[Rudolf Lemke's contribution to the development of child neuropsychiatry in Jena, Germany]. / Rudolf Lemkes Bedeutung für die Entwicklung der Kinderneuropsychiatrie in Jena.

Child and adolescent psychiatry has a long tradition in Jena, Germany, and goes back to the psychiatrists Theodor Ziehen and Wilhelm Strohmayer. It seems that Rudolf Lemke (1906-1957) eminently promoted the development of child and adolescent psychiatry after World War II. A versatile scientist, Lemke had many publications in psychiatric and neurologic fields. His significance to the development of the specialty of child and adolescent psychiatry is reflected not only by his publications but also by his work as a clinician and liaison psychiatrist in the Johannes Trueper School in Jena. He founded an independent psychiatric unit for the treatment of children which allowed treatment separated from adults.

["If Berger had survived the second world war - he certainly would have been a candidate for the Nobel Prize". Hans Berger and the legend of the Nobel Prize]. / "Hätte Berger das Ende des zweiten Weltkrieges noch erlebt -- gewiss wäre er ein Anwärter auf den Nobelpreis geworden" -- Ein Beitrag zum 200. Jahrestag der Gründung der Jenaer Psychiatrischen Klinik.

The public opinion pays much attention to the Nobel Prize as an indicator for the scientific efficiency of a university or a country in connection with foundation of so-called elite universities. The former holder of the psychiatric chair in Jena and discoverer of the electroencephalogram Hans Berger (1873 - 1941) came into discussion as candidate for the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. The current medical-historical publications maintain the view that Berger should have received the Nobel Prize in 1936 as well as in 1949. This was prevented in 1936 by an enactment from Hitler, which forbid him to accept the prize, and later in 1949 by Berger's own death. According to documents of the Nobel archives these statements can be disproved. Berger was only nominated three times out of 65 nominations in 1940. Because of his death the other two recommendations in 1942 and 1947 were never evaluated.

[31P-MR spectroscopy of the brain in patients with anorexia nervosa: characteristic differences in the spectra between patients and healthy control subjects]. / 31P-MRS des Hirns bei Anorexia nervosa: Charakteristische Unterschiede in den Spektren von Patienten und gesunden Vergleichspersonen.

PURPOSE: To investigate whether 31 P-MR spectroscopy can detect reduced concentrations of high-energy phosphates, like PCr and NTP, caused by decreased metabolic activity in the brain of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and, furthermore, whether any impairment of the cerebral membrane metabolism can be derived from the spectra. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 10 female patients, age range 12 - 20 years and mean BMI (body mass index) of 14.8 +/- 1.6 kg/m 2, with clinically diagnosed AN (ICD-10, F50.0) and 10 healthy control subjects, age range 12 - 21 years and mean BMI 19.0 +/- 2.1 kg/m 2, without nutritional disturbances: were investigated. 31P-MR spectroscopy was performed with a 1.5 T MRI unit using single volume selection in the frontal/prefrontal region of brain. Relative metabolic concentrations were quantified by normalizing the peak areas of the metabolites with the total area of the complete phosphorous spectrum, P tot, as well as with the peak area of beta-NTP. RESULTS: Significant differences between the two groups were observed for the metabolic ratios PDE/P tot, PDE/beta-NTP and alpha-NTP/P tot which were lower in the patient group except for alpha-NTP/P tot. These ratios also revealed a statistically significant correlation with the BMI (r PDE/Ptot = 0.747, r PDE/beta-NTP = 0.57, r alpha-NTP/Ptot = -0.56; p

[Thrombocytic serotonin concentration in depressed children and adolescents]. / Thrombozytäre Serotoninkonzentration bei depressiven Kindern und Jugendlichen.

