[Proposal for a physiologic concept of thought based on the results of stereotaxic psychosurgery]. / Návrh fyziologické koncepce myslení odvozený z výsledku psychostereotaktických operací.

Authors have fifty years long experience with psychostereotactic surgery. On the bases of 209 operations of different types of mentally ill patients, authors built their own physiological conception of the central nervous system function. The new conception is described using block operators of thinking at the level of hypothalamus, limbic system, and neocortex in the hierarchic order. The basic physiological hypothalamic block contains two operators: stimulus evaluation and decision to act. Both operators together form reasonable, objective substantiation of thinking, which is transformed into psychological, subjective description at higher cerebral levels. New operator is added to the block diagram at the level of the limbic system: the choice of response base on experience stored in the high capacity memory. Vast neocortical memory creates a model of the individual world and it enables a new operator to be involved: prediction of the future events. Thinking, originally based on concrete images, is using abstract terms, subjected to the principles of grammar. Physiological basis of thinking enables the convergence of subjective and objective.

Signal-averaged ECG in patients with antidepressant therapy.

The signal-averaged electrocardiography (SAECG) identifies patients at risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Since the similarity has been known of the pharmacology of class I antiarrhythmics and tricyclic antidepressants, the potential proarrhythmic effects of antidepressants has become a particular problem. The influence of sodium channel blocking antidepressant drugs on the SAECG time-domain parameters was evaluated, using high-pass filters of 25 Hz and 40 Hz. SAECG was performed in 11 depressed patients with normal cardiac status before and for 4 weeks after antidepressant initiation. At the filter setting of 25 Hz, a significant worsening of all studied SAECG parameters (filtered QRS duration, low-amplitude signal duration, root mean square voltage in the first and in the last 40 ms of the filtered QRS) was found in our patient group. Using a 40 Hz high-pass filter, the results were similar. Antidepressant therapy significantly prolonged filtered QRS duration, significantly reduced root mean square voltages in the first and in the last 40 ms of the filtered QRS and non-significantly prolonged low amplitude signal duration. Amitriptyline and maprotiline induced late potentials (LP) in 2 patients at 40 Hz high pass filter setting. No patient had LP at 25-250 Hz. Our pilot study indicates that sodium channel blocking antidepressant drugs may affect SAECG variables similarly to class I antiarrhythmics. SAECG might be useful in categorizing of antidepressant agents and risk stratification of psychiatric patients.

[Newest advances in clinical phytotherapy in Chinese psychiatry]. / Najnovsie klinické fytoterapeutické postupy v cínskej psychiatrii.

Based on a review of the literature contemporary psychiatric practice of herbal medicine in the Chinese People's Republic is re-evaluated. In many articles the results lack methodological precision. In some most trustworthy publications it is stated that for some psychiatric conditions certain herbal drugs are effective and that by combined treatment of modern drugs with phytotherapy a greater effectiveness can be achieved and the time needed for restoration of health can be reduced and the frequency of side-effect is smaller. To confirm the conclusions on the importance of phytotherapy in psychiatry, according to the authors, more elaborate investigations in psychiatry are needed.

[EPR spin trapping of reactive oxygen products of the respiratory burst of phagocytes (use of EPR spectroscopy in biology and medicine. II)]. / Spin trapping EPR stúdium reaktívnych kyslíkových produktov respiracného vzplanutia fagocytov (vyuzitie EPR-spektroskopie v biológii a v medicíne II.)

Respiratory burst during phagocytosis of human neutrophils is connected with the production of superoxide anion radical O2.-. This radical changes into further bioreactive oxygen products (especially H2O2 and .OH) which can be harmful to the organism. The principles of EPR spin trapping, the most reliable method for the study of short living free radicals, are presented. Advantages and problems of the study of O2.- and .OH by means of the 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO) spin trap were assessed. Overproduction of O2.- (e.g. by chronic inflammation) can be treated with superoxide dismutase (SOD) or other drugs with SOD-like activity. Methods for studying such superoxide scavengers are reviewed. (Fig. 3, Tab. 2, Ref. 88.).

[Psychology and psychopathology of creativity]. / Poznámky k psychológii a psychopathológii kreativity.

