The relation between depressive and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Results from a large, naturalistic follow-up study.

Objective: Despite the frequent occurrence of depressive symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), little is known about the reciprocal influence between depressive and obsessive-compulsive symptoms during the course of the disease. The aim of the present study is to investigate the longitudinal relationship between obsessive-compulsive and depressive symptoms in OCD patients.

Method: We used the baseline and 1-year follow-up data of the Netherlands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Association (NOCDA) study.

Intensive behavioral therapy for agoraphobia.

Background: We investigated the efficacy of an intensive 1-week behavioral therapy program focusing on agoraphobia for panic disorder patients with agoraphobia (PDA).

Design And Methods: The study design was a case-control study. Main outcome measure was the agoraphobia score of the Fear Questionnaire (FQ-AGO).

Therapygenetics: 5-HTTLPR genotype predicts the response to exposure therapy for agoraphobia.

This study was intended to assess the extent to which the low-expression allele of the serotonin transporter gene promoter predicts better response to exposure-based behavior therapy in patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA). Ninety-nine patients with PDA underwent a 1-week in vivo exposure-based behavior therapy program and provided saliva samples to extract genomic DNA and classify individuals according to four allelic forms (SA, SG, LA, LG) of the 5-HTT-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR). We determined whether the 5-HTTLPR genotype predicted change in avoidance behavior in PDA following treatment.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia responses to cognitive tasks: effects of task factors and RSA indices.

Many studies show that respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) decreases while performing cognitive tasks. However, there is uncertainty about the role of contaminating factors such as physical activity and stress-inducing task variables. Different methods to quantify RSA may also contribute to variable results.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia responses to induced emotional states: effects of RSA indices, emotion induction method, age, and sex.

The literature shows large inconsistencies in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) responses to induced emotional states. This may be caused by differences in emotion induction methods, RSA quantification, and non-emotional demands of the situation. In 83 healthy subjects, we studied RSA responses to pictures and film fragments eliciting six different discrete emotions relative to neutral baseline stimuli.

Cigarette smoking and 35% CO(2) induced panic in panic disorder patients.

Background: A disproportionately large number of persons with panic disorder (PD) smoke cigarettes compared to people in the general population and individuals with other anxiety disorders. Clinical and epidemiological data suggest that cigarette smoking increases the risk for the development and maintenance of PD. The carbon dioxide (CO(2)) challenge is well established as experimental model for panic.

Lesser-metatarsal medial displacement osteotomy for the treatment of digital transverse plane deformities.

We sought to evaluate the clinical and radiographic outcomes in patients treated with a medial displacement transverse osteotomy of the second metatarsal to correct transverse hammer toe deformities. Eighteen patients underwent 20 procedures in 3 years. Each patient had a transverse plane deformity of the second metatarsophalangeal joint.

Sleep complaints in panic disorder patients.

Patients with anxiety disorders often report difficulty sleeping. The present study assesses the prevalence of sleep complaints in panic disorder (PD) patients, compares them with sleep complaints in a normal population, and investigates the role of comorbid depression and nocturnal panic attacks in sleep complaints in the PD patients. Seventy PD patients and 70 healthy controls were asked about their subjective sleep characteristics by means of the Sleep-Wake Experience List, which assesses sleep/arousal complaints over a 24-hour period.

Experimental affective symptoms in panic disorder patients.

Objective: To date, carbon dioxide (CO2) challenge tests in panic disorder (PD) patients have focused on anxiety as the sole outcome measure. This study assesses a broader range of symptoms in patients with PD.

Method: We administered a gas mixture of 35% CO2 and 65% oxygen (O2) to 25 patients with PD.

Symptom profiles of natural and laboratory panic attacks.

Background: Little accurate information is available about the symptomatology of real-life panic attacks and about how well they are reproduced by an experimental model such as the 35% CO2 challenge.

Method: Real-life panic symptoms were assessed in a group of 67 panic disorder patients, using daily life monitoring. Panic symptoms elicited by a 35% CO2 challenge were assessed in 61 panic disorder patients, and their frequency was compared with the real-life symptoms.

