[Temporal organization of paroxysmal discharges in the child. II. Polygraphic recordings during sleep]. / Organisation temporelle des décharges paroxystiques chez l'enfant. II. Enregistrements polygraphiques du sommeil.

A study of the paroxysmal activities in the course of all night sleep was carried out on 6 children aged 6 to 12 years, who were previously recored by means of biotelemtry during the day (cf. Findji et al. 1978). The discharges were analysed and quantified in the same way as in daytime but here in relation to the organization of sleep. The latter shows serious disturbances by comparison with normal children or children who only have sleep problems. The global quantifications (average densities of discharges per stage) do not, in our population, evidence any effect of facilitation or diminution which would be specific to a given stage. Comparison of the chronological evolutions of the densities of paroxysmal activities with the different stages of sleep shows that the connections between these phenomena can be either nil, or very close, according to the subject, and in one case, according to the time of night. This raises the problem of the heterogeneity of the 'states' gathered under the same codification of stages and shows the multiplicity of factors which can interfere with the modulation of the discharges, even during sleep. The analysis of long duration day or night records underlines the extreme complexity of the temporal organization of paroxysmal discharges, in which both hypotheses formulated at the beginning of this study seem to find partial support: internal modulation connected to more or less stable biological rhythms, and the role of environmental factors and the subject's reactions, which more or less mask the intrinsic rhythms.

[Temporal organization of paroxysmal discharges in the child. I. Biotelemetric recordings during wakefulness]. / Organisation temporelle des decharges paroxystiques chez l'enfant. I. enregistrements biotelemetriques de veille.

Based on telemetric recordings performed on 6 children, a study of the time distribution of intra-clinical paroxysmal discharges was carried out. It was tested whether this distribution is stochastic, and if not so, whether is depends upon an internal biological rhythm or upon environmental and behavioural factors. The times of occurrence of paroxysmal discharges, generalized and/or focal or partial, were located by visual inspection, and fed into a computer for statistical evaluation. Discharges and intervals were thus quantified for the overall recording time, for one situation or for groups of situations; the chronological distribution of discharges during successive 300 sec epochs was also computed. In all the cases, the discharge density varied from one moment to the next, but not in random fashion: the hypothesis of an internal modulation of the discharges was verified in some specific cases, more often, the changes in the discharge chronology seemed to be related to modifications of psychophysiological states observed during the successive experimental situations. The factors involved, namely, alertness, specific attention, stress, posture, etc., seemed to play a different role in each case; no simple correlation with the topography of discharges could be established. One explanation does not exclude the other: modulation of the discharges by biological rhythms could at any time be masked by variations due to environmental factors and to the subject's specific reaction to the latter. This type of study presents considerable methodological and interpretative difficulties which tend to emphasize individual differences rather than allowing to draw general laws.

[Biotelemetric studies in an autistic child (author's transl)]. / Etudes biotéllémétriques répétées chez un enfant psychotique.

Three biotelemetric examinations and a whole night sleep recording were carried out in a 8 year old child whose behavior alternated between exicitation and autism. The E.E.G. showed 5 Hz. temporo-parietal sharp wave discharges lasting from 1 second to 20 minutes. These discharges were at times unilateral and predominantly right sided, at other times being bilateral without clinical signs and unrelated to changes in behavior. The possibility of internal regulation of discharge of discharge production or their dependence on induced situations or psychophysiological states is considered.

[Hysteria and psychosomatic disorders in Portuguese immigrants]. / Hystérie et fait psychosomatique chez l'immigrant portugais

Seventy patients presenting symptoms of hysteria (49 women and 21 men) were selected among patients observed at the Institute Minkowska during the year. This work is part of a research work on socio-cultural and environmental factors which can change mental status of immigrants. These are all portugese workers presenting for the first time atypical mental troubles called by the author: "bastard hysterical syndrome of the immigrant" and characterized partly or totally by the following symptoms: fatigue, anxiety, sense of suffocation, dyspnea, coughing, unilateral chills or generalized chil, abdominal or gastric pains, headaches and "diffused pains", paresthesia, aching back, tears and sorrow, fear of dying or having a cancer, asthenia, leg paresthesia and contractions, vomiting, diarrhea, cardiac pains, palpitations, dizziness and collapsing. These troubles appear sometimes without apparent motives but they are almost always due to a precipitating cause expressed by the patient: a delivery, a familial death, a homosexual proposition, a trauma without importance, a working conflict etc... But the most frequent cause invoked is "the french climate" without knowing precisely what the word "climate" means: atmospheric conditions, athmosphere or reception milieu? This latest interpretation seems more likely after months of psychotherapy. Most patients are not french speaking and cannot write; their origin is rural (familial villages well structured regarding their food and sexual economy), and people well "armed" by a system of defense mechanisms and well adopted conditioned reflexes. In this work, hysteria of the portugese immigrant is compared to childhood hysteria. As the hysterical burst of the child is aimed at calling attention, love of the mother, at finding a solution to a familial or social conflict, the hysterical burst of the immigrant is aimed at the absent family or at its substitutes, the bos, social security, the doctor. Furthermore, the attitude of the hosting Country--wanting and rejecting--is very ambivalent; "tenderness" at the time of reception, followed by indifference. Early attentions are followed by constant interdictions (threat of unemployment, false statements on sexual dangers of the immigrant etc;..). The immigrant, like the hysterical child, is periodically controlled (work and visit cards), supervised (supervisors), The narcistic satisfactions of being called a good worker can be followed by threats of firing in economic crisis. The society of the hosting country requires the immigrant to be identical to this society: language, physical appearance, food. The real paradoxical situation to which the immigrant is confronted and the real or hypothetical fears constitute conditions of experimental neurosis, to which portugese immigrants react very often by a bastard symptomatology of hysterical type, characteristic of displaced man. These preliminary studies are the frame for a future epidemiological survey in this specific population.

[A telemetric study of central rhythms in children]. / Etude telemetrique des rythmes centraux ches l'enfant

Data concerning central (mu) rhythms in children are reported, these rhythms being studied by means of prolonged telemetric recording which makes it possible to study various experimental situations. Several different patterns of mu rhythm were observed in every subject, depending on the experimental situation. The level and the quality of attention on the one hand, immobility on the other, were found to be the two main factors which facilitated the occurrence or the maintenance of mu rhythms. The induction of movement, especially of the hand, was the major cause of blocking pre-existing mu rhythms, but attention alone was also able to provoke the same reaction. These data were compared with those obtained in animals by direct recording from the cortical somaesthetic areas. The respective roles of vigilance, attention and movement are discussed.

Disorganized relations of tonic and phasic events of REM sleep in a case of brain-stem tumour.

This study concerns a case of infliltrating tumour of the pons in which a night sleep recording was performed. Selective disorganization of REM sleep was observed, with lack of muscular atonia and disturbances of tonic-phasic relationships. These data are discussed with respect to the results of local destructions performed experimentally in animals.