Gender identity change in a female adolescent transsexual

Two years of individual and milieu therapy are described of a 141/2-year-old girl who had presented with the persistent request to have a sex-change operation since age 12. Her past history was obtained from her parents and the records of the child guidance clinic which evaluated her at 3 years of age. She gives a history of remarkable tomboyism during her latency years and increasing withdrawal from peers and family during early adolescence. The patient's personal and family dynamics are explored, and these major therapeutic themes are discussed. The individual and milieu therapy are described and discussed with some speculation about the reasons for her positive response to psychotherapy. It would appear that this is a rare case of a postpubertal female transsexual reported to have made a gender identity change.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44103/1/10508_2005_Article_BF01541204.pd

Effects of low-dose X-irradiation on mouse-brain aggregation cultures

Biochemical and morphological differentiation in reaggregating mouse-brain cell cultures after low-dose radiation (0.5 Gy) in vitro was studied. Cells were irradiated on culture day 2, corresponding to embryonic day 15-16, and different glial and neuronal markers were followed through development to postnatal day 40. The shape and size of irradiated aggregates were more irregular and smaller compared with controls. Total amounts of DNA and protein were significantly lower in irradiated aggregates than in controls between days 8 and 20. After 30 days in culture activities of the glial markers glutamine synthetase (GS) and 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase (CNP) were lower in X-irradiated aggregates than in controls. However, after 40 days the CNP activity in irradiated aggregates increased to levels above those of the controls. Irradiated and control aggregates did not differ significantly in neuronal marker enzyme activities, i.e. choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), acetylcholine esterase (AChE) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) measured on a per mg protein basis. On days 20 and 30 the amount of nerve growth factor (NGF) was two-fold higher in irradiated aggregates compared with non-irradiated ones, suggesting that, after irradiation, surviving cells in culture were induced to produce more NGF. After 40 days the amount of NGF in irradiated aggregates had decreased to the level found in the control aggregates

Serum levels of citalopram and its main metabolites in adolescent patients treated in a naturalistic clinical setting

The prescribing of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for adolescents is extensive despite the fact that there are few pharmacokinetic (PK), efficacy, safety, or tolerability studies on this group. This study reports the PK findings from two trials in adolescents treated with citalopram (CIT) in naturalistic clinical settings: one retrospective and one prospective. The aim of our study was to describe serum concentrations of CIT, desmethylcitalopram (I)CIT), and didesmethylcitalopram (DDCIT) (trough values in steady state) in adolescents in relation to daily dose and clinical information obtained from therapeutic drug monitoring request forms. Altogether, 44 patients younger than 21 years were scrutinized using this combined open-label approach. The main findings were that (1) there was a pronounced interindividual variability of serum CIT, DCIT, and DDCIT concentrations in all doses prescribed, in agreement with previous studies on adults; on correcting for dose, the. coefficient of variance was about 50% for CIT, DCIT, and DDCIT; (2) the transformation of CIT to DCIT and of DCIT to DDCIT was similar within the (lose range 20 to 60 mg/day; (3) there was a difference between the sexes on comparing the dose-corrected concentrations of CIT and DCIT, with girls presenting significantly higher values than boys; and (4) there was a strong dose-serum concentration relationship in three identified subgroups of adolescents: (a) nonsmokers (CIT, r(2) = 0.71; DCIT, r(2) = 0.81), (b) girls not taking oral contraceptives (CIT, r(2) = 0.75; DCIT, r(2) = 0.71,), and (c) girls in the last 14 days of the menstrual cycle (CIT, r(2) = 0.68; DCIT, r(2) = 0.64). In summary, the present study tentatively supports influences of sex, oral contraceptives, and smoking habits on the disposition of CIT in younger patients. Hence, future studies on CIT should assess these parameters