 0.95). Both convergent and divergent validity were confirmed. ABCD-F scores were highly correlated to Physical Health Summary (B 0.59; 95% [CI] 0.35; 0.84; p< 0.0001), Mental Health Summary (B-1.54; 95% [CI] 1.15; 1.93; p< 0.0001), and weakly correlated to CD4 count (B-0.02; 95% [CI] -0.01; 0.06; p=0.54) and HIV viral load (B-0.004; 95% [CI] -2.69; 2.69; p=1.00).

Conclusions

ABCD-F is a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess psychological impact of facial lipoatrophy (FLA).

ABCD-F may result as a useful tool both in clinical and research settings: it's able to identify people experiencing greater psychological impact due to FLA. It may become an objective instrument to evaluate priority and efficacy of plastic surgery to treat lipodystrophy. In research setting may be used to compare different populations or different treatments of FLA.
P02-137 - Sensitivity of Referential Thinking Scale (REF scale) Detecting Changes in the Therapeutic Evolution
Authors: Fernández-Jiménez E. , Senín-Calderón M.C. , Benítez-Hernández M.M. , Rodríguez-Testal J.F. , Fuentes-Márquez S. , Valdés-Díaz M.
Published: June 2010

In previous works we found that REF scale (Lenzenweger et al., 1997) is a stable and reliable measure (Rodríguez-Testal et al., 2009).

Objectives

In this study we assess the sensitivity of REF scale to detect the disorganization of patient's mental state longitudinally.

Methods

Participants: It's a 35-year-old man diagnosed with Schizotypal Personality Disorder. He had a psychotic breakdown and he is being treated with haloperidol. The psychological intervention is cognitive type.

Design, materials and procedure: We used an experimental adaptation of the REF-scale. This self-applied scale consists of 34 items that evaluate the referential thinking in Likert format. We employed a longitudinal design (brief time-series). C Young (p < 0.01) was used for the statistical analysis of the data and the method of least squares to obtain the trend line. We included 103 measures registered at an interval of 3 days.

Results

It's observed a significant declining trend in the whole of the measures both intensity and frequency from the beginning of therapy. However, we observed a significant declining trend in intensity but not in frequency when we analyzed the data from the 50th measurement, which was the period during which the patient got worse.

Conclusions

It's confirmed again that the REF-scale is a stable and reliable measure. It's able to detect changes in the patient's evolution of the referential thinking from the beginning of therapy. In addition, the REF-scale is sensitive detecting decompensations in patients. Therefore, we conclude REF scale is a useful measure for the subsequent decision-making therapeutic.
P02-139 - Effect of Group Therapy of Social Skills on the Referencial Thinking
Authors: Senín-Calderón M.C. , Rodríguez-Testal J.F. , Fernández-Jiménez E. , Benítez-Hernández M.M. , Fuentes-Márquez S. , Valdés-Díaz M.
Published: June 2010

Antecedents

In previous works we used the REF scale of referential thinking as criterion of therapeutic evolution (Benítez-Hernández et al., 2006; Rodríguez-Testal et al., 2009).

Objectives and hypotheses

We designed a group therapy of social skills for monitoring and modification of the referential thinking. We predict a decrease of referential thinking (frequency and intensity) both in pretest and posttest measures for each session, as in the progress of the all sessions as a whole.

Methods

Participants: 5 women from 24 to 38 years old with the diagnoses: Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia and history of Sexual Abuse; generalized Social Phobia; Avoidance Personality Disorder; Bipolar I Disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Avoidance Personality Disorder. It's employed a longitudinal design (brief time-series) of REF measurement (frequency and intensity) at a weekly interval. C Young (p < 0.01) was used for the statistical analysis of the data, t (paired samples) and the method of least squares to obtain the trend line.

Results

#1: frequency-posttest (p=.01).

#2: intensity-pretest (p =.01); intensity-posttest, C =.663 (p< .01).

#3: intensity-pretest, C =.772 (p< .01), intensity-posttest, C =.681 (p< .01).

#4: frequency-pretest, C =.695 (p< .01), frequency- posttest, C =.74 (p< .01).

#5: frequency-pretest and frequency-posttest (p>.01).

Conclusions

Preliminary analysis indicates an improvement of referential thinking in the frequency and intensity both intra and inter-sessions. More therapy sessions are needed to reflect a change statistically significant.
P02-142 - Association Between Affective Temperamets and Impulsivity in the Group of Healthy Volunteers and Remitted Bipolar Outpatients
Authors: Šprah L. , Dolenc B. , Dernovšek M.Z.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

Affective temperaments (measured by the TEMPS-A) have been proved to be associated with major mood disorders, implying that these temperament types represent the subclinical manifestations of affective disorders and an increased vulnerability to pathological mood regulation. However, less attention was paid to the association of affective temperaments with trait impulsivity, which is commonly associated with clinical picture of bipolar mood disorder. The aim of our study was to assess the associations between affective temperaments and impulsivity among healthy volunteers and remitted bipolar outpatients.

