Fatal and Non-Fatal Heroin-Related Overdoses: Circumstances and Patterns.

Introduction: Heroin overdose is a leading cause of mortality among drug users. This paper aims to identify individual and contextual factors associated with lethal and non-lethal heroin-related overdoses on the basis of case reports and semi-structured proxy interviews. Typical patterns within these cases are determined by means of cluster analysis.

The Brief Motor Scale (BMS) for the assessment of motor soft signs in schizophrenic psychoses and other psychiatric disorders.

Subtle motor impairment is an important aspect of neurological soft signs (NSS) which are frequently found in psychiatric patients-particularly schizophrenic patients. On the basis of data collected in previous studies using two different NSS scales, the most reliable and discriminative signs of motor impairment were identified to construct a brief 10-item rating scale. Subsequently, the new scale was applied to a sample of subacute patients with schizophrenic psychoses (N = 82) and healthy controls (N = 33).

[A patient who for one year shared his apartment with his dead lady-friend's corpse].

A 58-year old unemployed painter had for one year shared his apartment with his lady-friend's corpse and not talked to anyone about her death. When admitted to our hospital, loss of drive, initiative, interest, psychomotor activity and emotional response as well as poverty of speech were the main clinical features. Not having been able to care for his own vital needs such as food, shelter and protection against cold temperature, he was neglected and suffered from frost-bites.

Nongenetic pathologic developments of brain-wave patterns in monozygotic twins discordant and concordant for schizophrenia.

Evidence from previous studies has suggested that the inter-individual differences in human brain-wave patterns (EEG) are predominantly determined by genetic factors. In particular, the within-pair EEG concordance of monozygotic (mz) twins was found to be typically as high as r = 0.81 across channels and frequency bands, thus being comparable to that between repeated assessments on the same individual with typically r = 0.

[Delirium syndrome as a side-effect of lithium in normal lithium levels].

Lithium is used with great success in the treatment of manic patients and for prophylaxis of bipolar disorders. There are only few reports about neuropsychiatric side effects at therapeutic serum levels. We report on a 38 year old woman with bipolar disorder who was treated with lithium for 20 years without side-effects.

Genetic influence on laterality in schizophrenia? A twin study of neurological soft signs.

Objective: This study explored the genetic basis of neurological soft signs in schizophrenia and addressed disturbed hemispheric lateralization.

Method: The authors investigated neurological soft signs in 30 monozygotic twin pairs, 13 pairs discordant for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 17 healthy comparison twin pairs.

Results: The twins with schizophrenia showed higher total scores for neurological soft signs than did the comparison subjects.

Genetic influence on auditory information processing in schizophrenia: P300 in monozygotic twins.

Background: It is widely accepted that schizophrenia is to some extent genetically determined. Abnormalities of the P300 component are one of the most robust biological findings in schizophrenia. They outlast clinical impairment and are present also in relatives of schizophrenic patients.

Structural and functional correlates of subsyndromes in chronic schizophrenia.

Recent psychopathological studies consistently identified a delusional, a negative, and a disorganized subsyndrome in chronic schizophrenia. The aim of our studies was to investigate the subsyndromes with respect to their underlying cerebral changes using computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET). In a CT study 50 DSM III schizophrenics were subgrouped according to four factors identified by a factor analysis of BPRS ratings.

Differentiating subtotal carotid artery stenoses from occlusions by colour-coded duplex sonography.

During a 9-month period the carotid arteries of 2420 consecutive patients were investigated by conventional Doppler and duplex ultrasonography as well as by colour-coded duplex sonography. Of 186 internal carotid arteries showing a diameter reduction at the bifurcation level of 95% or more by conventional techniques, 131 underwent X-ray angiography which revealed a subtotal stenosis in 25 and an occlusion in 106 cases. Using a total of ten criteria for describing the colour-coded duplex findings, the "distal colour filling", a combination of three single criteria, could be found in all subtotal stenoses and none of the occlusions.

[Discrete motor and sensory disorders (neurologic soft signs) in the acute course of endogenous psychoses].

Neurological soft signs (NSS) were investigated in 67 patients with DSM-III schizophrenia (remitting course, n = 23, chronic course, n = 27) and affective psychosis (n = 17). Patients were examined on admission, 7 days later and before discharge when being in a stable condition. In all diagnostic groups the NSS scores varied in the clinical course with a significant decline towards discharge.

Neurological soft signs in schizophrenia.

A new scale for neurological soft signs (NSS) was constructed and consists of 17 items compiled from the literature. The scale was found to have a high internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.83) and a high interrater reliability (0.