Increased risk of hypertension in patients with bipolar disorder and patients with anxiety compared to background population and patients with schizophrenia.

Background: The relationship between depression and bipolar disorders and cardio-vascular diseases has been studied previously although the direction of the correlation is investigated less often. The present study examines the prevalence of hypertension among Danish psychiatric patients admitted with a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder (BP) and controls.

Methods: Demographic, medical and psychiatric data on 25,339 BP patients and 113,698 controls were extracted from The Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register, The Danish National Patient Registry - for somatic patients, The Danish Civil Registration System, and The Danish Causes of Death Registry.

A genome-wide search for alleles and haplotypes associated with autism and related pervasive developmental disorders on the Faroe Islands.

The involvement of genetic factors in the etiology of autism has been clearly established. We undertook a genome-wide search for regions containing susceptibility genes for autism in 12 subjects with childhood autism and related pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) and 44 controls from the relatively isolated population of the Faroe Islands. In total, 601 microsatellite markers distributed throughout the human genome with an average distance of 5.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation as add-on antidepressant treatment. The applicability of the method in a clinical setting.

Recent research indicates that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the frontal cortex has an antidepressant effect. The aim of the present pilot study was to assess the antidepressant effect, side-effects and the applicability in daily clinical practice of left prefrontal high-frequency rTMS. Fifteen inpatients with major depression (ICD-10 and DSM-IV) were randomized to receive 15 days of real left prefrontal high-frequency rTMS (20 trains of 10 s, 60-s interval, 10 Hz, 90% of motor threshold) or sham rTMS as add on to conventional antidepressant treatment.

P-glycoprotein interaction with risperidone and 9-OH-risperidone studied in vitro, in knock-out mice and in drug-drug interaction experiments.

The drug transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp) influences drug distribution across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) by actively extruding drugs into the neural capillaries. Several psychotropic drugs, including nortriptyline (NT) and risperidone (Risp), are substrates of P-gp. Here we compared the in vitro P-gp interactions of Risp and its major metabolite, 9-OH-Risperidone (OH-Risp), with their distribution over the BBB in P-gp knock-out mice and in rats where P-gp was inhibited.

Effects of familial risk factors and place of birth on the risk of autism: a nationwide register-based study.

Background: The etiology of autism is unknown. A strong genetic component has been detected but non-genetic factors may also be involved in the etiology.

Methods: We used data from the Danish Psychiatric Central Register and the Danish Civil Registration System to study some risk factors of autism, including place of birth, parental place of birth, parental age, family history of psychiatric disorders, and paternal identity.

The incidence and prevalence of pervasive developmental disorders: a Danish population-based study.

Background: Based on prevalence studies and the few incidence studies of pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) the prevalence and incidence of these disorders have been claimed to be increasing.

Method: The annual and age-specific prevalence and incidence rates of childhood autism, atypical autism, Asperger's disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) in Denmark during the period 1971--2000 in children younger than 10 years were estimated using data from the Danish Psychiatric Central Register.

Results: A total of 2.

A genome-wide search for risk genes using homozygosity mapping and microarrays with 1,494 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 22 eastern Cuban families with bipolar disorder.

Homozygosity mapping is a very powerful method for finding rare recessive disease genes in monogenic disorders and may also be useful for locating risk genes in complex disorders, late onset disorders where parents often are not available, and for rare phenotypic subgroups. In the present study, homozygosity mapping was applied to 24 persons with bipolar disorder from 22 inbred families. The families were selected irrespective of whether other affected family members were present or not.

Experience from the first ACT programme in Denmark. II. Severe mental illness. A register diagnosis.

Community psychiatry in Denmark has been criticized because of drop-outs of the patients with severe mental illness. In order to deal with these problems, the first Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) project in Denmark was started in the Tønder region on 1 May 2001. Before starting the clinical study, an epidemiological analysis of severe mental illness was performed.

Experience from the first ACT programme in Denmark. I. Baseline evaluation 1981-2000.

In 1999, a Danish expert report strongly recommended the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) model to be implemented in Denmark. On 1 May 2001 we started in the Tønder region (45,000 inhabitants), Sønderjylland (SJ) county (254,000 inhabitants), aiming an evaluation of the ACT model. Before starting the clinical study, an epidemiological baseline evaluation of trends in psychiatric service was performed.

Heavy cannabis users seeking treatment- prevalence of psychiatric disorders.

Aims: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among 1439 heavy cannabis users seeking treatment for abuse problems in Denmark.

Design: Using two different registers, we compared cannabis users with 9122 abusers of other substances.

Findings: (1).

Suitability for psychoanalytic psychotherapy: validation of the Dynamic Assessment Interview (DAI).

Objective: To examine the predictive validity of a particular interview and rating scale of patient suitability for psychoanalytic psychotherapy: The Dynamic Assessment Interview (DAI) scale.