Methods

1096 students, 31 euthymic bipolar outpatients and 31 healthy controls were self assessed with Barratt Impulsivity Scale and Slovenian version of TEMPS-A questionnaire.

Results

Our data revealed positive correlation between impulsivity and cyclothymic and irritable temperament and negative correlation between impulsive behaviour and hyperthymic temperament. Depressive and anxious temperament proved to be positively linked with attentional and negatively with motor and nonplanning impulsivity. Furthermore, mean scores on depressive, cyclothymic, irritable and anxious temperament subscales as well as on attentional and motor impulsiveness and general impulsive score were significantly higher in the group of bipolar outpatients.

Conclusions

Our results are in agreement with several studies where authors emphasized that elevated depressive, cyclothymic, irritable and anxious temperamental scores as well as impulsive behaviour could indicate a vulnerability to pathological mood regulation during the remission phase of bipolar disorder. The results also brought to light some important connections between temperamental traits and impulsivity, indicating that both domains could be relevant in early diagnostic picture for affective disorders.
P02-143 - Quality Assurance in Ambulatory Psychotherapy: Designs, Tools and First Results
Authors: Kramer D. , Steffanowski A. , Pfaffinger I. , Bruckmayer E. , Wittmann W.W.
Published: June 2010

Client and therapist document the therapy process using handheld computers by answering questions about symptom severity (e.g. depression, anxiety and stress), life satisfaction, therapeutic relationship and problem domains. The encrypted data is sent to the University of Mannheim via internet, where the data is analyzed by specific software. As a response for each data delivery, the therapist gets an individual feedback report, monitoring the therapy process of all of his / her patients in comparison to reference groups, build by the steady growing database of the trustcenter. The KVB provides the documentation software and handheld computers for a sample of 200 psychotherapists. 1694 patients participate in the prospective naturalistic study and 1091 patients have completed their therapy so far. As from now the first 1-year-follow-up measures are done. For outcome evaluation, an overall index of outcome quality is computed, aggregating single pre-post-measures to a multiple outcome criterion. 76.8% of the 1694 patients at intake are female; the age mean is 40.2 years (SD = 12.3). About 48.4% suffer from depressive disorders, followed by anxiety disorders (18.9%). Outcome results demonstrate impressive effect sizes (Cohen's d = 0.87) at discharge on a multiple outcome criterion. Electronic documentation is well accepted by most of the participating therapists. The encrypted computer based documentation is a secure and comfortable approach to improve transparency for therapists and patients. It provides useful information for therapy process optimization and outcome documentation of therapy results.
P02-144 - Subjective Well-being Under Neuroleptics (SWN): a Predictor of Clinical and Psychosocial Outcome in Acute Patients. Preliminary Data
Authors: Zeppegno P. , Allera O. , Prosperini P. , Colombo M. , Porro M. , Lombardi A. , Gili S. , Feggi A. , Torre E.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

To evaluate the subjective well-being of a group of patients who were hospitalized at the Institute of Psychiatry (Novara), compared to the severity of illness.

Methods

Patients are evaluated at admission and discharge through self-administration of the SWN (Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptics) scale, which contains five subscales (emotional regulation; self-control; mental functioning; social integration and physical functioning) assessing patients’ psychophysical and emotional well-being, calculating a value for each subscale and a total score. The clinician fills in the CGI (Clinical Global Impression) for each patient, which provides a global judgement in three areas: severity of illness, global improvement and therapeutic effectiveness.

Results

From June 2009, 51 patients were evaluated at admission and discharge: 26 diagnosed with psychosis and 25 diagnosed with personality disorders. Preliminary data suggest a meaningful improvement of the physical functioning in the psychotic group, a tendency to improvement of the social integration area in the personality disorders group. Among the psychotic group, the schizophrenic patients (n°=14) have shown an improvement in the self-control subscale.

Conclusions

Literature suggests that a high SWN score is associated with a better compliance and an early improvement of subjective well-being is a major predictor of the chance of remission. This study will allow to compare the subjective well-being evaluated by SWN with the clinical judgment of the CGI and above all if this can represent a predictor index for the compliance and the chance of remission.
P02-149 - Computerized Tomography Diagnoses Amongst Alcohol Dependant Male Inpatients Clinicaly Treated
Authors: Hasanović M. , Pajević I. , Softić R. , Kuldija A. , Kravić N.
Published: June 2010

Objective

To assess the frequency of silent brain infarcts and cerebral cortical atrophy in male alcohol dependant psychiatric patients in post war Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH).

