Practise Updates: Diagnosis and Management of Idiopathic Hirsutism.

Idiopathic hirsutism (IH) is a common clinical condition with multiple diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainties. There are no clear recommendations for the diagnosis and management of the condition. This practice update was developed to guide the primary care physicians and the specialists in better and more systematic management of IH particularly in the Indian context.

Internet addiction in adolescents: Role of family, personality and comorbid psychopathology in school children in Eastern India.

Context: There is an increasing prevalence of internet addiction among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, but very few Indian studies have assessed and taken into account various factors that can explain internet addiction in this vulnerable population.

Aims: We examine the differences in family functioning, temperament, character and psychopathology in adolescents with and without internet addiction.

Settings And Design: 1000 adolescents from urban middle-class families were included in this cross-sectional, two-randomized-group designed, comparative study.

Theory of mind deficit in women with breast cancer and depression: A comparative study.

Background: Studies have established that Theory of Mind (ToM) is impaired in patients with depression, but few studies have investigated the status of ToM in breast cancer patients who often suffer from depression. Our objective was to compare the ToM deficits in women with breast cancer with and without depression with a control group.

Methods: The study was conducted at the Oncology department of a multi-speciality hospital in Kolkata.

Validation of revised reading the mind in the eyes test in the Indian (Bengali) population: A preliminary study.

Background: Social cognition deficits are common in clinical populations but there is a dearth of standardized social cognition assessment tools in India. Theory of mind (ToM) is an important aspect of social cognition which is often assessed with the revised reading the mind in eyes test (RMET-R). However, we do not have a statistically validated version of the test for the Indian population.

Prevalence of restless legs syndrome in somatoform pain disorder and its effect on quality of life.

Background: Persistent somatoform pain disorder (SPD) is a condition in which the patient suffers from persistent, severe and distressing pain; and from associated physical and psychological distress. While presence of restless leg syndrome (RLS) in SPD is understudied, their association might have an impact on general well-being and quality of life (QoL) in SPD.

Aims And Objectives: Present study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of RLS in SPD patients attending outpatient department services at a tertiary care institute in eastern India.

Autism: a rare presentation of Bardet-Biedl syndrome.

Although mental retardation is generally associated with Bardet-Biedl (BBS) syndrome, a rare autosomal recessive disorder with multisystem involvement, autism is an unusual comorbidity. An 8-year-old boy presented to our psychiatry department with poor social skills and night blindness. On further assessment autism, mild mental retardation, retinitis pigmentosa, polydactyly and syndactyly, obesity, micropenis, maldescended testis, hypodontia and high-arched palate were noted and subsequently a diagnosis of BBS was made.

Assessment of stress & related albuminuria in caregivers of severe mentally ill persons.

Background & Objectives: The family caregivers of patients with chronic diseases are known to undergo psychiatric stress leading to oxidative damage to glomerular membrane of kidney resulting in proteinuria. This study was aimed to compare current anxiety, depression levels and urinary albumin:creatinine ratio between primary caregivers of chronic mental patients and matched controls, and also whether the urinary albumin : creatinine ratio is correlated with stress factors (state and trait anxiety level, depression and caregiver burden) amongst caregivers.

Methods: The present cross-sectional study included 131 subjects (93 primary caregivers of patients with major mental illness as cases and 38 normal controls).

Assessment of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in drug naive patients of bipolar disorder.

The levels of fasting glucose, fasting insulin, insulin resistance (IR) and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a sample population of bipolar disorder (BPD) patients who were newly diagnosed and psychotropically naïve were assessed and compared with an age, sex and racially matched control population. 55 BPD-I patients (15-65 years) who were non-diabetic, nonpregnant, and drug naïve for a period of at least 6 months were included in the study. Diagnosis was made using the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders (SCID IV).

Determinants of quality of life in HIV-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral treatment at a medical college ART center in Kolkata, India.

Health-related quality of life (QOL) has become a high priority of long-term management of HIV-infected individuals. The newly diagnosed HIV cases were assessed to obtain sociodemographic and clinical findings. Eyesenk Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) for HIV-infected patients, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to get data regarding personality traits, QOL, and depression scores.

The effect of psychiatric comorbidity on hypertensive patients' perception of medication side-effects.

Arterial hypertension is a public health emergency in developing countries. Poor adherence is the most important cause of uncontrolled hypertension. Many patients cite medication adverse effects as the cause for non-adherence.

Behavior profile of children with nephrotic syndrome.

Background: Nephrotic syndrome, a primarily paediatric disease, is associated with a high relapse rate. Studies have reported behavioral and psychological difficulties in children with nephrotic syndrome, their caregivers and siblings, a factor that is likely to influence the overall outcome of the disease in an adverse manner. In clinical practice, however, the psychosocial aspects of care may be overlooked in the pressure to treat the disease process, unless their importance is stressed by appropriate evidence.

Conversion (dissociative) symptoms as a presenting feature in early onset bipolar disorder: a case series.

We present three cases of early onset bipolar disorder where dissociative (conversion) symptoms preceded the onset of mania. This case series underscores the significance of dissociative/conversion symptoms as an early atypical presentation in juvenile bipolar disorder.

Olanzapine-induced obesity and diabetes in Indian patients: a prospective trial comparing olanzapine with typical antipsychotics.

The association of hyperglycaemia and weight gain with the use of atypical antipsychotics has been documented. However, there is still not enough data from India. The fact that Indian patients usually have a lower body weight compared to European and American counterparts makes it difficult to extrapolate available data to the Indian context.

Media induced factitious disorder by proxy.

Perpetrators of Factitious Disorder by proxy are usually driven by motives such as garnering attention, mobilizing sympathy, acting out anger or controlling others. Widespread media coverage provides an opportunity for fulfilling all these needs. We describe a case of Factitious Disorder by proxy with a rather unusual ocular complaint.