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Fourteen children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 14 normal control children were compared with respect to stimulus- and response-related processes. Subjects with ADHD took part in two additional sessions under methylphenidate or placebo. In both experiments, performance and electrophysiological measures such as the P2, N2, and P3 components of event-related potential and electromyogram (EMG) activity were measured during an Eriksen flanker task. In both groups of children, reaction times (RTs) to arrow stimuli incongruent with the target were longer than those to neutral stimuli (response interference), which were again slower than RTs to target-alone stimuli (perceptual interference). Children with ADHD made more errors to incongruent stimuli and showed more response interference. For correct responses, no differences between the groups in response interference effects on reaction time, P2, N2, and P3 latency, or EMG onset were found. Methylphenidate had a general enhancing effect on accuracy but did not specifically reduce interference from the flanking stimuli. Methylphenidate had no effects on RT, N2 and P2 latency, P3 amplitude or latency, or EMG activity. The conclusion that methylphenidate did not influence response processes contrasts sharply with findings reported by authors using the Sternberg memory search task.

Objective: Many previous studies have surveyed associations between Tourette syndrome (TS) and co-morbid psychiatric disorders, but they usually did not include oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), separation anxiety disorder (SAD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Method: The subjects were children and adolescents with TS who visited a child and adolescent psychiatric clinic, and who were interviewed using DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Characteristics of their tics were examined by the Yale-Global Tic Severity Scale (Y-GTSS). Behavioral problems were surveyed by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) filled in by the parents. Results: About 87.9% of the subjects were boys. The mean age of the subjects was 11.8 years.The most common psychiatric disorders were attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), ODD, nail biting, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Only one subject was affected by TS without co-morbidities. Among TS patients with co-morbidities, those with disruptive behavioral disorders (DBD) have significantly higher mean scores than patients without DBD on the Externalizing scale, Social problems, Attention problems, Delinquent and Aggression scales. Co-morbidity of anxiety disorders was not related to the CBCL scores. Conclusion: Many of our results were similar to those reported in studies conducted in other parts of the world. TS is more common in boys and nearly all of them had at least one co-morbid disorder. The most common co-morbidity was ADHD. Behavioral problems in TS are related to the co-morbidity with the DBD, and possibly not to the anxiety disorders.

In European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 11:38-42 (2002) the name of the first author of the Original Contribution "Do adolescent anorexia nervosa patients have deficits in emotional functioning?" by M.J.S. Zonnevijlle-Bender et al. was misspelled Zonnevijlle-Bendek. Its spelled correctly: Zonnevijlle-Bender.