[Multi-centre clinical assessment of the Russian language version of the Diagnostic Interview for Psychoses]. / Mnogotsentrovoe klinicheskoe issledovanie russkoiazychnoi versii diagnosticheskogo interv'iu dlia psikhozov.

OBJECTIVES: The Diagnostic Interview for Psychoses (DIP) was developed to enhance the quality of diagnostic assessment of psychotic disorders. The aim of the study was the adaptation of the Russian language version and evaluation of its validity and reliability. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ninety-eight patients with psychotic disorders (89 video recordings) were assessed by 12 interviewers using the Russian version of DIP at 7 clinical sites (in 6 cities of the Russian Federation). DIP ratings on 32 cases of a randomized case sample were made by 9 interviewers and the inter-rater reliability was compared with the researchers' DIP ratings. Overall pairwise agreement and Cohen's kappa were calculated. Diagnostic validity was evaluated on the basis of comparing the researchers' ratings using the Russian version of DIP with the 'gold standard' ratings of the same 62 clinical cases from the Western Australia Family Study Schizophrenia (WAFSS). RESULTS: The mean duration of the interview was 47±21 minutes. The Kappa statistic demonstrated a significant or almost perfect level of agreement on the majority of DIP items (84.54%) and a significant agreement for the ICD-10 diagnoses generated by the DIP computer diagnostic algorithm (κ=0.68; 95% CI 0.53,0.93). The level of agreement on the researchers' diagnoses was considerably lower (κ=0.31; 95% CI 0.06,0.56). The agreement on affective and positive psychotic symptoms was significantly higher than agreement on negative symptoms (F(2,44)=20.72, p<0.001, η2=0.485). The diagnostic validity of the Russian language version of DIP was confirmed by 73% (45/62) of the Russian DIP diagnoses matching the original WAFSS diagnoses. Among the mismatched diagnoses were 80 cases with a diagnosis of F20 Schizophrenia in the medical documentation compared to the researchers' F20 diagnoses in only 68 patients and in 62 of the DIP computerized diagnostic outputs. The reported level of subjective difficulties experienced when using the DIP was low to moderate. CONCLUSION: The results of the study confirm the validity and reliability of the Russian version of the DIP for evaluating psychotic disorders. DIP can be recommended for use in education and training, clinical practice and research as an important diagnostic resource.

[Fluvoxamine (fevarin) in the treatment of depression]. / Fluvoksamin (fevarin) v terapii depressii.

30 patients of 23-73 years old with endogenic and reactive depressions were treated with fevarin. The clinical state of the patients was estimated by means of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (Ham-D). Fevarin was administrated in daily dose of 100-300 mg; the course of the treatment was equal to 4-8 weeks. The anxiolytic and antidepressive effects of fevarin were developed from the 5-7 days of the therapy: an anxiety disappeared completely by the end of the 3-d week. The most pronounced antidepressive effect was found for the classic depression with melancholy. A mild simulative effect and a normalization of a sleep were also observed. An improvement of the mental state was found in the all the patients by the end of the treatment: in 60% it was significant (a complete remission); in 40%--a considerable improvement was observed with the reduction of all clinical components of the depressive state. Fluvoxamine was found to be the high effective preparation for both endogenic and reactive depressions.

[Pathomorphosis of progressive paralysis]. / Patomorfoz progressivnogo paralicha.

The author analyses 34 cases of general paresis. All the cases had been verified by laboratory findings. Some peculiarities of the disease manifestation in present-day conditions were discovered. A prolongation of the life-span and the disease incubation period in treated patients, as well as an increase of the disease incidence among women and a rarity of the formerly "classical" expansive form of the disease are noted. Data on the time course of CSF findings are presented.