Altered Neurochemical Ingredient of Hippocampus in Patients with Bipolar Depression

Background. In a number of investigations, hippocampal neurochemicals were evaluated in the patients with bipolar disorder who were on their first episode or euthymic periods. However, we did not meet any investigation in which only patients with bipolar depression were examined. As a consequence, the objective of the present study was to examine both sides of hippocampus of patients with bipolar disorder in depressive episode and healthy controls using 1H-MRS. Methods. Thirteen patients with DSM-IV bipolar I disorder, most recent episode depressed, were recruited from the Department of Psychiatry at Firat University School of Medicine. We also studied 13 healthy comparison subjects who were without any DSM-IV Axis I disorders recruited from the hospital staff. The patients and controls underwent proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of their hippocampus. NAA, CHO, and CRE values were measured. Results. No significant effect of diagnosis was observed for NAA/CRE ratio. For the NAA/CHO ratio, the ANCOVA with age, gender, and whole brain volume as covariates revealed that the patients with bipolar depression had significantly lower ratio compared to healthy control subjects for right and for left side. As for the CHO/CRE ratio, the difference was statistically significant for right side, with an effect diagnosis of F = 4.763, P = 0.038, and was very nearly significant for left side, with an effect diagnosis of F = 3.732, P = 0.064. Conclusions. We found that the patients with bipolar depression had lower NAA/CHO and higher CHO/CRE ratios compared to those of healthy control subjects. The findings of the present study also suggest that there may be a degenerative process concerning the hippocampus morphology in the patients with bipolar depression

Do Defense Styles of Ego Relate to Volumes of Orbito-Frontal Cortex in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

Objective Although the importance of orbito-frontal cortex (OFC) is established in the pathogenesis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), no study have evaluated its relation to the traditional psychodynamic perspective. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between the defense styles consisting of mature, immature and neurotic defenses and OFC volumes of patients with OCD. Methods Subjects were selected among those of our previous study, and so eighteen patients with OCD and same number of healthy controls were took into the study. The patients and controls had underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In addition, the Defense Style Questionnaire-40 was administered to obtain defense styles of patients and controls. Results No significant relationship was found between the right OFC volumes of both the patient and control groups and their scores of mature, neurotic, or immature defense mechanisms. As for the left OFC volumes, the only significant relationship for the scores of immature defense mechanism was found in the patient group. Conclusion The results of the present study indicated that there was no significant relationship between OFC volumes of the patient group and their scores of mature, neurotic, or immature defense mechanisms, except a significant relation with the scores of immature defense mechanisms.PubMedWoSScopu

Lift and crack technique for risky cataract cases

We describe a technique to manage dense cataract cases After a capsulorhexis of 6.0 to 7.0 mm diameter has been created, the phaco tip is inserted into the nucleus centrally and high vacuum is used to lift the nucleus and elevate it with a tilt to protrude outside the capsular bag distally The chopper is used to segment the nucleus centripetally, starting from the lens equator or just behind, without applying stress to the capsular bag or zonules Further phacoemulsification is maintained by holding the nucleus centrally and chopping it into smaller triangular sectoral pieces. In this horizontal chopping technique, which is done just outside the capsular bag, grasping the nucleus in the center and elevating it with high vacuum instead of depressing one edge of the nucleus to elevate the other edge prevents additional stress to the capsule and zonules

Management of Reverse Pellucid Type Topography

Purpose: Evaluation of the etiopathogenesis and management of topographic reverse pellucid pattern after rigid intraocular lens (IOL) implantation with wide limbal clear corneal incision (CCI)

Combined Kerarings and Artisan/Artiflex IOLs in Keratectasia

PURPOSE: To evaluate the results of combined intracorneal ring (Keraring, Mediphacos Ltd) and anterior chamber, iris-fixated, phakic intraocular lens (pIOL) (Artisan and Artiflex, Ophtec BV) implantation in patients with ectatic corneal conditions and secondary high myopic and astigmatic refractive error