The relevance of Paraphrenia: Case report

Introduction

Paraphrenia is a chronic psychotic disorder with a better-preserved affect and minimal disturbances of emotion and volition and a much less cognitive deterioration and personality changes.

Objectives/aims

To report a case with probable Paraphrenia and to highlight the importance of the differential diagnosis in a first psychotic episode.

Methods

Case report and systematic review of the literature.

Results

We report a case of a 41-year-old man without a past psychiatry history that was led to the psychiatry emergency department (PED), by officers, because of strange behaviour and aggressiveness towards his family. In the PED the patient said that his real father was his father-in-law and that his ex-wife was his sister. His mental exam revealed disinhibition, disorganized speech with slightly mood elation, persecutory, mystic and influential delusions with various delusional interpretations. After being admitted to the psychiatric ward, in compulsatory care, he began treatment and a medical work up was completed. According to the family the patient had begun this strange behaviour four years prior. During the hospitalization it became clear that the patient was experiencing imaginative-confabulatoric multi-thematic delusions, sometimes interviewer guided, without showing cognitive deterioration and retaining his personality.

Conclusions

The diagnosis of atypical psychosis or psychosis not otherwise specified is not satisfactory since it agglutinates different conditions together. Paraphrenia is a well-established concept and should be used in order to define a group of psychotic patients who exhibited characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia, minus personality impairment and slower cognitive decline.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Annexin A11 gene polymorphism (R230C variant) and sarcoidosis in a Portuguese population

A recent genome-wide association study detected a protective effect for the annexin A11 rs1049550*T allele (R230Cvariant) in susceptibility to sarcoidosis. We evaluated the association between rs1049550 C/T and sarcoidosis susceptibility, distinct disease phenotypes and evolution in a Portuguese population. We performed a case-control study of 208 patients and 197 healthy controls. Samples were genotyped for rs1049550 C/T using real-time polymerase chain reaction. The frequency of the annexin A11 rs1049550*T allele was significantly lower in patients than in controls (33.2 vs 44.9%, P < 0.001). Odds ratio of 0.52 and 0.44 were obtained, respectively for carriers of one (CT) and two (TT) copies normalized to the CC wild-type genotype (P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in patients with and without Löfgren syndrome. A significant increase in the frequency of the T allele was observed in patients with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid neutrophilia (P = 0.04). No significant associations were seen for lung function pattern, radiological stages or different forms of disease evolution. Our study confirms that rs1049550*T allele exerts a significant protective effect on sarcoidosis susceptibility. Given the role of annexin A11 in cell division, apoptosis and neutrophil function, this polymorphism may affect key elements of granulomatous and interstitial inflammation in sarcoidosis.

[Risk factors for breast cancer among rural Teréna Indian women in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil]

In order to evaluate the distribution of selected risk factors for breast cancer among Teréna Indian women in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, two samples were interviewed, respectively, in 1995 (330 women from ten Indian villages) and 1997 (40 women from the Limão Verde village). Reproductive history, diet characteristics, and family and personal medical history were investigated and body mass index was measured. In the larger sample, mean age at menarche was 12.3 years (30% at 13 years old or later), 86% of women reported one or more pregnancies (42% reporting 5 or more), 71% reported three or more pregnancies, mean age at first pregnancy was 18.9 years (3.8% after 28 years), mean duration of breastfeeding was 84 months, and 70% reported menopause before age 50. Dietary pattern in the smaller sample revealed a high intake of fruits, vegetables, pasta, and tubers and scarce intake of red meat and chicken; 50 of the women (95% CI: 34.1-65.9) presented overweight (BMI 25-29) and 27% (95% CI: 15.1-44.1) obesity (BMI > 29).