Decision-making in Parkinson's disease patients with and without pathological gambling.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Pathological gambling (PG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) is a frequent impulse control disorder associated mainly with dopamine replacement therapy. As impairments in decision-making were described independently in PG and PD, the objective of this study was to assess decision-making processes in PD patients with and without PG. METHODS: Seven PD patients with PG and 13 age, sex, education and disease severity matched PD patients without gambling behavior were enrolled in the study. All patients were assessed with a comprehensive neuropsychiatric and cognitive evaluation, including tasks used to assess decision-making abilities under ambiguous or risky situations, like the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the Game of Dice Task and the Investment Task. RESULTS: Compared to PD patients without gambling behavior, those with PG obtained poorer scores in the IGT and in a rating scale of social behavior, but not in other decision-making and cognitive tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Low performance in decision-making under ambiguity and abnormal social behavior distinguished PD patients with PG from those without this disorder. Dopamine replacement therapy may induce dysfunction of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala-ventral striatum system, thus increasing the risk for developing PG.

The putative antipsychotic alstonine reverses social interaction withdrawal in mice.

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia are particularly problematic due to their deleterious impact on a patient's social life. The indol alkaloid alstonine, the major component of traditional remedies used for treating mental illnesses in Nigeria, presents a clear antipsychotic-like profile in mice, as well as anxiolytic properties. Considering that social interaction is the core of negative symptoms, and that anxiolytic drugs can improve social interaction behavior, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of alstonine in the social interaction and MK801-induced social withdrawal models in mice. Sub-chronic (but not acute) treatment with alstonine 0.5 mg/kg (but not 1.0 mg/kg) significantly increased social interaction in mice. Moreover, MK801-induced social withdrawal was completely prevented by sulpiride (10 mg/kg) and alstonine 1.0 mg/kg, and partially prevented by alstonine 0.5 mg/kg. The study indicates that alstonine not only increases social interaction in normal mice, but also averts social deficits attributable to negative symptoms of schizophrenia. This study reinforces and complements the antipsychotic-like profile of alstonine, and emphasizes its potential as a drug useful for the management of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Impairments of social behavior and memory after neonatal gastrin-releasing peptide receptor blockade in rats: Implications for an animal model of neurodevelopmental disorders.

The gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) has been implicated in central nervous system (CNS) diseases, including neurodevelopmental disorders associated with autism. In the present study we examined the effects of GRPR blockade during the neonatal period on behavioral measures relevant to animal models of neurodevelopmental disorders. Male Wistar rats were given an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of either saline (SAL) or the GRPR antagonist [D-Tpi(6), Leu(13) psi(CH(2)NH)-Leu(14)] bombesin (6-14) (RC-3095; 1 or 10mg/kg) twice daily for 10days from postnatal days (PN) 1 to 10. Animals treated with RC-3095 showed pronounced deficits in social interaction when tested at PN 30-35 and impaired 24-h retention of memory for both novel object recognition (NOR) and inhibitory avoidance (IA) tasks tested at PN 60-71. Neither short-term memory tested 1.5h posttraining nor open field behavior were affected by neonatal GRPR blockade. The implications of the findings for animal models of neurodevelopmental disorders are discussed.

Psicopatologia ictal e interictal, crises näo epiléticas psicogênicas / Ictal and interictal psychopathology, nonepileptic

Esta revisão avalia manifestações psiquiátricas dos epiléticos expressas nas crises e entre elas. Problemas cognitivos e comportamentais secundários ao uso de medicamentos e a abordagem psicanalítica sobre a angústia entrecrises são consideradas. Crises não epiléticas psicogênicas são abordadas, aí incluídos clínica e exames complementares.

Programa de ansiedade e Depressäo - UFRJ. Série Psicofarmacologia - 20: Segurança e tolerância aos efeitos dos benzodiazepínicos: parte 3 / Safety and tolerability to the effects of benzodiazepines

Neste artigo, o terceiro e último de uma série, nós descrevemos três síndromes dismnésticas associadas ao uso de benzodiazepínicos: esquecimento benigno, confabulaçöes e amnésia transitória global. Em seguida, apresentamos um levantamento de algumas modalidades de efeitos adversos encontradas em uma amostra de 70 pacientes com fobia social submetidos a tratamento prolongado com clonazepam

Abuso de ziprepol: un problema emergente / Ziprepol abuse: an emergent problem

El ziprepol es un medicamento antitusígeno, derivado de piperazina, que en dosis elevadas tiene propiedades adictivas y neurotóxicas. En Chile hay un aumento del abuso de este fármaco por parte de jóvenes, con fines alucinógenos, euforizantes y sedantes. Se analizan las propiedades farmacológicas del ziprepol y las características de la adiccón y de la toxicidad por sobredosis