Neuropsychological and neurophysiological evaluation of cognitive deficits related to the severity of traumatic brain injury.

Objectives: Cognitive impairment is a common permanent sequela of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Its objectivization is based on neuropsychological and neurophysiological assessment. Neuropsychological evaluation requires a test battery, whereas for neurophysiological assessment the most significant is application of P300 Event-Related Potentials (ERPs).

Forensic aspect of late subjective complaints after traumatic brain injury.

Background: The subjective complaints in patients with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) may persist for years. The most frequent complaints are headache, dizziness, drowsiness, mood disturbances, and memory and concentration disturbances. It is assumed that these complaints are caused by injury itself on one hand and psychological, emotional and motivation factors on the other.

Role of sexual abuse in development of conversion disorder: case report.

Described case report speaks in favour of the relation between childhood sexual abuse with the development of conversion disorder. Following Salmonella poisoning, adolescent, at the age of 16, develops series of severe somatic symptoms. Results of diagnostic procedures excluded organic foundation of the symptoms; diagnosis of conversion disorder is established.

Evaluation of quality of life for patients with schizophrenic and schizoaffective disorders related to the use of antipsychotic therapy.

The purpose of the study was to understand the impact of using antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenic and schizoaffective disorders related to the quality of life and overall social functioning of schizophrenic patients. In addition to this, the study monitored and compared the efficacy of classical, commonly used antipsychotics to that of atypical antipsychotic drugs with respect to the velocity and degree of reduction in symptoms of the primary disease. The 160 respondents who participated in this research were divided into two groups of 80.

Psychiatric consequences of stress after a vehicle accident.

Background: Vehicle accidents are a common cause of disease and death among people over 30 years of age. Essentially, reaction to stress due to the vehicle accident does not differ from the reaction to other stress factors. There are still no uniform viewpoints about the kind of sequels and their percentage representation after vehicle accidents.

[Traumatic brain injuries--forensic and expertise aspects].

Introduction: Traumatic brain injuries have major socio-economic importance due to their frequency, high mortality and serious consequences. According to their nature the consequences of these injuries may be classified as neurological, psychiatric and esthetic. Various lesions of brain structures cause neurological consequences such as disturbance of motor functions, sensibility, coordination or involuntary movements, speech disturbances and other deviations, as well as epilepsy.

Persistent hepatic venous plexus in a patient with Sturge-Weber syndrome.

A patient with extensive facial and intracranial features of Sturge-Weber syndrome was found to have a persistent primitive hepatic venous plexus, characterized by three additional vessels arising from the inferior vena cava, circulating between liver segments, which formed a common trunk in the supra-hepatic region that flowed into the right atrium. To the best of our knowledge, this hepatic finding has not been previously described in association with Sturge-Weber syndrome.

[Current issues in psychiatry].

Introduction: Psychiatry is the branch of medicine concerned with the defining and diagnosing mental disorders, finding ways of treatment, developing methods for determining causes, and conceiving measures for prevention of mental disorders. Psychiatry has greatly advanced over the last two decades. In our country, however, due to prejudice and ignorance, mental disorders are still often considered incurable and alarming by the general public as well as by physicians, and psychiatric patients are stigmatized and marginalized by the society.

[Occurrence, causes and clinical characteristics of status epilepsy in adults].

Introduction: Status epilepticus, particularly grand mal, is one of the gravest and most dramatic conditions in neurology requiring immediate attention. Status epilepticus can occur in epileptic patients, often with higher mortality rates in symptomatic than idiopathic, but also as an initial symptom of a number of neurological and systemic diseases. No data are available on the exact incidence rates of status epilepticus.

[Subjective syndrome after head injury].

Unlabelled: DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION PROBLEMS: Post-traumatic or post-commotion syndrome is one of the most controversial entities in studying consequences of craniocerebral trauma. Part of this problem arises from impossibility of adequate translation of the term brain concussion. Post-concussion syndrome is a broader concept than post-commotion and includes, if not a whole, than part of the post-contusion syndrome.

[A manic syndrome after cerebral trauma: case report].

