Archivos de neurobiologia最新文献

Pituitary function studies were performed on 20 patients with benign intracranial hypertension. Abnormal results were only obtained in six cases and all of these findings could be attributed to sources other than the increased intracranial pressure. Once the disease as well as its cause had disappeared, a second study was carried out and the results for all the patients were then normal. Computerized tomographic scanning of the sella turcica detected an empty sella in one patient and a possible hypophyseal microadenoma without functional repercussions in another. No evidence was found that benign intracranial hypertension is provoked by an impairment in pituitary function, nor that it could be a secondary complication thereof.

We report a clinical observation of an infant aged 5 months with Cockayne syndrome whose symptomatology included failure to thrive, microcephaly, peripheral neuropathy and elevated level of protein in CSF. More typical signs of this syndrome appeared lately with progeroid facies, photosensitivity and intracranial calcifications that computed tomography revealed at 13 months of age. The early onset of clinical manifestations, the association with peripheral neuropathy, and the high level of protein in CSF are unusual facts that led us to do the differential diagnosis with other demyelinating disorders.

The infantile hyperactivity is a disorder of great significance due to its remarkable after-effects on the family, the school and the individual. According to strict diagnostic criteria the study of the memory in these children who present a well defined disorder of the attention, has been planned. The data show that the mnemonic capacity is primarily kept. However the nuclear problem is an attention deficit.

The personality disturbances imply problem within the psychiatric assistance, both for its difficult delimitation and classification and for the limited results and bad use obtained from therapeutic resources. We studied 402 patients psychiatric service of a general hospital over a period approximately 2 years, 70 (17.5%) were diagnosed DSM-III with Personality disturbances: 44 females (62.9%) and 26 males (37.1%), of an age group between 18 and 67 years old. The most frequent diagnosis was of histrionic of the personality followed by unspecific and border-line. Within the histrionic disturbance of the personality there was a clear predominance of women, whereas in the others types, no significant differences were observed.

Anxiety symptoms are observed with quite frequency associated to allergic diseases. It's also detected in a certain number of defined psychiatric pathology. In the allergic service of a General Hospital a programme of Psychiatry liaison that develops activities focused on the clinical team and on the allergic patients was done. The performance with the clinical unit are focused in the integration of them based on the characteristics peculiarities of the allergic patient. There are a variety of activities with the patient they can go from an information plan to psychotherapy. The results observed after a year show a higher efficiency in the clinical unit, a decrease of stress and modification of some neurotic attitudes of the patients.

This paper presents a case of conversion disorder characterized by sensory paralysis that involved the right half of the body, a motor deficit consisting of permanent contracture in flexion of fingers 2-5 of the right hand (clenched fist syndrome), and a visual alteration compatible with homonymous hemianopia and amblyopia. The patient initially presented a clinical picture of depression as well as frequent gynecological disorders. The author evaluates important aspects of the psychogenesis of the clinical picture and emphasizes the identifying aspects and primary and secondary gains. Consideration is given to the distinct therapeutic strategies used (psychotherapy, autogenous training, hypnosis), and the case is analyzed from a morphodynamic point of view. The author concludes that the organic basis of the clinical picture would be localized in the posterior nuclei of the thalamus.

We review the literature on genetic factors in anxiety disorders and present data from a study in which we used the HLA system to evaluate distribution of different antigens in the members of a family with high morbidity of Panic Disorder. Our aim was to look for HLA haplotype sharing among the affected subjects. All members of the family were interviewed with the SCID interview to detect any psychiatric disorder. Third generation members under 18 were evaluated with a structured interview especially designed to identify separation anxiety disorder. In all cases we assessed 11 HLA-A, 16 HLA-B and 5 HLA-Cw antigens. The results suggest a genetic component for Panic Disorder, based on the presence of the same haplotype (A3B18) in the six members of the family suffering from Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia, compared with its absence in the others who were free of such disorders.

This paper is a revision of the present situation of child psychiatry showing its confluence with general psychiatry through the epistemological unification as a biopsycho-social model. The psychopathological limitations of this process as empiricism are taken into account as well as its identity, which did not really exist till now. At the same time this identity supposes an orientation for the clinical, teaching and research action.

The levels of soluble and membrane-bound aminopeptidase activities were assayed in subcellular fractions from young (1 month old) and adult (5 month old) left and right rat brains, using Leu-, Arg- and Asp-2-naphthylamide as substrates. Both soluble Leu- and Arg-aminopeptidase activities showed the highest levels in the synaptosomal fraction in the two groups of rats. The highest levels of membrane-bound Leu- and Arg-aminopeptidase activities were found in the microsomal fraction of the two ages studied. There were no differences between the two ages in soluble Leu- and Arg- aminopeptidase activities. However, a significant decrease in both membrane-bound activities was evidenced in the synaptosomal fraction of adult rats. The young rats showed the highest soluble and membrane-bound levels of Asp-aminopeptidase activity in the microsomal fraction but no differences among fractions were found at 5 months of age. The soluble Asp-aminopeptidase activity of the homogenate and the mitochondrial fraction was significantly increased in adult animals when compared to that of younger ones. Finally, no differences between left and right brains, in soluble or membrane-bound activities, were found neither in young animals nor in the adult ones.

Mathias Grünewald painted in the Rhin vallee at the time of Albert Dürer and Lucas Cranach. In the first part of the XVI Century he painted for the antonin frïars at Issenheim, place devoted to the care of patients with "St Anthony's fire" or chronic ergotism. He despicted figures with abnormal postures simulating focal and generalized dystonia. It is likely that patients with chronic ergotism modelled for Grünewald and that his paintings are the first artistic representation of dystonia.