Psychiatric Syndromes Following Blast

1942 ◽  
Vol 88 (371) ◽  
pp. 328-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. W. Anderson

This paper is concerned with a group of cases presenting certain psychiatric symptoms following exposure to the detonation of a nearby high-explosive bomb. These cases show features and present problems which appear from the current literature in this country to have received insufficient attention, or none at all. The cases to be presented are not all of equal significance, but in each there are certain common features which, from the psychiatric angle, have a definite and unmistakable organic stamp, and indicate a relationship, direct or indirect, of the syndromes to structural changes in the brain. These symptoms are characteristic in fact of a slight or moderate degree of cerebral trauma. This relationship is prone to be too easily overlooked. The reasons for this are :(1) The absence in many cases of a definite history of head injury.(2) The absence as a rule of at least a long period of unconsciousness.In consequence, when the patient is seen perhaps some considerable time later this possibility is not considered, and the reaction is dismissed as psychogenic. That this can be done even by trained observers was demonstrated in three of the cases about to be described. All the patients except one were Naval personnel who were exposed to blast in air-raids either ashore or at sea.

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron McMurtray ◽  
Ben Tseng ◽  
Natalie Diaz ◽  
Julia Chung ◽  
Bijal Mehta ◽  
...  

Acute onset of psychosis in an older or elderly individual without history of previous psychiatric disorders should prompt a thorough workup for neurologic causes of psychiatric symptoms. This report compares and contrasts clinical features of new onset of psychotic symptoms between two patients, one with an acute basal ganglia hemorrhagic stroke and another with an acute mid-brain ischemic stroke. Delusions and hallucinations due to basal ganglia lesions are theorized to develop as a result of frontal lobe dysfunction causing impairment of reality checking pathways in the brain, while visual hallucinations due to mid-brain lesions are theorized to develop due to dysregulation of inhibitory control of the ponto-geniculate-occipital system. Psychotic symptoms occurring due to stroke demonstrate varied clinical characteristics that depend on the location of the stroke within the brain. Treatment with antipsychotic medications may provide symptomatic relief.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyasmin Bomfim Paranhos ◽  
Lorena Menegussi Machado ◽  
João Marcelo Damasceno Licar ◽  
Daniel Furtado de Almeida ◽  
Mylena Andréa Oliveira Torres

Introduction: Sexual violence during childhood and adolescence can impact on neurobiological development, since in this period the maturation of the brain occurs. This research aims to relate trumas as a result of abuse, and examines the lasting neurobiological and behavioral consequences. Methods: Articles were researched in journals specialized in the area on Scielo, Pubmed, LLACs and Medline platforms, using publications between 2010 to 2020. The descriptors used were “sexual violence”, “cellular neurobiology” and “child abuse”. The articles were selected through the descriptors, publication period, portuguese or english works, number of citations and relevance of the work. Results: The research prove that sexual violence in childhood has several consequences for neurobiological development. Cognitive aspects are damaged resulting in negative impact on intellgence, attention, sensory motor functioning, language, memory and, among others, as well as psychiatric symptoms, decrease sense of coherence and increased cortizol concentrations. Neuroimaging studies also show structural changes that can affect various areas of the brain such as the cortex and reduce myelination. Conclusion: All tipes of violence or trauma has consequences, mainly when they are sexual, since brain areas such as the hippocampus, corpus callosum, prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex suffer evident changes detected by neuroimaging, having far reaching negative effects to the growth and development of these children.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13

This paper deals with the history of the relationship between the mind-body dualism and the epistemology of madness. Earlier versions of such dualism posed little problem in regard to the manner of their communication. The Cartesian view that mind and body did, in fact, name different substances introduced a problem of incommunicability that is yet to be resolved. Earlier views that madness may be related to changes in the brain began gaining empirical support during the 17th century. Writers on madness chose to resolve the mind-body problem differently Some stated that such communication was not needed; others, that mind was a redundant concept, as madness could be fully explained by structural changes in the brain; and yet others described psychological spaces for madness to inhabit as a symbolic conflict. The epistemology of the neurosciences bypasses the conundrum, as it processes all together the variables representing the brain, subjectivity, and behavior and bridges the “philosophical” gap by means of correlational structures.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 317-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia O’Callaghan ◽  
Alan O’Dowd ◽  
John Stapleton ◽  
Niamh A. Merriman ◽  
Eugenie Roudaia ◽  
...  

