Self-enucleation of the right eye by a 38-year-old woman diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder: a case report.

Background: Autoenucleation is a rare form of self-mutilation typically associated with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, substance-induced psychosis and bipolar disorder. The act is usually unilateral, although bilateral attempts are also well documented in the literature.

Case Presentation: It is a case study involving a female patient (NN) diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder who self-enucleated her right eye following sexual intercourse with a fellow patient, and was forcefully prevented by staff from enucleating the second eye.

From psychosurgery to neuromodulation: deep brain stimulation for intractable Tourette syndrome.

Tourette syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics. It is often associated with depression, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, self-injurious behaviour and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In intractable patients, neuromodulation using deep brain stimulation (DBS) has widely replaced psychosurgery.

The German Multicentre Study on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).

In this multicentre study on multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) 291 consecutive environmental medicine (EM) outpatients were examined in several environmental medicine outpatient centres/units throughout Germany in 2000/2003. Of the EM outpatients, 89 were male (30.6%) and 202 were female (69.

[Psychiatric disorders of environmental outpatients--results of the standardized psychiatric interview (CIDI) from the German multi-center study on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)].

Background: A nationwide, environmental outpatient-based multi-center two-phase study on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) was conducted from 1999 until 2004. The aim of the study was to characterize more precisely the health-complaints relevant for the MCS-phenomenon. A standardized psychiatric interview (CIDI), used to identify frequency, character and duration of psychiatric disorders and their chronological relation to the environment-related health complaints of the patients, formed part of the extensive diagnostic procedure.

Working memory deficiencies in adults associated with low-level lead exposure: implications of neuropsychological test results.

Background: Although lead exposure has steadily decreased in the last few years, some lead is still used in the metal processing industry, mostly for wall paints and plumbing. Recent studies on children showed neurobehavioral effects of low-level exposure, but little is known about the neurocognitive effects of lead concentrations in the upper reference range on adults.

Methods: The neuropsychological effects of lead exposure were examined in 39 adult outpatients at the Unit of Environmental Medicine (UEM), University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.

Environmental factors as delusional contents in patients with schizophrenia.

In a series of 50 consecutive cases in the outpatients' unit of Environmental Medicine (UEM) at the University Hospital of Aachen, Germany, five patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia presented delusions of being poisoned by environmental factors. This case report illustrates the clinical features of the paranoid type of schizophrenic psychoses. Schizophrenia represents an important differential diagnosis in the interdisciplinary diagnosis and management of health problems attributed to environmental factors.

Palinacousis leading to the diagnosis of temporal lobe seizures in a patient with schizophrenia.

Palinacousis is a rarely reported symptom of temporal lobe dysfunction. Especially in psychiatric patients it may be misdiagnosed if it is not differentiated from the auditory hallucinations of psychotic illness. We report the case of a 20-year-old patient with the previously established diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia who presented with the symptom of palinacousis.