Persistent mania following cessation of corticosteroids.

Objectives: The aims of this study are to describe two patients whose manic symptoms persisted for several months after the cessation of corticosteroids, to review the literature and to suggest treatment.

Methods: The presentation of two elderly patients with persistent manic symptoms following cessation of corticosteroids several months previously afforded the author the opportunity to examine them carefully, investigate and treat them.

Results: The patients were investigated to rule out other causes and were treated with sodium valproate and quetiapine (in the second patient).

Laennec's melanosis: The first published description of metastatic melanoma.

Melanomas are a common skin condition in Australia. The authors decided to examine the history of melanomas and its metastases with particular reference to the description of Laennec and the controversy between him and his teacher Dupuytren, who challenged his pupil as to who was the first to describe melanomatous metastases to the lungs. The rivalry between teacher and student continued, with each describing a similar system of pathological classification.

Antisocial behaviour and lying: a neuropsychiatric presentation of agenesis of the corpus callosum.

Objective: The purpose of this case study is to describe the case of a person with agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC), intellectual disability and features of antisocial behaviour and lying.

Methods: A 26-year-old woman with a mild intellectual disability who presented with antisocial behaviour and chronic lying was found to have ACC and associated cerebral abnormalities.

Results: Psychiatric, radiological and neuropsychological assessment of this patient provided convergent evidence of the importance of the corpus callosum in enabling understanding of social situations and appropriate social behaviour, particularly via its connectivity with the frontal regions of the brain.

Renal replacement therapy associated with lithium nephrotoxicity in Australia.

Objective: To analyse the annual incidence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) associated with lithium-induced nephropathy (LiN) in Australia.

Design, Setting And Participants: Retrospective cohort study of patients commencing renal replacement therapy (RRT) in Australia. We compared patients with LiN with all other RRT patients between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 2011, using Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry data.

William Siegfried Dawson: a pioneering Australasian psychiatrist.

Objective: The purpose of this paper was to consider the life and contribution of Professor William Siegfried Dawson (1891-1975) by examination of school, university and hospital reports and journal articles.

Conclusions: Professor Dawson made a major contribution, through his academic and professional roles and leadership, to the firm establishment of psychiatry, psychiatric scholarship and psychiatric organisations in Australia.

Rapid reversal of corticosteroid-induced mania with sodium valproate: a case series of 20 patients.

Background: Glucocorticoids are widely used in medicine and are known to cause psychiatric side effects, including mania. There is anecdotal evidence that sodium valproate is effective for treating psychiatric side effects of glucocorticoids.

Objective: To describe a case series of 20 patients receiving corticosteroids for various medical conditions who developed manic-like symptoms.

Venlafaxine hyponatraemia: incidence, mechanism and management.

Objective: This prospective study was performed on patients aged >65 years commencing therapy with venlafaxine, in order to determine the incidence of hyponatraemia induced by the drug, to investigate the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, and to evaluate a simple approach to management of this condition.

Method: All patients aged >65 years seen by one author (MR) from all referral sources were entered into the study. Baseline biochemical tests were ordered, and if hyponatraemia developed (plasma Na <130 mmol L(-1)) additional tests were performed to ascertain the mechanism, while the patient continued on venlafaxine and fluid restriction was instituted.