Behavior in degenerative dementias: mood disorders, psychotic symptoms and predictive value of neuropsychological deficits.

We studied mood disorders (MD) and psychotic symptoms (PS) in patients with fronto -temporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) by means of different diagnostic instruments. These were: a subjective scale (subsets of survey psychiatric assessment schedule: SPAS), an objective scale (subsets of neuropsychiatric inventory: NPI) and a projective task (Wartegg completion task: WCT). A general tendency of NPI to over estimate the presence of symptoms compared to SPAS was observed, but distribution and severity of symptoms were quite homogeneous in the two dementia-groups, independently of the diagnostic scales.

Multiple drug intolerance: allergological and psychological findings.

In order to evaluate pseudoallergic reactions to drugs, we studied a particular group of patients intolerant towards many drugs, pharmacologically dissimilar and administered during different periods of time. These patients consider themselves as "allergic" to "all" drugs. Twenty female patients, all with a history of intolerance to at least three drugs, chemically and antigenically dissimilar and not belonging to the same category of drugs, were studied.