The European Journal of Psychiatry

The role of non-semantic factors in semantic satiation effect in schizophrenia

Background and Objectives: Semantic satiation is defined as the subjective experience of the loss of access to the meanings of words or images caused by prolonged and quick repetitions of the material. Previous researches indicated that the semantic satiation of words and images occurs faster in schizophrenics than in healthy subjects. Individuals suffering from schizophrenia reveal the tendency to lose of access to the meaning of words after fewer words repetition than healthy controls. The aim of the research was to establish whether the semantic satiation of images in schizophrenia is the effect of the loss of meanings of images or is caused by non - semantic factors i.e. fatiguing experimental procedure. Methods: It was assumed that in conditions where the participant's level of fatigue was parallel to the fatigue observed in the research on semantic satiation and the meaning of satiated images was not required for semantic decisions, schizophrenic patients and healthy controls would not reveal the semantic satiation effect defined as an increase in reaction time. Two groups of participants: patients suffering from schizophrenia (10 women and 10 men, average age 30) and healthy controls (9 female and 9 male, average age 30.7) were shown 80 trails. Each one of them consisted of a satiated image which appeared repeatedly on the computer screen, and a non-satiated image accompanied by a written word, which were shown simultaneously after the final presentation of the satiated image. The participants' task was to decide whether the written word named the object presented on the non-satiated picture correctly. The participants did not make any decisions on the basis of satiated images. Results: The results obtained confirmed the hypothesis. In conditions where participants were shown the images flashing on the computer screen but were not required to make a semantic decision related to those images, their reaction time to subsequently presented stimuli did not lengthen. Conclusions: The results confirmed the hypothesis that the semantic satiation effect in schizophrenia is a semantic phenomenon and is not related to non-semantic factors such as the subjects' fatigue.

Obsessive compulsive phenomenology in a sample of Egyptian adolescent population

Background and Objectives: Obsessive symptoms among children and adolescent age groups are increasing, an observation made by mental health professionals working with this age group. Our epidemiological study targeted secondary school students to estimate the prevalence of obsessive symptoms, obsessive compulsive disorder and their different obsessive compulsive contents. Methods: The study is cross sectional carried on 1299 secondary school students, the sample size was chosen based on an estimated Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) prevalence of 2% in literature. Equal samples were recruited from the 3 educative zones in Alexandria Governorate. Obsessive compulsive symptoms were assessed by the Arabic version of Lyeton obsessive inventory child version LOI-CV. Students scoring above 35 were subjected to the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for children MINI-KID Arabic. OCD patient students detected by MINI-KID were assessed by psychiatric interview to confirm fulfilling criteria of OCD according to DSM IV-TR criteria. Different obsessive compulsive symptoms were assessed by a standardized questionnaire. Results: Among the studied sample (n = 1299), 201 students scored > 35 on LOI-CV i.e. 15.5% of the total sample have OCS. The prevalence of OCD among studied sample was 2.2% as 29 students from the OCS students were fulfilling diagnostic criteria for OCD according to DSM-IV TR. Common obsessive symptoms were of excessive conscience 65.5%, blasphemous 55.2%, repeated words 51.7% and sexual obsessions 48.2%. Conclusions: The prevalence of obsessive compulsive symptoms is high among adolescent age group. Cultural impact should be considered to better understand obsessive phenomenology, raising the importance of OCD study from a transcultural perspective.

Prevalence and related risk factors of tobacco, alcohol and illicit substance use among university students

Background and Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of cigarette, alcohol and substance use and the possible associations between different types of substance use and various risk factors among university students. Methods: A self-assessment questionnaire was administered to 4762 students from Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University. The risk factors associated with cigarette, alcohol and substance use were investigated with logistic regression analysis. Results: The frequencies of regular or occasional tobacco and alcohol use were 38.6% and 46.3% respectively. The frequency of using substance at least once in life time was 6.3% among students. In the present study, male gender was found to be a statistically significant risk factor associated with all of the three dependent variables. The statistically significant risk factors for using alcohol were studying in college and vocational schools, having a parent with high school and above educational level, having a family income of 1226 USD's and above, having tried tobacco once or a couple of times and using tobacco occasionally or regularly, and having used another substance at least once. Substance use risk was found to be higher in those with higher depression scores, in those who tried tobacco once or a couple of times and who were not using regularly, and who were using tobacco or alcohol occasionally or regularly. Conclusions: The practices and activities of the health center incorporated in the university should be enhanced for the establishment of effective control programs related to tobacco, regular alcohol and substance use.

