Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale and Motor Function Measure-20 in non ambulant SMA patients.

The aim of this prospective longitudinal multi centric study was to evaluate the correlation between the Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale and the 20 item version of the Motor Function Measure in non ambulant SMA children and adults at baseline and over a 12 month period. Seventy-four non-ambulant patients performed both measures at baseline and 49 also had an assessment 12 month later. At baseline the scores ranged between 0 and 40 on the Hammersmith Motor function Scale and between 3 and 45 on the Motor Function Measure 20.

Sildenafil Reduces Inflammation and Prevents Pulmonary Arterial Remodeling of the Monocrotaline - induced Disease in the Wistar Rats.

Objectives: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare and severe disease with incompletely under stood pathogenesis. PAH is associated with pulmonary arterial remodeling and inflammation. We evaluated the effects of Sildenafil on the Monocrotaline (MCT) -induced disease in Wistar rats, for potential benefit in the early phases of inflammation and vascular remodeling.

Depressive disorders and depressive personality traits in offspring aged 10-17 of bipolar and of normal parents.

Sixty proband children (P) of bipolar I parents and 60 control children of normal parents (C), in the age range 10-17, were investigated clinically by K-SADS-E interview and psychologically by personality inventories. In the global psychopathology rate of 63% in P children and 25% in C children, depressive disorders reached 8% in P children and 0% in C children, while depressive personality traits reached 22% in P children and 15% in C children. Cluster analysis evidenced a variety of personality structures, but 3 clusters were striking: a cluster characterized by high anxiety and depressive reactivity (17% P and 5% C children), a cluster characterized by high depressive reactivity and emotional instability (5% P children), and a hyperthymic cluster (5 % P children).

Adolescent offspring of endogenous unipolar depressive parents and of normal parents.

Ninety-six children aged 10-17 of unipolar endogenous depressive proband parents and 96 matched control children of well parents were investigated using DSM-IIIR diagnostic criteria. Both sets of parents were also studied. Although the rate of psychopathology was significantly higher in proband than in control children, adaptive functioning as a measure of the severity of the psychopathology did not differentiate the two groups of children.

Psychopathology in children aged 10-17 of bipolar parents: psychopathology rate and correlates of the severity of the psychopathology.

Seventy-two proband children aged 10-17 of bipolar parents, matched with 72 control children of normal parents, were investigated using DSM-III diagnostic criteria and multiple sources of information. The psychopathology rate in children (61% in probands versus 25% in controls) was related to the impact of psychic disorders on the children's adaptive functioning. The effect of several variables describing the psychiatric status of both parents and familial environment on the severity of psychopathology in children was analysed.