[Clinical characteristics of bipolar I patients according to their family history of affective disorders].

Background: The familial nature of bipolar disorder has been well described and multiple genes are probably involved in most or all cases. Each gene contributes equally to a bipolar phenotype and it may contribute to clinical characteristics. However, the genetic transmission of bipolar disorder remained undetermined up to now, partly due to clinical and genetically heterogeneity.

[Influence of consanguinity on clinical characteristics and affective disorders frequency in relatives of bipolar I patients].

Background: The genetic transmission of bipolar disorder remained undetermined up to now, partly due to clinical and genetically heterogeneity. In Tunisia, genetic study will profit from the existence of high rates of consanguinity.

Aim: To determine the rate of consanguinity in bipolar I disorders sample and to compare the clinical characteristics and the frequency of affective disorders in first and second degree relatives of probands with and without consanguinity.

[Oxidative stress involvement in schizophrenia pathophysiology: a review].

Background: Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric disorder with a broad range of behavioural and biologic manifestations. There are several clinical characteristics of the illness that have been consistently associated with poor premorbid adjustment, long duration of psychosis prior to treatment and prominent negative symptoms. The etiopathogenic mechanisms of lack of insight in patients with schizophrenia are to date unknown, although several hypotheses have been suggested.

[Seasonal depressive disorder: a controlled study in Tunisian psychiatric sample].

Seasonal affective disorder is considered as a clinical subtype of major depression. The criteria for seasonal pattern has been recently described in the international classification of mental disorders. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical characteristics of patients with major depression and with a seasonal and a non seasonal pattern.

[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.

[Bipolarity correlated factors in major depression: about 155 Tunisian inpatients].

The distinction between the depressive troubles according to their inclusion in bipolar disorders or in recurrent depressive disorders offers an evident practical interest. In fact, the curative and mainly the preventive treatment of these troubles are different. So it is necessary to identify the predictive factors of bipolar development in case of inaugural depressive episode.

[Glutaminergic hypothesis of schizophrenia: clinical research studies with ketamine].

Several lines of evidence suggest that the glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor is involved in schizophrenia pathophysiology. Post-mortem studies have revealed a lower density of glutamatergic receptors in patients with schizophrenia. Other studies of cerebrospinal fluid reported lower levels of glutamate in patients with schizophrenia in healthy comparison subjects.

[Study of psychosocial factors in HIV infected patients in Tunisia].

We conducted a prospective study using an anonymous questionnaire and semistructured interviews on 60 patients with HIV to assess the psychological and socioenvironmental factors that may result in risk-taking behaviour. The patients were mainly young males (mean age 33.1 +/- 7.

[Seasons of birth of schizophrenic patients. Retrospective study of a hospitalized population in Tunisia].

Epidemiological research concerning the seasons of births of schizophrenics show for the greatest part that there's an excess of births in winter and in the beginning of spring. Research about the environmental theories of schizophrenia suggest that there would exist one or many seasonal environmental factors affecting the foetus and the neonate, and which would be likely to increase the risk of a subsequent development of schizophrenia. As no research concerning this subject have been published so far in Africa, the writers propose to study the distribution of births of a population of schizophrenics born in Tunisia in comparison to the general population and to compare it to a group of patients hospitalized because of major affective disorders.

[Problems posed by medico-psychiatric emergencies in Tunisia].

The writers are interested in the consequences resulting from dividing emergencies into medico-surgical and psychiatric emergencies which would concern the efficiency of first aid to the cases where ther's an interference between medical and psychiatric disorders. Three situations will be envisaged and commented upon according to examination medico-surgical emergencies with a psychiatric expression, medico-surgical emergencies of the mentally-ill patient and psychiatric emergencies with a medico-surgical expression. The authors conclude by showing the interest of simultaneously taking into account both the somatic and the psychiatric fields.