Methods

We analyzed twenty male alcohol dependant patients who were treated in the Department of Psychiatry in University Clinical Centre Tuzla during one year period (July 2007-July 2008), and to whom Computerized Tomography (CT) scan of neuro-cranium were done, according to age, war engagement, brain trauma, employment, smoking and presence of silent strokes and cerebral cortical atrophy. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results

Average age of the group of patients studied was 48.8±6.0 years, and 13/20 was hospitalized for the first time. Eleven of 20 were engaged as soldiers during the 1992-95 war in BH. Four of them were wounded and two of them had air-blast injury and head stroke without concussion. Fourteen of twenty were unemployed, and two of them were retired. Only one was admitted with alcoholic delirium. Eleven of twenty were cigarette smokers. Half of them had CT objectified silent stroke, and sixteen of twenty had generalized brain cortical atrophy. Brain cortical atrophy was significantly negatively associated with war engagement, while silent stroke were positively associated with age of patients.

Conclusion

Brain cortical atrophy and silent brain stroke are frequent findings in computerized tomography of the brain in psychiatric patients with alcohol dependency.
P02-150 - Behavioral Control Processes in Adult ADHD: Evidence from a Simultaneous EEG/fMRI-study
Authors: Karch S. , Thalmeier T. , Lutz J. , Cerovecki A. , Hock B. , Opgen-Rhein M. , Leicht G. , Hennig-Fast K. , Meindl T. , Mulert C. , Riedel M. , Pogarell O.
Published: June 2010

Executive functions comprise various cognitive abilities including the inhibition of prepotent responses and voluntary decisions. Several studies showed medial-frontal activations in tasks with the free selection of responses. The inhibition of prepotent response tendencies seems to be associated with medial frontal as well as lateral frontal BOLD responses. The aim of this simultaneous EEG and fMRI study was to discriminate the neural correlates of behavioural control processes in ADHD.

8 adults with ADHD and 8 matched healthy subjects performed a go/nogo task comprising three different conditions: during the go condition, subjects were instructed to press a response button as fast as possible; during the nogo condition, this response was to be inhibited. In the voluntary selection task participants were allowed to freely decide, whether to press the response button or not.

The fMRI protocol used a gradient-echo EPI pulse sequence. Further analyses were done with using the BrainVoyager software package (Goebel, Maastricht). EEG signals were simultaneously recorded (Brain Products, Munich).

Electrophysiologically, the nogo task and voluntary decision task led to a negative decline especially in fronto-central brain regions (N2) in both groups. Regarding the functional MRI data we found inhibition-associated BOLD responses especially medial-frontal in the pre-SMA and activations in the medial part of BA 8 for the voluntary selection. ADHD patients showed a reduced contribution of frontal brain regions during free responses compared to controls.

The results may indicate that selection processes are related with dysfunctions predominantly in frontal brain regions in ADHD patients.
P02-152 - Dissociable Limbic and Prefrontal Neural Responses to Sad Facial Expressions Mediate Disease Expression and Resilience in Bipolar Disorder
Authors: Lelli-Chiesa G. , Kempton M.J. , Jogia J. , Frangou S.
Published: June 2010

Objectives

We wished to examine whether patterns of neural engagement during emotional processing could distinguish patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) from their relatives with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and their psychiatrically healthy relatives.

Methods

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected during a sad facial affect recognition task from 41 remitted BD patients, 40 of their first degree relatives (15 of whom had MDD) and 51 healthy controls. Data were analysed in SPM5.

Results

A)

Compared to controls, all individuals with genetic predisposition to BD showed increased activation in temporal lobe regions.

B)

Compared to BD patients, MDD relatives had reduced activation in the left posterior cingulate (BA31) and the orbitofrontal cortex (BA11)

C)

Compared to their healthy relatives, BD patients showed increased activation in somatosensory cortices bilaterally (BA3 and BA5) and in the posterior cingulate gyrus (BA30) on the left and reduced activation in the right cerebellum and the right inferior frontal gyrus (BA47).

D)

Compared to their healthy relatives, MDD relatives showed reduced activation in the left superior frontal gyrus (BA10).

