International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal

Background: There are different possible temporal associations between epileptic seizures and headache attacks which have given rise to unclear or controversial terminologies. The classification of the International League Against Epilepsy does not refer to this type of disorder, while the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-III beta version) defines three kinds of association: 1. migraine-triggered seizure (‘‘migralepsy’’), 2. hemicrania epileptica, and 3. post-ictal headache.

Case Report: The history of the child show the temporal succession of clinical events that suggest the real “migralepsy”. The case is interesting because of the susceptibility of crisis triggered by emotional factors as can be for the headache. The child describes her feel well and therefore the partial crisis documented by the EEG is well representative.

Conclusion: The case is suggested for the rarity of this pathology also in the childhood.

Background and Aims: Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. The long noncoding RNA, BACE1-AS, acts as a regulator of BACE1 transcript which its product involves in Alzheimer’s disease pathobiology. We investigated the frequency and association of rs147542312C/T of BACE1-AS gene with Alzheimer’s disease in northwest of Iran.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Genetics and Animal Biology (Faculty of Natural Science, University of Tabriz) and Neurosciences Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, between February 2016 and May 2017.

Methodology: Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood cells of 180 people, including 87 cases and 93 healthy controls by standard salting out method. The samples were genotyped using tetra-primer as well as three-primer ARMS-PCR methods. To further verify the results, some samples were sequenced randomly. Tetra-primer and three-primer ARMS-PCR methods revealed no T allele either in cases or in controls and the results were verified with sequencing.

Results: The results obtained showed that all cases and controls were genotypically CC homozygotes. This study did not reveal any association between the rs147542312C/T polymorphism of BACE1-AS with Alzheimer’s disease. So the rs147542312C/T polymorphism of BACE1-AS do not present or may occur in a very low frequency in northwest of Iran.

Conclusion: The results imply that the rs147542312C/T polymorphism of BACE1-AS can’t be considered as an informative genetic change for prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease in northwest of Iran.

Aim of the Study: Is to evaluate interlaminar discectomy in terms of: accessibility, safety and clinical outcome.

Background: Interlaminar approach for lumbar Discectomy is a less invasive technique that allows accessibility to a herniated disc via resection of ligamentum flavum either partially or totally with preservation of other structures leading to better spinal stability.

Study Design: Prospective study.

Patients and Methods: This is a prospective study including 64 cases of lumbar disc herniation operated between august 2012 and February 2015. All cases were subjected to lumbar discectomy via interlaminar approach. Surgical technique based on resection of ligamentum flavum either unilateral or bilateral with foraminotomy before disc extraction. Visual Analog Scale was used for preoperative and postoperative pain assessment, while Spengler´s modification of Macnab´s    criteria was used for long term follow up. Patients were follow up for a period ranged from 3 to 18 months.

Results: Adequate exposure of herniated discs and involved roots obtained in 61 cases where partial laminectomy was need in 3 cases. In these 3 cases, the herniated disc showed cephalic migration. Bilateral resection of ligamentum flavum was done in 11 cases. All cases presented with sciatica showed excellent post-operative improvement, cases with foot drop showed no improvement. Early ambulation was done in all cases.

Conclusion: Interlaminar approach in lumbar discectomy is a safe and effective technique providing excellent accessibility in the majority of cases -even with higher levels like L3-4- with less post-operative back pain and early ambulation. Cases with cephalic migration of the herniated discs needs partial laminectomy.

Background: Non-adherence to psychotropic medication among psychiatric patients is one among the huge medical problem in Saudi Arabia. Most of the psychiatric patients do not adhere to the instruction of the physician in such a way that they reappear in the hospital after medication and getting well.

Aim: To assess psychotropic medication non-adherence among psychiatric patients at King Abdulaziz hospital in Makkah city, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted on 342 psychiatric patients with age group between 18-65 years, and is visiting the outpatient clinics and subjected to psychotropic medication at the department of psychiatry at King Abdulaziz Hospital. Data were collected from the psychiatric patients using the designed questionnaire. The Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) were used to assess the level of adherence to medication.

Results: A total of 342 of patients participated in the study. One hundred ninety-one, 191(55.8%), were females. About half (54.4%) of the patients were married, (53.5%) of them were between 30-39 years old. A significant relation between the educational level of participants and adherence to medication (P <0.05) were recorded. Patients in this study reported that the impacts of non-adherence to the medication are a relapse of the symptoms (25%), cannot sleep (15.2%), bad mood (10.2%), and agitation (4.7%).

Conclusion: Non-adherence remains a significant challenge for patients with psychiatric disorders, physicians, healthcare systems which resulting in poorer outcomes for patients. Though the predictors of non-adherence among psychiatric patients are multifactorial, the strongest determinants in this study were the increased number of medication, the presence of side effect, and forgetting of taking medication. According to this we recommend adhering to monotherapy except when the use of multiple drugs becomes compelling and takes into consideration the side effects of medications.

Background: In most low-and-middle income countries, more than 50% of the population are children and adolescents. There are very few child and adolescent mental health professionals to attend to the mental health needs of this population. Therefore, screening instruments that are easy to use, and requires little time to complete should be made available to these few and overburdened professionals. Hence, this study aimed at establishing the psychometric properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) among adolescents attending a Secondary School in Nigeria.

Methods: The validation was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, one hundred and two adolescents aged 13-16 years completed the self-report version of the SDQ. The second stage involved the administration of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Age Children, Current and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) to all the 102 participants in the first stage.

Results: The SDQ displayed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.82). A cut-off of 14 gave the optimal threshold point with a sensitivity of 0.84, specificity of 0.88 and a misclassification rate of 0.19. A factor analysis of the instrument supported the original five-factor hypothesis with items on the pro-social scale loading with the lowest scores.

Conclusions: The self-report SDQ demonstrated good psychometric properties and confirmed the five-factor hypothesis of the original author. However, future research should establish indigenous meaningful construct within this population and culture with special consideration on the pro-social scale of the instrument.