[Bioethics in Morocco: An example of research on schizophrenia and the history of the Casablanca biomedical research ethics committee].

The ethics committee for biomedical research of Casablanca (CERBC) was born within the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Casablanca (FMPC) in Morocco in 1989, following the impetus of some teachers who were aware, from their specialties and their concerns, to the protection of people who took part in clinical trials. From the start, the committee faced difficulties in giving itself regulatory legitimacy. Subsequently, it was necessary to make a major educational and communication effort with the medical staff in order to explain the notions of ethics and bioethics, which were unknown at the time to most of the doctors at the University Hospital.

How service users and carers understand, perceive, rephrase, and communicate about "depressive episode" and "schizophrenia" diagnoses: an international participatory research.

Background: For ICD-11, the WHO emphasized the clinical utility of communication and the need to involve service users and carers in the revision process.

Aims: The objective was to assess whether medical vocabulary was accessible, which kinds of feelings it activated, whether and how users and carers would like to rephrase terms, and whether they used diagnosis to talk about mental health experiences.

Method: An innovative protocol focused on two diagnoses (depressive episode and schizophrenia) was implemented in 15 different countries.

[Risperidone and carbamazepine-induced syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion: case study].

The inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion Syndrome (ADHS) accounts for approximately 50% of all diagnosed cases of hyponatremia while drug-induced ADHS accounts for a small proportion of cases. We report the case of a female patient, treated for schizoaffective disorder, who developed ADHS following the initiation of risperidone and carbamazepine. Biochemical test results suggested risperidone and carbamazepine-induced ADHS.

[Ramadan and bipolar disorder: Example of circadian rhythm disturbance and its impact on patients with bipolar disorders].

Introduction: Fasting during the Ramadan month is a cornerstone of Islam. Several disorders of the chronobiological rhythms occur during this month and impact on mood. Through this paper the authors provide a literature review of the impact of fasting on patients with bipolar disorders.

[Religious obsessions and religiosity].

Objective: To assess the prevalence of religious obsessions in a general psychiatry setting, review sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients with religious obsessions, and explore the relation between these obsessions and religiosity.

Method: In a general psychiatry setting (n = 1500), we have studied patients with an obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and then in this sample, we have identified those who also had religious obsessions.

Results: OCD was found in 9.

[Frequency and risk factors for pathological gambling in a sample of gamblers in Casablanca, Morocco].

Introduction: Pathological gambling is a major psychiatric disorder and a public health problem that has gained a lot of attention in the last few years. The problems caused by gambling are increasingly serious. The prevalence of pathological or compulsive gambling varies from 0.

[Recurrent pseudocyesis with polydipsia: a case report].

Introduction: Pseudocyesis is an imaginary pregnancy resulting from a strong desire or need for motherhood. Pseudocyesis has become increasingly rare in many parts of the world in which accurate pregnancy tests have become widely available. Cultures that place high value on pregnancy, or that make close associations between fertility and a person's worth, still have high rates of the disorder.

[Post-traumatic stress disorder in survivors of the Agadir earthquake (Morocco) in 1960].

Introduction: Agadir City is geologically located on a seismic line. This city witnessed an earthquake in February 1960 with a magnitude of 6 degrees in Richter scale. During this disaster more than 17,000 people died and 60% of the town was destroyed.

[Wiscosin card sorting task in patients with schizophrenia and thier siblings].

Objective: This study's first objective was to confirm that patients with schizophrenia and their nonmentally ill siblings share the same impaired executive function when compared to healthy control subjects. The second objective was to study the relation between Wisconsin card sorting task (WCST) performance and the persistence and severity of clinical symptoms, as well as different clinical dimensions.

Method: Ninety subjects were involved in this study, divided in 3 groups of 30 each: one group of patients with schizophrenia, one group of their siblings, and a control group.

[Acute catatonic syndrome after neuroleptic malignant syndrome].

We report the case of a young woman who deve-loped catatonic syndrome a few days after neuroleptic mali-gnant syndrome (NMS), arising the problem of the chronology of both affections. A 20-year old woman with an history of bipolar disorder, experienced an acute manic syndrome that made hospitalization necessary. Fourteen days after loxa-pine prescription, the patient developed a NMS (DSM IV criteria) dyskinesia, dysphagia, fever and alteration of cons-ciousness.

[Depressive disorders among epileptic patients attending a specialised outpatient clinic].

The overall prevalence of psychiatric disorders in epileptic patients is estimated between 19 and 62%. Depressive disorders may be the most common psychiatric disorders and the main reason for psychiatric hospitalisation and taking psychotropic drugs. The underdiagnosis and undertreatment of depressive disorders among epileptic patients represent a problem of considerable magnitude.

[Two years follow-up of patients with acute psychotic access: evolutionary modes and prognosis].

Unlabelled: The aim of this work is to study the evolutionary modes of the acute psychotic access and predictor factors of evolution toward schizophrenia.

Method: It is a prospective survey done at the University Psychiatric Center Ibn Rushd with 2 years of follow-up. The diagnosis was made according to DSM IV criteria by a trained psychiatrist using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV (SCID).

[Autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease. Study of a Moroccan family].

The authors describe in this paper a Moroccan family presenting Alzheimer's disease with early onset and rapid course (6 members, of whom 3 died at 34 and 40 years old in a severe picture of dementia). Among these 6 members, Mr M.K.

[Assessment of premenstrual dysphoric disorder symptoms: population of women in Casablanca].

Menstruation is a biological phenomenon that has been subject of myths and taboos within and among various cultures. These myths distort the reality surrounding menstruation and create ambivalent feelings about the value and usefulness of this function outside of its necessity as mean of reproduction. Thus studies concerning menstruation need to take into account cultural and psychosocial factors that define the meaning, values and behavior associated with this biological phenomenon.

Validity of the depressive dimension extracted from principal component analysis of the PANSS in drug-free patients with schizophrenia.

Depressive symptoms frequently occur during the course of schizophrenia. This study explored the relationships between the schizophrenia symptomatology and three measures of depression. Eighty-one drug-free inpatients with acute schizophrenia were assessed with the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS), the Calgary depression scale for schizophrenia (CDSS), and the Hamilton rating scale for depression (HAM-D).

[Epidemiology of tardive dyskinesias in the Maghreb].

The most prescribed type of psychotropic medication in maghrebian psychiatry is neuroleptics. It is therefore legitimate to study the epidemiology of the most frequent side-effect of long-term treatment with neuroleptics: Tardive Dyskinesia (TD). At the moment, a collaborative study is under way on epidemiology of TD within the framework of the Maghrebian Association of Biological Psychiatry; several studies have also been conducted on this topic in the University Psychiatric Centre Ibn Rochd, Casablanca, Morocco in 1984, 1986 and 1987.