High yield and simple one-step production of carbon black nanoparticles from waste tires.

Carbon black (CB), a material consisting of finely divided particles, can be obtained by the partial combustion of heavy petroleum feedstock. The commercial preparation of CB nanoparticles require sophisticated equipment, chemical pre-treatment, and combination of complex separation and purification techniques. CB nanoparticles can also be recovered from scrubbed rubber, but yields are modest and the process is technically complex.

[A revised Iowa collateral head injury interview: a new instrument for the assessment of traumatic psychosocial frontal symptoms].

Objective: To validate a semi-structured Revised Iowa Collateral Head Injury Interview (RICHII) to assess post-traumatic, psychosocial frontal symptoms.

Method: 1. To revise the RICHII in the light of recent research findings and previous pilot studies.

[Nosologic aspects of personality change due to head trauma].

Introduction: Personality change due to head injury is one of the most prevalent neuropsychiatric posttraumatic disorders and causes significant impairment in familial, social or occupational functioning.

Objectives: To study the prevalence and clinical characteristics of personality changes secondary to severe closed head injuries, according to DSM-IV criteria.

Patients And Methods: Fifty-five patients (aged 15-65 years) with severe head trauma were studied during the chronic stage (11-3 months) with the following instruments: the Revised Iowa Collateral Head Injury Interview for the assessment of posttraumatic frontal symptoms, the Standardized Polyvalent Psychiatric Interview of Lobo et al, assessment of premorbid personality and its exacerbation, and the Scale of Aggressiveness of Yudofsky.

Social impairment and depression after traumatic brain injury.

Objective: Previous studies have shown that social impairment is associated with major depression throughout the first year after traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study examined the specific social factors that were associated with post-TBI depression.

Method: A consecutive series of 65 patients with closed head injuries were cross-sectionally and longitudinally examined using a semistructured psychiatric interview, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and the Social Functioning Exam during in-hospital care and at 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month follow-ups.

[The treatment of the resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder: an update].

Although the majority of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can be helped significantly by modern pharmacotherapy with serotonin uptake inhibitors (SUIs), usually in combination with behavioral techniques of exposure and response prevention, complete cure occurs infrequently and some remain very ill and refractory to treatment. In open-label reports, the addition of agents that enhance serotonin neurotransmission, such as lithium, tryptophan, fenfluramine, buspirone, clonazepam and other SUIs or tricyclic antidepressants to ongoing treatment in SUI-refractory patients has yielded encouraging results. However, the anti-obsessive efficacy of SRI-lithium and SRI-buspirone has not been confirmed in recent controlled trials.