[Severe depressive episode with psychotic symptoms on the basis of hypothyroidism]. / Ciezki epizod depresyjny z objawami psychotycznymi na podlozu niedoczynnosci tarczycy.

The prevalence of depressive disorders in hypothyroidism is the subject of long-term studies and controversies. The studies on big populations appear to confirm a substantially higher prevalence rate of depression in patients diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Considering interdependence between depression and hypothyroidism the possibility of coincidence of the two disorders cannot be forgotten. The aim of the work is a case of late diagnosed hypothyroidism in the course of which a severe depressive episode with psychotic symptoms occurred. A female patient, aged 39, commenced outpatient psychiatric treatment because of sleeplessness in May 2008. In the following months a lack of appetite, skin dryness and hair loss occurred. As a result of hypothyroidism diagnose she started endocrinological treatment in the Center of Thyroid Illness Treatment in Rzeszów. On the 25th of October she was admitted to Psychiatry Department of the Medical University of Lublin after taking clorazepate as a suicide attempt. While being admitted she was heavily depressed, uttered nihilistic delusions, had suicidal thoughts and was disoriented for time. From etiological point of view the situation can be considered in two categories. On one hand psychotic symptoms may have been the climax of the disturbance of the central nervous system function in long-lasting undiagnosed hypothyroidism. On the other hand, the coincidence of the two disorders cannot be excluded. The presented case implicate the role of the early diagnose of hypothyroidism for the prevention of depression.

[Obesity and body image]. / Otylosc a obraz wlasnego ciala.

The authors present a literature review of the mutual relationship between obesity and body image. Obesity is becoming a worldwide problem that causes not only medical consequences but also disturbances in psychosocial functioning. Contemporary culture stigmatizes obese persons, which increases the probability of them internalizing negative information about themselves, and can cause obese persons feel psychologically discomforted about their physical appearance. Obesity then, is a source of distress related to a negative body image that plays a substantial role in the pathogenesis of eating disorders. Body image is an element of self-image and psychological well-being is substantially dependent on it. Research has clearly shown that obese persons are dissatisfied with their body and remain dissatisfied even after having lost weight. Obese persons more often tend to overestimate than underestimate their body size. It turns out though that not all obese people have a disturbed body image to the same degree. Most significant disturbances are characteristic of people with childhood-onset or adolescence-onset obesity, women and people suffering from a binge-eating disorder.

[The psychometric properties of the Proverb-Metaphor Test]. / Wlasnosci psychometryczne Testu Przyslowie-Metafora.

UNLABELLED: Abstract thinking belongs to intellectual abilities of the highest level of the evolutionary development, thanks to which operations such a classification, systematisation and comparison are possible. AIM: An analysis of the psychometric properties of the Proverb-Metaphor Test (TPM) which has been used in the German speaking countries since 2001. The TPM was subject to the process of translation--retranslation--travesty in order to be adapted to clinical conditions in Poland. MATERIAL: 60 patients of the Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Lublin with diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia (according to ICD-10 criteria). METHODS: PANSS and TPM was carried out amongst 15 patients at the beginning of the hospitalisation (the first stage of the research) and among all persons during the remission of syndromes (the second stage). The WAIS-R (PL) was used in the second stage. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: 1. The TPM is a reliable instrument, of high criteria propriety. 2. The evaluated test is a relatively homogeneous research tool. 3. The TPM is, thanks to its simple construction and the short carrying out time, a practical method of abstract thinking evaluation. 4. The TPM may be a useful instrument enabling long term prognosis.

Inactivation of jack bean urease by allicin.

Allicin--diallyl thiosulfinate--is the main biologically active component of freshly crushed garlic. Allicin was synthesized as described elsewhere and was tested for its inhibitory ability against jack bean urease in 20 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.0 at 22 degrees C. The results indicate that allicin is an enzymatic inactivator. The loss of urease activity was irreversible, time- and concentration dependent and the kinetics of the inactivation was biphasic; each phase, obeyed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The rate constants for inactivation were measured for the fast and slow phases and for several concentrations of allicin. Thiol reagents, and competitive inhibitor (boric acid) protected the enzyme from loss of enzymatic activity. The studies demonstrate that urease inactivation results from the reaction between allicin and the SH-group, situated in the urease active site (Cys592).