Objective: The aim of the study was the evaluation of risperidone effect on metabolite measures in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe and thalamus in schizophrenic patients on the basis of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H MRS). Methods: A group of 14 patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia, according to DSM-IV, were examined in the study. The patients were examined twice, once after a period of at least 7 days without neuroleptics and for the second time at least 4 weeks after stable risperidone doses. Results: The significant differences in the metabolite levels before and after the treatment were observed only in thalamus: an increase in myoinositol (mI) and N-acetylaspartate (NAA) levels. Positive symptoms before the treatment correlated positively with NAA level in the frontal lobes and negatively in the temporal lobes. Negative symptoms before the treatment correlated positively with Glx (a common signal for GABA, glutamine and glutamate) level in the temporal lobes. Conclusion: Our results seem to confirm the influence of risperidone on the brain metabolism, specifically in the region of thalamus.

Introduction: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H MRS) enables the observation of brain function in vivo. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effects of antipsychotic medication on metabolite levels in the brain of schizophrenic patients based on a ¹H MRS examination. Methods: We examined 42 patients previously diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia twice: firstly, after the neuroleptic wash-out (baseline) and secondly, under stable medication (follow-up, after treatment). The study had a naturalistic design and several different neuroleptic medications were used during the treatment phase. The clinical evaluation, MRI and MRS procedures were performed. The group of 26 healthy controls were also examined to compare MRS results. Results: We found a significantly lower NAA/Cr (N-acetylaspartate/creatine) ratio in the frontal lobe and thalamus in patients (after the wash-out) as compared to controls. After treatment a significant decrease of the Glx/Cr ratio in the temporal lobe and a trend for an increase of the NAA/Cr ratio in the thalamus were observed. Conclusion: >Our results confirm that antipsychotic medication modifies brain metabolism measured by means of ¹H MRS. The pattern of the changes suggests a neuroprotective action of antipsychotic medication in schizophrenia.

Cel pracy: Narodzenie dziecka stanowi ważne wydarzenie w życiu kobiety oraz w diadzie małżeńskiej/partnerskiej. Zmiany, które zachodzą wymagają przeorganizowania dotychczasowych stylów radzenia sobie i rozwinięcia nowych sposobów adaptacji, co nie zawsze przebiega łagodnie. W niniejszym badaniu oceniano, w jakim stopniu rozwinięcie objawów depresji poporodowej u kobiet jest związane z ich satysfakcją w zakresie funkcjonowania relacji.Metoda: Badaniem objęto 100 kobiet w pierwszym miesiącu po porodzie. Ankietowane udzieliły odpowiedzi na temat danych socjodemograficznych oraz wypełniły kwestionariusze dotyczące depresji poporodowej (Postpartum Depression Screening Scale) i jakości relacji małżeńskiej/partnerskiej (Kwestionariusz Dobranego Małżeństwa).Wyniki: Wystąpił statystycznie istotny związek pomiędzy poziomem doświadczania depresji poporodowej a jakością relacji w związku. Większe nasilenie objawów depresji poporodowej (kłopoty ze snem/jedzeniem, niepokój/niepewność, wahania nastroju, chaos psychiczny, poczucie utraty własnego JA, poczucie winy/wstydu, myśli samobójcze) występowało u osób mniej zadowolonych ze swego związku, to jest takich, które doświadczały mniejszego poczucia intymności, samorealizacji i podobieństwa oraz większego poczucia rozczarowania. Kobiety, które deklarowały większe zadowolenie ze swego związku, ujawniały jednocześnie lepsze samopoczucie psychiczne po narodzeniu dziecka. Nie zaobserwowano związku pomiędzy występowaniem objawów depresji poporodowej a zmiennymi socjodemograficznymi (wiek, wykształcenie, miejsce zamieszkania) i zmiennymi związanymi z historią położniczą kobiety (liczba dzieci, liczba ciąż, występowanie poronień, planowanie ciąży, wcześniejsze występowanie depresji, rodzaj porodu, stan dziecka po porodzie, sposób karmienia).Wnioski: U pacjentek niezadowolonych z jakości relacji w związku obserwowano większe nasilenie objawów depresyjnych po porodzie. Większe zadowolenie ze związku deklarowały kobiety żyjące w związkach formalnych.

A significant increase in myopia among children and teenagers can be observed all over the world. Yet at the same time, there is still an insignificant number of studies concerning this health problem. The aim of this study was to assess the level of trait anxiety among myopic group of teenagers in comparison to teenagers with emmetropia, and to confirm whether the level of trait anxiety relates to age and gender. Two hundred thirty-nine students aged 13–17 years were included in the study. The study group comprised 114 persons with myopia (81 girls and 33 boys), while the control group comprised 125 persons without refractive error (79 girls and 46 boys). Volunteers completed a set of questionnaires including: personal data, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) (13–14 year-olds), or State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (15–17 year-olds). The trait anxiety subscales were thus analyzed. Among younger adolescents (13–14 years of age) with myopia there was a significantly higher incidence of pathological intensification of anxiety as a constant trait. After taking into account the distribution of gender, there was a higher level of trait anxiety in the group of boys with myopia than in the control group aged 13–17 years and 13–14 years. There was also a higher level of trait anxiety detected in males than in females. Myopia may affect the level of trait anxiety among 13–14-year-olds. In both age groups of girls, a higher percentage of patients with high level of anxiety was discovered (≥7 sten), as compared to their peers without vision defects. Our results can contribute to a more accurate analysis of young teenagers’ psychological problems, especially among boys diagnosed with myopia.

BMI (body mass index) can be misleading regarding the level of adiposity in a normal-weight individual. Recently, a bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method was developed that can measure body composition variables. The main objectives of this study were to use BIA to compare the body composition variables between chronic non-diabetic schizophrenic patients with normal weight and healthy individuals. The secondary objective was to compare the nutritional pattern of schizophrenia patients with that of matched healthy subjects, and to identify possible relationships between the content of different components of their diet and visceral adiposity. The subjects were 52 normal-weight patients (33 males and 19 females) diagnosed with schizophrenia based on the DSM-IV and 45 (23 males and 22 females) BMI- matched controls. The patients had been receiving atypical or typical antipsychotic agents for at least one year before enrollment into the study but continuously for 3 months preceding the study and were psychiatrically stable. Body fat (kg), percent (%) body fat, fat-free mass, VAT (visceral adipose tissue) and SAT (subcutaneous adipose tissue) were measured using the bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method. Daily food rations (DFR) were quantitatively evaluated by a 24-h dietary recall method covering 3 days preceding the examination. In normal-weight patients schizophrenia was significantly linked with higher VAT, VAT/SAT ratio and lower fat- free mass. Men had over 5 times and women over 2 times as much VAT as BMI matched groups. In women with schizophrenia and in their controls, the amount of magnesium, niacin and vitamin B6 in their diet inversely correlated with VAT, while in men lower zinc and vitamin C intake was related to higher visceral adiposity. Our study has shown that normal-weight patients with chronic schizophrenia have higher levels of visceral fat (VAT) than controls but similar volume of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). Although no clear conclusion can be made regarding cause-and-effect relationships between the dietary content of food served to our patients and visceral obesity, we suggest that schizophrenia diet should be further investigated as a possible factor related to this type of obesity.