OBJECTIVES: Some emotional components, such as self-esteem, depression and anxiety, have been reported to be associated with paranoia in non-clinical population and schizophrenia patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between self-esteem and paranoia in healthy controls, in ultra-high risk for psychosis and schizophrenia patients. METHODS: 34 subjects with recent onset schizophrenia, 36 subjects with ultra-high risk for psychosis, and 44 healthy volunteers participated in this study. A detailed assessment was made of the paranoia, self-esteem, depression, and anxiety. RESULTS: In all three groups, there were a negative correlation between paranoia and self-esteem, and positive correlations between paranoia and depression and anxiety. In healthy control, lower self-esteem showed a trend to predict higher paranoia, and in ultra-high risk for psychosis, this trend tern on statistically significant level, and in recent onset schizophrenia group, this correlation was disappeared. CONCLUSION: The individual who have lower self-esteem showed higher paranoia tendency under delusional level, but after formation of persecutory delusion, the tendency was disappeared. This result supports the hypothesis that persecutory delusions are a defense against negative affective process.
Animals ; Anxiety ; Charadriiformes ; Delusions ; Depression ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Paranoid Disorders* ; Psychotic Disorders* ; Schizophrenia*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Emphysema* ; Fistula* ; Pneumonectomy*

No abstract available.
Rupture* ; Subclavian Artery*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Dogs* ; Lung*

Violence in individuals with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders is known to be higher than in the general population, according to various definitions of violence, although most people with schizophrenia are not violent. Various factors are reported to increase the risk of violence: demographic characteristics such as male gender, young age, and low socioeconomic status; antisocial personality and history of conduct disorder; comorbidity of substance abuse; psychopathological-clinical variables including positive psychotic symptoms, duration of the untreated psychosis, and the first episode of psychosis; and cognitive disorders. There are 3 types of violent patients with schizophrenia: 1) violent patients with a history of conduct disorder prior to the onset of schizophrenia; 2) violent patients in an acute psychotic episode, with no history of conduct disorder prior to the onset of schizophrenia; and 3) chronically violent patients who show no aggressive behavior prior to their thirties and early forties, and then are engaged in serious violence often including homicide. There are some identified triggering factors including exposure to violence, traumatic brain injury, self-harm, unintentional injury, substance intoxication and parental bereavement. The preventive and treatment strategies will be discussed according to the two different pathways of violence that are classified by the history of conduct disorder. A scientific approach is essential to reduce the rates of violent behaviors and potentially related stigma in patients with schizophrenia.
Antisocial Personality Disorder ; Bereavement ; Brain Injuries ; Comorbidity ; Conduct Disorder ; Exposure to Violence ; Homicide ; Humans ; Male ; Parents ; Psychotic Disorders ; Risk Factors ; Schizophrenia* ; Social Class ; Substance-Related Disorders ; Violence

It is widely accepted that patients with schizophrenia show disturbances in their cognitive function. Recently, due to the increase of the possibilities of therapeutic intervention for cognitive deficits, cognitive rehabilitation is being tried by clinicians in the management of schizophrenia. Our study has considered several questions that have been raised in relation to cognitive rehabilitation. 1) What is cognitive rehabilitation? ; 2) What are its strategies? ; 3) What strategy of cognitive rehabilitation is appropriate to several cognitive deficits? ; 4) What kind of cognitive rehabilitation methods are possible according to the information processing model for schizophrenia? ; 5) What is its clinical considerations? ; 6) On what theoretical basis does the critical view of cognitive rehabilitation have its roots? ; 7) Which direction should it follow? Despite its limitation, there are still great possibilities for the future of cognitive rehabilitation, and we feel that it should be tried for patients with schizophrenia in this country.
Automatic Data Processing ; Humans ; Rehabilitation* ; Schizophrenia*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Transplantation*

Cryptococcal meningitis is a relatively common central nervous system infection by Cryptococcus neoformans. Before the introduction of amphotericin B in 1956, cryptococcal infection of the central nervous system had been almost uniformly fatal. Although amphotericin B(alone or in combination with flucytosine) has been the standard therapeutic regimen, problems such as modest efficacy, nephrotoxcity, other clinically significant toxicities, and the inconvinience of intravenous dosing have led to search for a new antimycotic agents. Fluconazole is a new therapeutic agent which is effective as amphoterin B. Accumulating evidence suggests that the antifungal triazole fluconazole represent an advance in the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis, particulary in acquired immunodeficiency syndrom patients. Thus we report clinical experiences of fluconazole therapy for 5 cases of cryptococcal meningitis. Four of 5 patients are improved clinically and microbiologically, 1 of 5 patients is expired due to concomittent tuberculous infection.
Amphotericin B ; Central Nervous System ; Central Nervous System Infections ; Cryptococcus neoformans ; Fluconazole* ; HMGB1 Protein ; Humans ; Meningitis, Cryptococcal*