Avicenna Journal of Neuro Psycho Physiology
Volume:2 Issue: 2, May 2015

Murder is considered as the worst crime in all societies. It might be accomplished suddenly based on previous resolution, effect of stimuli, or due to a mental condition. The present study aimed to determine the reasons and motivations to commit a murder from murderers’ point of view. Patients and It is a qualitative research making use of content analysis, conducting on 17 male imprisoned murderers. Participants were selected through goal based sampling to gain data saturation among prisoners in central prison of Kermanshah. Deep individual and semi-structured interviews were conducted using general questions designed as interview guide. In the meantime, personal satisfaction, information privacy, liberty to leave the study, and moral commitment of the interviews were observed. In the end, five main contents were found: collective quarrel, honor killing, emotional dissatisfaction, lack of control on anger, and burglary. It seems that prevention of collective quarrel and control on anger could be helpful to decrease the murder rate in society.

Children of parents with bipolar disorder appear to have an increased risk of early-onset Bipolar Disorder (BP)، mood disorders and other psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to compare the mental health of school-age children of parents، with/without bipolar disorder. This case-control study included one hundred children aged six to twelve years، who had parents with bipolar disorder and 200 children of 163 demographically-matched control parents. Parents with bipolar disorder were recruited from Farshchian Psychiatric Hospital of Hamadan، Iran، during year 2014. The parent version of the Child Symptom Inventory-4 questionnaire was used to measure mental health. Mean comparisons were performed using Student’s t test while effect sizes were estimated by Cohen’s d coefficient. The Chi-square test was used to assess significant differences between frequency distribution of demographic variables in both groups. The significance level was considered less than 0. 05. There were statistically significant differences between children of parents with and those without bipolar disorder regarding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder، oppositional defiant disorder، conduct، generalized anxiety disorder، schizophrenia، major depression، separation anxiety (P< 0. 001) and social phobia (P < 0. 05). Children of parents with BP are at high risk for psychiatric disorders. These findings support that the careful evaluation and prospective following of the psychopathology of children of parents with bipolar disorder are critical for early identification and treatment.

The decreased level of somatostatin and increased level of histamine are detected in the Parkinsonian brain. In old Wistar rats، the brain somatostatin deficiency can initiate catalepsy that suggests the pathogenic significance of this abnormality in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The ability of histamine to affect the somatostatin deficiency action is not studied. The current study aimed to examine if histamine alters the cataleptogenic activity of the brain somatostatin deficiency in Wistar rats. The animals used in the study were 100 - 110 and 736 - 767 days old. Catalepsy was evaluated by the bar test. The inhibition of the brain somatostatin activity was simulated by I. C. V. administration of cyclosomatostatin (cycloSOM)، a somatostatin receptor antagonist. CycloSOM (0. 2، 1. 0، and 5. 0 µg) and histamine (1. 0 and 10. 0 µg) alone were ineffective in both young and old animals. In combination، however، cycloSOM and histamine initiated cataleptic response in old rats. Effect of the combination was inhibited by H1 and H2 but not H3 antagonists. CycloSOM and histamine synergistically exert catalepsy in old rats. In light of these data، the combination of the decreased brain level of somatostatin and increased brain level of histamine may be of pathogenic relevance for extrapyramidal signs in PD.

Working memory is the ability to keep and manipulate information in a short time. Children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are among the people suffering from deficiency in the active memory, and this deficiency has been attributed to the problem of frontal lobe. This study utilized a new approach with suitable tasks and methods for training active memory and assessment of its effects. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of medicinal and behavioral therapies on working memory of children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. Patients and The children participating in this study were 7 - 15 years old, and were diagnosed with ADHD by the psychiatrist and psychologist based on DSM-IV criteria. The intervention group comprised 8 boys and 6 girls with the average age of 11 (± 2) years, and the control group comprised 2 girls and 5 boys with an average age of 11.4 (± 3). Three children in the test group and 2 in the control group were under medicinal therapy. Training of working memory significantly improved the performance in nontrained areas as visual-spatial working memory as well as the performance in Raven progressive tests which are a perfect example of nonverbal, complicated reasoning tasks. The performance of working memory improved through training, and these trainings extended to other areas of cognition functions not receiving any training. Trainings resulted in the improvement of performance in the tasks related to prefrontal area. They had also a positive and significant impact on the movement activities of hyperactive children.

There are reports in traditional medicine about the effectiveness of Ocimum basilicum (OB) in the treatment of anxiety. The Elevated Plus-Maze (EPM) has been predominantly used to investigate anxiety levels in rodents.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of extract of OB on rat behavior in the EPM test.

Male Wistar rats weighing 220 - 250 g were used in the present study. Forty rats were divided into 4 groups: three OB groups (25, 50, 100 mg/kg oral administration of OB for 7 days) and a saline control group. One day after the last day of feeding, the animals’ behavior in EPM was videotaped for 10 minutes. Then, their behavior scored for formal indexes of anxiety, such as the total distance covered by animals, the percentage of entries into and the time spent in open and closed arms.

The results showed that after oral feeding of OB, the percentage of open arms entry and open arms time in EPM increased in the experimental groups. OB extract has no effect on the total distance covered by animals and number of closed arm entries.

Our results demonstrated that the extract of OB could induce anxiolytic effect in rats after 1 week oral administration. The effect of OB was not induced through changes in motor activity. Further investigations are necessary for pharmacological providing of OB and better understanding of its anxiolytic properties and neurobiological mechanisms.

Using new methods in teaching anatomy could have a significant impact on students’ learning. Neuroanatomy is one of the most complicated courses in anatomy. Absence of educational assistance equipment is one the most important problems in this field. Using human brain sections could solve some of the problems and enhance students’ learning. The brains of cadavers in dissection room of medicine faculty of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences were used in the present study. After fixation, the brains cut in three coronal, transverse and sagittal sections. Then, the sections were presented to one group of students in practical classes. Another group continued as control with routine educational method. The students filled out a questionnaire and declared their ideas about the new methods in Neuroanatomy education. Finally, two groups were compared for marks gained in the final exam. Using present method had remarkable effect on learning progress and prevention of exhaustion of students in the classroom. Moreover, it increased marvelously their ability in three-dimensional imagination in anatomy. Quantitative analysis of the final examination showed significant increase in the marks of experimental group (P < 0.05). According to the subjective and objective results, the new method used in anatomy education had a good effect on learning of anatomy and interested students in anatomy. Besides, it decreased students’ stress at exam time. It can be a complementary method for conventional methods. It is very useful for those who need retraining courses.