No abstract

The handedness in three randomly sampled groups of people with learning disabilities consisting of patients with Down's syndrome, epilepsy, and autism were studied using a validated instrument. All subjects were controlled for neurological and other medical disorders. A statistically significant increase in left-handedness and ambiguous handedness compared with the general population was found in all groups. There was no significant difference in the rate of left-handedness between the three groups.

Aims To determine the nature of intraocular lens (IOL) surface abnormalities seen after the injection of hydrophilic acrylic lenses (Rayner C-flex TM 570C), through their accompanying pre-packaged disposable injectors. Hexagonal and round nozzle injectors from the same lens manufacturer were compared. Methods A series of lenses were injected into a petri dish, using two different manufacturersupplied disposable injectors. The injector nozzle, plunger, and IOL were subsequently examined by light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for defects. Results When using the hexagonal nozzle, eight out of nine lenses had linear surface abnormalities along the posterior surface of the IOL in the direction of injection. These abnormalities appeared to be scratches on the surface of the IOL and there were no corresponding defects on the nozzle. A newly introduced injector, with an oval nozzle and a larger compressible plunger, eliminated the vast majority of these surface abnormalities. Conclusions Manufacturer-supplied hexagonal nozzle injectors, but not oval nozzle injectors, produce linear scratches on the posterior surface of the IOL. These scratches did not disappear with time in vivo.

Following a road-traffic accident, an 18-year-old man developed episodic dyscontrol which brought him into conflict with the law. Two years after the accident, treatment with carbamazepine was initiated and further aggressive outbursts subsided. The efficacy and mode of action of carbamazepine is discussed and the literature reviewed.

This study investigated the quality of mother-infant interaction and maternal ability to recognise adult affect in three study groups consisting of mothers with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, mothers with depression and healthy controls. Sixty-four mothers were recruited from a Mother and Baby Unit and local children's centres. A 5-min mother-infant interaction was coded on a number of caregiving variables. Affect recognition and discrimination abilities were tested via a series of computerised tasks. Group differences were found both in measures of affect recognition and in the mother-infant interaction. Mothers with schizophrenia showed consistent impairments across most of the parenting measures and all measures of affect recognition and discrimination. Mothers with depression fell between the mothers with schizophrenia and healthy controls on most measures. However, depressed women's parenting was not significantly poorer than controls on any of the measures, and only showed trends for differences with mothers with schizophrenia on a few measures. Regression analyses found impairments in affect recognition and a diagnosis of schizophrenia to predict the occurrence of odd or unusual speech in the mother-infant interaction. Results add to the growing body of knowledge on the mother-infant interaction in mothers with schizophrenia and mothers with depression compared to healthy controls, suggesting a need for parenting interventions aimed at mothers with these conditions. While affect recognition impairments were not found to fully explain differences in parenting among women with schizophrenia, further research is needed to understand the psychopathology of parenting disturbances within this clinical group.