Research in Medicine

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Background: Mental disorders may interfere, aggravate or mimic medical conditions. Treatment of such disorders may improve the course of theunderlying disease and promote  patient's quality of life. This study was carried out to evaluate the characteristics of psychiatric referrals during one year (2002), in Taleghani hospital.

 Materials and methods: The study was performed by weekly analysis of all psychiatric  consultations. Initial data including sex, age, referral ward, underlying disease, and cause of  psychiatric consultation were gathered.

Results: A total of 201 consecutive patients (1.6% of all admitted subjects to the hospital)  referred for consultation. They were mainly referred from the Endocrinology (15%), CCU   (13.6%), and Cardiology (12.6%) wards. The most frequent reasons of referral were: current   psychiatric symptom (55%), presence of psychiatric history (15%), and aggression (10%).  Main diagnosis turned out to be depression (36%), adjustment disorder (16.5%) and delirium  (15%).

  Conclusion: These results highlight the role and functioning of consultation in a general  hospital, but further studies are required to evaluate the importance of such a service to  improve patient care and psychiatric education in various medical wards.

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Abstract: Background: Sensorineural hearing loss is one of the most important complications of meningitis, however, it can be neglected during the acute course of the disease. By early detection and medical intervention, the retardation of lingual development can be avoided. Materials and methods: The hearing function of 40 children with meningitis was evaluated at 24-72 hours after diagnosis (acute period) and 24 hours before discharging from hospital (recovery period) with auditory brainstem responses (ABR). Results: During the acute period, ABR test revealed normal hearing in 35 patients (87.5%) and severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss in 5 patients (12.5%). The same results were obtained in re-evaluation in the recovery period. There were significant differences between the female gender, positive culture of cerebrospinal fluid, the age below 2 years of old and hearing loss. (P value = 0.03, 0.02, 0.02, respectively). Conclusion: ABR can be used for early detection of hearing loss during the acute and recovery period of meningitis. KEYWORDS: Meningitis, Child, Hearing loss, ABR

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Among legally identified cases of paraphilias, pedophilia is most common. Psychiatric disorders frequently coexist with pedophilia. Unfortunately, pedophilia is extremely difficult to treat. The authors report a patient with pedophilia, bipolar mood disorder and mental retardation who was treated with combination of carbamazepine and spironolactone.