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Showing posts with the label Etiology

Postnatal Causes of Learning Disability (Intellectual Disability)

Postnatal Causes of Learning Disability (Intellectual Disability) Postnatal causes of learning or intellectual disability include head injury, infections, neurodegeneration, and toxicities. A study on the causes of developmental disability found bacterial meningitis, child battering, vehicle-related injuries, and otitis media as the most common causes. However, a developmental disability is a broader term that can include motor developmental disabilities too. The results still give us an idea as this overlap heavily with causes of pure intellectual disability. See Table 1. Table 1: Most Common Causes of Developmental Disability Bacterial meningitis 31% Child battering 15% Motor-vehicle- related injuries 11% Otitis media 11% Postnatal causes of developmental disabilities in children aged 3-10 years -- Atlanta, Georgia, 1991. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1996 Feb 16 45 13

Psychodynamic Themes in Panic Disorder

Difficulty tolerating anger. Physical or emotional separation from a significant person both in childhood and in adult life  Situations of increased work responsibilities may trigger it  Perception of parents as controlling, shocking, cynical, and demanding  Internal representations of relationships involving sexual or physical abuse  A chronic sense of feeling trapped  A vicious cycle of anger at parental rejecting behavior followed by anxiety that the fantasy will destroy the tie to parents. Failure of signal anxiety function in ego related to self fragmentation and self-other boundary confusion 

The Gene associated with antisocial behaviour

Criminal behavior, lack of guilt, and irritability are typical features of antisocial personality disorder. Evidence suggests that a low-activity variant of the MAO-A gene predisposes to adult antisocial behavior in men, especially in those who faced early adversity 1–4 . Catechol-O-methyltransferase enzyme metabolizes dopamine and other monoamines. Its gene, the COMT-gene, occurs in two forms: a high-activity form and a low-activity form. They associate these variants with differential abilities of the prefrontal cortex, especially working memory. People with low-activity form may have a more efficient prefrontal cortex, likely because of the greater dopamine level in the synaptic space 5,6 . We have associated serotonin transporter gene variants with neuroticism and a predisposition to depression. The variants may also influence individual response to SSRIs8. APOE4 gene is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (compared to APOE2 and APOE3).

Neurobiology of Panic Disorder

Neurobiology of Panic Disorder "There is most evidence for changes in Gamma-aminobutyric acid , with lowered cortical Gamma-aminobutyric acid type  levels measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and diminished benzodiazepine -receptor binding in the parietotemporal regions in unmedicated patients with panic disorder (Hasler et al., 2008)." This happens in panic disorder. Gamma-aminobutyric acid is the major  inhibitory  neurotransmitter in the brain. Benzodiazepine also binds to Gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors and increases its firing rate, thus resulting in hyperpolarisation of the cell because of increased chloride influx. So, specific regions in the brain are hyperexcitable in patients with panic disorder. Summary of Hasler et al.  Context Studies have implicated the benzodiazepine receptor system in the pathophysiologic mechanism of panic disorder  by indirect evidence from pharmacological challenge studies and by direct evidence from single-photon emission

Risk Factors for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

Risk Factors for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder The following description of risk factors also answers QID:919472837474 The best answer would be d) her intelligence quotient. The patient has developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, including the most specific “intrusive symptoms.” These have occurred after the life-threatening event she went through. Both the international classification of diseases and the diagnostic and statistical manual require such a precipitating factor for making the diagnosis. It is an event that is life-threatening, or according to the diagnostic and statistical manual, one that threatens body-integrity (e.g. rape). One may either be a bystander or directly threatened by the event. However, this factor interacts with other predisposing or vulnerability factors in an individual to trigger the condition. Genetic factors account for about one-third of the vulnerability , according to a study conducted on twins working in the U.S. military. Other no