[Asperger's syndrome symptoms in children, adolescents and young adults].

Asperger's syndrome symptoms in children, adolescents and young adults. Asperger syndrome (AS) is a neurodevelopemental disorder which is classified into autism- spectrums disorders (ASDs). AS is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, stereotyped and restricted patterns of behaviour, activities and interests.

Tracking social motivation systems deficits: the affective neuroscience view of autism.

Abnormal functioning of primary brain systems that express and modulate basic emotional drives are increasingly considered to underlie mental disorders including autism spectrum disorders. We hypothesized that ASD are characterized by disruptions in the primary systems involved in the motivation for social bonding. Twenty adults with ASD were compared to 20 neurotypical participants on the basis of self-reports and clinical assessments, including the Social Anhedonia Scale (SAS) and the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS).

Levels of autistic traits in anorexia nervosa: a comparative psychometric study.

Background: A number of characteristics associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are over-represented among patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) as well as among relatives of these patients. Yet the co-occurrence of autistic traits in AN has not been fully explored and no previous study has directly compared self-reported evaluations of cognitive and socio-affective skills in AN and ASD.

Methods: We aimed to determine the degree of overlap between AN and ASD from scores on questionnaires classically used to measure ASD impairments.

Cortical folding in patients with bipolar disorder or unipolar depression.

Background: Analysis of cortical folding may provide insight into neurodevelopment deviations, which, in turn, can predispose to depression that responds particularly poorly to medications. We hypothesized that patients with treatment-resistant depression would exhibit measurable alterations in cortical folding.

Methods: We computed hemispheric global sulcal indices (g-SIs) in T(1)-weighted magnetic resonance images obtained from 76 patients and 70 healthy controls.

[Retrospective study of clozapine use in Ile-de-France].

Introduction: Clozapine, synthesized in the sixties, is an atypical antipsychotic drug whose history has been marked by its haematological toxicity. The purpose of this study was, ten years after it had been replaced at French psychiatrists' disposal, to gather data on the prescription modalities of clozapine, assess whether some factors could affect its efficacy, and describe the population of schizophrenic patients concerned.

Methodology: Psychiatrists in the Paris region were asked to answer a questionnaire about their patients treated with clozapine.

[Depression and somatic diseases. On one retrospective study of 210 patients with major depression hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital].

Associations between depression and somatic disorders are common and little studied. We present the results of a retrospective study including 210 psychiatric inpatients, suffering from a major depressive episodes (MDE-DSM III-R criteria). The purpose of this study was: first, to access the prevalence of comorbid MDEs with somatic illness, second to describe the clinical, therapeutic and evolutionary characteristics of MDEs secondary to a physical trouble, comparatively with primary depressions and depressions secondary to another psychiatric disorder.