[The functional state of the auditory analyzer in prematurely born infants (after 29 weeks of gestation) at 6 months of life].

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the functional state of the auditory analyzer in infants born prematurely (after 29 weeks of gestation) and examined at 6 months of life. The evoked otoacoustic emission (EOAE) techniques were used for the purpose. Testing with the help of two different modes of EOAE yielded virtually identical results which confirms the possibility to apply both delayed EOAE (dEOAE) and distortion-product frequency OAE (dpOAE) for the assessment of the auditory function.

Diagnostic shifts during the decade following first admission for psychosis.

Objective: Diagnostic shifts have been prospectively examined in the short term, but the long-term stability of diagnoses has rarely been evaluated. The authors examined diagnostic shifts over a 10-year follow-up period.

Method: A cohort of 470 first-admission patients with psychotic disorders was systematically assessed at baseline and at 6-month, 2-year, and 10-year follow-ups.

Development of a measure of experiential avoidance: the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire.

Experiential avoidance (EA) has been conceptualized as the tendency to avoid negative internal experiences and is an important concept in numerous conceptualizations of psychopathology as well as theories of psychotherapy. Existing measures of EA have either been narrowly defined or demonstrated unsatisfactory internal consistency and/or evidence of poor discriminant validity vis-à-vis neuroticism. To help address these problems, we developed a reliable self-report questionnaire assessing a broad range of EA content that was distinguishable from higher order personality traits.

[The functional state of the cochlea in premature infants born before 28 weeks gestation on the 6th month of life].

The objective of the present study was to assess the state of the peripheral portion of the auditory analyzer based on induced otoacoustic emissions (IOAEs), distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), and delayed IOAEs (DIOAEs). The study included 31 premature infants born before 28 weeks gestation and examined later on the 6th month of postnatal life. All of them were shown to have the underdeveloped cochlea.

Abnormal neural sensitivity to monetary gains versus losses among adolescents at risk for depression.

Major depressive disorder aggregates within families, although the mechanisms of transfer across generations are not well understood. In light of converging biological and behavioral evidence that depressive symptoms are associated with impaired reward processing, we examined whether adolescent girls with a parental history of depression would also exhibit abnormal reward sensitivity. We performed a negative mood induction and then recorded the feedback negativity, a neural index of reward processing, while individuals completed a gambling task.

Personality and depression: explanatory models and review of the evidence.

Understanding the association between personality and depression has implications for elucidating etiology and comorbidity, identifying at-risk individuals, and tailoring treatment. We discuss seven major models that have been proposed to explain the relation between personality and depression, and we review key methodological issues, including study design, the heterogeneity of mood disorders, and the assessment of personality. We then selectively review the extensive empirical literature on the role of personality traits in depression in adults and children.

Linking "big" personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: a meta-analysis.

We performed a quantitative review of associations between the higher order personality traits in the Big Three and Big Five models (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, disinhibition, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness) and specific depressive, anxiety, and substance use disorders (SUD) in adults.

The role of criterion A2 in the DSM-IV diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Controversy exists about the utility of DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) criterion A2 (A2): that exposure to a potentially traumatic experience (PTE; PTSD criterion A1) is accompanied by intense fear, helplessness, or horror.

Methods: Lifetime DSM-IV PTSD was assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview in community surveys of 52,826 respondents across 21 countries in the World Mental Health Surveys.

Results: Of 28,490 representative PTEs reported by respondents, 37.

[The importance of studying ENT organs in premature infants].

Otorhinolaryngological examination makes it possible to objectively evaluate the state of ENT organs in prematurely born babies, take adequate measures to ensure their survival, undertake early prevention of ENT pathologies, carry out rehabilitation in case of post-resuscitation or congenital complications, and form groups of children selected for the follow-up and further treatment by an otorhinolaryngologist.

Cannabis use and the course of schizophrenia: 10-year follow-up after first hospitalization.

Objective: The authors examined the relationship between cannabis use and the course of illness in schizophrenia over 10 years of follow-up after first psychiatric hospitalization.

Method: The authors assessed 229 patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder five times: during the first admission and 6 months, 2 years, 4 years, and 10 years later. Ratings of cannabis use and psychiatric symptoms (psychotic, negative, disorganized, and depressive) were made at each assessment.

Schizophrenia in the internalizing-externalizing framework: a third dimension?

Background: Prior studies of common disorders in community-dwelling adults identified internalizing and externalizing spectra of mental illness. We investigated the placement of schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder in this framework and tested the validity of the resulting organization in a clinical population.

Methods: The data came from the Suffolk County Mental Health Project cohort (N = 628), which consists of first-admission patients with psychosis recruited from inpatient units throughout Suffolk County, NY (72% response rate).

Growing up in the shadow of Chornobyl: adolescents' risk perceptions and mental health.

Purpose: Despite long-term research on risk perceptions of adults after ecological disasters, little is known about the legacy for the generation exposed to toxic elements as infants. This study examined Chornobyl-related risk perceptions and their relationship to mental health in adolescents raised in Kyiv in the aftermath of the accident.

