Background: The full version of the Borderline Symptom List (BSL; for clarification now labeled BSL-95) is a self-rating instrument for specific assessment of borderline-typical symptomatology. The BSL-95 items are based on criteria of the DSM-IV, the revised version of the Diagnostic Interview for Borderline Personality Disorder, and the opinions of both clinical experts and borderline patients. The BSL-95 includes 95 items. In order to reduce patient burden and assessment time, a short version with 23 items (BSL-23) was developed. Methods: The development of the BSL-23 was based on a sample of 379 borderline patients, considering the items from the BSL-95 that had the highest levels of sensitivity to change and the highest ability to discriminate borderline patients from other patient groups. In a second step, the psychometric properties of the BSL-23 were investigated and compared with the psychometric properties of the BSL-95 in 5 different samples, including a total of 659 borderline patients. Results: In all of the samples, a high correlation of the sum score was found between the BSL-23 and the BSL-95 (range: 0.958–0.963). The internal consistency was high for both versions (BSL-23/Cronbach’s α: 0.935–0.969; BSL-95/Cronbach’s α: 0.977–0.978). Both BSL-23 and BSL-95 clearly discriminated borderline personality disorder patients from patients with an axis I diagnosis (mean effect sizes were 1.13 and 0.96 for the BSL-23 and BSL-95, respectively). In addition, comparisons before and after 3 months of dialectical behavior therapy revealed a numerically larger effect size for the BSL-23 (d = 0.47) compared to the BSL-95 (d = 0.38). Conclusion: The results indicate that the BSL-23 is an efficient and convenient self-rating instrument that displays good psychometric properties comparable to those of the BSL-95. The BSL-23 also demonstrated sensitivity to the effects of therapy.

Background: Idiopathic epilepsy (IE) in Australian Shepherds (ASs) occurs worldwide but there is a lack of description of the epilepsy syndrome in this breed. The ABCB1-1D mutation is more prevalent in ASs than in many other dog breeds.Hypothesis: Australian Shepherds suffer from a poorly controlled IE syndrome with prevailing severe courses. Seizure control and ABCB1-1D mutation might be related in this breed.Animals: Fifty ASs diagnosed with IE and 50 unaffected ASs. Methods: Predominant study design is a longitudinal cohort study. Pedigrees, medical records, seizure, and treatment data of ASs with IE were analyzed descriptively. Sex, color, and the ABCB1-1D genotype were compared between case and control groups and ASs with poorly or well-controlled seizures. Differences in survival times were assessed by logrank tests and Cox regression analysis.Results: Idiopathic epilepsy in ASs is dominated by moderate and severe clinical courses with the occurrence of cluster seizures and status epilepticus and a high seizure frequency. Poor seizure control and a high initial seizure frequency ( ! 10 seizure days/first 6 months) are associated with shorter survival times (P < .05). Poor seizure control, unrelated to the ABCB1(MDR1) genotype, is evident in 56% of epileptic ASs. Pedigree analysis suggests a genetic basis.Conclusion and Clinical Importance: Frequent severe clinical courses, poor seizure control unrelated to the ABCB1 (MDR1) genotype, and a young age at death compromise animal welfare and warrant further genetic studies to unravel the underlaying molecular mechanisms of IE and seizure control in the breed.

Episodic head tremor anecdotally occurs in the Doberman pinscher dog breed, but it is not described in sufficient detail in the literature. We evaluated 87 Doberman pinschers affected with episodic head tremor and appropriate controls. The data analyzed were collected through detailed questionnaires, elaborate telephone interviews, and video recordings. Affected dogs underwent clinical, neurological, and laboratory examination, and a detailed diagnostic workup was conducted in 5 affected dogs. Pedigrees of affected dogs were collected and reviewed. The affected dogs expressed individual phenotypes of either horizontal or vertical head movements, but rarely did a dog exhibit head movements in both directions. There was considerable variation in duration (10 seconds to 3 hours; median: 3 minutes), frequency of occurrence (1-20 episodes/day; median: 2/day) of head tremor and length of the period without head tremor (1-1,800 days; median: 60 days). Subtle dystonic posturing of the head and neck during head tremor was evident on video recordings of 5 dogs. Certain exceptional conditions such as illness, surgery, some medications, heat, pseudopregnancy, or pregnancy triggered episodes. Two main important forms of episodic head tremor were identified: a familial early-onset form (age < 1 year) that affected littermates and a sporadic form. Affected dogs were traced back to 1 common sire, also including sporadic cases. Episodic head tremor is an inherited, paroxysmal movement disorder that affects the Doberman pinscher breed. Identification of the causative genes in the future will allow us to obtain a more detailed description of the syndrome.

The Borderline Symptom List (BSL-95) has initially been developed as a self-rating instrument for specific assessment of borderline-typical symptoms. In order to reduce patient burden and assessment time we developed a short-version of the BSL. Twenty-three of the original 95 BSL-items were included into the short-version (BSL-23). The evaluation was based on five different samples with borderline patients (n=694). The internal consistency of the BSL-23 was high: Cronbach's alpha: 0.94-0.97. The remaining results regarding test-retest-reliability, validity, ability to discriminate between patient groups and sensitivity for change according to therapy were very satisfactory throughout. The results indicate that the BSL-23 is an efficient and convenient self-rating instrument that displays very good psychometric properties comparable to those of the full version of the BSL.

The carbonyl infrared spectra of catalysts prepared by adsorption of Rhs(C0)16 onto ligandmodified silica have been assigned with the assistance of 13C0 substitution experiments. I n the fully carbonylated state the catalysts contain Rh(CO)2 groups and partial decarbonylation leads to the formation of Rh(C0) groups. On the basis of infrared spectroscopic and other data it is deduced that the rhodium is not present as hexarhodium clusters but as mononuclear surface complexes, L,Rh(C0)2 and LmRh(CO), where L are surface attached ligands and n and m are unknown.