Dietary zinc deficiency increases glucocorticoid secretion from the adrenal cortex via enhanced hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity and induces neuropsychological symptoms, i.e., behavioral abnormality. Behavioral abnormality is due to the increase in glucocorticoid secretion rather than disturbance of brain zinc homeostasis, which occurs after the increase in glucocorticoi...

In the previous letter, we reported a case of recurrent sniffing of toluene and methanol, and discussed the relationship between neuro-psychological symptoms and urinary findings1). As the patient has neither complained of visual disturbance nor been diagnosed with optic nerve alteration, which is well-known sequela of methanol poisoning, we were interested in the urinary excretion of methanol ...

Much stress is of psychological origin and due to emotional arousal. The mechanisms by which anger, helplessness, or a sense of control and serenity exert their various neuroendocrine effects are discussed. Primacy is given to three systems; to the catecholamines, to testosterone and to cortisol. Evidence that they interact to accelerate the arteriosclerotic process is cited. The protective asp...

It has been known for over 30 years that olfactory function is disordered in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). The severity and partial specificity of anosmia was not realized until recently, with the advent of more detailed analysis and sophisticated measurement. The olfactory vector hypothesis suggests that the causative agent for IPD enters the brain via the nasal route, but the reason f...

INTRODUCTION Scrotal lymphedema is common in the tropics and subtropics. The giant variants can cause a lot of physical disability and psychological disturbances. CASE PRESENTATION We present a 25-year-old Nigerian male with giant scrotal lymphedema with severe debilitating symptoms, immobility and emotional disturbance. He benefited from a modified Charles' procedure and reconstruction of th...

The terms child abuse, neglect and sexual abuse overlap; while child abuse, neglect and sexual abuse can often be diagnosed on the basis of somatic symptoms, deprivation and other psychological sequelae can be identified only in interviews and by observing the interaction of children with their mothers/fathers. Social difficulties are reflected in a disturbance of the mother/doctor interaction ...

Disproportionate exercise limitation in patients with cardiovascular disease is a common problem faced by clinical cardiologists and other physicians. Symptoms may be attributed to psychological factors or hypothetical pathophysiological mechanisms that are diYcult to confirm clinically. This case report describes how the use of metabolic exercise testing in a 28 year old woman with morphologic...

BACKGROUND Psoriasis is a long-term immune-mediated inflammatory disorder mainly, but not only, affecting skin, and is associated with significant medical and psychological morbidity. Evidence suggests that sleep is disrupted in psoriasis, however high quality empirical evidence is lacking. Given the importance of sleep for health, characterisation of sleep disruption in psoriasis is an importa...

We examined sleep difficulties preceding death in a sample of adolescent suicide completers as compared with a matched sample of community control adolescents. Sleep disturbances were assessed in 140 adolescent suicide victims with a psychological autopsy protocol and in 131 controls with a similar semistructured psychiatric interview. Rates of sleep disturbances were compared between groups. F...

This study examined an activity restriction/pleasurable activities mismatch model for psychosocial and health-related outcomes. A total of 108 spousal caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) were assessed for their experience of social and recreational activities over the past month as well as their perception of how restricted they were for engaging in social and recreational acti...