The investigation deals with some aspects of creativity, normal and pathological, and presents a brief account on various trends from psychoanalytical ones to factor analysis of creativity. The draw authors attention to the necessity to supplement the phenomenological approach by investigations of objective indicators of creativity. Subsequently they analyze some manifestations and sings of creativity in drawings of schizophrenic patients, children and their analogy with art of primitive nations.

[The status and perspectives of psychotherapeutic supervision in Slovakia]. / Stav a perspektivy psychoterapeutickej supervizie u nás.

The authors attempt to map the present state of psychotherapeutic supervision which should be a systematic method for ensuring adequate teaching, training and responsible psychotherapeutic practice. The paper gives an account of approaches to supervision and draws attention to the possibility and necessity to use fundamental work from this field which could partly fill the gap in professional literature which developed during the past decades.

A spin probe study of the effects of chlorpromazine and its derivatives on lipid-protein interactions in synaptosomal membranes.

The electron spin resonance spectra of 16-doxyl stearic acid (16-SA) incorporated into synaptosomes mostly showed a fluid lipid component and a minor motionally-restricted component (MRC) of the molar fraction of 10-20%, measured at 0 degree C. At 10 mmol/l concentration, thioridazine (TRZ), chlorpromazine (CPZ), chlorprothixene (CPT), perphenazine (PFZ) and levopromazine (LPZ) raised the MRC molar fraction in the synaptosomes to 100, 92, 65, 41 and 39%, respectively (as detected by the spin probe at 0 degrees C). At 4% concentration, TRZ, CPZ, CPT, PFZ, and LPZ the respective MRC percentages were 100, 75, 41, 24 and 17%. In synaptosomal membranes, AMRC splitting values of MRC, induced by TRZ and CPZ, were similar to those of the probe in human serum albumin. MRC induced by CPZ and TRZ was constant (+/- 15%) within the temperature range from 0 to 30 degrees C. At drug/lipid ratios > or = 2 : 1, TRZ and CPZ formed rigid complexes with total lipids isolated from the rat brain. The complexes melted upon increasing the temperature of the samples over 10-20 degrees C. The drugs decreased the lipid concentrations in synaptosomes in the order of potency TRZ > CPZ > CPT > PFZ > or = LPZ; this was similar to their effect on MRC increase. The drugs tested increased the membrane dynamics/disordering, and their potency fairly correlated with their MRC increasing effects. It is supposed that the drug-induced 16-SA probe MRC increase in synaptosomes was a result of mainly decreased lipid/protein ratio in the synaptosomal membranes, which in turn probably is connected with perturbation of lipid-protein interactions and/or membrane proteins. The perturbation of lipid-protein interactions and/or membrane proteins may be connected with the drug perturbation effect on the bulk lipid membrane part.

[Long-term results in patients with stereotaxic surgery for psychopathologic disorders]. / Dlhodobé výsledky 304 stereotakticky operovaných pacientov s psychopatologickými poruchami.

Long-term results (5-20 years) recorded in 304 patients operated on stereotactically for psychopathologic disorders are presented. The largest group of 260 surgically treated subjects represented aggressive patients. This group consisted of 150 patients with mental retardation, 70 with epilepsy, 20 with schizophrenia, and 20 patients with sexual deviations. Amygdalectomy for patients with normal intellect and posterior hypothalamotomy for those with reduced intellect proved to be the most effective procedure. Symmetrical operations were also effective. In some cases a combination of two target was necessary. In epileptics with aggressivity the combination of amygdalectomy and hippocampectomy yielded the best results. In aggressivity with sexual deviations anterior hypothalamotomy was the most effective operation. Favorable results in aggressivity therapy were recorded in 60% of patients. In patients with criminal sexual deviations, in drug addicts, and in alcoholics, anterior hypothalamotomy was found to be most effective, with favorable results in 50% of patients. In patients with depression, thalamotomy or stimulation of the limbic regions of the thalamus decreased the depression, with favorable results recorded in 66% of patients. The results of the surgically treated patients show that target-oriented stereotactic operations remove psychopathologic symptoms, improve the effectiveness of psychoactive drugs and the social adaptability of patients. (Ref. 15.)

[Maternal age in the etiology of schizophrenia]. / Vek matiek v etiológii schizofrénie.

