Reduction of CSF monoamine metabolites in poststroke depression: a preliminary report.

Monoamine metabolites were measured in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of depressed and nondepressed patients with acute stroke lesions and in nondepressed patients without stroke lesions. Depressed stroke patients had a significantly lower concentration of CSF 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA; a serotonin metabolite) than the other two groups. These findings suggest that poststroke depression may be mediated by serotonergic mechanisms.

SCL-90-R symptom patterns for adolescent psychiatric inpatients.

We collected Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) symptom pattern and severity data from a sample of 486 adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Preliminary comparison of these data with previously published data for adolescent nonpatients suggested no meaningful differences in overall symptom severity, although the data suggested higher Positive Symptom Distress Index (PSDI) scores for inpatients, less severe somatization and psychoticism symptoms for inpatient males compared to nonpatient males, and more severe depressive symptoms for inpatient females compared to nonpatient females. Future studies should be directed toward further analyses of such data and the development of representative and generalizable adolescent inpatient norms for the SCL-90-R.

Depression after stroke: the importance of cerebral hemisphere asymmetries.

The pattern of brain asymmetries was visualized on computed tomography (CT) scan in patients with a single acute cerebrovascular lesion. Patients were divided into those with typical or reversed frontal and/or occipital asymmetries. Among patients with a typical occipital asymmetry, those with left frontal or left basal ganglia lesions showed a significantly higher frequency of major depression and significantly higher depression scores than patients with similar lesion location but with reversed occipital asymmetry or those with a typical asymmetry and lesions in other (left or right) brain areas. Among patients with a reversed occipital asymmetry, there was no significant association between left frontal or left basal ganglia lesions and depression. This study demonstrates that the previously reported significant association between post-stroke major depression and lesion location is restricted to patients with a typical occipital asymmetry and is not present in patients with a reversed occipital asymmetry.

Hemispheric asymmetry in behavioral response to D1 and D2 receptor agonists in the nucleus accumbens.

The present study examined the locomotor response of rats to unilateral injections of the mixed D1/D2 agonist apomorphine, the D2 agonist quinpirole, and the D1 agonist SKF 38393 into the left or right nucleus accumbens (NA) of male Sprague-Dawley rats. There were 2 main findings. First, unilateral (left or right) injections of apomorphine, quinpirole, or SKF 38393 all provoked locomotor hyperactivity. The second and more important finding was that, at specific dosages, apomorphine and SKF 38393 injections into the right NA produced significantly more locomotor hyperactivity than identical injections into the left NA. These findings suggest the presence of asymmetries in the NA which may involve quantitative differences in the distribution of D1 and D2 receptors.

Childhood sexual and physical abuse as factors in adult psychiatric illness.

Using objective measures, the authors found a high rate of childhood sexual and physical abuse in a sample of 66 female psychiatric inpatients. Childhood abuse experiences were correlated with severity of adult psychiatric symptoms. The authors explore the usefulness of adult psychological symptoms, diagnoses, and prescribed medications as factors in the identification of patients who have histories of early sexual and physical abuse.

Superior sorting and categorizing ability in a case of bilateral frontal atrophy: an exception to the rule.

This report presents the case of a patient with a naturally occurring, nonsurgical, frontal lesion who exhibited superior performances on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and Halstead's Category Test (HCT) as an exception to the widely accepted clinical rule that patients with dorsolateral frontal damage are necessarily impaired with respect to maintaining cognitive set, shifting set, and sorting objects on the basis of different categories. The normal performance of this patient with unquestionable orbitofrontal and dorsolateral atrophy probably reflects a limitation of the WCST and HCT rather than true capacity on her part to perform the cognitive operations of set formation, maintenance, and categorization.