The improvement in neurocognitive functioning in anorexia nervosa adolescents throughout the integrative model of psychotherapy including cognitive remediation therapy.

BACKGROUND: Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) experience difficulties in neurocognitive functioning in the acute phase of illness which might be related to clinical presentation, but also in the apparently remitted state after weight recovery. Among the most commonly reported persistent deficits is cognitive inflexibility, which can be interpreted as a vulnerability trait or a "neuropsychological scar" reflecting the detrimental effect of prolonged semi-starvation in patients with a long duration of illness. Studies of adolescent samples with a relatively short clinical course may enable avoiding the effect of prolonged illness and help to determine whether neuropsychological deficits are trait or state dependent. The aim of this study is to assess cognitive functioning in adolescents with AN before and after the inpatient treatment programme, including cognitive remediation therapy (CRT). METHODS: Forty-seven adolescent female inpatients with AN diagnosed according to DSM-5 and fifty healthy female adolescents matched for the education level and age were recruited. The patients underwent a multimodal treatment including a ten-week CRT. The standardized and cross-validated neuropsychological (Trail Making Test - TMT A and B, Color-Word Stroop Task - CWST, Ruff Figural Fluency Test - RFFT) and clinical measurements (Beck Depression Inventory - BDI, Eating Attitude Test - EAT-26, Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale - Y-BOCS) were used to assess both clinical (in the acute phase and after partial weight recovery) and control subjects. RESULTS: Initially, AN patients performed significantly worse compared to the controls, but afterwards, inpatient treatment improvement was noted on all examined measures. In a few subtests (TMT, CWST) performance of AN patients after the programme was still significantly poorer than in HC. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive inflexibility in adolescent AN patients, as measured with TMT, CWST, and RFFT tends to improve after therapy. Nevertheless, a few neuropsychological subtests which did not show complete normalization may warrant attention in subsequent studies. Further research including control intervention is needed to conclude whether CRT intervention affects the outcome.

Mononuclear cell migration inhibition in children with nephrotic syndrome.

The relative number of T/B lymphocytes and the response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to PHA in the migration inhibition test was studied in a group of patients with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome. It has been found that the level of T lymphocytes and the response to PHA was decreased in patients in particular those with frequent relapses. The possible implications of these finding for pathogenesis of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome is briefly discussed.

The usefulness of Resusci-Anne manikin in teaching modern methods of resuscitation.

From experiences gained during the training of personnel the authors evaluate the effectiveness of teaching the principles of modern methods of resuscitation. They concluded that there are no essential differences in the preparation of carrying out resuscitation precedures between laymen and medical personnel. It is necessary to organize refreshing courses periodically. The Recording Resusci-Anne manikin with a device controlling the correctness of resuscitation procedures has been found to be an indispensable training aid in teaching the principles of resuscitation.