Conclusions

Our results suggest that:

(a)

genetic predisposition to BD was associated with increased activation in distal nodes of the ventral visual pathway within the temporal lobe

(b)

disease expression for mood disorders was associated with reduced neural responses in the PFC

(c)

resilience in healthy relatives was associated with enhanced PFC engagement

(d)

loci identified showed partial specificity for different clinical phenotypes indicative of partially segregated processes underpinning disease and resilience for mood disorders.
P02-156 - Abnormal Brain Perfusion Among Cocaine Addicts
Authors: Silveira D.X. , Santos J.G. , Labigalini E. , Baribieri A. , Doering-Silveira E.
Published: June 2010

Introduction

Cocaine use is related to several cardiovascular conditions. Vasoconstriction seems to be particularly harmful to the brain.

Objective

To evaluate the relationship between the pattern of cocaine use and cerebral perfusion among cocaine addicts.

Method

A sample of 30 cocaine addicts was studied using 99 m-Tc-HMPAO SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography with injection of 99 m-Tc-hexametilpropilenoamina-oxime). Their cerebral perfusion pattern was then compared with their pattern of cocaine use.

Results

Eighty percent of the sample presented some degree of impairment in brain perfusion, either focal or diffuse. There was no difference between sniffers and crack smokers regarding their perfusion patterns. No relationship could be established between the severity of SPECT abnormalities and the amount of drug consumption or the duration of abstinence. However, duration of cocaine use did correlate with the severity of cerebral perfusion (Spearman correlation coefficient: r = 0.45, p < 0.05).

Conclusion

This study documents the high frequency of cerebral functional impairment in cocaine addicts and establishes the relationship between duration of cocaine exposure and severity of perfusion abnormalities.
P02-157 - Brain Dysfuntion in Borderline Personality Disorder: a DTI Study in Males Participants
Authors: Tajima-Pozo K. , Anta Tejado L. , Molina-Ruiz R. , Casado A. , Yus M. , Arrazola J. , Diaz-Marsa M. , Carrasco-Perera J.L.
Published: June 2010

Purpose

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a relatively new imaging technique that is being increasingly used in different types of psychiatric patologies to characterize white matter microstructural organization in this kind of disorders. In the present study we use DTI to explore the structure of the white matter of borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients, using a novel voxel-based approach, tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS), to analyze the data.

Methods and materials

DTI was performed in a 1.5T MRI unit in 9 young male patients with a DSM-IV defined BPD and 14 healthy male control subjects (no significant age difference between groups).Voxel wise analysis was performed using TBSS (diffusion toolbox of FSL- functional MRI Software Library) to localize regions of white matter showing significant changes of fractional anisotropy (FA). Additional high resolution three dimensional datasets were also acquired and normalised white matter volume was estimated with SIENAX (part of FSL).

Results

The TBSS analysis revealed a statistically significant decrease in FA at the anterior part of the body and the genu of the corpus callosum and frontal white matter. This finding is consistent with previously reported findings of subtle prefrontal white matter abnormalities in BPD.

Conclusion

Significant white matter tract alterations in patients with BPD where observed in frontal regions involved in emotional, behavioural and cognitive regulation, and these abnormalities may be linked to key aspects of psychopatology in these patients.
P02-159 - Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Baseline Brain Perfusion in Major Depressive Disorder
Authors: Wolf R.C. , Grön G. , Herrnberger B. , Sambataro F. , Schmid M. , Vasic N. , Osterfeld N.D.
Published: June 2010

Introduction

Continuous arterial spin labelling (cASL) is a non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging method increasingly used to study human brain function and perfusion physiology.

Objectives

In this study, we investigated distinct patterns of cerebral blood flow (CBF) in MDD patients by means of resting state cASL.

Methods

11 healthy controls and 11 patients with MDD according to DSM-IV criteria were included. The individual cASL images underwent data preprocessing steps including the generation of perfusion-weighted images, followed by conversion to quantified CBF. An analysis of temporally coherent CBF patterns was performed using a spatial Independent Component Analysis.

Results

Both groups showed distinct blood flow patterns in a medial frontoparietal and lateral temporal component (“default mode” network), a medial temporal and anterior cingulate component (“limbic” network) and bilateral prefrontal and parietal component (“cognitive” network). Within the “limbic” network, MDD patients showed a pattern of increased CBF in the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal, cingulate, striatal and hippocampal regions. Within the “cognitive” network, MDD patients showed a pattern of increased CBF in left dorsolateral prefrontal and the inferior parietal areas. Decreased perfusion in MDD patients was found in the right precuneus, the right inferior parietal cortex, the left posterior cingulate and the left lateral temporal cortex.

Conclusions

These preliminary data demonstrate the sensitivity of cASL techniques for detecting resting state CBF changes in MDD patients. Thus, cASL studies in MDD could provide valuable information with regard to neurobiologically characterized endophenotypes, while resting state CBF measures could serve as objective predictors of treatment response in future studies.