Brain/psychiatric syndromes

The lesions of the nervous system start in the cortex and progressively invade the midbrain and the medulla. The first symptoms are paresthesias, pain in the back, vertigo, headaches, general fatigue, and sensorial perversion associated with depression, melancholy, and suicidal tendencies. These symptoms may develop into a more characteristic psychiatric syndrome, with hallucinations, schizophrenia, and maniac dementia. At autopsy, the brain reveals edema, congestion of the cortex, and loss of ganglion cells. The neurons show chromatolysis. 

Acute Brain Syndrome. Any patient with disorientation, lack of judgment, inappropriate affect, and loss of recent memory who was not comatose or catatonic and has no discernible hallucinations, delusions, or other psychiatric manifestations is included in this pattern. Acute brain syndrome is the most common pattern of PCP intoxication among patients brought to the emergency department at LAC/USC Medical Center, accounting for 25 percent of the PCP... 

Finally, in diagnosing psychiatric disorders, systematic attempts should be made to verticalize psychopathological symptoms. It is a priori unlikely that all symptoms of a particular syndrome have equal diagnostic weight. It is much more plausible that some are primary, that is, the direct consequences of the brain dysfunctions underlying that syndrome. 

The co-3 fatty acids have numerous important functions, especially in the brain. Accordingly, a deficiency of DHA and EPA may cause dysfunction of the central nervous system and probably also the retina, thereby resulting in impaired vision. In addition, there is a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders that have been associated with decreased levels of especially DHA and AA, such as, for example, schizophrenia and depression [3], post-traumatic stress syndrome, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Since no primary inherited defect of essential fatty acid interconversion has yet been described, no specific explanations for the essential fatty acid concentration changes are readily available. 

The 5-HT3 receptors are found in both the peripheral nervous system and central nervous system (CNS), where they mediate last synaptic transmission at synapses (3). In the CNS, they are located predominantly at intemeurones, where they modulate the release of a range of neurotransmitters (4-9). There is some evidence that 5-HT3 receptors play roles in brain reward mechanisms and in neurological phenomena such as anxiety, psychosis, nociception, and cognitive function (10,11), and in the first few years following the discovery of these receptors, there was also much interest in the therapeutic potential of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists for antipsychotic, antinociceptive, and other psychiatric disorders (12-15). This potential has not yet been realized, but there is still active research in this area (16), and their current major therapeutic target is against emesis in cancer chemotherapy and irritable bowel syndrome (17,18). 

Remick, R. A. (1978). Acute brain syndrome associated with ECT and lithium. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 23, 129—130. 

Physical signs and symptoms of LSD intoxication include mydriasis, tachycardia, diaphoresis, palpitations, blurred vision, tremor, incoordination, dizziness, weakness, and drowsiness psychiatric signs and symptoms include perceptual intensification, depersonalization, derealization, illusions, psychosis, and synesthesia. There is no withdrawal syndrome after discontinuation. LSD and similar drugs stimulate presynaptic S-HTj and 5-HTig, as well as postsynaptic 5-HT2 receptors in the brain. 

The use of L-tryptophan as a therapeutic agent probably began in the 1970s and early 1980s when reports in the medical literature suggested that it might be useful for the treatment of depression.13 Since then, its efficacy for a variety of other conditions has been examined these include chronic pain, insomnia, premenstrual syndrome, schizophrenia, affective disorders, and behavioral disorders.4 16 The rationale for its therapeutic use in treatment of psychiatric and behavioral disorders came mainly from the observation that brain serotonin content could be altered by changes in plasma tryptophan levels.17... 

Juntunen J, Matikainen E, Antti-Poika M, et al Nervous system effects of long-term occupational exposure to toluene. Acta Neurol Scand 72 512-517, 1985 Larsen F, Leira HL Organic brain syndrome and long-term exposure to toluene a clinical, psychiatric study of vocationally active printing workers. J Occup Med 30 875-878, 1988... 

Min SK A brain syndrome associated with delayed neuropsychiatric sequelae following acute carbon monoxide intoxication. Acta Psychiatr Scand 73 80-86,1986 Moore ME, Finestone AJ The case of the disappearing headache (letter). N Engl J Med 278 1216,1968... 

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