Alcohol can induce a wide spectrum of effects on the central nervous system. These effects can be recognized at the neurophysiological, morphological and neuropsychological levels. Several studies of the effect of alcohol on the frontal lobes were identified for review from MedLine, PsychLIT databases and by manual searching. In this review article, the different changes are examined in detail. Computed tomography studies have reported changes of frontal lobe in alcoholism, while magnetic resonance imaging studies supported these findings. Neurophysiological studies with positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography have reported a decreased frontal lobe glucose utilization and reduced cerebral blood flow. There is also evidence from neuropsychological studies that there are specific deficits in alcoholism that suggest frontal lobe dysfunction. Considered together, these studies lend a strong credence to the concept of frontal lobe pathology in alcoholism. However, frontal lobe is not an isolated part of the brain and should be considered with its heavy connections to different cortical and subcortical areas of the brain.

The process of lipid peroxidation results in a range of intermediates and end products including lipid hydroperoxides, aldyehydes, and malondialdehyde (MDA). These aldehydes and lipid hydroperoxides form DNA adducts and may result in extensive single-strand and doublestrand breaks ( 4 ). Various intermediates and end products generated during the lipid peroxidation cascade have been assayed, but the most-commonly employed approach continues to be the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) test ( 5 ).Although it is widely acknowledged that TBA reacts with a range of oxidized lipids, both saturated and unsaturated aldehydes, ( 6, 7 ) sucrose, and urea ( 8 ), to form various chromogens, referred to as TBA-reactive substances (TBARS), it is the reaction of TBA with MDA to produce a pink pigment ( 9 ) with an absorption maximum at 532 nm ( 10 ) and mass ion at 323 amu ( 11 ) that is a true indicator of lipid peroxidation. Historically, the TBARS test has been assayed by ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometry or fl uorescence assays, but the specifi city of the TBA test, enabling the selective determination of MDA, may be achieved via chromatographic separation of the pink TBA 2 -MDA adduct ( 12 ). The adoption of HPLC techniques improves assay specifi city and the sensitivity of MDA determination, and we have previously confi rmed the validity of quantifying the TBA 2 -MDA adduct as a specifi c measure of lipid peroxidation in human biological fl uids ( 13 ).Despite the widely acknowledged limitations of the TBARS test ( 14 ), and in particular its lack of specifi city, it continues to be reported as a true measure of MDA in clinical disease ( 1,15,16 ). It is proposed that the poor assay specifi city associated with TBARS assays may lead to an overestimation of the levels of MDA in human plasma and other biological tissues and fl uids, and this, in turn, may Abstract Malondialdehyde (MDA) is one of the most commonly reported biomarkers of lipid peroxidation in clinical studies. The reaction of thiobarbituric acid (TBA) with MDA to yield a pink chromogen attributable to an MDA-TBA 2 adduct is a common assay approach with products being quantified by ultraviolet-Vis assay as nonspecific TBAreactive substances (TBARS) or chromatographically as MDA. The specifi city of the TBARS assay was compared with both chromatographic assays for total plasma MDA. The levels of total plasma MDA were signifi cantly lower than the plasma TBARS in each of the samples examined, and interestingly, the interindividual variation apparent in the level of plasma MDA was not evident in the plasma TBARS assay. Each of the four online chromatographic detectors yielded a precise, sensitive, and accurate determination of total plasma MDA, and selected-ion monitoring was the most-accurate assay (101.3%, n = 4). The online diode array detectors provided good assay specifi city (peak purity index of 999), sensitivity, precision, and accuracy. This research demonstrates the inaccuracy that is inherent in plasma TBARS assays, which claim to quantify MDA, and it is pro...

The strong influence of psychiatric disorders e.g., depression, anxiety, organic brain syndrome, and hypochondriasis rather than physical disorders suggests that a lack of meaning and worries are more detrimental to life satisfaction than physical frailty. The findings underscore the need to develop interventions that help older people deal more effectively with psychiatric disorders and its comorbidities. Moreover, the results suggest that providing family support, by not allowing older adults to live alone, may be especially helpful for older adults.

Introduction. This study was designed to elucidate the relationship between different types of covert face recognition. Some patients with prosopagnosia (i.e., the profound inability to recognise previously familiar faces) nonetheless evince autonomic face recognition (elevated skin-conductance levels to familiar faces) or behavioural indices of covert recognition (i.e., priming; interference effects; matching effects; face-name learning). One prosopagnosic patient revealed both autonomic and behavioural covert face recognition-which suggests they may arise from some common basis. Method. To test this claim a patient with the Capgras delusion (i.e., holding the belief that others have been replaced by impostors, etc.) was tested on each type of covert face recognition and her results compared with agematched controls. We know that the Capgras delusion is characterised by good overt or conscious face recognition coupled with the absence of autonomic discrimination between familiar and unfamiliar faces. The question addressed here was whether, compared with age-and gender-matched controls, the patient, B.P., would show neither autonomic nor behavioural covert face recognition. Results. The answer was that, although she showed no autonomic discrimination, her performance on a priming task and a test of face/name interference were normal. The controls, as expected, revealed covert face recognition on both the autonomic and behavioural measures. Conclusions. The results imply in B.P. a clear dissociation between autonomic and behavioural measures of covert face recognition. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.

These results highlight the need for large-scale studies to explore the consequences of ongoing political violence on children and to establish baseline data on the mental health of Egyptian children.

Background: An extensive literature addresses factors that influence outcome in patients with schizophrenia. However, the effect of these factors under national crisis remains unclear. Aims: The study explores the outcome of schizophrenia in a 15-year follow up in Iraq. Methods: A total of 298 patients with first-onset schizophrenia from 1985-1987 were recruited from all subjects who had consecutively visited the psychiatric service in Merjan Hospital in Al-Hilla city, Babylon Governorate, Iraq. Of these, 84 were excluded and did not have the research assessment. Results: The 150 males and 64 females had an average age at onset of the disorder of 24.8 years. Forty three subjects were untraceable, and 12 subjects committed suicide, 11 subjects had alcohol dependence, 8 subjects had clear learning disability, 7 subjects had organic brain diseases, and 3 subjects had epilepsy. All of them were excluded in the analysis. The entire sample was of the same ethnic Iraqi origin, mostly unemployed 151 (70.6%) and all subjects were living with their families. More than 47% of subjects at final assessment had good or partial symptomatic and psychosocial outcomes and nearly 53% had a poor outcome. Thirty patients (20%) of the male group showed good prognosis versus 31.3% of the female group. Furthermore, 54.7% of the males were in the poor prognosis group versus 48.7% of the females. Conclusions: Despite Iraq being under siege and exposed to economic sanctions, with very limited resources including the deprivation of atypical antipsychotic medications, its schizophrenia outcome is similar to that in developing countries. The existence of large, supportive families and a strict, committed regimen for active follow-up treatment may be important contributory factors to better outcomes.

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The results of this study indicate that the level of death anxiety is high, in general, among drug abusers and that being divorced, not actively practicing a religious faith, having at least 1-10 years or more than 20 years history of drug abuse, and smoking at least 20 or more cigarettes per day significantly increases the level of death anxiety.