Assessment of behavioral change in a child psychiatric inpatient program

A behavioral rating scale, the Devereux Child Behavior Scale, was used to assess change in 55 children who were patients in a child psychiatric inpatient unit for an average of 3.9 months. The children were rated by unit staff on admission and at discharge, and by their parents prior to admission and at three and six months after discharge. The ratings indicate that the children did make statistically significant positive behavioral changes while in the hospital and that they continued to change up to six months post-discharge. Staff tended to rate the children as less disturbed than the parents but both groups of raters indicated significant change by their ratings.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43952/1/10578_2004_Article_BF00706168.pd

Uso de fármacos na síndrome de hiperatividade com déficit de atenção Use of drugs in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

A sindrome de hiperatividade com déficit de atenção (SHDA) constitui distúrbio comum na infância, podendo advir de fatores exógenos ou endógenos, os quais são responsáveis por comprometimento cerebral, manifestando-se por alterações funcionais dos sistemas motores, perceptivos, cognitivos e do comportamento, comprometendo a aprendizagem de crianças com potencial intelectual adequado. Os autores estudam a ação de fármacos estimulantes e antidepressivos na SHDA, usando como parâmetro de eficácia as provas de persistência motora.<br>Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurological disorder which is common in the childhood and can be caused by exogenous and endogenous factors, that are responsible for cerebral disorder. This disorder presents a functional alteration of the motor, perceptive, cognition systems and conduct disorders compromising the learning of children with an adequate intellectual potential. The authors study the action of stimulants and antidepressive drugs in the ADHD, using as measure of efficacy the motor persistence tests

Functional analysis of intron 8 and 3' UTR variable number of tandem repeats of SLC6A3: Differential activity of intron 8 variants

Association studies have found that variation in the dopamine transporter gene (SLC6A3) is important in the susceptibility to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and response to methylphenidate treatment. An understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying these associations is still inconclusive. We assessed the relative activity of variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) alleles of SLC6A3 under basal and stimulated cellular conditions, as well as in the presence of pharmacological blockade of the dopamine transporter using gene-reporter constructs. The intron 8 VNTR 5-repeat allele is more active than the 6-repeat allele. In the presence of forskolin, both alleles were significantly induced. Blockade of the dopamine transporter did not influence activity of either allelic construct. No difference in activity between 9-and 10-repeat alleles of the 3′-untranslated region VNTR was observed under any experimental condition. These data suggest that the intron 8 VNTR is a functional variant with an ADHD susceptibility allele having reduced activity. The lack of enhanced allele-specific activity in response to treatment regimes suggests that differential activity under basal conditions is the primary mode of action