Aim of the report was the study of the clinical features of neurosyphilis in the last 40 years (1965-2005). The investigation was based on the retrospective review of patients with neurosyphilis hospitalized in our hospital from 1965 to 2005 (period A: 1965-1984 and B: 1985-2005). Eighty one patients with neurosyphilis were studied. Typical forms represent 68.6% of cases of neurosyphilis in period A. In period B, 85.7% of the cases are presented with atypical clinical patterns. Typical forms of the disease were no longer common, while atypical and masked clinical patterns prevailed. Neuropsychiatric symptoms were the most common manifestations of the disease.

Anxiety and self-reported stressful events may in fact be two measures of the same underlying emotional factor, which plays an important role on the course of the disease, in addition to episodes of infection.

Ambulatory women with relapsing-remitting MS who experience cumulative SLEs may be at a greater risk for relapse. Duration is the only stress attribute that seems to increase the risk for relapsing in contrast to stress type and stress severity that were not found to interact with MS exacerbation.

The study suggests that clinical features of schizophrenia influence distress levels in caregivers of patients with chronic schizophrenia. The stronger predictors of distress appear to be female caregiver's gender, duration of illness as well as positive and negative symptomatology.