The Role of Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Patients with Non- alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Background And Aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a metabolic disease with extensive multi- organ involvement, whose extra-hepatic manifestations include diabetes mellitus type 2, cardiovascular disease, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), chronic kidney disease, and polycystic ovary syndrome. Our hypothesis was that there was a strong psychological component in NAFLD and OSA suffering patients and that psychotherapy would be helpful in the treatment of the mentioned diseases.

Methods: Of 144 initially selected patients (with NAFLD, obesity and OSA), 32 patients agreed to undergo psychotherapy, and 31 therapy-naive NAFLD and OSA patients agreed to participate as controls.

Reliability of the bicaudate parameter in the revealing of the enlarged lateral Ventricles in schizophrenia patients.

Introduction: In schizophrenia patients the lateral ventricle enlargement has mostly been reported in relationship with smaller cortical and/or subcortical brain volumes; and it has been observed that ventricular system growth may be a consequence of the smaller caudate nucleus volume. Bicaudate parameters have been used in the Alzheimer dementia and Huntington's chorea diagnosing in order to evaluate brain changes and the enlargement of the lateral ventricles.

Subjects And Methods: This study has been carried out on 140 patients out of which 70 patients (30 men and 40 women) who met the ICD 10 criteria for schizophrenia and 70 healthy controls (30 men and 40 women) matched on sex and age with the studied group.

Psychiatric comorbidity in the treatment of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, commonly known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), draw attention from specialists of various disorders, including gastroenterology, psychiatry, and radiology. The involvement of a cortical influence in the brain-gut axis as well as the interaction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the peripheral nervous system provide an initial explanation of the psychological symptoms associated with IBD. The involvement of structures the limbic system, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, the prefrontal cortex, and the amygdala, paves the way for the discovery of the mechanisms underlying depression depression, anxiety, alexithymia, personality traits, and other psychological impairments following the onset of IBD.

Anxiety, personality traits and quality of life in functional dyspepsia-suffering patients.

Background: Psychosocial stressors either acute or more sustained frequently precede the onset and exacerbation of the symptoms of the functional dyspepsia (FD). Depressive mood and quality of life have been already reported for interference in functional dyspepsia suffering patients.

Methods: The examination were performed on 60 FD patients (30 females and 30 males), aged 20-79 years, 60 peptic ulcer subjects and 60 healthy volunteers in which we have investigate levels of anxiety and depression, personality traits and quality of life.

Laboratory parameters and nutritional status in patients with functional dyspepsia.

Background: To investigate differences in laboratory markers, nutritional status parameters and eating patterns among newly diagnosed patients with functional dyspepsia.

Method: The investigation was performed on 180 newly diagnosed patients with functional dyspepsia, aged 20-79, which were referred to the gastroenterology unit of the Clinical and Hospital Center "Bezanijska Kosa" from April to October 2009. Rome II criteria were used for further classification.

Comparison of two nutritional assessment methods in gastroenterology patients.

Aim: To investigate and compare efficacy and differences in the nutritional status evaluation of gastroenterology patients by application of two methods: subjective global assessment (SGA) and nutritional risk index (NRI).

Methods: The investigation was performed on 299 hospitalized patients, aged 18-84 years (average life span 55.57 +/- 12.

Depression and anxiety levels in therapy-naive patients with inflammatory bowel disease and cancer of the colon.

Aim: To assess whether depression and anxiety are more expressed in patients with the first episode of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) than in individuals with newly discovered cancer of the colon (CCa).

Methods: A total of 32 patients with IBD including 13 males and 19 females, aged 27 to 74, and 30 patients with CCa including 20 males and 10 females, aged 39-78, underwent a structured interview, which comprised Hamilton's Depression Rating Inventory, Hamilton's Anxiety Rating Inventory and Paykel's Stressful Events Rating Scale.

Results: Patients of the IBD group expressed both depression and anxiety.