Chronic pain disorder associated with psychogenic versus somatic factors: a comparative study.

Fifty-one consecutive non-depressed patients with chronic pain referred to a multidisciplinary pain clinic were assessed. In 32 patients, pain was judged to be associated with psychogenic factors only, while pain in 19 patients could be attributed solely to a general medical condition. The methods of investigation comprised visual analogue scales (VAS) and pain drawings, the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP), locus of control (LOC) and EMBU (for assessing perceived parental rearing practices).

Adult onset idiopathic torsion dystonia is excluded from the DYT 1 region (9q34) in a Swedish family.

A gene (DYT1) for early onset idiopathic torsion dystonia was mapped to chromosome 9q34 in non-Jewish and Jewish families. The DYT1 gene region has been excluded in other families with adult onset and cervical or cranial onset idiopathic torsion dystonia from the United States, Great Britain, and France. The role of DYT1 in a Swedish family with adult onset idiopathic torsion dystonia in four generations was examined.

Hereditary myopathy with lactic acidosis, succinate dehydrogenase and aconitase deficiency in northern Sweden: a genealogical study.

A hereditary myopathy with lactic acidosis during physical exercise, low physical work capacity, and paroxysmal myoglobinuria (HML), called "Myopathy with deficiency of succinate dehydrogenase and aconitase" (McKusick 255125) has been described in 19 members of nine families who lived in two geographically separate areas in northern Sweden. By using the unique Swedish historical archives, including Catechetical Meeting Records from a number of northern Swedish parishes, it has been possible to trace ancestors of the nine families including all known 19 cases back in time to some key couples, who lived up to 300 years ago (that is seven to ten generations). No common single couple or common links between families in the past was found in these registers as a support for a single or several mutations that had developed far back in time.

Muscle endurance, muscle tension and personality traits in patients with muscle or joint pain--a pilot study.

Objective: To investigate the relationships between personality traits, depressive symptomatology and continuous muscle tension.

Methods: These were investigated by means of a visual analog scale and the presence of continuous muscle tension during repeated isokinetic shoulder flexions in patients with muscle or joint pain and controls.

Results: A significantly higher level of muscle tension between contractions was found in the patient groups in painful muscles.

Striatal [11C]-N-methyl-spiperone binding in patients with focal dystonia (torticollis) using positron emission tomography.

Specific binding of [11C]-N-methyl-spiperone to striatal dopamine D2 receptors was assessed using positron emission tomography (PET) in 6 patients with adult-onset focal dystonia (predominantly spasmodic torticollis) and in 5 healthy subjects. No significant difference in average specific striatal tracer uptake between patients and healthy subjects was found. However, in the 5 patients showing lateralisation of clinical signs a trend to higher striatal tracer uptake in the contralateral hemisphere was observed.