PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G Mapelli

Publications and source records attributed to G Mapelli.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[A rare and little-known method of elaborating the loss of the object in melancholia].

The author presents a fully detailed report of the observation of two economically secure young women who were caught shop-lifting in a large department store; one woman was apprehended while suffering from depression, the other was caught just prior to the onset of a depressive episode. It is hoped that the details referred here may contribute to the insufficient data published on this subject up to the present. It is important to note that the thefts committed by these patients show the typical characteristics of "impulsive behavior". Furthermore, the impulse to steal may appear in various psychiatric conditions. Therefore, the author first considered the hypothesis that these thefts may have been computed during an acute dysthymic psychosis. Epilepsy was ruled out in both cases based on anamnestic data, electroencephalographic findings and, even after the administration of a pharmacological trigger, no epileptic symptoms appeared. These negative results prompted the author to propose a psychosemeiogenetic rapport between the depressive conditions and the thefts. Considering basic information regarding the psychodynamic of impulsive behavior in general, and that manifested in the course of melancholia in particular, the author confronts the problem of the psychosemeiogenesis of the impulsive to steal in the depressed patient. In order to understand this problem, the author proposes several interpretative hypotheses (equivalence of suicide or "parasuicide" according to Deshaies; attempt to give a concrete reason for the "feeling of guilt"; conduct to symbolically compensate the loss of the "object"). Following an in-depth, critical discussion, the author concludes that the "parasuicide" hypothesis is most accurate in the case of the first patient, whereas "compensation" more adequately explains the second. In conclusion, the interest that these cases present in the forensic medical sphere is also brought to light.

Depressive Disorder↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Retrobulbar optic neuritis as an initial symptom of multiple sclerosis. Results of a prospective study].

40 patients with idiopathic optic neuritis (ON) between 1st January 1967 and 31st December 1977 have been checked again from oculistic and neurological point of view between 1st January and 31st March 1983. 10 of 40 examined patients (25%) are found suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) at the time of check up. Our research points out that idiopathic ON evolutive risk towards MS is greater in females, in people between 20 and 40 years old, in people with one or more relapses as well as in people with neurological microsymptoms at the time of ON.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Induction of liver microsomal enzymes in epileptics under treatment with carbamazepine].

Serum gamma-GT activity was significantly (0.01 greater than P greater than 0.001) elevated in 18 out of 30 epileptics receiving carbamazepine (CBZ), i.e. in 60%. The incidence of abnormal gamma-GT levels in the control group (25 neurotic patients taking minor tranquilizers) was lower (12%). The possible relationships between the enzyme induction or chronic hepatic toxicity and the elevation of serum gamma-GT activity in epileptics taking CBZ are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Family with progressive myelopathic muscular atrophy with proximal distribution and onset in adulthood].

The Authors present two brothers suffering from proximal progressive muscular atrophy arising in adulthood and describe its clinical, bioptic and electromyographic characteristics. Electromyographic and bioptic examinations demonstrate the neurogenic nature of the amyotrophy and localize the causal lesion at the level of the anterior horns of the spinal medulla. With regard to the differential diagnosis, the nosographic position of the disorder in question is described, and the hypothesis advanced that it may represents the late onset variety of Wohlfart-Kugelberg-Welander disease.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Must we revise our clinical concepts of tabetic neurosyphilis?

To document the changing clinical patterns of today's tabetic neurosyphilis, 14 tabetics who were seen between 1966 and 1976 are reported. Most patients (85 %) were clinically oligosymptomatic, not only because of the small number but also due to the mildness in degree of objective neurological manifestations. Clinicians are alerted to the existence of the oligosymptomatic, variable and deceptive aspects of today's tabetic neurosyphilis.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Manic syndrome associated with multiple sclerosis: secondary mania?

Mania is generally assumed to be a "primary" affective disorder and is usually regarded as part of bipolar manic-depressive disease or as unipolar mania. Suggestions that manic states can be causally related to organic dysfunction--medical and pharmacological--are found in the most recent literature. These manic states are best considered "secondary" manias. We present a patient in whom mania occurred in association with multiple sclerosis. We assumed that, in this patient, the temporal coincidence of neurological and manic manifestations was not accidental, but that the manic state was caused by the demyelinating process. Multiple sclerosis is absent from the list of possible physical causes of secondary mania reported in literature, and we suggest that even multiple sclerosis merits consideration as a possible antecedent to secondary mania.

Adult↗