This case report describes a 17-year-old female patient in whom a clinical picture of manic syndrome developed four days after craniocerebral trauma. The diagnostic procedure comprised neuropsychological, neurophysiological and neuroanatomical examination. The diagnosis revealed discrete organicity on the level of psychic functions, whereas magnetic resonance imaging revealed changes of the right hemisphere.

[Mechanisms of epileptogenesis and antiepileptic drugs].

Contemporary data about the mechanisms of epileptogenesis are reviewed. The role of the neuronal membrane and synapsis in the neurons changed by epilepsy is particularly pointed out. The concept of "the paroxysmal depolarizational shift" is defined.

[Evaluation of cognitive deficits after craniocerebral injury].

The study included 90 persons, one year after experiencing closed craniocerebral trauma. The purpose was to determine, by neuropsychological and neurophysiological methods, the presence of cognitive deficit as a result of cerebral trauma. It is possible to objectivize the organically conditioned cognitive deficit in case of a significant number of patients, and also, by the application of certain methodology, to grade the intensity of existing changes.

[Sociodemographic and epidemiologic characteristics of hospitalized alcoholics in Vojvodina].

Using the Register of hospitalized alcoholics in Vojvodina we analyzed data on sociodemographic and epidemiologic characteristics of the alcoholic disease. This retrospective study, using longitudinal and anamnestic data during a three-year period (1991-1993) deals with all patients treated for Alcohol Dependency Syndrome (according to the International classification of diseases, IX revision) treated at neuropsychiatric institutions in Vojvodina and living on this territory. The sample consisted of 4783 examinees.

[Cognitive deficits in alcoholics--significance of cognitive evoked potentials (P-300)].

Method of event related potential has proved to be very useful in estimation of higher nerve functions damage, especially P-300 component as a precise indicator of cognitive and perceptual functioning. According to data available in literature, significant degree of correlation exists between evoked potential parameters (amplitude and latency) and deficit of psychic functions. The sample consisted of 37 patients (male and female) who had signs or alcohol-induced organic mental disorder (according to ICD-10).

[Psychological study of rape victims].

This paper covers a study of rape victims, according to the records of Clinic for Gynekology and Obstetrics in Novi Sad, in terms of the late psychological and psychiatric consequences. Several methods were used: special questionnaire, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for estimating personality and selfdescriptive scale of depression, Beck Depression Inventory. Results emphasize that the group with the highest rape risk consists of female persons aged from 22 to 30 years, single, without children and with lower education level.

[Modern psychosomatic aspects of dermatology].

Concerning their origin most diseases are multifactorial and that goes for skin diseases too. Emphasizing just one must not exclude further research and other aspects of etiopathogenetic mechanisms. It has been known for along time that psychological factors have a certain influence on the start, aggravation and maintenance on skin changes and that cosmetic defects of this kind disturb the psychological peace of the sick person and his capacity of establishing satisfactory social relations.

[Homicide and sexual psychopathology].

Using data of forensic-psychiatric archive of the Institute for Neurology, Psychiatry and Mental Health in Novi Sad, 61 homicides were processed; in all cases victims and the murderers were of different sexes and were not blood kinships. By psychopathological analysis of the sample it was not possible to determine a unique profile of "sexual homicide". Considering the personality of the murderer, the degree of victimization and the importance of alcohol as a constelative factor, three categories of homicide connected with sexual life in the broadest sense were established and any degree of generalization in the practice of forensic-psychiatric theory and practice is impossible.

[The effect of stress and personality structure on the onset and severity of the clinical picture of psoriasis].

On a sample of 38 psoriatic patients we tried to determine the relationship between neurotic disorders (operationalized MMPI) and the number and hazardous effects of stressful events on the one hand and the severity of the clinical picture and the time of the onset of psoriasis on the other. In our sample neurotic disorders are much commoner than in the general population indicating that they might represent one of the most significant factor of etiology, complications and prevention. The last hypothesis is based on the results showing that neurotic psoriatics develop psoriasis significantly later than non-neurotics.