Assessment of cognition in non-affected full biological siblings of patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia is a devastating psychotic illness which is like the most mental disorders, shows complex inheritance; the transmission of the disorder most likely involves several genes and environmental factors. It is difficult to judge whether a particular person without schizophrenia has predisposing factors for the said disease. A few studies have shown the relative sensitivity and reliability of cognitive and psychophysiological markers of brain function as the susceptibility factors for schizophrenia which may aid us to find people with an increased risk of complex disorders like schizophrenia. The present work is an exploration on cognitive impairments in unaffected siblings of patients suffering from schizophrenia with a framework to explore why a mental disorder occurs in some families but not in others. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a single point non-invasive study of non-affected full biological siblings of patients with schizophrenia, involving administration of a battery of neuropsychological tests to assess the cognitive function in the sibling group and a control group of volunteers with no history of psychiatric illness. The control group was matched for age, gender, and education. The siblings were also divided on the basis of the type of schizophrenia their siblings (index probands) were suffering from and their results compared with each other. RESULTS: The siblings performed significantly poorly as compared to the controls on Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST), continuous performance test (CPT), and spatial working memory test (SWMT). The comparison between the sibling subgroups based on the type of schizophrenia in the index probands did not reveal any significant difference. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that there is a global impairment in the cognition of the non-affected siblings of patients of schizophrenia. Cognitive impairment might be one of the factors which will help us to hit upon people who are predisposed to develop schizophrenia in the future.

Antileishmanial activity of drug infused mini-agar plates on Leishmania donovani promastigotes.

Drug infused mini agar plates were found to be a better alternative of broth dilution method in the determination of antileishmanial susceptibility of two commonly used drugs, Sodium antimony gluconate and Amphotericin B against Leishmania donovani promastigotes. These two drugs were used here as models for antileishmanial compounds. The stability of the drugs in the stored agar plates was also tested for six months and found that they were same as fresh plates. Determination of antileishmanial susceptibility of Leishmania donovani promastigotes to compounds of screening by this method is quite inexpensive, simple to perform even in under-sophisticated laboratories of developing countries where the disease is endemic.

Longitudinal assessment of vertical and sagittal control in the mandibular arch by the mandibular fixed lingual arch.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine and quantify vertical changes in the position of the mandibular molars while maintaining arch perimeter with a fixed lingual arch. Twenty-three patients with a mean age of 10.4 +/- 0.6 years were selected to receive fixed lingual arch treatment as the only appliance in the mandibular arch. Average treatment time was 18.3 +/-+/- 0.6 months. Longitudinal records for 12 and 24 months of 24 individuals matched by ethnic origin, age, gender, and mandibular plane inclination were used as controls. Pretreatment and posttreatment cephalograms were used to determine positional changes. Statistically significant differences between the fixed lingual arch and control groups were found. The results of this investigation indicated that the mandibular fixed lingual arch is a useful tool to control the vertical development of the mandibular molars.

Orthodontists' assessment and management of patient compliance.

This study was designed to evaluate the use of predictors and methods of improving patient compliance. A survey of 118 items was developed by searching the literature for items that other researchers have found to be significant. The new questionnaire contained six sections. Sections 1 and 2 pertained to predictors of patient compliance; sections 3 and 4 related to methods of improving compliance. In section 5, the respondents were asked to evaluate patient personality traits that might be important in evaluating compliance, and in the last section, demographic background information on the respondents was collected. Questionnaires were mailed to 1,262 practicing orthodontists in the United States, and 429 responses were received. Patient-related items, such as desire for treatment and relationship with parents, were ranked as important factors motivating patients to comply. Verbal praise and communication were rated as important methods for improving compliance. Personality traits that orthodontists found to be predictive of patient compliance were: high self-esteem; obedient; accommodating; and self-confident. Patients' perceptions of their malocclusions, combined with their desire for orthodontic treatment, may be good indicators of compliance. Doctor-patient rapport and verbal praise may be useful ways to improve compliance.

Tomographic assessment of temporomandibular joints in patients with malocclusion.

There is a paucity of information on the morphological assessment of the temporomandibular joint in relation to varying skeletal and dental relationships. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the morphologic relationship of the condyle and fossa in patients with different malocclusions and skeletal relationships. Pretreatment records of 232 orthodontic patients, 95 males and 137 females, of Caucasian descent and ranging in age from 9 years 4 months to 42 years 6 months, were examined. Records included dental casts, lateral cephalometric radiographs, hand-wrist radiographs, and corrected tomograms of right and left TM joints. Nonconcentricity and mild asymmetry of the condyle-fossa relationship were commonly observed. The left condyle was found to be more anteriorly positioned than the right, with the mean percentage of joint space being 6.93% on the left side and -1.24% on the right. Skeletal and dental Class III patients demonstrated significantly more anteriorly positioned condyles (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in condylar position between Class I and Class II groups based on ANB or Angle's classification. Further, no significant difference in condylar position was observed between groups based on overbite or crossbite.

[3H]-aldosterone binding sites (type I receptors) in the lateral wall of the cochlea: distribution assessment by quantitative autoradiography.

Mineralocorticoids, such as aldosterone, are steroids that enhance Na+ retention and K+ excretion in ion-transporting epithelial tissues through regulation of Na, K-ATPase. Previous studies suggest that aldosterone may regulate labyrinthine ion transport through up-regulation of Na, K-ATPase sites, a process mediated by high-affinity aldosterone (type I) receptors. In the present study, information concerning density and distribution of aldosterone binding sites in cochlear lateral wall tissues was determined by quantitative autoradiography using [3H]-aldosterone and RU-28362, a glucocorticoid agonist that blocks low affinity binding to glucocorticoid (type II) receptors. The results revealed that the distribution of aldosterone binding sites differs among the individual cochlear regions of the lateral wall. The highest level of binding was associated with the stria vascularis and epithelial cells of the spiral prominence. Elevated levels of binding were also observed in stromal cells of the spiral prominence, and to a lesser extent in the spiral ligament. The differential distribution of aldosterone binding sites in the lateral wall resembles the pattern of localization of Na, K-ATPase sites observed in previous studies and is compatible with the idea that mineralocorticoids play a role in the regulation of cochlear cation transport.