Cognitive abnormalities may occur in the physically asymptomatic phases of the infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and poor education may represent a risk factor for their development. These abnormalities are usually mild, and apparently do not affect subjects’ daily living performance, although this notion should be regarded as preliminary, due to the present primitive stage of development of the instruments which assess functioning in daily living activities. The above evidence has emerged from the cross-sectional phase of the WHO Neuropsychiatric AIDS Study, carried out in the five geographic areas predominantly affected by the HIV epidemic (sub-Saharian Africa, Latin America, North America, South-East Asia, Western Europe), on subject samples that are representative of the whole population of HIV-infected persons living in those areas. The professional implications of HIV-associated early cognitive dysfunction are open to research: for example the current debate on the impact of dysfunction on aviation-related skills emphasizes the need for test batteries with a higher predictive potential than those presently available.

This review studies the epidemiology of anxiety disorders of childhood and adolescence, including prevalence rates, comorbidity patterns, risk factors and course. Comorbidity is very important: most children with anxiety disorders also have one or several other anomalies, usually anxiety or mood disorders. The authors point out the main evidence suggesting that a number of risk factors are associated with childhood anxiety disorders: age, sex, low socioeconomic setting; child's personality, and lastly, familial risk factors which have a very strong influence: children of parents with current or past anxiety disorders are more at risk of having anxiety disorders. Concerning the course of disorders, we have tentatively defined subsets of children or adolescents with anxiety disorders, and tried to clarify the recovery rate of these subsets. Future directions for research are suggested.

The incidences of major psychiatric syndromes (DSM III-R, axis I) in the age group 18–49 years were investigated. Incidence was defined as first ever admission rates during a period of 1 year.. The study base was a well-defined catchment area of 217,649 persons. Selection bias was analyzed by the use of a population-based psychiatric case register. Information bias was minimized by the use of a semi-structured interview, the Present State Examination, 10th edition. Comorbidity defined as significant cooccurrence of Axis I disorders was analyzed by multivariate statistics. One hundred and sixty-six patients were interviewed. PSE-10, now published by WHO, proved to be as reliable as its predecessors, and appropriate for the severely ill psychiatric patient. Incidences of schizophrenia, other psychoses stratified for the presence of psychoactive substance use disorders, and mood disorders stratified for anxiety disorders were reported. The sample was biased towards younger individuals with more severe psychopathology.

The subjective, behavioral and physiological effects of modafinil (300 mg PO) a new central adrenergic stimulant, were compared with those of dextroamphetamine (15 mg PO), caffeine (300 mg PO) and placebo in a randomized double-blind cross-over study. Sixteen healthy volunteers participated in the study y: 8 males and 8 females with no history of drug abuse and moderate use of caffeine. Subjective and behavioral effects were studied using the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI), Profile of Mood States (POMS) and Visual Analog Scales before and 1, 2, 4 and 8 h post single oral dosing. Results showed that subjective effects of modafinil (300 mg) differed markedly from those of dextroamphetamine (15 mg). They were close to those produced by caffeine (300 mg). These results indicate that modafinil (300 mg) does not possess amphetamine-like subjective effects in a healthy population. If subjective feelings are related to drug abuse liability, it could be assumed that modafinil, at the dose used in therapeutics, does not possess any abuse liability comparable to amphetamine.

The psychopathological profile in a sample of 43 adult chronic asthmatic outpatients is analyzed. The SCL-90-R Self-Report Questionnaire was applied. The symptomatic profile in our sample is characterized by a main elevation of the dimension of somatization (1.80) followed by the areas of depression (1.64), obsession-compulsion (1.53) and anxiety (1.45). These dimensions contribute to the leading features of psychopathology in our patients.

Ten men and one woman aged 27 to 52 years and presenting chronic evolution of their psychotic disorders benefited from a treatment which associated lithium sulfate at a plasmatic level of 0.5 to 0.8 meq/L with clozapine (mean posology: 300 mg/day). Five patients presented chronic disorganized schizophrenia (295.14), five a schizoaffective disorder (295.70) and one patient chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia (295.94) according to DSM III-R. Nine of the eleven patients showed mood disorders in addition to their psychotic and dissociative symptomatology. The remaining two presented chronic disorganised schizophrenia with aggressive behaviour. The clozapine-lithium association led to stabilization and improvement in the condition of all patients. Nine patients are still undergoing treatment with satisfactory results. The mean duration of the clozapine-lithium treatment, which has proved to be well tolerated with regard to side-effects, is about five years.

We administered the Personality Disorder Examination (PDE) to 31 patients meeting DSM III criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and to an age-and sex-matched healthy control group. Seventeen patients (54.8%) and four controls (12.9%) met criteria for one or more DSM III Axis II diagnoses. The most frequent Axis II diagnoses in patients were avoidant, passive-aggressive and compulsive personality disorder. Compulsive personality disorder was diagnosed in 6 OCD patients (19.3%). The prevalence of this disorder did not change according to sex, age of onset or duration of OCD, and severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

The case reports of two DSM III-R schizophrenic patients with a family history of bipolar disorder are presented. The two patients had a history of severe obstetric complications (OCs). These cases are discussed in the light of neurodevelopmental theories of schizophrenia and in the continuum view of psychosis.