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The patient-centered attitude is an effort to understand patients themselves as well as their disease. The doctor-oriented approach has been shifting to one where patients and participate in the deciding of medical service. We performed this study to investigate the patient-centeredness and influencing variables associated with personality traits. Methods:We recruited 94 medical students before their psychiatric clinical clerkship, and all subjects were assessed by a structured questionnaire including socio-demographic data, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), Meyers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI), the patientpractitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS), and the Authoritarian Personality scale (AP), The AP and PPOS questionnaires were repeated after the psychiatric clinical clerkship.Results: After the psychiatric clinical clerkship, the AP scores were significantly lower than before, and the PPOS significantly higher than before. The change in the AP scores were related to MBTI, correlated with MMPI subscales, however, inversely correlated with the changes in PPOS after the clinical clerkship. Conclusion:The authoritarian personality trait was related to, not only the personality trait including MBTI and MMPI subscales, but also to patient-centeredness in medical students.

ObjectiveThis study aims to reveal the relationship of depression with growth factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in inpatients diagnosed with alcohol dependence, and to identify candidate growth factors as biological markers to indicate the comorbid of alcohol dependence and depression.MethodsThis study examined demographic factors in 45 alcohol-dependent patients. The ADS (Korean version of the Alcohol Dependence Scale) and BDI (Korean version of Beck’s Depression Inventory) were used. BDNF, NGF, and IGF-1 were measured through ELISA.ResultsThe average drinking quantity and the ADS score were significantly more severe in alcohol-dependent patients with depression than in those without depression. Linearly comparing BDNF, NGF, and IGF-1 with BDI values, IGF-1 was the growth factor significantly correlated with BDI scores. BDI scores were significantly correlated with ADS scores. IGF-1 was significantly higher in alcohol-dependent patients with depression. Alcohol-dependent patients with depression had greater alcohol use and more severe ADS scores. BDNF and NGF showed no significant difference between alcohol-dependent patients with and without depression, but IGF-1 was significantly higher in those with than in those without depression.ConclusionIGF-1 was found to be associated with depression in alcohol-dependent patients, suggesting that IGF-1 in alcohol-dependent patients could be an important biomarker to indicate whether alcohol-dependence is accompanied by depression.

With the aid of a modification of the NBT test it has been shown in in vitro and in vivo studies that levamisole does not affect the NBT reduction capacity of neutrophil granulocytes. The increased NBT positivity of these cells under the influence of levamisol is due to stimulation of ingestion.

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