Psychosocial care in dementia in European higher education: Evidence from the SiDECar ("Skills in DEmentia Care") project.

In dementia care, psychosocial interventions can increase people's quality of life with dementia and their caregivers. Despite their effectiveness, their translation into practice lacks the desirable systematicity. Systematic educational programs on psychosocial interventions in dementia will improve this translation, as it prepares professionals to face the complexity of dementia care. This study aimed to systematically map out the extent to which higher education programs in Europe include teaching activities about psychosocial care of dementia. We collected quantitative and qualitative data about 303 higher education teaching activities on psychosocial care in dementia across Europe. The analysis revealed that the number of teaching activities focusing on psychosocial care in dementia was relative. Although the results reflected UNESCO indications, the teaching activities on psychosocial care in dementia appeared less systematized than optimal. As world health agencies recommend, international higher education systems should consider more psychosocial care topics because they can prepare professionals to respond timely and effectively to dementia patients and caregivers' needs.

Esquizofrenias de inicio tardío: a propósito de un caso / Late-onset Schizophrenia: a case report

La esquizofrenia de inicio tardío es un término introducido por M. Bleuler en 1943 para designar un grupo de trastornos psicóticos con sintomatología similar a la de las esquizofrenias pero que se iniciaban por encima de los 40 años de edad. En la actualidad el DSM-IV recoge esta diferenciación pero diferentes autores han puesto en duda su validez y han criticado la confusión terminológica existente con el término parafrenia tardía introducido por Roth en 1955. Los autores presentan un caso de esquizofrenia de inicio tardío y revisan de forma crítica algunos de los aspectos relacionados con estas categorías tanto desde el punto de vista histórico, conceptual, fenomenológico y metodológico, recogiendo distintas aportaciones realizadas en los últimos años así como algunas conclusiones alcanzadas recientemente por un grupo internacional de consenso (AU)

[Critical evaluation of the use of antidepressants in adolescence]. / Evaluación crítica de la utilización de antidepresivos en la adolescencia.

In the introduction the authors highlight the clinical theoretical and practical importance of affection disorders, especially depressive ones, during childhood and adolescence, their relationships of continuity and the limitations of psychopharmacological studies with antidepressants and other medicines. The authors review the bibliography consulted about the use of antidepressants in depressive disorders during adolescence following this order: authors and years, medicine used, type of population, number of cases, proportion of males and females, age ranges, dose in mg/kg/day, ranges of plasmatic concentrations, most frequent secondary and unwanted side effects, time of duration of the study, comorbidity, existence of a previous washing stage, as well as placebo and global results. The studies with triciclical antidepressants (TAD) are classified into open ones and controlled ones. Among the open ones, they review the studies by Dugas et al (1980), Geller et al (1985), Ryan et al (1986), Strober et al (1990), and Ambrosini et al (1994). Among the controlled ones, they review the studies by Kramer and Feiguine (1981), Geller et al (1990), Boulos et al (1991), and Kutcher et al (1994). In the third part, the studies of enhancement of TAD with lithium by Ryan et al (1988 a and b) and Strober et al (1992) are analysed. In the fourth part, the studies of enhancement of TAD with the IMAO by Ryan et al (1988-1990) are evaluated. In the fifth part, the ten studies with ISRS (fluvoxamine, fluoxetine, paroxetine and sertraline) on the treatment of depression during adolescence are also discussed. In the final comments there is a summary of the clinical perspective of this kind of psychopharmacological therapy. Four tables and 73 bibliographical references are included.

[Critical evaluation of the use of antidepressives in childhood]. / Evaluación crítica de la utilización de antidepresivos en la infancia.

In the introduction the authors study some technical, methodological, ethical, administrative and marketing problems about the evaluation and investigation in child and adolescence psychopharmacology. They make a revision and critical evaluation about. As a whole the clinic use of antidepressive drugs in childhood psychiatry. Then, some open and controlled trial about tricyclic antidepressives are evaluated. After this, the authors present the most important advances about the open and controlled clinic trials with several antidepressives: tricyclic, tetracyclic, ISSR and MAO-Inhibitors and other drugs (placebo response, psychotherapy, imipramine, nortryptiline, amitriptyline, fluoxetine, MAO-Inhibitors, lithium, mianserin, maprotyline, etc.). Beside, placebo effect, response prediction factors, biologic markers, diagnostic criteria, evaluation methods and technics, drugs associations, clinic types of child depression, etc, are studied. In the last, the authors present some clinical conclusions about this subject.

[Clinical study of four cases of Rett Syndrome]. / Estudio clínico de cuatro casos de síndrome de Rett.

Rett Syndrome was first described in 1966 by Andreas Rett. The disorder is characterized by a progressive loss of cognitive and motor skills as well as development o stereotyped hand movements, occurring after an apparently normal development. Authors present three typical cases, and, another one atypical, being all of them female. This study takes into account ten different areas about chronology, age and reasons in the first consultation, some milestones of psychomotor development, the diagnostic criteria--according to Rett Syndrome Diagnostic Criteria Work Group (R.S.D.C.W.G.), they consists of necessary, supportive and exclusion criteria-, some signs and symptoms that authors consider frequently associated with Rett syndrome, some diagnostic tests with neurophysiologic technics--E.E.G.--, as well as neuroimagins technics--C.T. and M.R.I.--; routine laboratory studies, development scales and something else, the DAS-SV scale which is usually used to study different handicaps and therapeutic interventions such as: psychosocial, clinical, pharmacological (valproic acid, carbamacepine, clorpromacine, etc.) and institutional. Three tables and 72 bibliographic notes are included.