Method: Seventy-four psychiatric out-patients were interviewed with the DAI and the associations between DAI-scores and measures of outcome and of therapeutic alliance were investigated.

Results: Small to moderate correlations were found between the DAI suitability score and outcome (0.

Suitability for psychoanalytic psychotherapy: a review.

Objective: To review empirical studies on outpatients' pretherapy suitability for psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Method: A literature search for studies in English was made in the databases MEDLINE, PsychInfo and EM-base. Forty-one studies spanning 20 years were selected for a thorough evaluation.

Possible evidence for a common risk locus for bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia on chromosome 4p16 in patients from the Faroe Islands.

Patients with schizophrenia (n=11) and bipolar affective disorder (n=17) from the relatively isolated population of the Faroe Islands were genotyped for 34 polymorphic markers on chromosome 4 in a search for allelic association and haplotype sharing among distantly related patients. When considering bipolar patients only, there was no clearcut support for any region on chromosome 4. The two-marker segment D4S394-D4S2983 at 4p16.

The Danish national multicenter schizophrenia project: assessment of psychotic patients for dynamic psychotherapy (APPP).

Clinicians need guidance in selecting schizophrenic patients for individual psychodynamic psychotherapy. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a 17-item questionnaire (APPP) for quantification of suitability for psychotherapy could predict continuance, adherence and outcome from individual dynamic psychotherapy with patients with schizophrenic psychoses. Therapists rated 72 first-episode patients with schizophrenic psychoses in the initial interview.

Analysis of transmission of novel polymorphisms in the somatostatin receptor 5 (SSTR5) gene in patients with autism.

Infantile autism is a pervasive developmental disorder with a strong genetic component. The mode of inheritance appears to be complex and no specific susceptibility genes have yet been identified. Chromosome 16p13.

The Danish PET/depression project: cognitive function and regional cerebral blood flow.

Objective: To clarify the relationship between cognitive functions and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in a large group of depressed patients compared with healthy controls.

Method: A set of principal components was extracted from scores of a battery of neuropsychological tests of 40 patients suffering from major depression and 49 healthy controls. The components were correlated by multiple linear regression analyses to selected regions of interest in the brain obtained from positron emission tomography images.

A possible association between the genetic predisposition for dizygotic twinning and schizophrenia.

Background: A previous study demonstrated a 40% higher rate of schizophrenia in dizygotic twins than in the general population. The aim of the present study is to evaluate whether genes influencing the rate of dizygotic twinning and genes of importance for developing schizophrenia can be associated.

Method: Through record linkage between The Danish Twin Register, The Danish Psychiatric Central Register, and The Danish Civil Registration System, the rate of schizophrenia in singleton siblings of dizygotic and monozygotic twins was compared with the rate in siblings of singletons.

A genome-wide scan shows significant linkage between bipolar disorder and chromosome 12q24.3 and suggestive linkage to chromosomes 1p22-21, 4p16, 6q14-22, 10q26 and 16p13.3.

The present study reports a genomewide scan using linkage analysis for risk genes involved in bipolar disorder with 613 microsatellite markers including additional testing of promising regions. As previously published significant linkage was obtained at chromosome 12q24.3 with a two-point parametric lod score of 3.

Use of health services, mental illness, and self-rated disability and health in medical inpatients.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to investigate if among medical inpatients their health service use was associated with 1) presence and type of mental disorders, 2) emotional distress and somatization, 3) self-rated physical disability and health.

Method: Health service use (number of admissions to nonpsychiatric departments and reimbursement of primary care services) as well as psychological distress (SCL-8D) and somatization (Whiteley-7) was assessed for 294 consecutive medical inpatients. Patients rated their own health and physical functioning, and medical consultants assessed them for chronic and life-threatening diseases.

Linkage disequilibrium and demographic history of the isolated population of the Faroe Islands.

The isolated population of the Faroe Islands has a history of recent expansion after being limited to a small size for centuries. Such an isolated population may be ideal for linkage disequilibrium mapping of disease genes if linkage disequilibrium (LD) extends over large regions. Analyses of 18 markers on 12q24.

Investigation of two variants in the DOPA decarboxylase gene in patients with autism.

Though genetic risk factors are important for the development of autism, no specific risk alleles have yet been identified. DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) is involved in both the catecholaminergic and serotonergic pathways and may be considered a functional candidate gene for autism. The present study is the first to test if two new variants of possible functional significance in the DDC gene increase the susceptibility to autism.

Is head injury a risk factor for schizophrenia?

Background: The few studies that have examined whether head injury is a risk factor for later schizophrenia have had important methodological problems.

Method: We examined the rates of head injury among 8288 persons in the 15 years up to their first admission with schizophrenia and compared them with 82880 age- and gender-matched controls. We used hospitalization for concussion or severe head injury as a definition of head injury.