Previous studies have suggested that discrete cross-sensory events could be incorrectly combined in the brain of older adults with a history of falls, possibly undermining motor and balance control. Based on previous findings that multisensory integration is modifiable with practice, even in an ageing population, we designed a serious game, named CityQuest, to train typical, everyday multisensory processes including sensori-motor control, spatial navigation, obstacle avoidance and balance control. Played over several sessions, this game was shown to improve these functions in older adults with and without a history of falls, depending on the specific condition of the game on which they were trained. Here, using voxel-based morphometry analysis of anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, we investigated structural changes in the brain of a smaller group of older adults from those who successfully completed this five-week intervention. A grey-matter (GM) volume increase in the precentral gyrus, and GM volume reduction in the inferior temporal and orbitofrontal gyri, was found for all participants. Changes in GM volume within regions of the cerebellum were differentially associated with fall-prone and healthy older adults. Furthermore, a greater GM volume increase in the precentral gyrus was observed in participants who performed the full CityQuest intervention relative to those required to avoid obstacles only. Our results support previous evidence that multisensory training can affect structural changes in the older brain and have implications for programmes designed for the successful rehabilitation of perceptual and cognitive functions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen B. Miller ◽  
Virginia M. Miller ◽  
Jill N. Barnes

Abstract Purpose of Review Risks for developing cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline increase with age. In women, these risks may be influenced by pregnancy history. This review provides an integrated evaluation of associations of pregnancy history with hypertension, brain atrophy, and cognitive decline in postmenopausal women. Recent Findings Atrophy in the occipital lobes of the brain was evident in women who had current hypertension and a history of preeclampsia. Deficits in visual memory in women with a history of preeclampsia are consistent with these brain structural changes. The blood velocity response to chemical and sympathoexcitatory stimuli were altered in women with a history of preeclampsia linking impairments in cerebrovascular regulation to the structural and functional changes in the brain. Summary Having a history of preeclampsia should require close monitoring of blood pressure and initiation of anti-hypertensive treatment in perimenopausal women. Mechanisms by which preeclampsia affects cerebrovascular structure and function require additional study.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Mae Wilson ◽  
Aurora Burkus-Matesevac ◽  
Samuel Maddox ◽  
Christopher Chouinard

β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) has been linked to the development of neurodegenerative (ND) symptoms following chronic environmental exposure through water and dietary sources. The brains of those affected by this condition, often referred to as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-parkinsonism-dementia complex (ALS-PDC), have exhibited the presence of plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) from protein aggregation. Although numerous studies have sought to better understand the correlation between BMAA exposure and onset of ND symptoms, no definitive link has been identified. One prevailing hypothesis is that BMAA acts a small molecule ligand, complexing with critical proteins in the brain and reducing their function. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of BMAA exposure on the native structure of ubiquitin. We hypothesized that formation of a Ubiquitin+BMAA noncovalent complex would alter the protein’s structure and folding and ultimately affect the ubiquitinproteasome system (UPS) and the unfolded protein response (UPR). Ion mobility-mass spectrometry revealed that at sufficiently high concentrations BMAA did in fact form a noncovalent complex with ubiquitin, however similar complexes were identified for a range of additional amino acids. Collision induced unfolding (CIU) was used to interrogate the unfolding dynamics of native ubiquitin and these Ubq-amino acid complexes and it was determined that complexation with BMAA led to a significant alteration in native protein size and conformation, and this complex required considerably more energy to unfold. This indicates that the complex remains more stable under native conditions and this may indicate that BMAA has attached to a critical binding location.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Mae Wilson ◽  
Aurora Burkus-Matesevac ◽  
Samuel Maddox ◽  
Christopher Chouinard

