Childhood traumatic events and dissociative experiences in patients with chronic headache and low back pain.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine childhood traumatic experiences and dissociative characteristics in women with chronic headache and low back pain. SETTING: The patients were evaluated in the multidisciplinary pain clinic of a university hospital. SUBJECTS: This study included 73 patients: 41 with chronic headache and 32 with chronic low back pain. OUTCOME MEASURES: All the patients were assessed with use of a semistructured questionnaire, the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ), and the Childhood Abuse and Neglect Questionnaire. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: There were no significant differences between the headache and low back pain groups in terms of prevalence of history of neglect; abuse; or sexual, physical, and emotional abuse separately. In addition, no significant differences were found between the groups with respect to the Dissociative Experiences Scale scores. However, analysis of the SDQ scores showed that the neglect rate in the two groups differed significantly. According to our findings, the neglect rate was higher in the headache group, thus warranting further research to investigate the sensitivity of the SDQ for neglect.

Peripheral nerve maturation in English, West Indian and Turkish newborn infants.

The ulnar and posterior tibial conduction velocities were measured in a group of normal full-term English, West Indian and Turkish infants. The English infants had a faster mean ulnar nerve conduction velocity than the West Indian and Turkish infants, but when the sex of the infants was taken into account only the male West Indian infant was found to have slower mean velocities. By three months of age the velocities were similar between the West Indian and English infants. This study emphasises the importance of taking account of the sex of infants in any developmental study.

Maternal and neonatal elimination of amobarbital after treatment of the mother with barbiturates during late pregnancy.

Plasma half-lives of amobarbital were determined in newborn children of 10 mothers who had been treated with barbiturates for hypertension in pregnancy for 6 to 42 days prior to delivery. Five mothers had received amobarbital, 200 mg daily, and 5, phenobarbital, 60 to 180 mg daily. Half-lives in 7 of the babies ranged from 16.6 to 49.4 hr, comparable to those previously reported in babies of mothers who had received only a single dose of amobarbital. Thus there was no evidence of induction of amobarbital hydroxylation in these children. Two babies who had a greater than normal rise in serum bilirubin had longer half-lives (86.1 and 117.7 hr). In 1 baby whose mother had membranous glomerulonephritis, plasma amobarbital concentration did not significantly change over the period of the study.