[Borderline Personality Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment].

[Borderline personality disorders: diagnosis and treatment].

Bull Acad Natl Med. 2012 Oct; 196(7): 1349-58; discussion 1358-60
Allilaire JF

Borderline personality disorders are complex clinical states with highly polymorphic symptoms and signs, leading to delays in their diagnosis and treatment. All international classifications emphasize certain clinical criteria such as unstable identity and interpersonal relationships, feelings of emptiness or boredom, and pathological impulsiveness. The prevalence is about 2%, with a female-male sex ratio of 2 or 3 to 1. Both adolescents and adults may be affected There is a high risk of suicide, addictive behaviors, eating disorders, and criminality. These individuals frequently have a history of trauma in early childhood, such as separation, loss, physical or sexual abuse, or affective privation. Subjective signs and symptoms are particularly important in the diagnostic and therapeutic evaluation, and this requires an empathic and subtle approach. Standardized and semi-structured interviews may help to identify comorbidities such as thymic disorders, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, and, in some cases, psychotic symptoms. The psychiatric bio-psycho-social model takes into account multiple pathogenic factors, such as trauma during early development, temperamental instability and other emotional disorders, as well as psychosocial, neurobiological (5HT etc.) and genetic vulnerabilities. Treatment requires optimal integration of psychotherapeutic and pharmacotherapeutic approaches. Emergency intervention must be available in case of delirious or suicidal behavior The clinical course is often lengthy and complex, but outcome may be favorable, provided the principal risk–suicide–is correctly managed, HubMed – addiction

[Primary health care and family medicine–possibilities for treatment of opiate addicts].

Acta Med Croatica. 2012 Oct; 66(4): 295-301
Tiljak H, Nerali? I, Cerovecki V, Kastelic A, Adzi? ZO, Tiljak A

The global trend of promoting management and treatment of drug addicts in family physician offices is the result of the success of opioid agonist therapy. Studies have shown favorable results by shifting treatment into the hands of family physician. This process contributes to general health care of drug addicts and their health by linking different areas of health care, thereby providing comprehensive protection. Shifting treatment of addiction to family physician offices contributes to the elimination of treatment isolation and stigmatization, while further benefits are lower barriers to employment, increase in patient privacy and opportunity to provide health care. The aim of this study was to provide a concise overview of the knowledge from new clinical research over the past ten years on heroin addiction treatment in primary care. New research dealing with the approach to treating addicts indicates a direct link between receiving primary health care with a reduced likelihood of using heroin; furthermore, the main concerns of drug addicts for treatment are availability of more therapeutic programs, better functioning of existing programs, and improved staff relations towards them; final results and outcomes achieved by office and hospital treatment of drug addicts are similar and confirm the positive linear relationship between treatment duration and outcome. Studies comparing therapies show a positive effect of the adaptive methadone treatment maintenance model on the psychosocial factors; equal efficiency of treatment regardless of initiation with buprenorphine or with methadone; and equal effectiveness of levo-alpha-acetylmethadol treatment compared with methadone and diacetylmorphine as a good alternative for addiction therapy with previously unsatisfactory results. New studies on buprenorphine show equal effectiveness and cost of detoxification whether guided by a family physician or at the hospital; non-supervised therapy does not significantly influence the outcome, but is significantly cheaper; long-term therapy with buprenorphine in the doctor’s office shows mild retention. HubMed – addiction

Pathogenic rare copy number variants in community-based schizophrenia suggest a potential role for clinical microarrays.

Hum Mol Genet. 2013 Jun 27;
Costain G, Lionel AC, Merico D, Forsythe P, Russell K, Lowther C, Yuen T, Husted J, Stavropoulos DJ, Speevak M, Chow EW, Marshall CR, Scherer SW, Bassett AS

Individually rare, large copy number variants (CNVs) contribute to genetic vulnerability for schizophrenia. Unresolved questions remain, however, regarding the anticipated yield of clinical microarray testing in schizophrenia. Using high resolution genome-wide microarrays and rigorous methods, we investigated rare CNVs in a prospectively recruited community-based cohort of 459 unrelated adults with schizophrenia and estimated the minimum prevalence of clinically significant CNVs that would be detectable on a clinical microarray. Blinded review by two independent clinical cytogenetic laboratory directors of all large (>500 kb) rare CNVs in cases and well-matched controls showed that those deemed clinically significant were highly enriched in schizophrenia (16.4-fold increase, p<0.0001). In a single community catchment area, the prevalence of individuals with these CNVs was 8.1%. Rare 1.7 Mb CNVs at 2q13 were found to be significantly associated with schizophrenia for the first time, compared with the prevalence in 23,838 population-based controls (42.9-fold increase, p=0.0002). Additional novel findings that will facilitate the future clinical interpretation of smaller CNVs in schizophrenia include: (i) a greater proportion of individuals with two or more rare exonic CNVs >10 kb in size (1.5-fold increase, p=0.0109) in schizophrenia; (ii) the systematic discovery of new candidate genes for schizophrenia; and (iii) functional gene enrichment mapping highlighting a differential impact in schizophrenia of rare exonic deletions involving diverse functions, including neurodevelopmental and synaptic processes (4.7-fold increase, p=0.0060). These findings suggest consideration of a potential role for clinical microarray testing in schizophrenia, as is now the suggested standard of care for related developmental disorders like autism. HubMed – addiction