2023 CiteScore: 4
pISSN: 1735-4587
eISSN: 2008-2215
Editor-in-Chief:
Mohammad Reza Mohammadi, MD.
This journal is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Vol 8 No 3 (2013)
Articles
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Objective: This clinical trial examines the effect of augmentation of methylphenidate (MPH) with folic acid to improve quality of life, and to treat aggression and ADHD symptoms .
Method: Participants of this eight week randomized double blind placebo controlled clinical trial were 49 children with ADHD. They were randomly assigned into one of the two groups: the first group receiving methylphenidate (10 to 20mg/day) plus folic (5mg/day), and the second group receiving methylphenidate plus placebo. Parent-reported ADHD symptoms and Overt Aggression Scale score were the outcome measures. Quality of life was assessed as well. Assessments were performed at pre-intervention, and at one month and two months after starting the interventions using repeated measure analysis .
Results: The mean age of children was 9.6(2.7) years. Age and gender were not associated with the groups. ADHD symptoms significantly decreased in both groups during the trial. However, no difference was observed between the groups. Moreover, ag ression non-significantly decreased in both groups. Meanwhile, there was no difference between the two groups in efficacy for treating different types of aggressive behaviors including: verbal aggression, physical aggression against people, physical aggression against properties or objects, and aggression against self (self-injurious behavior). While methylphenidate improved quality of life of children with ADHD, folic acid did not improve it more than placebo. Both medications were well tolerated.
Conclusion: considering the marked limitations of this trial, this primarily report suggests that methylphenidate may improve ADHD symptoms and the quality of life of children with ADHD. Current evidence does not support that folic acid as an adjuvant is effective for treating ADHD symptoms or aggression, or the improving quality of life of children with ADHD. -
Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of compassionate mind training (CMT) on symptoms of depression and anxiety in Iranian depressed sufferers .
Method: Nineteen depressed patients aged 20 to 40 (Beck Depression Inventory value≥20) were randomly assigned into two groups. The experimental group participated in 12 sessions of group therapy based on Paul Gilbert’s manual of CMT. The control group was given no intervention. The participants were assessed by Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Anxiety Scale (AS), and Levels of Self-Criticism (LSCS) questionnaires at the beginning and immediately after the intervention. To follow-up the therapeutic effect of CMT, the three questionnaires were answered again by participants two months after the end of the intervention. Data were analyzed by independent samples ttest.
Results: The results revealed that CMT significantly decreases depression (P<0.05) and anxiety score (P<0.05) in the follow-up study, but not immediately after the in ervention. Although CMT decreased selfcriticism, this effect was marginally insignificant.
Conclusion: The findings indicated that CMT could alleviatedepression and anxiety in a group of Iranian depressed patients. -
Objective: This research was conducted to investigate the relationship between behavioral activation-inhibition systems and bullyingvictimization behaviors among adolescents.
Method: This was a correlational and cross-sectional study. Two hundred and thirty school boys were selected randomly by multistage cluster sampling method, and participated in this research. This sample responded to a demographic questionnaire, the Revised Olweus Bully/ Victim questionnaire and the child version of behavioral inhibition/activation systems Scale in their classrooms and in the presence of the researcher. The collected data were analyzed by Pearson’s correlation and multiple regressions.
Result: The results showed that bullying and victimization were correlated with both behavioral activation and behavioral inhibition systems (p<0.01). The results also showed that 18% of the variance in victimization and 31 % of the variance in bullying were explained by behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation systems respectively .
Conclusion: The results of this study implied that BAS and BIS may play a role in the manifestation of bullying in adolescents. -
Objective: The purpose of the present study was to compare response inhibition and cognitive appraisal in clients with acute stress disorder, clients with posttraumatic stress disorder, and normal individuals .
Method: This was a comparative study. The sample consisted of 40 clients with acute stress disorder, 40 patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, and 40 normal individuals from Mazandaran province selected through convenience sampling method. Data were collected using Composite International Diagnostic Interview, Stroop Color-Word Test, Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory, and the Impact of Event Scale.
Results: Results showed that individuals with acute stress disorder are less able to inhibit inappropriate responses and have more impaired cognitive appraisals compared to those with posttraumatic stress disorder. Moreover, results showed that response inhibition and cognitive appraisal explain 75% of the variance in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and 38% o the variance in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms .
