THERE is convincing clinical evidence that retrolental fibroplasia is the result of a disturbance of the oxygen conditions to which an infant is normally exposed. Direct experimental evidence of this was supplied by Ashton and others (1953), the anatomical studies of Michaelson (1948) and the physiological studies of Campbell (1951) having previously suggested the significance of the role of oxygen in the development of the retinal vessels. Ashton and his co-workers found occlusion of the retinal blood vessels in new-born kittens who were exposed to hyperoxic conditions. When the animals were returned to normal atmospheric or hypo-oxic conditions there was a subsequent disturbance of vessel growth and also new vessel ingrowth into the vitreous body. The following work had been planned in order to test the effect of hyperoxia on the developing vessels of the mouse retina. This animal was chosen because the development of the retinal vessels is confined almost completely to the period between the first and eleventh day of life, and because the mode of retinal vessel development and the definitive vessel pattern are very similar to those occurring in the human retina. A description of the normal development of the retinal vessels in the mouse followed by a description of their development after the animal had been for some time in an incubator at' high oxygen concentrations. Material and MethodsDevelopment under Normal Conditions.-In order to investigate the normal development of the retinal vessels five litters of new-born mice were taken. Beginning on the first day of life and thereafter at intervals until about the 14th day, an animal from each litter was killed. In each case an injected preparation of the retinal vessel system was obtained by injecting the left ventricle with about 0.5 ml. Indian ink and thereafter carefully removing the retina from each enucleated eye. The retina was then mounted on a microscopic slide and the vascularization examined and measured by aid of a microscope. During the preparation care was taken to brush away-although not always with success-as much as possible of the hyaloid

Tardive tremor (TT) is a rare neuroleptic-induced tardive syndrome. It is mainly postural and action associated rather than resting tremor without other parkinsonian features and resistant to most therapeutic interventions. Tetrabenazine (TBZ) is a possible option for treating TT.This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of TBZ in elderly patients with TT. Patients (N = 10) received TBZ (25-150 mg/d) for 6 weeks. Five subjects completed the study. Mean TBZ dose at study end was 57.5 ± 37.3 mg/d. Mean Abnormal Involuntary Movement score was 13.3 ± 6.6, mean Tremor Scale score was 2.3 ± 0.9, mean Clinical Global Impression-Change was 3.6 ± 2.2, and mean Geriatric Depression Score was 5.2 ± 4.9; all not significantly changed from baseline. Five patients suffered side effects, including depression (n = 3), parkinsonism (n = 2), akathisia (n = 1), and mild stroke (n = 1).This prospective study does not support TBZ treatment for TT in elderly psychiatric patients.

Background Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), though reliable and effective, is controversial due to its media portrayal as a treatment with severe side effects. Electroconvulsive therapy is mainly given to patients suffering from affective disorders and treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Although past research assessed the amount and duration of memory loss due to ECT, little is known about its influence on cognition for patients suffering from schizophrenia, whose cognitive decline is an inherent part of their illness. We aimed to test whether maintenance ECT causes cognitive decline among elderly schizophrenia patients. Methods Twenty elderly (age >65 years) patients suffering from schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder who received maintenance ECT were matched with 20 controls suffering from the same illnesses that have never been treated with ECT. The match was based on age, sex, and illness duration. The participants were evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment for cognitive decline and a Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for illness severity. Results A lower score in the abstraction subscale was found in the maintenance ECT population (P = 0.002), without significant differences in the total Montreal Cognitive Assessment and the delayed-recall subscale scores. In the treatment group, a correlation was found between an impairment in naming and positive symptoms in the PANSS score (r = −0.45) and between abstraction impairment and negative symptoms (r = −0.56) and total PANSS score (r = −0.497). Conclusions Maintenance ECT does not worsen existing global cognitive deficits or delayed recall in elderly schizophrenia patients. The abstraction impairment was possibly due to the higher disease burden of the patients referred to ECT.

To determine whether there are differences in measures of cognitive function between second and third trimester pregnant women compared to non-pregnant controls. This prospective study comprised 40 pregnant and 40 non-pregnant women, 20–40 years old, native-Hebrew speakers who were recruited from the outpatient clinics during a period of nearly 2 years. The patients underwent cognitive and affective evaluation. The performance on the three following tests: difficult and total items of Verbal Paired Associates, the Digit Span—forward and the Naming Objects and Fingers test scores were significantly better among non- pregnant women. All the other test results were similar between the two groups, including the depression scores. On multivariate linear regression analysis, after adjusting for age and years of education , Verbal Paired Associates total score (p = 0.04), and Naming Objects and Fingers (p = 0.01) remained significantly associated with pregnancy, but not Digit Span (p = 0.09). Our study demonstrates an impairment in memory among pregnant women. Furthermore language skills, particularly naming, were also impaired, a finding which has not been previously described.