[Tianeptine-induced weight gain in adolescents suffering from autism].
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Adolescent↗
Biomedical subjects
H Niederhofer
Publications and source records attributed to H Niederhofer.
[Attention deficit hyperactivity: tianeptine open trial].
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Adolescent↗
Family conflict tendency and ADHD.
A lack of perseverance, poor attention, and poorly modulated behaviour are important criteria of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Instructions often have to be repeated, sometimes even by different family members before a child with ADHD attends and complies. We hypothesised that a child with ADHD might cause less disagreement in families with almost no conflicts. Responses to the Mannheim Parents Interview and teacher's form of the Conners scale completed by families of 15 boys (ages 6 to 12 years), diagnosed with ADHD were compared with those of a matched, healthy control group of 15 boys. Parents completed a form assessing the family's cooperation and child-rearing practices. Having few family conflicts, i.e., almost no Verbal Disagreement may reduce Physical Punishment and Anger and Disregard and augment the Openness to another's needs and, for that reason, have protective effects on children's behaviour modulation.
Adult↗
Brief report: melatonin facilitates sleep in individuals with mental retardation and insomnia.
Mentally retarded people typically exhibit poor sleep efficiency and reduced nocturnal plasma melatonin levels. The daytime administration of oral melatonin to those people, in doses that raise their plasma melatonin levels to the nocturnal range, can accelerate sleep onset. We examined the ability of similar, physiological doses to restore nighttime melatonin levels and sleep efficiency in mentally retarded subjects with sleep deficits. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, mentally retarded subjects (n = 20) received, in randomized order, a placebo and two melatonin doses (0.1, and 3.0 mg) orally 30 minutes before bedtime for a week. Treatments were separated by 1-week washout periods. Sleep data were obtained by polysomnography on the last three nights of each treatment period. The physiologic melatonin dose (0.3 mg) restored sleep efficiency (p < 0.0001), acting principally in the midthird of the night; it also elevated plasma melatonin levels (p < 0.0008) to normal. The lowest dose (0.1 mg) also improved sleep.
Administration, Oral↗
Onset of coeliac disease: a prospective longitudinal study.
AIM: To make a prospective assessment of close family members of patients with coeliac disease (CD) by testing their endomysium (EMA) and antigliadin antibodies once a year over a period of 12 y and to investigate whether and when they would develop a positive serology for CD while on a gluten-containing diet. METHODS: Since first-degree relatives of CD patients have a high prevalence of CD, we screened 92 children and adolescents, all first-degree relatives of coeliac patients, for EMA and total IgA antibodies, once a year. RESULTS: Among 11 relatives, at the time of the first screening, 6 already had a positive serology and histology for CD, while 5 became positive only after a period of 2 to 5 y of negative testing. The jejunal mucosa biopsy of these five relatives with retarded positive serology for CD showed a flat mucosa in four of them and a partial villous atrophy in one. They were all HLA DQ2 positive and clinically silent for CD. CONCLUSION: CD can manifest itself after years of negative serological testing.
Adolescent↗
Features in families of boys with hyperkinetic and emotional disorders.
Standardized assessment of a family's characteristics (conflict management, cohesion, etc.) is not used routinely, although these variables may play an important role in the course of psychological disorders in children. The present study investigated differences within the features of families of children with hyperkinetic and emotional disorders. Families of 20 boys diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder and 20 boys with Emotional Disorder (ages 6-12 years) by giving the Mannheim Parents Interview and the teacher's form of the Conners scale were included for evaluation and compared with a matched, healthy control group of 20 boys. Parents were asked to complete a form assessing the family's characteristics ("Familienklima-Testsystem"), including Cohesion, Expressiveness, Conflict Tendency, Individual Independence, Achievement Orientation, Intellectual-Cultural Orientation, Active-Recreational Orientation, Moral-Religious Emphasis, and Organization. Comparison of groups was made by the Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test. There are significantly more conflicts in families whose children belong to the two disorder groups. Compared with a matched healthy control group, there is low Expressiveness, Independence, and Cultural and Active-Recreational Orientation in the Emotional Disorder group and a significant lack of Organization and Cohesion in the Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder group. Altogether there seems to be a significant association of Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder symptoms with the family's Cohesion and Organization. One implication is that therapists focus their efforts not only on the children with disorders but also on their families.
Affective Symptoms↗
[Early childhood psychosis versus early childhood autism? Differential diagnosis based on one week observation in an inpatient setting].
We report on the case of a 4-year old child suffering for the past six months from a lingering psychotic development. Several months of outpatient observation did not permit a clear differential diagnosis of either childhood autism or an early psychosis. During a one-week inpatient stay at our hospital recurring productive-psychotic episodes were observed that finally led to the exclusion of the diagnosis of "childhood autism" (ICD-10 F 84.0 (Dilling et al., 1993)) and to the diagnosis of "other disintegrative childhood disorder" (ICD-10: F 84.3 (Dilling et al., 1993)).
Autistic Disorder↗
[Therapy refractory depression: symptom improvement after antidepressant and methylphenidate combination therapy].
In common, depressive disorders are treated with various antidepressants, the number of which is enormously increasing. Nevertheless, in some cases therapy resistance is observed. In these cases, neuroleptics are used as an alternative. Methylphenidate is effective for the treatment of ADHD and narkolepsia. But there are also studies, reporting an effect of methylphenidate in depressive disorders. We did not find any report about the efficiency of a combination of antidepressants and methylphenidate. We report a 32 year old "therapy resistant" depressive female. Monotherapy with antidepressants and methylphenidate was ineffective. Finally, a combination of antidepressants and methylphenidate was effective and lowered the HAMD-Score significantly. A combination of antidepressants and methylphenidate seems to be an effective new option for the treatment of "therapy resistant" depressions.
