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Background:most obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients meet psychiatrists 5 to 10 years after onset of OCD. Its relatively high prevalence ratio and the delay in seeking help suggest that patients with OCD may seek help at nonpsychiatric clinics. the present study was undertaken to provide some epidemiological data on the prevalence and severity of OCD in dermatological patients.Method:The participants included 265 consecutive patients with primary dermatologic chief complaint. They were visited by a dermatologist and diagnosis of dermatological lesion was done according to ICD-10. All patients were visited by a psychiatry resident and were screened for OCD using the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV-TR (SCID-I). If the diagnosis of OCD has been made, the Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale(Y-BOCS) was used to evaluate the severity of OCD. To analyze the data student t-test for quantitative variables and X2 tests for categorical variables.Results:From the total of 265 patients, 24(9.1%) met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for OCD and 9(37.5%) with OCD had previously been diagnosed with OCD, however, only three were treated pharmacologically. The most symptoms were pathological doubt (29.1%), fear of contamination(29.1%)and washing (54.16%). Severity of OCD according to Y-BOCS was evaluated among patients with OCD. Six (25%) were found with subclinical OCD, 11(45.8%) had mild OCD, six(25%) had moderate OCD, and one (4.2%) was detected with sever OCD.Conclusion:prevalence of OCD in dermatology clinic was higher compared with general population.

AimTo investigate the level of blood and urine cortisol and cell mediated immunity response changes among patients with post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from war.MethodsIn this case-control study, 20 patients with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the mean age of 41.9±7.6 and 20 healthy individuals (control group) with the mean age of 42.4±7.6 were compared. At the beginning, 24-hour urine and blood samples were obtained, and three antigens, tuberculosis, tetanus and candida were injected sub-cutaneously. Skin reaction was evaluated for each of the injections. Analysis was performed using t-test.ResultsThere was a significant increase regarding cell-mediated immunity in cases in comparison with the controls (p =0.017) and also a significant increase of blood cortisol was observed in cases (p = 0.003). There was no significant difference in two groups regarding urine cortisol level.ConclusionThis study showed that there was a significant difference in the activation of cell-mediated immunity in PTSD patients as compared to control group. This increase in activity was not due to the influence of life stressors or intensity of illness signs or following illnesses. It is recommended to study and treat the autoimmune disease in PTSD patients more seriously in the countries like Iran that were involved in war problems.

Aims and methodTo evaluate the effect of liothyronine administration on the cognitive side-effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), 30 participants with major depressive disorder that were suitable candidates for ECT were randomly allocated to either a liothyronine or a placebo group. Participants in the liothyronine group received a daily 50 μg dose for the whole period of receiving ECT starting the day before ECT, whereas the other group received a placebo. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) and the Wechsler Memory Scale – revised (WMS-R) were used for evaluating mood and memory before the first ECT session and after the sixth session (the HRSD was also used after the third session).ResultsThe results indicated that after the sixth ECT session, participants that received liothyronine achieved significantly better scores on the HRSD and WMS-R.Clinical implicationsFurther studies with a larger number of participants, through multicentre research projects, are indicated to obtain adequate data for meta-analysis and systematic review.

AimConsidering the excessive contacts of the hospital staff with death and the ability of death anxiety to reduce functional ability in an individual.the aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of death anxiety among a state hospital staff.MethodsThis is a descriptive study that conducted in an overall of 612 individuals received a questionnaire at a state hospital in Sari(Iran) during spring 2008. The questionnaire was consisted of two parts; demographic part and Templer Death Anxiety Scale (DAS; Templer, 1970). The data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16.0 using t test and chi-square test.ResultsThe range of age was 20-53. About 42.2% of the participants had mild death anxiety while 57.8% had severe death anxiety. The mean scores achieved by the individuals was 7.70 ± 3.133 in women and 6.19 ± 2.552 in men. The severity of death anxiety had a significant correlation with sex while having no correlation with age, marital status, having or not having children, educational level and occupation.ConclusionDue to high levels of death anxiety among the staffs, mental Health interventions are recommended to the same population in order to improve the mental health Quality. Additionally, performing comprehensive studies in the general population is needed.