Blood-injury related phobic avoidance as predictor of nonresponse to pharmacotherapy in panic disorder with agoraphobia.

Background: Several factors have been investigated as possible predictors of nonresponse to pharmacotherapy in Panic Disorder (PD) patients. In 1995 a study was published by Slaap et al. in this journal that found high Blood-Injury phobia scores on the Marks and Matthews Fear Questionnaire were predictive for a worse treatment-outcome for drug treatment in PD.

Acute L-5-hydroxytryptophan administration inhibits carbon dioxide-induced panic in panic disorder patients.

Previous research showed that lowering the availability of serotonin to the brain by tryptophan depletion increases the vulnerability of panic disorder patients for an experimental 35% CO(2) panic challenge. The results also suggested that increased availability of serotonin inhibits the response to such a challenge. In the present study, this latter possibility is examined.

Comorbidity of obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression: prevalence, symptom severity, and treatment effect.

Background: The goal of this study was to investigate the co-occurrence of depressive disorders in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and the effect of these disorders on combined pharmacologic and behavioral treatment for OCD.

Method: A retrospective chart analysis was performed on baseline ratings of 120 OCD patients and posttreatment ratings of 72 of these patients. For depressive symptoms, the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale and the Self-Rating Depression Scale were applied; for obsessive-compulsive symptoms, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale and the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory were used; and for general anxiety symptoms, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Clinical Anxiety Scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were given.

Brachymetatarsia of the third and fourth metatarsals.

A cylindrical autogenous diaphyseal bone graft from the neighboring second and fifth metatarsals to correct brachymetatarsia of the third and fourth metatarsals was last described by Biggs in 1979. The authors present a literature review and case report for the treatment of the rare clinical entity of brachymetatarsia.

Neurilemoma of the medial plantar nerve: a case report and literature review.

A neurilemoma is an uncommon, benign, encapsulated neoplasm whose origin is derived from the Schwann cells. Its incidence in the foot is uncommon. A review of the literature, etiology, incidence, clinical presentation, histology, differential diagnosis, and treatment are discussed.

Effects of low-dose cholecystokinin on respiratory function in healthy volunteers.

Injection of high doses of cholecystokinin tetrapeptide (CCK-4), a recent experimental model for panic, causes panic attacks and respiratory stimulation, a key feature of panic, in healthy volunteers. However, it has not yet been established whether respiratory stimulation is specifically linked to panic or merely an effect of arousal in general. Results of the present study show that respiratory stimulation is not merely linked to higher arousal and suggest a link between CCK-provoked panic and respiratory stimulation.

10 microg CCK-4 premedication and 35% CO2 challenge in healthy volunteers.

1. The purpose of the study was to confirm whether a subthreshold dose of CCK-4 would enhance the vulnerability of healthy subjects to a 35% carbon dioxide challenge. 2.

Effects of tryptophan depletion on carbon dioxide provoked panic in panic disorder patients.

Results of an earlier study in healthy volunteers suggest that the serotonergic system is involved in anxiety-related mechanisms. We studied the influence of tryptophan depletion on the response to a 35% carbon dioxide challenge. Twenty-four panic disorder patients received a mixture of amino acids, either with or without tryptophan, under double-blind conditions.

Calcium metabolism, calcium supplementation and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

In recent years growing attention has been directed towards the possible role of calcium in the development of pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia. Several studies describe calcium metabolism in normal and hypertensive pregnancy, but so far, they have shown discrepant and inconsistent results. Intracellular free calcium, which plays an important role in vascular smooth muscle contraction, has been claimed as a pathogenic factor in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Activators and inhibitors of fibrinolysis in rheumatoid and nonrheumatoid synovial membranes. A histochemical study.

Histochemical studies of rheumatoid and nonrheumatoid synovial membranes revealed lowered fibrinolytic activity at sites of chronic inflammatory infiltrates and deposits of fibrin-like material (FLM). Inhibition of fibrinolysis occcurred over these areas and was always inversely related to the fibrinolytic activity. Hence the low fibrinolytic activity of these chronically inflamed tissues seems to result from the presence of inhibitors of fibrinolysis.