Adult↗
Cognitive function and fMRI in patients with multiple sclerosis: evidence for compensatory cortical activation during an attention task.
Mild cognitive impairment has frequently been reported for patients in the early stages of multiple sclerosis. The aim of the present study was to measure whether altered cortical activation during a sustained attention task occurs along with limited extent of neuropsychological problems. Expanded brain activation of multiple sclerosis patients with normal motor function compared with healthy controls during a finger tapping paradigm has previously been reported. Compensatory brain activation in patients with multiple sclerosis compared with normal controls may also be observed when the subjects are performing cognitive functions. In 21 patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, a psychometric assessment was performed using the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) and the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite Score (MSFC). In addition, functional MRI was performed during a Paced Visual Serial Addition Task (PVSAT), a visual analogue of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). All patients were within 3 years of diagnosis and were not suffering from a relapse at the time of investigation. The multiple sclerosis patients were compared with a control group of 21 healthy volunteers matched for handedness, age, years of education and sex. With regard to psychometric results, the WMS general memory score showed statistically significant differences between patients and controls. We did not find differences for either the MSFC or the PASAT scores. A group analysis of the functional imaging data during the PVSAT revealed different activation patterns for patients compared with control subjects. In healthy volunteers, the main activation was found in the frontal part of the right gyrus cinguli (Brodmann area 32). In patients, the main activation was detected at the right hemispheric frontal cortex (Brodmann areas 6, 8 and 9). In addition, the left hemispheric Brodmann area 39 was activated. We interpret the different patterns of activation, accompanied with intact performance in a sustained attention task of our multiple sclerosis sample compared with healthy controls, as the consequence of compensatory mechanisms. This is an expression of neuronal plasticity during early stages of a chronic disease.
Adolescent↗
Features in families and family relationships.
Standardized assessment of family features is not used routinely, although these factors may play an important role in the course of children's psychological disorders. The present study investigated the association among relationships within the families of 115 healthy children (M=8.2 yr., SD=2.13; 70 boys, 45 girls). 115 mothers and fathers were asked to complete a standardized questionnaire assessing the family features (Familienklima-Testsystem by Schneewind, et al.) and another asking for their estimation of emotional relationships of the members of the family (Subjektives Familianbild-Test System by Mattejat). Analysis showed that the parents' ratings indicated significantly more empathic fathers as well as significantly more autonomous mothers in well-organized, conflict-free families. Our results indicate an association between families' organization and measured scores for fathers' empathy and mothers' autonomy. Sufficient intrafamilial communication is associated with roles of the parents within the family. Psychotherapeutic interventions might focus on the families' organization.
Child↗
Family coherence and ADHD.
A lack of perseverance, poor attention, and poorly modulated behaviour are important criteria of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Instructions often must be repeated, sometimes even by different family members, before a child with ADHD attends and complies. The hyperkinetic child might cause less disruption in families with high coherence. Families of 15 boys (aged 6 to 12 years) diagnosed with ADHD using the Mannheim Parent's Interview and the teacher's form of the Conners scale were compared with a matched healthy control group of 15 boys. Parents completed a form assessing the family's cooperation and childrearing practices. Intrafamilial coherence seems to have little positive association with the family's characteristics, especially for boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Low coherence among family members may reduce ADHD symptoms and may have protective effects on children with ADHD.
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗
[Therapy of tic disorders apparently of organic origin in a multi-morbid 5-year-old patient with lofexidine (Britlofex) and clonidine (Catapressan)].
We report about a five year-old patient suffering from tics and ADHD (attention deficit hyperkinetic disorder), aggressions, depression and emotional disorder. Furthermore, an epileptic focus and perinatal encephalopathy were diagnosed. Lofexidine (Britlofex) medication did not reduce Tic symptomatology, but showed remarkable sedative effects. Family therapy and Clonidine (Catapressan) medication reduced symptomatology significantly.
Affective Symptoms↗
Maternal stress during pregnancy, its objectivation by ultrasound observation of fetal intrauterine movements and child's temperament at 6 months and 6 years of age: a pilot study.
Niederhofer showed in 1994 that maternal stress during pregnancy seemed associated with development of personality in early childhood. This study examined the correlation between maternal stress during pregnancy for 121 women, its ultrasound objectivation by observation of intrauterine fetal movements, child's temperament in early childhood, and child's marks at the age of 6 years while controlling for possible confounding variables. Only intrauterine fetal movements were not associated either with stress during pregnancy or early personality.
Child↗
Changes of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in chronic alcoholism.
Compared with other well established liver enzyme parameters, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) offers a new method for the identification of chronic alcoholism. The dependence of CDT and alcoholism/abstinence was studied in 29 controls and 64 alcoholics (both groups comprising men and women). In contrast to the currently used parameters GOT, GPT, gammaGT, LDH and MCV, CDT measures chronic alcoholism exclusively. CDT is dependent on sex but not age. In chronic alcoholism its rate increases significantly, but drops quickly after a short time of abstinence. CDT variations may be a specific and sensitive indicator of alcoholism or abstinence and possibly the duration.
Adult↗