The Japanese journal of psychiatry and neurology最新文献

We studied the serum lipoprotein and apolipoprotein profiles in 44 patients with sporadic late-onset Alzheimer's dementia and 43 patients with vascular dementia. The levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were lower in both patient groups than in a control group. Apolipoprotein A I and A II levels have decreased in both the patient groups, especially in the vascular dementia group. The HDL-cholesterol levels correlated positively with the level of apolipoprotein A I, but not with the level of apolipoprotein A II. The ratios of apolipoprotein A I/A II have increased in both the patient groups. The apolipoprotein A II levels have disproportionally decreased in the patient groups. The serum apolipoprotein A II may involve the pathological process in the patients with senile dementia.

Two hundred and two elderly people who have been visiting a Day Service Center were examined by a Japanese version of the self-rating depression scale by Zung (SDS) and the quality of life rating scale to suit Japanese conditions (QOL scale). The QOL scale measures four aspects: physical functioning, emotional adjustment, interpersonal relationship and attitudes toward life. Significant correlations were seen between the scores of three aspects and the total score except for the score of interpersonal relationship. Although no significant difference was found between the sexes in scores of the SDS, all the scores of aspects and the total score of the QOL scale of the male subjects were significantly higher than those of the female subjects.

At present, although autism has become accepted as a pervasive developmental disorder, renewed attention is being turned upon the relationship between autism and childhood schizophrenia in recent years. Likewise, the relationship among Heller's syndrome, autism, and childhood schizophrenia has also become a focus of clinical interest. The author presents a case in which discrimination among autism, Heller's syndrome, and childhood schizophrenia is difficult, supplementing discussion from the nosological standpoint. The subject is a male, who was 7 years old at first presentation. Early signs of disorder other than a delay in verbal development were not recognized. At around age 3, a tendency to become isolated at nursery school, and a rambling speech without cohesion was noted at home. Also around this time, the subject was seen to take an obsessive interest in written characters and maps. However, a drastic increase in the severity of symptoms occurred at about 1 week after entering 1st grade with the sudden appearance of hyperactive tendency, accompanied by anxiety at night and loss of control over both urinary and bowel functions. This was followed by the appearance of severe self-injurious behavior, for which the subject came under the care of the author. Subsequently, the author has been involved with the subject therapeutically for about 10 years. In that interval, although a tendency of improvement has been noted in his condition, no substantial change has been recognized in terms of the fundamental disease picture.

Psychometric properties of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) were explored using the Japanese data collected in various settings. A six- or seven-factor structure emerged for the entire sample and each gender and age-group divided into a 10-year interval. The factors were highly identical across the subsamples. The main four factors showed a high agreement with those of UK and Hong Kong studies: approximately 80% of the items were similarly allocated to factors. However, the response endorsement of two "loss of positive attitude" items was much common regardless of the score level. These items counted up approximately one-fourths of the score, so that these items made the score spuriously higher. According, a question arose as to whether these items should be included in the scale for its use in Japanese.