[A revised Iowa collateral head injury interview: a new instrument for the assessment of traumatic psychosocial frontal symptoms]. / La Entrevista de Iowa Revisada: un nuevo instrumento para valoración colateral de los síntomas frontales postraumáticos.

OBJECTIVE: To validate a semi-structured Revised Iowa Collateral Head Injury Interview (RICHII) to assess post-traumatic, psychosocial frontal symptoms. METHOD: 1. To revise the RICHII in the light of recent research findings and previous pilot studies. 2. External experts assure face and content validity. 3. Standard reliability and validity study in a sample of consecutive patients fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria of severe head trauma. 4. Principal component analysis and distribution of results of RICHII administration to the full sample (N= 55). RESULTS: Several original items were modified and two new items (inappropriate euphoria and affective unstableness) were incorporated, as well as a new, graded scoring system. Feasibility, internal consistency (Cronbach's alfa= 0.94), inter-rater reliability (n= 40, kappa= 0.60) and test-retest reliability (n= 25, kappa= 0.70) were quite acceptable. Four factors emerged in the factor analysis, explaining a high percentage of the variance; they tend to reflect modern knowledge in the field and are judged to support the construct validity of the RICHII. More than two thirds of patients (70.9%) scored high in at least one of the items. CONCLUSION: This is the first report about the reliability and validity of a collateral interview to assess post-traumatic, psychosocial frontal symptoms.

[Reliability of the evaluation of regional cerebral blood flow using SPECT in chronic schizophrenia and bipolar disorder]. / Fiabilidad de la evaluación del flujo sanguíneo cerebral regional FSCR mediante SPECT en esquizofrenia crónica y trastorno bipolar.

OBJECTS: Demonstrate the reliability of cerebral SPECT using 99 mTc-HMPAO. METHODS & MATERIALS: Evaluation of cerebral blood flow using SPECT in 24 patients with schizophrenia, 24 patients with bipolar disorder and 20 controls. In the study we have reliability between observers and intraobserver. In both cases kappa statistic has been applied for measuring reliability. RESULTS: reliability between observers represents a kappa coefficient of 0.71. Intraobserver reliability, with a medium grade concordance slightly superior, shows a medium kappa coefficient of 0.74. CONCLUSIONS: Visual evaluation of SPECT images using 99mTc--HMPAO is a trustworthy technique to document the different patterns of regional cerebral blood flow. Reliability is determinate by the improvement, during visual analysis of reliability between observers (kappa: 0.71) and intraobservers (kappa: 0.74).