Family characteristics of Indian parasuicide patients : a controlled study

In this article a controlled study of the family structure of a South African Indian parasuicide population is described. Twenty subjects from a local general hospital were scored on the Suicidal Intent Scale (SIS) and the Family Assessment Device (FAD). Twenty matched medical patients without a history of parasuicide were selected from the same hospital as a control group. They were matched for age, sex, educational standard, ethnic group and socio-economic status. All subjects were scored on the Family Assessment Device (FAD). Subjects from both groups were re-tested between six to eight weeks after the initial assessment. Analyses of variance indicated significant differences between the two groups on indicators of family interactional pathology. This seems to be compounded by family stresses emanating from socio-cultural transition. The results of the study support the view that family therapy should be implemented in the treatment of parasuicide. The unique population under study provides cross-cultural data relevant to parasuicide research and invites possibilities for further investigationPeer reviewe

The involvement of aβ in the neuroinflammatory response

In the same year as Alzheimer described the case of Auguste D. as a peculiar disease of the cerebral cortex, Fischer published his classic paper about miliary plaque formation in a large number of brains from patients with senile dementia [1]. In this paper and a following one from 1910, Fischer stated that plaque formation is the result of the deposition of a peculiar foreign substance in the cortex that induces a regenerative response of the surrounding nerve fibers [2]. He described spindle-shaped thickening of nerve fibers terminating with club forms in the corona of plaques (Fig. 4.1). These altered nerve fibers were considered as axonal sprouting, and the terminal club forms showed a strong similarity with the clubshaped buddings of axons found in developing nerve fibers and after transections of peripheral nerves as described by Cajal some years earlier. According to Fischer, the crucial step of the plaque formation is the deposition of a foreign substance that provokes a local inflammatory response step followed by a regenerative response of the surrounding nerve fibers. However, Fischer could not find morphological characteristics of an inflammatory process around the plaques after extensive histopathological observations including complement binding studies. The only tissue reaction appeared to be an overgrowth of club-formed neurites