β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) has been linked to the development of neurodegenerative (ND) symptoms following chronic environmental exposure through water and dietary sources. The brains of those affected by this condition, often referred to as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-parkinsonism-dementia complex (ALS-PDC), have exhibited the presence of plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) from protein aggregation. Although numerous studies have sought to better understand the correlation between BMAA exposure and onset of ND symptoms, no definitive link has been identified. One prevailing hypothesis is that BMAA acts a small molecule ligand, complexing with critical proteins in the brain and reducing their function. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of BMAA exposure on the native structure of ubiquitin. We hypothesized that formation of a Ubiquitin+BMAA noncovalent complex would alter the protein’s structure and folding and ultimately affect the ubiquitinproteasome system (UPS) and the unfolded protein response (UPR). Ion mobility-mass spectrometry revealed that at sufficiently high concentrations BMAA did in fact form a noncovalent complex with ubiquitin, however similar complexes were identified for a range of additional amino acids. Collision induced unfolding (CIU) was used to interrogate the unfolding dynamics of native ubiquitin and these Ubq-amino acid complexes and it was determined that complexation with BMAA led to a significant alteration in native protein size and conformation, and this complex required considerably more energy to unfold. This indicates that the complex remains more stable under native conditions and this may indicate that BMAA has attached to a critical binding location.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayant Mahadevan ◽  
Reeteka Sud ◽  
Ravi Kumar Nadella ◽  
Vani P ◽  
Anand G Subramaniam ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND:Psychiatric syndromes have polymorphic symptomatology, and are known to be heritable. Psychiatric symptoms (and even syndromes) often occur as part of the clinical presentation in rare Mendelian syndromes. Clinical exome sequencing reports may help with refining diagnosis and influence treatment decisions, in addition to providing a window into the biology of brain and behaviour. We describe a clinical audit of 12 individuals who sought treatment at our hospital, and for whom targeted sequencing was ordered. Three cases are discussed in detail to demonstrate correlations between genotype and phenotype in the clinic.METHODS:Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) was done using Clinical Exome Panel (TruSight One, Illumina) covering coding exons and flanking intronic sequences of 4811 genes associated with known inherited diseases. Variants detected were classified according to the American College for Medical Genetics (ACMG) recommendation for standards of interpretation and reporting of sequence variations.RESULTS:Ten out of twelve cases had at least one pathogenic variant. In one of these cases, we detected a known pathogenic variant in MAPT gene in a suspected FTD case, which helped us to confirm the diagnosis. In another case, we detected a novel variant predicted to be deleterious in NF1 gene. Identification of this mutation suggested a change in treatment for the patient, that was of benefit. The same patient also harboured a novel variant in the TRIO gene. This gene may be involved in biological processes that underlie the patient’s psychiatric illness.CONCLUSIONS:The cases discussed here exemplify different scenarios under which targeted exome sequencing can find meaningful application in the clinic: confirming diagnosis (MAPT variant), or modifying treatment (NF1). We suggest that clinical exome sequencing can be a helpful addition to a clinician’s toolkit when there are expediting factors to consider— such as early-onset, strong family history of mental illness, complex/atypical presentations and minor physical anomalies or neurocutaneous markers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-78
Author(s):  
Venelin Terziev ◽  
Marin Georgiev

The subject of this article is the genesis of the professional culture of personnel management. The last decades of the 20th century were marked by various revolutions - scientific, technical, democratic, informational, sexual, etc. Their cumulative effect has been mostly reflected in the professional revolution that shapes the professional society around the world. This social revolution has global consequences. In addition to its extensive parameters, it also has intensive ones related to the deeply-rooted structural changes in the ways of working and thinking, as well as in the forms of its social organization. The professional revolutions in the history of Modern Times stem from this theory.Employees’ awareness and accountability shall be strengthened. The leader must be able to formulate and bring closer to the employees the vision of the organization and its future goal, to which all shall aspire. He should pay attention not to the "letter" but to the "spirit" of this approach.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. e233179
Author(s):  
Eric Garrels ◽  
Fawziya Huq ◽  
Gavin McKay

Limbic encephalitis is often reported to present as seizures and impaired cognition with little focus on psychiatric presentations. In this case report, we present a 49-year-old man who initially presented to the Psychiatric Liaison Service with a several month history of confusion with the additional emergence of visual hallucinations and delusions. Due to the inconsistent nature of the symptoms in the context of a major financial stressor, a provisional functional cognitive impairment diagnosis was made. Investigations later revealed a positive titre of voltage-gated potassium channel (VGKC) antibodies, subtype leucine-rich glioma inactivated 1 accounting for his symptoms which dramatically resolved with steroids and immunoglobulins. This case highlighted the need for maintaining broad differential diagnoses in a patient presenting with unusual psychiatric symptoms.


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