Study of Association of Various Psychiatric Disorders in Brain Tumors.

Background Brain tumors may be associated with high morbidity, and psychiatric symptoms may be an early manifestation. It is important to address mental symptoms as early as possible because they are prone to develop psychiatric comorbidities in future. If untreated, these situations may worsen and lead to burden upon caregivers. Methods A total of 176 brain tumor patients between January 2021 and January 2022 constituted the sample size. All recently diagnosed cases of brain tumor with age equal to or more than 18 years who can comprehend and answer questionnaires were included. Patients with a long history of brain tumor or who had a history of a psychiatric illness other than presenting symptoms or any other serious medical illness were excluded. Results Twenty-seven percent of brain tumor patients had psychiatric symptoms. Depressive symptoms were the most common, associated with 24% of patients, followed by anxiety disorders. Psychiatric disorders were more common in supratentorial compared to infratentorial tumors. Psychiatric symptoms seem to be associated more commonly with malignant tumors and peritumoral edema. Among malignant tumors, depressive symptoms tend to be related with high-grade glioma, and among benign tumors, they were more common in meningioma. No predilection to laterality and anatomical lobe involvement is reported. Conclusion Screening of psychiatric disorders should be a routine in brain tumor patients. An integrated approach is required to treat brain tumor patients. Healthcare professionals should be more vigilant about the onset of psychiatric symptoms and the need of palliative care to improve the quality of life.

A study of thyroid profile in patients suffering from the first episode of mania: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid function is commonly considered in the assessment of mood disorders. Reports of thyroid dysregulation in patients with mania are associated with several confounding factors. To eliminate confounding factors, studies of first-episode mania are desirable. This study tried to find out any relationship between thyroid disorders and mania. AIM: The aim of this study is to assess and compare the thyroid profile between first-episode mania and healthy controls and to ascertain the correlation between severity and duration of the manic episode with FT3, FT4, and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the psychiatry department of a tertiary care hospital. Forty consecutive drug-naïve patients with first-episode mania, diagnosed according to the International Classification of Disease-10 (study group), were matched with 40 healthy controls (control group). Both the groups were compared on the basis of thyroid profile and thyroid levels were correlated with duration and severity of illness in the study group. RESULTS: Nearly 7.5% of cases in the study group had hyperthyroidism, whereas 5% had subclinical hyperthyroidism. In contrast, normal controls showed 5% and 10% prevalence of hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism, respectively. A statistically significant lower level of TSH was observed in the study group (P < 0.001), whereas the mean serum levels of FT3 and FT4 were higher in the study group, but the difference was statistically nonsignificant. No significant correlation of thyroid hormones level with duration and severity of illness was noted. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight a higher prevalence of hyperthyroidism in patients with mania and suggest the role of thyroid hormones in mania.

An Indian experience of neurocognitive endophenotypic markers in unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients.

CONTEXT: Multiple vulnerability genes interact with environmental factors to develop a range of phenotypes in the schizophrenia spectrum. Endophenotypes can help characterize the impact of risk genes by providing genetically relevant traits that are more complaisant than the behavioral symptoms that classify mental illness. AIMS: We aimed to investigate the neurocognitive endophenotypic markers for schizophrenia in Indian population. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: In a cross-sectional study, we assessed neurocognitive functioning in 40 unaffected first-degree relatives (FDR) of schizophrenia patients with an equal number of healthy controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: FDR schizophrenia group was compared with the control group on measures of short-term memory, verbal working memory, auditory verbal memory on indices of immediate recall and recognition, visuospatial working memory, visual attention, and executive functions. RESULTS: The study found that FDR schizophrenia scored poorly on all tested measures of neurocognition except visual attention. On calculating composite score, we found that composite neurocognitive score better discriminated the FDR schizophrenia from the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Neurocognitive measures of short-term memory, verbal working memory, auditory verbal memory, visuospatial working memory, and executive functions significantly differentiate FDR of patients with schizophrenia from controls and can be considered as endophenotypic markers of schizophrenia in non-Caucasian population. The exactitude of this approach can be increased by calculating a composite neurocognitive score which combines various neurocognitive measures.

An examination of relationship between neurological soft signs and neurocognition.

OBJECTIVE: Neurological soft signs (NSS) and cognitive function had been examined in schizophrenia, but their relationship has remained elusive for several years. We examined the relationship between NSS and cognitive functions in the present study. METHOD: A cross sectional study was carried out. Subjects were drawn from first degree relatives of schizophrenia patients, admitted as inpatient or attending as an outpatient. Controls were recruited by word of mouth from hospital staff and visitors of hospitalized patients. Those subjects who satisfied the screening process were subjected to Cambridge Neurological Inventory for soft sign assessment and digit span test, paired associate learning test (PALT) and visuo-spatial working memory matrix (VSWMM) for cognitive function assessment. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for analysis. RESULT: Significant negative correlation of primitive reflexes with PALT; of motor coordination with VSWMM, working memory (WM) and cognitive index; of total NSS with WM and cognitive index among first degree relatives. SEM showed that motor soft signs have important negative influence over WM. CONCLUSION: The current findings indicate that NSS have significant negative effect on cognitive functioning.

Problematic use of social networking sites among urban school going teenagers.

BACKGROUND: Social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut and Twitter are virtual communities where users can create individual public profiles, interact with real-life friends and meet other people based on shared interests. An exponential rise in usage of Social Networking Sites have been seen within the last few years. Their ease of use and immediate gratification effect on users has changed the way people in general and students in particular spend their time. Young adults, particularly teenagers tended to be unaware of just how much time they really spent on social networking sites. Negative correlates of Social Networking Sites usage include the decrease in real life social community participation and academic achievement, as well as relationship problems, each of which may be indicative of potential addiction. AIMS: the aim of the study was to find out whether teenagers, specially those living in cities spend too much time on social networking websites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 200 subjects, both boys and girls were included in the cross sectional study who were given a 20 item Young's internet addiction test modified for social networking sites. The responses were analyzed using chi square test and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: 24.74% of the students were having occasional or 'frequency' problems while 2.02% of them were experiencing severe problems due to excessive time spent using social networking sites. CONCLUSION: With the ever increasing popularity of social media, teenagers are devoting significant time to social networking on websites and are prone to get 'addicted' to such form of online social interaction.

Schizophrenia: Impact on quality of life.

AIMS: The purpose of the present study was to assess quality of life (QOL) in patients with schizophrenia and to determine influence of clinical factors and socio-demographic variables on QOL of schizophrenic patients. SETTING AND DESIGN: Cross-sectional study carried out on outdoor patients attending Department of Psychiatry, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty patients of schizophrenia diagnosed as per ICD - 10 with minimum duration of illness being two years and attending out patient department (OPD) at psychiatric centre or psychiatric clinic at SMS medical college, hospital, Jaipur, India for maintenance treatment fulfilling the criteria given below were registered. They were evaluated using positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) and Quality of Life Instrument (WHO QOL - BREF). The data collected on above tools, was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Patients were having lowest QOL scores in social relationships domain of WHO QOL - BREF scale. Social relationship domain of QOL was significantly negatively correlated with occupation with employed patients reporting better QOL in this domain. There were significant positive correlation of total monthly income with social relationship domain and total QOL. There were no statistically significant correlation between QOL parameters and clinical characteristics in schizophrenics. Scores on positive subscale and total PANSS were significantly negatively correlated with physical, Psychological, social relationship domains and total QOL. Negative subscale had significant negative correlation with physical and psychological domains and total QOL. General psychopathology subscale had significant negative correlation with all subscales of QOL. This study confirms poor QOL in schizophrenia despite significant improvement with pharmacological treatment.