Remission and Relapse in Alcohol and Substance Addiction

Alcohol and substance addiction is a chronic disease and continues throughout individual's life once after addiction develops. Therefore its natural course is characterized by remissions and relapses. In addiction, relapse periods can be followed by remission periods and individuals encounter with negative effects of alcohol and substances in these relapse periods. Many factors have been defined to determine the risk of relapse up to the date. These factors can be situational or personal and they also have physiological bases. Interaction of these factors with each other is critical in terms of relapse. Relapse is a quite well studied area in the literature, in order to prevent the individuals from restarting alcohol and substance use again. Defining the challenges of addicted patients in remission periods and recurrent periods of relapse in detail will guide clinicians to determine treatment strategies in addiction and to prevent subsequent relapse periods. [Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry 2014; 6(3.000): 243-256

Steroid-induced central serous chorioretinopathy in a patient with non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy

AbstractNon-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy is a result of an infarction of the small vessel at the anterior portion of the optic disc and causes acute, unilateral, painless visual loss. There is no generally accepted treatment method for this condition but some medical and surgical treatments are recommended. Earlier studies show that visual acuity recovery was better with corticosteroid medication compared to non-treated patients. However corticosteroids may cause side effects such as cataract, increased intraocular pressure and rarely central serous chorioretinopathy. This case report presents a patient with central serous chorioretinopathy secondary to corticosteroid medication

Severity of Impulsivity and Aggression at a 12-Month Follow-Up Among Male Heroin Dependent Patients

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in impulsivity and aggression scores among male heroin dependent patients using buprenorphine/naloxone as a maintenance treatment and those who relapsed within 12 months of their discharge from the hospital

Motor impulsivity discriminated relapsed male heroin dependents from those who were still in buprenorphine maintenance treatment at the 12-month follow-up

Aims. Aim of this study was to evaluate whether impulsivity was able to discriminate relapsed male heroin dependents from those who were still in buprenorphine maintenance treatment at 12-month follow-up, while checking the effects of depression, and state and trait anxieties. Methods. Of 78 consecutively admitted male heroin dependents, 52 were examined during a face-to-face interview 12 months after discharge from hospital. Patients were investigated by applying the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, version 11 (BIS-11), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) at the end of 12 months. Results. Of 52 heroin-dependent inpatients, 23 (44.2%) were considered as having relapsed into heroin use during the previous twelve months, whereas 29 (55.8%) were still in the maintenance treatment. Demographic variables did not differ between the two groups. Mean scores on the impulsivity subscales (motor, attentional and non-planning) and total BIS-11 were higher in the relapsed group than in the maintenance group at follow-up. So too, depression and anxiety scores were higher in the relapsed group. Impulsivity, particularly motor impulsiveness, discriminated the relapsed group from the maintenance group, together with state anxiety. Conclusions. Although motor impulsiveness was able to discriminate the relapsed group from the maintenance group, together with state anxiety, this cross-sectional study did not evaluate the causal relationship. Despite the limitations, our results suggest that motor impulsiveness and state anxiety may be the areas to focus on in the treatment of relapsed heroin dependents

Arachnoid cysts accompanied with psychiatric symptoms: a case serial

In this case serial, six patients having frontal or temporal arachnoid cysts with accompanying psychiatric symptoms were represented. It was remarkable that patients get a diagnosis of not otherwise specified category, had only a partial remission and bizarre and inappropriate behavior. In cases with these features brain imaging and evaluation by neurology-neurosurgery clinicians might be recommended

The diagnostic efficiency of ultrasound in characterization for thyroid nodules: How many criteria are required to predict malignancy?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to define the criteria for use in differentiating benign and malignant nodules with the help of the receiver operating characteristic analysis and to increase the objective diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography