The Contingent Negative Variation in Remitted Paediatric Bipolar Patients: No Evidence of Abnormality

Although the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) paradigm has been useful in schizophrenia, limited research involving such paradigm in subjects with Bipolar Disorder (BD) has produced contradictory findings. To the best of our knowledge, no study has investigated CNV in Paediatric Bipolar Disorder (PBD) subjects. Thirty remitted PBD patients and thirty matched healthy control group subjects participated in the study. No significant between group main effect could be found for either CNV latency or amplitude. We propose that CNV is unlikely to be a true endophenotype of BD. However, absence of CNV finding during euthymic phase in BD may help us in advancing our understanding of BD and such finding may, in fact, have some specificity with regard to differentiating BD from schizophrenia.

Electroencephalographic Abnormalities in Clozapine-Treated Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

The objective of our study was to examine the electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities associated with clozapine treatment. It was a cross-sectional study on 87 psychiatric patients on clozapine treatment. 32 channel digital EEG was recorded and analysed visually for abnormalities. EEG abnormalities were observed in 63.2% of patients. Both slowing and epileptiform activities were noted in 41.4% of patients. The EEG abnormalities were not associated with dose or duration of clozapine exposure.