Rationale: It has been suggested that the isolation rearing paradigm models certain aspects of schizophrenia symptomology. Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether isolation rearing impairs rats' performance in two models of cognition: the novel object recognition and attentional set-shifting tasks, tests of episodic memory and executive function respectively. Methods: Two cohorts of female Hooded-Lister rats were used in these experiments. Animals were housed in social isolation or in groups of five from weaning, post-natal day 28. The first cohort was tested in the novel object recognition test with inter-trial intervals (ITI) of 1 min up to 6 hours. The second cohort was trained and tested in the attentional set-shifting task. Results: In the novel object recognition test isolates were only able to discriminate between the novel and familiar objects up to 1 hour ITI, whereas socially reared animals remembered the familiar object up to a 4 hour ITI. In the attentional set shifting task isolates were significantly and selectively impaired in the EDS phase of the task (p<0.01). Conclusions: Rats reared in isolation demonstrate impaired episodic memory in the novel object recognition task and reduced ability to shift attention between stimulus dimensions in the attentional set-shifting task. Since schizophrenic patients show similar deficits in performance in these cognitive domains these data further support isolation rearing as a putative preclinical model of the cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia.

There exists a vast literature on the puerperal psychoses. Most of it is incomplete in that rarely is any definition of the “puerperal period” made; frequently there is no attempt to differentiate between the various clinical syndromes seen when aetiology is considered, and little consideration is given to the extent of constitutional predisposition to psychiatric illness in the probands.

Abnormal movements are common and accepted complications of phenothiazine therapy. They are usually regarded as of extrapyramidal origin, develop soon after medication is started and are often abolished by stopping the drug or giving specific chemotherapy. The commonly occurring syndromes are:

Middlewood Psychiatric Hospital, Sheffield, has recently provided facilities for the admission of babies with mothers suffering from psychiatric illness. The venture was sufficiently novel and noteworthy to receive mention in national newspapers, and one gathers that medical and nursing staff are pleased and encouraged by their experiences with their first few mother-infant pairs.