Reduced oligodendroglial density in the inferior parietal lobule and lack of insight in schizophrenia

Background and Objectives: Alterations and deficits of oligodendrocytes reported in the grey and white matter in schizophrenia may contribute to neuronal disconnectivity. Prefrontal-parietal functional disconnections have been implicated in diverse clinical symptoms of schizophrenia, including poor insight. We studied the effects of schizophrenia diagnosis and insight on numerical density (Nv) of oligodendrocytes in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Methods: Nissl-stained sections from the Stanley "Parietal Collection" from male schizophrenia subjects (n = 24) having poor, fair, or good insight and healthy matched controls (n = 24) were examined. The Nv of oligodendrocytes was estimated in layer 3 of BA 39 and BA 40 of the IPL and in white matter underlying layer 6 by optical dissector method. Results: In BA 39 we found a significant 15% decrease in the Nv of oligodendrocytes in layer 3 in the schizophrenia group. Nv of oligodendrocytes in the poor+fair insight subgroup was 20% lower compared to controls (p< 0.05) and to good insight subgroup (p = 0.055). Nv of oligodendrocytes in the good insight subgroup did not differ from the control group. A significant lateralization of oligodendrocyte density was detected in layer 3 (L>R) only in the control group. There were no significant group differences in the Nv of oligodendrocytes in BA 40 or in the white matter underlying BA 39/40 areas. Conclusions: Lack of insight in schizophrenia may be associated with a deficit of oligodendroglia in the grey matter of IPL.

Capturing clinically significant eating pathology in adolescence

Background and Objectives: Several large-scale studies on adolescent mental health have used questionnaire items derived from DSM-IV criteria to assess eating disorders. The aim of the present brief report was to analyse the capacity of self-reported eating disorder symptoms to capture clinically significant eating disorders. Methods: All pupils in the ninth grade (N = 606, response rate 98.2%, mean age = 15.4) of comprehensive school in a defined area were invited to participate in the study. Adolescents who reported some form of eating pathology (n = 126) were invited to an interview (RAB). Results: Anorexia based on the self-report resulted in a positive predictive value of 60.0% for lifetime and 20% for current eating disorder, when compared to the results in the RAB. No case of BN was detected by the RAB, but self-reported BN symptoms were predictive of both EDNOS and subclinical eating pathology. Conclusions: Self-reported eating disorder symptoms seem to be relatively good predictors of broadly defined eating pathology, but may result in overestimation of clinical conditions.

Familiarity with and Attitudes to Tourette's Syndrome in Healthcare Students: A Pilot Comparison with Epilepsy

Background and Objectives: Tourette's Syndrome (TS) is a common developmental neuropsychiatric disorder; people with TS are vulnerable to stigmatization. Public attitudes to TS have seldom been studied. This study examines knowledge of and attitudes to TS and to epilepsy in healthcare students, in an attempt to explore and compare the stigma which might be attached to the two conditions. Methods: Questionnaire survey of healthcare students at one UK medical school. Results: 94 students responded. Though more students knew someone with epilepsy than someone with TS (57% vs 15%; p<0.0001), they were more likely to know a public figure with TS (37% vs 12%; p<0.0001). Among medical students, a higher proportion has seen someone showing evidence of TS (63%) than had seen anyone having a fit (43%; p<0.05). As many as 26% of medical students would object to having a son or daughter of theirs marry a person with TS and 19% of people would object to the marriage of one of their children to a person with epilepsy. Conclusions: The majority of healthcare students had some familiarity with and did not have negative attitudes towards people with TS. However there is still some degree of stigmatization towards both conditions. There remains scope for education in this area as well as for extending such survey research on TS to the general population. Study limitations include the small sample size, and the fact that healthcare students are unrepresentative of broader public opinion.

Alzheimer's disease: Modernizing concept, biological diagnosis and therapy

Cycloid psychoses: Leonhard's descriptions revisited