Conclusion: The findings suggest that response inhibition and cognitive appraisal are two variables that influence the severity of posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder symptoms. Also, these results have important implications for pathology, prevention, and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder. -
Objective: Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not process most information due to inattention and loss of the opportunity to save and retrieve information. Therefore, these children experience memory impairment. Although visual memory has been previously studied in children with ADHD, iconic memory in these children has been less evaluated. We aimed to study the possibility of iconic memory impairment in children with ADHD, and compare the results with that of children without ADHD.
Methods: The experimental group of this study were 6-9 year-old children who referred to the Imam Hosein Clinic and were diagnosed as having ADHD by a psychiatrist during 2011-2012 (n=30).The subjects were interviewed clinically by a psychologist; and in order to diagnose ADHD, their parents and teachers were asked to complete the child symptom inventory-4 (CSI-4). The comparison group were 6-9 year-old children without ADHD who studied in 1st and 2nd educational district of Yazd (n=30). Subjects’ ico ic memory was assessed using an iconic memory task. Repeated measure ANOVA was used for data analysis.
Results: Based on the iconic memory test, the mean score of ADHD children was significantly lower than that of children without ADHD (P -
Objective: Childhood aggression may lead to severe social disorders in adolescence and adulthood. Different psychiatric approaches are focused on preschool aged aggressive children. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and associated factors of childhood direct and indirect aggression .
Methods: In this cross sectional study a total of 1403 children attending 43 kindergartens were assessed. Data were collected through a structured 46-item questionnaire investigating symptoms of physical, verbal and relational aggression which was completed by parents and teachers of day-care centers. Complex sample survey analysis and multivariate logistic regression method were used for data analysis.
Results: According to parents’ rating, the prevalence of physical ,verbal and relational aggression, was 9.9% (95% CI=7.4%-12.4%) , 6.3% (95% CI=5.0% -7.6%) and 1.6% (95%CI=1.0%-2.2%), respectively; while based on teachers’ rating the prevalence of physical ,verbal and rela ional aggression were 10.9% (95% CI=8.9% -12.9%), 4.9%(95% CI=3.8% - 6.0%) and 6% (95% CI=4.4% -7.6%), respectively. A wide range of family environment factors including living with a single parent, having a working mother, death of someone close to the child, and having less educated mother were significantly associated with different types of aggression; additionally, there was some evidence of a relationship between sex of the children and physical aggression, after controlling for other variables (p<0.05).
Conclusion: This study revealed that children’s family environment alongside internal factors plays an important role as an external factor in determining the child’s potential aggressive behavior. Given this, to better prevent the aggressive behavior of children, intervention strategies should be planned for families and caregivers; specially mothers should receive training to use such strategies. -
Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a new psychiatry clerkship curriculum which was designed to improve the knowledge and skills of medical students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Iran.
Methods:This quasi-experimental study was conducted in two consecutive semesters from February 2009 to January 2010. In total, 167 medical students participated in the study. In the first semester, as the control group, the clerks’ training was based on the traditional curriculum. In the next semester, we constructed and applied a new curriculum based on the SPICES model (student-centered, problem-based, integrated, community-based, elective and systematic).At the end of the clerkship, the students were given two exams: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) to assess their knowledge, and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) to assess their skills. Baseline data and test performance for each student were analyzed.
Results: Compared to the control group, students in the inter ention group showed significantly higher OSCE scores (P= 0.01). With respect to MCQ score, no significant difference was found between the two groups.
Conclusions: The results suggest that the revised curriculum is more effective than the traditional one in improving the required clinical skills in medical students during their psychiatry clerkship. -
Objective: Hashimoto encephalopathy (HE) is known as a steroid-responsive encephalopathy associated with autoimmune thyroiditis or nonvascular inflammation-related autoimmune meningoencephalitis. The average age of onset of HE is approximately 50 years; and it is more common in women. The onset of HE may be acute or subacute. The course of most HE cases is relapsing and remitting, which is similar to that of vasculitis and stroke.
Methods: In this article, we present a previously healthy 32 years old; veterinarian male with palatal myoclonus, as a rare presentation of this disorder, and review the neurologic aspects of hashimoto encephalitis .
Results: The clinical presentation of HE is characterized by progressive cognitive decline tremor, transient aphasia, seizures, abnormal gait, sleep disorder and stroke-like episodes . Myoclonus, either generalized or multifocal, and tremor, often of the bilateral upper extremities, is the most frequently observed involuntary movements in HE.
Conclusion: The rapidly progressive cognitive dysfunction and encephalopathies observed.
