Stigmatization of a psychiatric patient is present both in general population and among health-care professionals.

To determine the attitudes of medical students (MS) towards a person who goes to a psychiatrist, before and after psychiatric rotation, and to compare those attitudes between medical and non-medical students.

The study included 525 MS (2nd and 6th year of studies) and 154 students of law. The study instrument was a 3-part self-reported questionnaire (socio-demographic data, Rosenberg self-esteem scale and a vignette depicting young, mentally healthy person). The experimental intervention consisted of ascribing a “psychiatric label” to only one set of vignettes. All the vignettes (with or without “psychiatric label”) were followed by 14 statements addressing acceptance of a person described by vignette as judged by social distance.

We found more stigmatizing attitudes of the MS in the final year, after psychiatric rotation. The non-medical students had similar tendency to stigmatize as MS before psychiatric rotation. A higher level of stigmatization was evident in regard to a closer relationship between a student and a hypothetic person who goes to a psychiatrist. Neither sex, nor the size of student's place of origin or average academic mark was associated with the tendency to stigmatize.

Psychiatric education can either reinforce stigma or reduce it. Therefore, detailed analyses of educational domains which reinforce stigma should be conducted at the university level, in parallel with national initiative to fight against stigma and discrimination attached to mental health problems and those living with them.

Parricide is murder of parents by their children. This kind of murder is rare, approximately 2 % of all homicides. It is associated with severe mental disorders which makes this phenomena interesting for psychiatric and forensic exploration.

The aim of the study was to describe sociodemographic and psychopathological characteristics of committers and victims and to investigate the act itself.

All homicide autopsy records from1991-2005, performed on Institute of Forensic Medicine, Medical School, University of Belgrade, were examined (948 cases). Only cases of parricide (33) were included in further analyses. Study was retrospective and descriptive statistic was used.

In the region of Belgrade, rate of parricide in all homicides was 3.5% (0-9 cases per year). In average, parricide committers were: 31.2±11.9 years old, 87.8% male, 60.6% with psychiatric symptoms (most common schizophrenia, alcohol dependence, personality disorder etc), while victims were: 63.7±11.9 years old, 54.5% male, 21.2% with diagnosis of mental illness. Most used tools were: 48.5% edgeless object, 30.3% weapon, 15.2% knife. Although clear motives were difficult to obtain, we recorded possible motives: in 42.4% parental abuse, 30.3% child abuse; 9.1% benefit and 18.2% unknown.

Subjects with severe mental illness are more likely to be parricide committers. Specific features of their psychopathology, differences in the course of the illness, compliance and many other risk factors should be explored further on in order to recognize and prevent fatal outcome.

There has been no evidence about the prescribing practices in psychiatric care in Eastern Europe.

To examine the patterns of psychotropic prescribing in five countries of Eastern Europe.

We conducted a one-day census of psychiatric treatments used in eight psychiatric hospitals in Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Romania. We examined clinical records and medication charts of 1304 patients.

The use of polypharmacy was frequent across all diagnostic groups. Only 6.8% of patients were on monotherapy. The mean number of prescribed drugs was 2.8 (SD 0.97) with 26.5% receiving two drugs, 42.1% receiving three drugs and 22.1% being prescribed four or more psychotropic drugs. Typical antipsychotics were prescribed to 63% and atypical antipsychotics to 40% of patients with psychosis. Older generations of antidepressants were prescribed to 29% of patients with depression. Anxiolitic drugs were prescribed to 20.4% and benzodiazepines to 68.5% of patients. One third of patients received an anticholinergic drug on a regular basis.

Older generation antipsychotics and antidepressants were used more frequently than in the countries of Western Europe. Psychotropic polypharmacy is a common practice. There is a need for adopting more evidence-based practice in psychiatric care in these countries.

The core mechanism of maladaptive stress response includs aberrant phosphorylation of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) at serine 221 (pGR211) or GR serine 226 (pGR226), which enhance or attenuate GR transcriptional activity, respectively. In the current study we tested a hypothesis that alterations in the nuclear levels and/or ratios of GR, pGR211 and pGR226 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) may reflect individual level of distress and/or psychological vulnerability.

In 36 healthy adults we evaluated the relation of total PMBC nuclear level of GR (tGR), pGR221, pGR226 and activated JNK1 (pJNK1) and its relation to environmental stress exposure, self reported distress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale) and personality traits (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire). Molecular and psychometric data were cross-correlated by SPSS MannWhitney statistics.

In women, self reported distress (DASS score) correlated more with neuroticism, while in men it correlated with environmental stressor. Also, in women, PBMC nuclear tGR level correlated with pGR211, while in men it correlated with pGR226. Cross-analysis of psychometric and molecular data indicated that in women both neuroticism and self reported distress correlated positively with nuclear pGR226, while in men the only correlation was between environmental stressor and pJNK1.

This findings provide preliminary support that the nuclear level of pGR226 and pGR211/pGR226 ratio in PBMC may serve as a measure of affective vulnerability in healthy women, while nuclear level of pJNK1 may reflect environmentaly imposed distress in healthy men. The relevance of these molecular parameters as biomarkers requires broader verification in healthy and in clinical settings.

Treatment with pegylated interferon alpha (PEG-IFN-α) in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is associated with depression more frequently than in other diseases treated with PEG-IFN-α.

To prospectively evaluate prevalence, severity and course of depressive symptomatology in CHC patients treated with PEG-IFN-α.

Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) was used to asses depressive symptoms in 103 subjects with CHC before PEG-IFN-α (mean dose 152.6±25.6 mcg; duration of therapy 48 weeks) and at the follow-up visits (4th, 12th, 24th, 48th, 72th week). Control group included 103 subjects with CHC without PEG-IFN-α.

There was a significant increase in HAMD scores as early as in the 4th week of PEG-IFN-a therapy compared to baseline scores (38.8% vs. 24.3%). The peak of depressive symptomatology was detected in the 12th week (mean HAMD 9.34¤ 6.93), when a half of patients (49.5%) had HAMD above 7. At the end of the treatment (48th week), 38.8 % had HAMD above 7, and in the 72nd week (24 weeks without PEG-IFN-α), prevalence of depressive symptomatology was decreased to the values lower than at baseline (23.3% vs. 24.3%). The majority (28.2%) had mild depression, whereas moderate and severe depressive symptoms were found in 20.4% and 1%, respectively. No change in prevalence of depression was detected in control group.

Present study is the longest follow-up study of depressive symptoms as a side-effect of PEG-IFN-α in CHC. Our data yielded that the severity of the symptoms was mild to moderate and tends to decrease following therapy completion.