A Complex of Pyrosequencing-Based Methods for Detection of Somatic Mutations in Codons 600 and 601 of the BRAF gene.

The aim of the study is to develop methods for the differentiation of mutations in the BRAF codon 600 and to increase the sensitivity of the K601E mutation detection. Materials and Methods: The nucleotide sequence of the BRAF codons 592-602 was identified using the PyroMark Q24 genetic analysis system. The mutations search in codon 600 was conducted using the 600-S primer in line with the following order of adding nucleotides: GCTGTCАTCTGCTAGCTAGAC (corresponding to nucleotides 1799-1786). The K601E mutation was detected using the 601-S primer in line with the following order of nucleotide addition: GCTACTCACTGTAG (corresponding to nucleotides 1801-1793). The analytical characteristics of the proposed methods for somatic mutations' detection were determined using dilutions of plasmid DNA samples containing the BRAF gene region without mutations or with one of the following mutations: V600E, V600R, V600K, V600M, and K601E. Validation was performed on 132 samples of biological material obtained from the thyroid nodules. Results: The developed methods allow to determine 2% of the V600E or V600M mutations, 1% of the V600K and V600R mutations, and 3% of the K601E mutations in samples with high DNA concentration; it is also possible to confidently detect at least 5% of the mutant allele for all mutations in low concentration samples (less than 500 copies/PCR). During biological material testing, 53 samples with the V600E mutation were detected; the proportion of the mutant allele was 4.9-50.0%. Conclusion: A complex of methods for determination of the nucleotide sequence of the BRAF codons 592-601 and the algorithm for testing samples and analyzing mutations in the BRAF codons 600-601 was developed. The method provides sufficient sensitivity to detect frequent mutations in codons 600 and 601 and allows them to be precisely differentiated.

Psychoanalysis and child and adolescent psychiatry.

This report describes psychoanalytic advances in theory and practice as well as changes in knowledge about determinants of behavior from infancy through adolescence. These changes influence how dynamic psychotherapy is conducted. Mother-infant research, affect development, object relations separation-individuation theory, and newer concepts of regulation of self-esteem are explored as they affect treatment strategies. The authors also review countertransference transference and psychoanalytic reconstruing of adolescence as a stage and their influence on how therapy is conducted. Finally, the authors propose using a dynamic formulation as a means of determining where or when the therapist intervenes.

An abused psychotic preadolescent at risk for Huntington's disease.

An abused 10-year-old girl with a family history of Huntington's disease developed incapacitating abdominal pain with concomitant behavioral symptomatology suggestive of dementia. The pseudoneurologic nature of her symptoms was clarified through exhaustive evaluation and did not appear to be that of early-onset Huntington's disease. Assessment included pediatric, psychiatric, neurologic, and gynecologic examination; extensive radiologic and laboratory tests; and chronobiology studies. Successful treatment necessitated the integration of numerous therapeutic modalities including dynamically oriented psychotherapy, psychopharmacologic intervention, physical therapy, behavior modification, and electroconvulsive therapy.

Psychotherapy with children and adolescents. Still relevant in the 1980s?

The background of psychotherapy is discussed along with fundamental theory and indications for dynamic therapy. Dynamic psychotherapy is defined, and steps for its implementation are described.

Psychoanalysis and general psychiatry: obsessive-compulsive disorder as paradigm.

To certain areas once dominated by psychoanalytic conceptualizations of psychopathology and pathogenesis, general psychiatry has in recent years made significant contributions. The obsessive-compulsive disorder is cited as an example, and illustrations of such contributions are described and discussed. Some implications for psychoanalytic theory and research are suggested.

Some reflections on boredom.

Boredom is a complex mental phenomenon, incorporating both affective and cognitive components, which cannot be understood within the confines of conflict theory alone. The paucity of fantasy in the bored person may reflect a developmental ego defect as well as, or instead of, the commonly-cited impulse-defense conflicts. The need for externally-supplied stimulation characteristic of persons with a field-dependent cognitive style, and/or characterological passivity may be among the significant predisposing factors for the development of boredom, and phase-specific factors may encourage its occurrence at particular periods of life. Boredom in the analyst, too, is multiply determined; the analytic situation itself contains features that contribute to it.

Italo Svevo and the first psychoanalytic novel.

The first fictional work that used psychoanalysis as a central plot device was La Coscienza di Zeno (Confessions of Zeno), published in 1923 by Ettore Schmitz, a Triestino Jewish businessman who wrote under the pseudonym of 'Italo Svevo'. This paper describes Svevo's background, his relations with such important literary figures as James Joyce and with such central figures in Italian psychoanalysis as Dr Edoardo Weiss. It seeks to demonstrate to the Anglophone reader the particular psychoanalytic elements in the novel and to relate them to Svevo's personal experience (including his indirect contacts with Freud) and to the intellectual currents of the period in a city which had, until the aftermath of the First World War, been a crossroads of European culture.

What is 'applied' in 'applied' psychoanalysis?

The 'application' of psychoanalytic concepts and methods to the products of culture has occupied a somewhat ambiguous position, seen by some as a secondary, derivative, even dubious procedure, by others as a valuable and legitimate extrapolation of the basic principles. This paper argues that such 'applications' were integral to the early development of the field and that, indeed, many of Freud's basic ideas were derived from non-clinical (i.e. cultural) sources. The continuing impact of cultural forces on clinical concepts can be seen in the recent reformulations of our views on the psychology of women. Psychoanalysis is to be seen, therefore, as a constantly evolving system of propositions and hypotheses that are capable of 'application' and study in both clinical and extra-clinical settings. It is further argued that the continued development--even survival--of psychoanalysis requires the integration of its institutions and training facilities into the university system, permitting the free exchange of ideas across disciplines and a flexible educational structure that will encourage much-needed training in research as well as clinical methods. A brief illustration of the value of a psychoanalytic approach to the understanding of a specific work of art (Man Ray's painting 'Les Amoureux') is provided.

Rescue fantasies.

The concept of "rescue fantasy" is examined as it has evolved since Freud introduced it in 1910. Originally designating the wish in certain men to rescue "fallen women," the term has more recently come to refer primarily to the therapist's conscious or unconscious aims with regard to his patient, particularly in the context of child analysis or therapy. The varying drive elements and defensive operations at work in this compromise formation are discussed, and some recent sociocultural influences and analogues are suggested.

[Mood disorders in adolescence]. / Les troubles de l'humeur à l'adolescence.

Mood disorders are seen frequently in adolescents. They may range from normative developmental events through the gamut of psychopathologies--dysthymia, unipolar depression, bipolar disorder. This paper reviews the varied developmental and psychosocial factors that contribute to such disorders and discusses psychotherapeutic approaches that have proved helpful with such problems.