Browsing by Department "Division of Neuropsychiatry"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Dealing with major depression in general practice
    (South African Academy of Family Physicians, 2013) Freeman, C P; Joska, J A
    One in ten South Africans will be diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) at some point in their lives. MDD is a potentially disabling condition that affects many spheres of an individual's life and leads to marked social and occupational dysfunction. General practitioners are frequently required to diagnose and manage MDD, often in a time-pressured primary healthcare setting. This article aims to provide practitioners with an overview of MDD. It covers aspects of diagnosis, co-morbidity, pharmacology and special patient groups.
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    The relationship between neurocognitive disorders, prospective memory impairment and white matter damage in clade C HIV-positive subjects
    (2010) Hoare, Jacqueline; Joska, John Anton; Stein, Dan J
    AIMS: To examine the relationship between prospective memory, cognitive function and Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)/ White matter integrity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive individuals in the Western Cape. We hypothesize that: 1. Individuals infected with HIV will exhibit significantly poorer microstructural integrity of the white matter than HIV negative individuals, as determined by in vivo diffusion tensor imaging. We expect that values of fractional anisotropy (FA) - a measure of directional water diffusion- in the frontal white matter will be significantly lower among HIV patients compared to controls 2. Lower FA measured in the frontal white matter will correlate significantly with impaired performance on tests of prospective memory
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    The establishment of an accredited psychoanalytic training institute in South Africa
    (2010) Solms, Mark
    These brief notes are written in the form of an addendum to Elda Storck‟s contribution on the recent establishment of a confederation of South African psychoanalytic organisations with agreed minimal standards of training and a code of ethical conduct. The establishment of this confederation is a historic event which is to be greatly welcomed as it signals the gradual normalisation of our psychoanalytic organisations in line with international standards, following the end of Apartheid and our general return to the international fold.
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    What makes us tic?
    (2006) Robertson, Mary M
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    White matter correlates of neuropsychological function in young adult methamphetamine users
    (2016) Freeman, Carla Patricia; Joska, John A; Stein, Dan J
    Background: Methamphetamine (MA) abuse is a global health concern due to widespread use and harmful effects, which includes neurotoxicity. This study aimed to describe neurocognitive deficits associated with MA dependence in young adults and to explore whether these deficits correlate with white matter (WM) microstructural abnormalities using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Methods: Twenty-one MA dependent individuals recently enrolled in an outpatient rehabilitation program and nineteen healthy controls participated in the study. Each participant completed a neuropsychological evaluation and underwent diffusion tensor imaging within one week of testing. Average whole-brain fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusion (MD) measures derived from DTI data were compared between groups. Group differences in performance within specific neurocognitive domains and in a composite global neurocognitive score (GNS) were tested using non-parametric univariate statistics and within a linear regression framework, adjusting for age and gender. Correlation analyses were conducted to test associations between the neuropsychological data and selected frontal white matter (WM) tracts, including the genu and body of the corpus callosum (CC); right and left cingulum bundle (CB); right and left uncinate fasciculus (UF); right and left anterior corona radiata (CR) and the right and left superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). Results: No significant between-group differences were detected for performance in any of the neuropsychological domains assessed. No relationship between FA or MD and the GNS was demonstrated in the tracts of interest. After adjusting for age and gender, significant group differences in FA and MD were detected across several regions of interest (ROI), however, these did not survive corrections for multiple comparisons. Conclusion: Cognitive performance and white matter integrity did not differ between young MA dependent subjects and healthy controls. Whatever differences that were found in white matter did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. These findings may reflect one or more of several possibilities: that brain function and structure is relatively preserved in younger individuals; or that differences were too small to be detected in this sample. Further studies should explore the effects of aging, poly-substance abuse and HIV coinfection on neurocognitive functioning and structural brain integrity in methamphetamine users.