Vol L, No 2 (2018)

The comparison of clinical-dynamic characteristics and social functioning indicators of 76 patients with schizophrenia and alcohol addiction and 46 patients with schizophrenia and polydrug addiction was carried out. The correlation between type of addiction, clinical-dynamic characteristics and indicators of social functioning were identified. Addiction to alcohol is associated with low intensity of psychopathological symptoms and higher rate of social functioning while polydrug addiction is associated with more severe schizophrenia course and low indicators of social adaptation.

Neuropsychological assessment has been completed for 51 patients with histologically verified diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The results obtained have been compared with self-reported domains. It has been demonstrated that ovarian cancer patients experience cognitive impairment in at least two domains; the results reveal a statistically significant relation between neurocognitive dysfunctions, clinical parameters and psychopathological symptoms.

The paper analyzes the results of a study of 51 patients with tandem-stenosis of the cervical and lumbar spine at two levels and more due to herniated intervertebral discs, hypertrophy of the yellow ligament and arthrosis of the arcuate joints operated on the basis of the Neurosurgery Center of the Road Clinical Hospital Irkutsk JSC Russian Railways. In 22 cases, the primary operative intervention was performed at the lumbar level, in 29 cases - at the cervical level. The interim phase gap was 19 (15; 28) days. Anthropometric data (sex, age, body mass index) and duration of the disease were investigated. In the dynamics, the clinical parameters were assessed - neurological symptoms, the level of the pain syndrome according to the visual analogue scale, the severity of movements in the cervical spine (NDI), the quality of life of the patients according to the questionnaire for patients with back pain Oswestry (ODI), the degree of patient satisfaction with the operation performed on the scale of Macnab and objective dynamics of the neurological outcome on the Nurick scale, recorded before the operation, at discharge and 24 months after the operation. As a result, it was established that staged operative interventions in patients with symptomatic tandem-stenosis of the cervical and lumbar spine can significantly improve clinical symptoms in the postoperative period. At the same time, the important criteria for long-term clinical effectiveness are the duration of the disease before surgical procedures, the tactics of conducting primary surgical manipulations and the time between stages.

Various aspects of the clinical use of ketamine for the treatment of depression, including mechanisms of its pharmacological and psychedelic effects, frequently used protocols and tolerability characteristics are presented in the brief literature overview. The purpose of the review is to expand the evidence base for making informed clinical decisions and improving the response to the treatment of depressive disorders.

Hallucinogenic substances are usually classified into several different classes. Most classifications are based on the pharmacological mechanisms of action of these substances and their chemical structure. Psychedelics, entactogens, dissociative substances and “atypical” hallucinogens belongs to chemically heterogeneous group of substances with a hallucinogenic effect. All of the above classes of substances basically do not have common primary mechanisms of action. At the same time, they are similar in the ability to cause temporary, different in depth changes in consciousness, combined with changes in somatic status, perception, cognitive processes, and the emotions. Similar changes contribute to the recreational use of substances of this group. In recent years, a large number of works have appeared in the scientific literature, indicating the possibility of using these substances for therapeutic purposes. This review presents current literature data on several classes of hallucinogens, the therapeutic use of which is documented as much as possible.

The article analyzes the validity of calculations of the average per capita alcohol consumption for officially registered production and sale of alcohol. It is noted that there are other original methods for calculating the total (legal and illegal) level of per capita alcohol consumption by the number of deaths by violent death in a drunken and sober state. It is concluded that in a country with a high level of alcohol consumption there is no accurate data on the scale of alcohol consumption and alcohol policy does not take into account scientific data.

Millions of patients suffer from chronic pelvic pain. Often chronic pain is psychogenic and is caused by a mental illness. This article presents a clinical case that describes the complexities not only of chronic pain therapy, but also questions of differential diagnosis of somatoform disorder, depression, schizophrenia and personality traits from the point of view of the nosological approach and ICD-10.

The study descripts the phenomenon of anhedonia and the brief history of its origin. The role of anhedonic symptoms in modern practice, with an emphasis on the narcology is shown. The connection between traumatic experience, reduction of hedonic potential and patients’ attempts to self-medicate themselves through the use of psychoactive substances and other forms of self-stimulation has been demonstrated.

The prevalence of age-related hypogonadism, cognitive and psychoemotional disorders in men of mature age with initial manifestations of cerebrovascular pathology is estimated. The initial manifestations of CCI were evaluated by cognitive and psycho-emotional indicators, hypogonadism - by the results of clinical and laboratory studies. High representation of age-related hypogonadism in patients with initial manifestations of chronic cerebrovascular disease was revealed. This may reflect the pathogenetic role of androgenodeficiency in the development of cerebrovascular disease and opens up the prospect of finding pathogenetic therapy for chronic cerebral ischemia.

The quantitative content of brain neurotrophic factor in the serum of patients at the late stage of diabetic polyneuropathy was studied. Clinical and neurophysiological signs of moderate and severe diabetic neuropathy correlated with serum levels of brain neurotrophin were revealed. In patients with diabetic foot syndrome, there is a pronounced BDNF deficiency, which reflects a violation of the compensatory recovery capabilities of the nervous system. The depletion of brain neurotrophin at a late stage requires further study of the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy from the standpoint of neuroplasticity to improve the timely diagnosis and prevention of diabetic foot syndrome.