Assessment of Affective temperaments in a Tunisian non-clinical population.

Background: Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego-Auto-questionnaire (TEMPS-A) is frequently used to assess affective temperaments in clinical and non clinical populations.

Aims: To assess the psychometric properties of the Tunisian TEMPS-A in a non-clinical population and to explore the gender and age effects on affective temperaments.

Methods: TEMPS-A is a self-administered questionnaire evaluating hyperthymic, depressive, cyclothymic, irritable and anxious temperaments.

Lipid profile in schizophrenia: case control study.

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are common co morbidities of schizophrenia and constitute the main factors of high mortality in this pathology. Cardiovascular damages are favored by some risk factors, of which one of the most important is dyslipidemia. In this context, a study of lipid profile in schizophrenia is interesting.

Persistent auditory hallucinations in out-patients with schizophrenia.

Objectives to estimate the prevalence of persistent auditory hallucinations (AHs) in a group of schizophrenic patients, to evaluate their dimensions and to identify their clinical associated factors. Method This was a cross-sectional study carried-on 144 out-patients followed for schizophrenia, according DSM-IV-TR criteria. The assessment was consisted by the collect of epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic data and the use of the Hoffman's auditory hallucinations rating scale (AHRS), and the positive and negative symptoms scale (PANSS).

Psychometric properties of the arabic version of the schizotypal personality questionnaire in Tunisian university students.

Background: The schizotypal personality disorder is considered as a marker of schizophrenia proneness. The schizotypal personality questionnaire (SPQ) is an instrument to help to the diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder extensively studied in the literature. aim: To assess psychometric properties (reliability and factor structure) of the Arabic version of the SPQ in a sample of Tunisian university students.

Prevalence and score of minor physical anomalies in patients with schizophrenia and their first degree relatives: a Tunisian study.

Unlabelled: Minor physical anomalies (MPAs) have been consistently reported to be more frequent in schizophrenia subjects. Limited research has been conducted on these anomalies among biological relatives of patients with schizophrenia. The aims of this study were to investigate the MPAs in a Tunisian population: subjects with schizophrenia, their healthy siblings and control subjects.

Examining transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) as a treatment for hallucinations in schizophrenia.

Objective: Some 25%–30% of patients with schizophrenia have auditory verbal hallucinations that are refractory to antipsychotic drugs. Outcomes in studies of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation suggest the possibility that application of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) with inhibitory stimulation over the left temporo-parietal cortex and excitatory stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex could affect hallucinations and negative symptoms, respectively. The authors investigated the efficacy of tDCS in reducing the severity of auditory verbal hallucinations as well as negative symptoms.

Association between cyclothymic temperament and clinical predictors of bipolarity in recurrent depressive patients.

Background: Recent studies have suggested that clinicians may under diagnose bipolarity in a substantial proportion of depressive patients, and proposed that affective temperaments particularly cyclothymic temperament (CT), may predict bipolarity in these patients. The objectives of this study were to assess CT in patients with recurrent depressive disorder (RDD) and to explore its associations with clinical predictors of bipolarity.

Methods: 98 patients (43 men and 55 women, mean age=46.

Neurological soft signs and schizotypal dimensions in unaffected siblings of patients with schizophrenia.

The objectives were to determine the neurological soft signs (NSS) scores in unaffected siblings of patients with schizophrenia compared with healthy controls and to examine their relationships with schizotypal dimensions. Participants comprised 31 unaffected siblings of patients with schizophrenia and 60 healthy controls matched according to age, gender and school level who were assessed by the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and the Krebs et al. NSS Scale.

Abnormalities of auditory event-related potentials in students with high scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire.

Some auditory event-related potential (ERP) abnormalities characterize both patients with schizophrenia and subjects with schizotypal personality disorder. It was therefore hypothesized that subjects from the community with schizotypal traits might also present ERP abnormalities. In this study, we compared auditory ERP latencies and amplitudes in 13 subjects with high (H-SPQ) and 12 subjects with low (L-SPQ) scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), selected from 198 Tunisian students.

[Adjustment disorders: a clinical study of a psychiatric hospital population in Tunisia].

The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of adjustment disorders in psychiatric hospital and to establish the clinical and evolutional profiles of these disorders. A descriptive and retrospective study with approximately 115 patients hospitalized a first time in a psychiatric setting of the university hospital of Monastir in Tunisia for adjustment disorders according to the DSM-IV. The frequency of adjustment disorders in a psychiatric hospital was estimated at 11,8 %.

[Validation of the French version of the Raine schizotypal personality questionnaire in a population of Tunisian students].

Schizotypal personality disorder is considered as a marquer of schizophrenia proneness. In opposition at other self report measures of schizotypal personality disorder, the "Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire" (SPQ) developed by Raine, assesses all nine features of this disorder. The aims of this study is to present the validation on the French version of the SPQ on Tunisian student sample.