OBJECTIVES: This study pursued the question to what extent a correlation exists between the platelet serotonin concentration and depressive and/or suicidal behaviour in children and adolescents. METHODS: Within a 16-month period, the platelet serotonin concentration was determined in all admitted inpatients (n = 145, age: 4 to 19 years) by means of fluorescent spectroscopy according to a standardised protocol. The severity of depressive symptoms was assessed by administration of the DIKJ to a subset of patients. The different diagnostic groups were formed according to the criteria of the ICD-10. RESULTS: A decrease in the platelet serotonin concentration was found with increasing age. While platelet serotonin concentrations were higher in male patients than in females, the girls showed higher depression scores on the DIKJ. A negative correlation existed between the platelet serotonin concentration and the degree of depression measured on the DIKJ in all diagnostic groups. Independent of the clinical diagnosis significantly lower concentrations of platelet serotonin were found in children and adolescents who had attempted suicide immediately before admission to hospital. The same is true for the group of depressive disorders, with a subgroup of patients who had attempted suicide shortly before also showing significantly lower concentrations of platelet serotonin. CONCLUSIONS: The present investigation supports the contention that depression in childhood and adolescence is related to a lack of serotonin in platelets, respectively, analogous to the platelet model, to a lack of serotonin in central structures, and that a relative serotonin deficiency could thus be an indicator of suicidal ideation.

[Theodor Ziehen as child and adolescent psychiatrist. A belated commemoration on the 50th anniversary of his death]. / Theodor Ziehen als Kinder- und Jugendpsychiater. Eine verspätete Reminiszenz zum 50. Todestag.

OBJECTIVE: The 50th anniversary of the death of Theodor Ziehen was on December 29, 2000. As this occasion passed without fanfare, it is the authors' intent to recollect his importance in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry. METHODS: A short description of his life and an evaluation of his scientific work is presented based on earlier publications. RESULTS: Ziehen (1862-1950) was an extraordinarily versatile scholar. He is regarded as a great psychiatrist, psychologist and philosopher, as well as one of the founding fathers of child psychiatry. He began work on developmental psychiatry in Jena, publishing his first article "Association Psychology in Childhood" in 1898. He worked in close collaboration with the educators Rein and Trüper. In 1902 the first part of his book "Mental Diseases in Childhood" was published, followed by further publications in 1904 and 1906. These volumes are regarded as the second most important in child psychiatry in Germany. His work is the first systematic and almost complete compendium in this field. Ziehen introduced the medical terms "affective psychosis" and "psychopathic constitution" to psychiatric literature. He also worked in the fields of medical education and education.

Cerebral phosphate metabolism in first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Most phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((31)P-MRS) studies have described measures of lower membrane anabolism or greater catabolism in the frontal lobes of patients with schizophrenia. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether these findings can also be detected in young subjects at genetic risk for schizophrenia. METHOD: Fourteen children and siblings of patients with schizophrenia (mean age=16.7 years) and 14 comparison subjects (mean age=16.9 years) were included in a (31)P-MRS study of the frontal lobe. RESULTS: The high-risk subjects had significantly lower mean ratios of phosphomonoesters to phosphodiesters (0.25 versus 0.31) and higher mean phosphodiester values (37.59% versus 34.87%) than comparison subjects. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest greater phospholipid breakdown even in young first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia. This suggestion is discussed with respect to the membrane phospholipid hypothesis of schizophrenia.

[Risk for schizophrenia and diagnostic image of cerebral membrane metabolism]. / Schizophrenierisiko und Bildgebung zum zerebralen Membranmetabolismus.

In recent years neurobiological research on the etiology of schizophrenia has became increasingly important. In terms of a vulnerability-stress model, structural and functional cerebral alterations in schizophrenics and subjects with a genetic risk for schizophrenia are presented together with hypotheses for disturbances of neurodevelopment or neurodegeneration developed from these implications. A detailed description follows of a neurobiochemical paradigm on the disturbance of metabolism of membrane-phospholipids. 31Phosphorous Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy allows the detection of indicators of this possible endo-phenotype. The possibilities and limitations of this method are explained, as are findings up to the present. Finally, it is discussed that specific pre-, peri- and postnatal influences on the cerebral metabolism of lipids, and thus on cerebral development, may be related to structural and functional cerebral changes in schizophrenia.

Conjugation of lectins with fluorochromes: an approach to histochemical double labeling of carbohydrate components.

Methodical investigations on the coupling of lectins (Con A, LcL, WGA, RcA) to tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyan ate (TRITC) are reported. 20-microgram of TRITC per mg of lectin were found to be the optimal amount of TRITC for the conjugation. With this fluorochrome: protein ratio conjugates were produced which resulted in a specific and brilliant fluorescence in tissue staining. The optimally conjugated lectins were separated on DEAE-Sephadex-A 50. Using two different lectins which were conjugated with TRITC or FITC, respectively, a double labeling of different lectin-binding sites in tissue sections was achieved.