Methods: Risk perceptions, 12-month DSM-IV major depression (MDD)/generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and current symptomatology were examined in 265 evacuee adolescents, 261 classmate controls, and 327 population-based controls 19 years after the accident.

Ten-year diagnostic consistency of bipolar disorder in a first-admission sample.

Objectives: A number of reports have examined the stability of the diagnosis of schizophrenia, but fewer studies have considered the long-term consistency of a bipolar diagnosis or factors that influence the likelihood of a diagnostic change. The present study sought to estimate how consistently a bipolar diagnosis was made across a 10-year period and factors associated with consistency, particularly demographic and clinical characteristics, childhood-related factors, and illness course.

Methods: The sample included 195 first-admission patients presenting with psychosis who were assessed soon after hospitalization and at 6-month, 2-year, and 10-year follow-up and diagnosed with bipolar disorder on at least one of these assessments.

DSM-IV personality disorders in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys.

Background: Little is known about the cross-national population prevalence or correlates of personality disorders.

Aims: To estimate prevalence and correlates of DSM-IV personality disorder clusters in the World Health Organization World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys.

Method: International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE) screening questions in 13 countries (n = 21 162) were calibrated to masked IPDE clinical diagnoses.

Unmet need for mental health care in schizophrenia: an overview of literature and new data from a first-admission study.

We present an overview of the literature on the patterns of mental health service use and the unmet need for care in individuals with schizophrenia with a focus on studies in the United States. We also present new data on the longitudinal course of treatments from a study of first-admission patients with schizophrenia. In epidemiological surveys, approximately 40% of the respondents with schizophrenia report that they have not received any mental health treatments in the preceding 6-12 months.

The latent structure of child depression: a taxometric analysis.

Background: The current study examined the categorical versus continuous nature of child and adolescent depression among three samples of children and adolescents ranging from 5 to 19 years.

Methods: Depression was measured using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Indicators derived from the CDI were based on factor analytic research on the CDI and included indices of: 1) social withdrawal, 2) anhedonia, 3) incompetence/maladjustment and 4) negative self-esteem.

The serotonin transporter gene and disease modification in psychosis: evidence for systematic differences in allelic directionality at the 5-HTTLPR locus.

A 44 base pair insertion ("l")/deletion ("s") polymorphism (called 5-HTTLPR) in the 5' promoter region of the human serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) modulates expression and has been associated to anxiety and depressive traits in otherwise healthy individuals. In individuals with psychiatric diagnoses, including schizophrenia, it seems to modulate symptom severity. Thus, it may be a disease modifying gene.

The validity of self-report assessment of avoidance and distress.

Both distress and behavioral avoidance have been implicated in the development and maintenance of many forms of psychopathology. However, it is still unclear whether these constructs can be distinguished, or whether both can independently explain comorbid psychopathology (CP) as they are normally assessed (via self-report methods). To help address these questions, we assessed distress and avoidance in relation to phobic situations via structured interview in a sample of college students (N=385) and a sample of psychiatric outpatients (N=288).

Smoking in schizophrenia: diagnostic specificity, symptom correlates, and illness severity.

Background: Cigarette smoking was consistently found to be more prevalent in individuals with schizophrenia than in other psychiatric groups and the general population. These findings have been interpreted as evidence of a specific association between schizophrenia and smoking. However, the supporting data come primarily from cross-sectional studies, which are susceptible to confounding.

The Chornobyl accident and cognitive functioning: a follow-up study of infant evacuees at age 19 years.

Background: The cognitive and academic outcomes of infants exposed to radiation after the meltdown at Chornobyl have been intensely debated. Western-based investigations indicate that no adverse effects occurred, but local studies reported increased cognitive impairments in exposed compared with non-exposed children. Our initial study found that at age 11 years, school grades and neuropsychological performance were similar in 300 children evacuated to Kiev as infants or in utero compared with 300 classmate controls, yet more evacuee mothers believed that their children had memory problems.

[Endoscopic laser surgery in combined nasopharyngeal and middle ear pathology in children with conductive hypoacusis].

Endoscopic laser surgery on lymphoid structures of the nasopharynx near the pharyngeal opening of the auditory tube was made with Lazon-10P laser in 67 children aged 3 to 14 years with documented exudative otitis media (EOM). All the children had conductive hypoacusis. Children who had tympanogram of type B and in whom otoscopy detected exudate behind the tympanic membrane were subjected to one-stage laser tympanostomy in the anteroinferior quadrant of the tympanic membrane followed by transtympanic drug introduction into the tympanic cavity.

The mental health of clean-up workers 18 years after the Chernobyl accident.

Background: The psychological aftermath of the Chernobyl accident is regarded as the largest public health problem unleashed by the accident to date. Yet the mental health of the clean-up workers, who faced the greatest radiation exposure and threat to life, has not been systematically evaluated. This study describes the long-term psychological effects of Chernobyl in a sample of clean-up workers in Ukraine.

Personality traits and anxiety symptoms: the multilevel trait predictor model.

Investigation of relations between personality traits and mental disorders can inform key issues in psychopathology research. However, it has been hindered by extensive correlations among the traits. Building on studies of affect-psychopathology relations (e.