Dear Colleagues,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the fourth issue of the year 2010.
I am delighted to present to you the WFSBP Treatment Guidelines for the Biological Treatment of Paraphilias. With this comprehensive manual which includes numerous recommendations, the WFSBP aims to provide up-to-date treatment options and thus to further improve treatment for patients world-wide and to spread knowledge also in countries with limited continuing education possibilities. I wish to thank Florence Thibaut, WFSBP President and Chair of the WFSBP Task Force on Sexual Disorders, and the entire taskforce for their superb work.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a topic which is thoroughly discussed in our field. Silvia Bernardi and colleagues present a study with 100 outpatients that focuses on the interesting issue of comorbidity. It has been suggested that Bipolar Disorder (BD) with comorbid ADHD represents a distinct clinical phenotype of BD. Thus the aim of the study was to compare BD patients without ADHD to those BD patients with persistent ADHD diagnosis in adulthood and those with BD subjects with a diagnosis of ADHD in childhood whose ADHD remitted in adulthood. The hypothesis was that maladaptive temperament will be increased in BD subjects with a stable diagnosis of ADHD in adulthood compared to those whose ADHD remitted. Further, it was assumed that maladaptive temperament will be associated with the severity of both diseases. Thus, the findings of the study suggest that BD with comorbid ADHD represents a distinict phenotype distinct from that of patients with BD without ADHD or with a childhood ADHD diagnosis that remitted with age.
In an orginal article by Dimitris Dikeos and colleagues, a 12-month, prospective, observational study is presented which investigated factors associated with symptomatic remission and full clinical recovery in bipolar disorder during treatment with atypical antipsychotics (predominantly olanzapine, risperidone and quetiapine; alone or in combination with a psychotropic such as lithium or valproate) in actual clinical practice. The aim of the study was to provide further data which supports clinical decisions at treatment initiation. Thus, the authors found conclusions that the clinical status may also be associated with long-term remission and recovery; factors relating to social functioning and quality of life are easily assessed and potentially modifiable. This outcome may aid physicians' clinical decisions regarding patients with bipolar mania treated with atypical antipsychotics.
Oxidative stress has been associated with the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Most research has concentrated on the antioxidant system, Tanja Maria Michel and colleagues examined the prooxidant system by investigating kinetic parameters of the free radical producing enzyme Xanthine oxidase directly in post mortem brain tissue. The results presented in this brief report provide further evidence to the research indicating that oxidative stress contributes to the pathogenesis of AD. Furthermore, the authors state that these findings may open new avenues for treatment and prevention of AD.
Yours sincerely,