Seasonality of birth in schizophrenia in Taiwan.

The phenomenon of seasonality of birth in schizophrenia is important to the study of the etiology of this mental disorder because it helps give directions for further research. Patients' hospital files from 1981 to 1991 at two of the largest hospitals with psychiatric wards in Taiwan were reviewed, and dates of birth were collected on 3,346 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. After adjusting for the variations of the total monthly births in the population, an Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average model was applied. Results support a seasonality phenomenon and indicate a disproportional excess of births in schizophrenia in the cold months (November to February) compared with the hot months (May to August). These findings are compatible with many other studies in other countries and climates. Further investigations of season-related environmental factors in the etiology of schizophrenia are recommended.

Magnetically collimated electron impact spectrometer.

A new type of electron impact spectrometer using an axial magnetic field for electron collimation is described. The feasibility of this apparatus for collision studies at low impact energies (0.1-30 eV) is demonstrated with vibrational and electronic excitation in He, N2, CO, and C2H2. The potentials and limitations of this new approach are also discussed.

Case report: pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax complicating colonoscopy.

Colonic perforation is potentially the most serious complication of colonoscopy. Both the clinical manifestation and rapidity of onset of symptoms can vary depending on whether the perforation occurs directly into the peritoneal cavity or into the retroperitoneal space. Colonic perforation is often associated with abdominal pain, although more uncommon presentations have been documented. A case report of a unilateral pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum complicating colonoscopy is described, which responded well to conservative measures without recourse to surgical intervention, antibiotic therapy or parenteral alimentation.

Information processing in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a discriminant analysis.

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are two distinct categories of mental disorders in the DSM-IV. However, it is often difficult to make a differential diagnosis because of the overlapping symptoms. A potential adjunct in the classification of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is the application of information processing models, as patients with schizophrenia and possibly those with bipolar disorder have information processing deficits. A study was conducted in which a computerized battery of information processing tasks (called COGLAB) was administered to three participant groups: patients with schizophrenia, patients with bipolar disorder, and normal controls. The tasks included the Mueller-Lyer illusion, reaction time, size estimation, a variant of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, backward masking, and Asarnow continuous performance. Discriminant analyses were used to investigate the differences among the three groups. Results indicated that COGLAB correctly classified 75.5% of the cases of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The Mueller-Lyer illusion and the number of perseverative errors on the card sort most powerfully discriminated the two groups.

Delivery of radiofrequency energy to the lower oesophageal sphincter and gastric cardia inhibits transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations and gastro-oesophageal reflux in patients with reflux disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Radiofrequency energy (RFe) treatment to the lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) and gastric cardia is a new luminally delivered therapy proposed as an alternative treatment for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). However, it is unclear how RFe achieves its antireflux effect. This study investigated the effects of RFe on mechanisms of spontaneous reflux in patients with GORD. METHODS: Twenty patients with GORD underwent endoscopy, symptom evaluation, and combined postprandial oesophageal manometry and pH monitoring before and six months after RFe, and 24 hour ambulatory pH monitoring before and at six and 12 months after treatment. RESULTS: RFe reduced the rate of postprandial transient LOS relaxations from 6.8 (5.7-8.1) (median (interquartile range) per hour to 5.2 (4.2-5.8) per hour (p<0.01), and increased mean basal LOS pressure from 5.2 (SEM 0.3) mm Hg to 8.0 (SEM 0.4) mm Hg (p<0.01). The number of reflux events was reduced from 10 (2-15.3)/3 hours to 5 (3.5-8.5)/3 hours (p<0.05) and there was an associated significant reduction in acid exposure time from 5.4% (0.4-14.7) to 3.9% (0.4-6.6) (p<0.05). RFe significantly reduced ambulatory oesophageal acid exposure from 10.6% (7.8-13.0) to 6.8% (3.1-9.1) (p<0.01) at six months and 6.3% (4.7-10.9) (p<0.05) at 12 months. All patients required acid suppressant medication for symptom control before RFe. Six months after treatment, 15 patients (75%) were in symptomatic remission and 13 (65%) at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: RFe has significant effects on LOS function that are associated with improvement in the antireflux barrier. Uncontrolled clinical data also suggest a beneficial effect in the control of reflux symptoms in these patients.