Current Psychiatry Reviews - Volume 6, Issue 4, 2010

Since 1982 isotretinoin has been implicated in numerous reports that describe depression, behavioral change and suicidality in patients. Several epidemiological studies have investigated the association suggested by these reports. Results have varied. Other research has attempted to establish a plausible biological mechanism associating isotretinoin with these behavioral changes. Current research has focused on the h Read More

Cognitive impairment is present in neurodegenerative disease, usually as part of a spectrum of symptoms that includes different domains of cognitive function. While the nature of the cognitive impairment tends to be diseasespecific, the aspects of cognitive impairment seen in different disease entities overlap considerably. This overlap makes distinctions among them difficult and, when considered with accumulating insi Read More

At present, there is no consensus in the literature regarding the appropriate medical evaluation of the patient with a psychiatric chief complaint in the emergency department (ED). There is agreement in the literature that the evaluation should include obtaining a history, performing an appropriate physical and mental status examination, and performing medical tests as needed. However, controversy exists as to the co Read More

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) (OMIM#300624) is the leading inherited form of mental retardation. Fragile X syndrome is caused by large methylated trinucleotide expansions of a CGG repeat (> 200) upstream of the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene (FMR1), that lead to subsequent transcriptional silencing of the FMR1 gene and lack of the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) synthesis, resulting in fragile X syn Read More

Recent advances in pediatric therapeutic technology have led to a significant increase in the number of children receiving treatment in pediatric intensive care units (PICU). Similarly, preterm births, which now represent 12-13% of all live births in the United States and which have increased by 31% since 1981, have resulted in increased numbers of hospitalizations in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). While sophisticated use Read More

Background: Adolescent pregnancy and parenting is a concerning and relevant issue for child and adolescent psychiatrists. This article reviews the most recent English literature on psychosocial factors, intervention, prevention, and policy relating to pregnant and parenting teens in developed nations. Methods: Preference was given to longitudinal studies with large samples published after 2000. In cases where no such study ex Read More

Purpose: To determine whether cognitive remediation therapy improves social cognition in patients with schizophrenia. Method: We reviewed the studies assessing the effect of cognitive remediation therapy on social cognition deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Results: To date, a small number of reports on cognitive remediation therapies to improve social cognition in these patients have been published. These program Read More