The relationship between maternal age at time of delivery and the incidence of schizophrenia in the offspring was investigated. By the method of regression analysis the value of the regression coefficient was found to be positive, indicating that with an increase of the mean maternal age by one year the incidence of schizophrenia rises in the offspring by 0.68%. Statistical evaluation of the incidence of the disease in the offspring of two age groups of mothers showed that maternal age ranging from 31 to 40 (means = 25.1 y.) was accompanied with a statistically significant increase in the risk of developing schizophrenia in the offspring as compared to maternal age ranging from 18 to 30 year (mean = 25.1 y.). The difference in the incidence of the disease in the offspring of the two age groups was 9.64% (Tab. 1, Fig. 1, Ref. 13).

Immunoprecipitation of herpes simplex virus polypeptides with human sera is related to their ELISA titre.

Out of 485 human sera tested by neutralization and enzyme immunoassay 13 were negative in both tests, while a positive correlation was found in 457 samples (94.3%). The rest of sera (3.2%) showed discordant results. Selected sera were examined, in addition, by Western blot and immunoprecipitation assays with the aim to analyse the precipitation profile of discordant sera and correlate the ELISA titre with the precipitation profiles. High titre sera precipitated the main glycoproteins (gC, gB, gE, gD), the capsid polypeptides (VP 5, VP 19, VP 21, VP 22) and several other structural and nonstructural proteins. The ability of sera to precipitate viral structural proteins was related to their ELISA titre rather than to their neutralizing activity.

[A scanning electron microscopy study of the ependyma in the lateral cerebral ventricle in humans]. / Stúdium ependýmu v bocnej mozgovej komore cloveka v rastrovacom elektrónovom mikroskope.

The apical surface of ependymal cells in the cornu anterius of the lateral ventricle of the brain was studied in man. The surface of ependymal cells displays varied differentiation, the cells have microvilli, spherical processes, and cilia. In the cornu anterius ependymal cells without cilia as well as with one cilium and even several cilia were observed. Different types of cells occur in groups forming so-called ependymal areas, which are constituents of the lining of the ventricular walls. Ependymal areas with a large number of cilia were recorded along with areas without cilia and so-called transitory ependymal areas with a small number of cilia. There are no sharp borderlines between the individual areas.

[Use of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy spin labels in studying the properties of biological membranes]. / Vyuzitie spektroskopie EPR spinových znaciek pri stúdiu vlastností biologických membrán.

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy of spin labels has become a widely spread method in biochemistry, molecular biology, and medicine. After a brief view on the structure and functions of biological membranes, basic principles of EPR and particularly of the spin labeling technique are presented. Applications of this technique are demonstrated on the study of various properties of biological membranes, such as phase transition of lipids, properties of different membrane parts, permeability of membranes, inner volumes of liposomes and cells, membrane potentials, lateral diffusion, lipid-protein interaction, and determination of oxygen concentration. As an example the results of a study concerning the effect of chlorpromazine and its derivatives on the dynamics and lipid-protein interaction in synaptosomes are presented.

Immunological, psychological and sociological studies in alcohol abusers and long-term abstainers.

The presented results are part of a broader study of problems of alcoholism investigated within the research project on "Pathogenesis of Major Mental Diseases". The paper consists of three parts: immunovirological, psychological, and sociopsychological. Certain signs of disbalance were found in the immune system of 196 alcoholics, as compared with 363 controls, which proved reversible with the improvement of the patient's condition. This may be interpreted as an additional sign of recovery of the somatic condition of the patient. In the psychological part screening questionnaires were adapted and used in 335 inpatients and 116 outpatients. In a pilot study the pesonality characteristics of 30 obtaining alcoholics were compared with those of 37 treated alcoholics. A scale of psychic rigidity was elaborated for alcoholics (130 subjects) as compared to controls (70 subjects). The sign of psychic rip6dity was evaluated for its suitability in discriminating between alcoholics and non-addict drinkers. In the sociological part diagnostic lists were elaborated containing 195 markers reflecting different aspects of the sociopsychological profile of persons at risk and of alcohol abusers. The investigated subjects came from a factory community.

Herpes simplex virus DNA in the brain of psychotic patients.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA was found by spot blot hybridization in the right nc. amygdalae of 3 out 10 patients who underwent curative stereotactic surgery for severe mental retardation with aggressive behavior and/or paranoic schizophrenia. Of these, 6 were also tested for the presence of CMV DNA sequences with negative results. Biopsy specimens from nc. amygdalae of another 7 psychotic patients were cultured in vitro but no virus was isolated.