Effect of the addition of a mental health specialist for evaluation of undiagnosed patients in centres for rare diseases (ZSE-DUO): a prospective, controlled trial with a two-phase cohort design.

Background: People with complex symptomatology but unclear diagnosis presenting to a centre for rare diseases (CRD) may present with mental (co-)morbidity. We hypothesised that combining an expert in somatic medicine with a mental health specialist working in tandem will improve the diagnostic outcome.

Methods: Patients aged 12 years and older who presented to one of the 11 participating German CRDs with an unknown diagnosis were recruited into this prospective cohort trial with a two-phase cohort design.

Dual guidance structure for evaluation of patients with unclear diagnosis in centers for rare diseases (ZSE-DUO): study protocol for a controlled multi-center cohort study.

Background: In individuals suffering from a rare disease the diagnostic process and the confirmation of a final diagnosis often extends over many years. Factors contributing to delayed diagnosis include health care professionals' limited knowledge of rare diseases and frequent (co-)occurrence of mental disorders that may complicate and delay the diagnostic process. The ZSE-DUO study aims to assess the benefits of a combination of a physician focusing on somatic aspects with a mental health expert working side by side as a tandem in the diagnostic process.

Behavioral and Neural Manifestations of Reward Memory in Carriers of Low-Expressing versus High-Expressing Genetic Variants of the Dopamine D2 Receptor.

Dopamine is critically important in the neural manifestation of motivated behavior, and alterations in the human dopaminergic system have been implicated in the etiology of motivation-related psychiatric disorders, most prominently addiction. Patients with chronic addiction exhibit reduced dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) availability in the striatum, and the TaqIA (rs1800497) and C957T (rs6277) genetic polymorphisms have previously been linked to individual differences in striatal dopamine metabolism and clinical risk for alcohol and nicotine dependence. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that the variants of these polymorphisms would show increased reward-related memory formation, which has previously been shown to jointly engage the mesolimbic dopaminergic system and the hippocampus, as a potential intermediate phenotype for addiction memory.

Intraindividual comparison of image quality using retrospective and prospective respiratory gating for the acquisition of thin sliced four dimensional multidetector CT of the thorax in a porcine model.

Purpose: To intraindividually compare image quality and anatomical depiction of the lung and mediastinum using retrospective and prospective respiratory gating techniques for the acquisition of 4D-multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) of the chest in a porcine model.

Materials And Methods: Twelve trachealy intubated domestic pigs underwent 64-row MDCT of the thorax. For retrospective and prospective gating the automated respiratory frequency was adjusted to 10, 14, 18, and 22 respiratory cycles per minute.

Gender-specific modulation of neural mechanisms underlying social reward processing by Autism Quotient.

Autism spectrum disorder refers to a neurodevelopmental condition primarily characterized by deficits in social cognition and behavior. Subclinically, autistic features are supposed to be present in healthy humans and can be quantified using the Autism Quotient (AQ). Here, we investigated a potential relationship between AQ and neural correlates of social and monetary reward processing, using functional magnetic resonance imaging in young, healthy participants.