Association between happiness and psychopathology in an elderly regional rural population in Crete.

Research has shown that socio-demographic profile and psychopathology symptoms are related to levels of happiness in old age. The aims of this cross-sectional study were: 1) to investigate the effect of recent stressful life events and socio-demographic factors on psychopathological symptoms in elderly residents in mountain regions of Crete, Greece and 2) to explore the mechanism which underlies the relationship between socio-demographic factors and psychopathological symptoms, with levels of happiness in old age. To this end, we used the nine psychopathology dimensions of symptoms as defined in the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90), while the Holmes and Rahe stress inventory was administered to quantify the stressful life events.

Examination of verbal memory and recall time in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

In this study 22 7- to 11-year-old children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 44 age-matched controls recruited from the same classrooms were given a 4-item delayed serial recall task using numbers or phrases. Although both groups showed similar recall accuracy rates, ADHD children required significantly longer times to retrieve and articulate their answers than children from the control group, regardless of age. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of executive function deficits in ADHD.

Low prebiopsy state irritability scores at the clinical onset of invasive breast carcinoma.

Objective: The research findings regarding the role of psychiatric illness in breast cancer are not yet clear. This report investigates the differences between patients with invasive breast carcinoma (IBC) and patients with benign breast disease regarding the psychiatric history and the current prebiopsy psychopathology.

Methods: The psychiatric history of 124 females, aged 70 or less, was evaluated by interview and the DSM-IV criteria were used to establish the diagnoses.

Low psychopathology scores in the prognosis of breast cancer. A preliminary report.

Background: Research findings regarding the influence of psychopathology on cancer progression are not yet clear. This preliminary report investigates the severity of psychopathology assessed before biopsy in patients with invasive breast carcinoma (IBC) and its association with two follow-up outcomes: disease-free (to first recurrence) and survival periods.

Method: The psychiatric assessment of 80 patients under 70 years old was established by means of an interview before biopsy.

Phenytoin concentration in head hair sections: a method to evaluate the history of drug use.

Phenytoin (PHT) levels were determined in sections of head hair taken from 60 patients (34 males and 26 females), aged 5 to 69 years, who were regularly receiving the drug. The hair sectional analysis included dissolution, liquid phase extraction procedures, and immunoassay (Abbott TDx) or high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) analytical techniques. The values of PHT levels in the hair from the first section (close to the hair root) to the fifth section for female patients were 18.