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Family and adoption studies indicate that genetic factors play a role in the development of many psychiatric disorders. A variable number of possible interacting genes predisposing to the diseases is likely. The genetic dissection has been hampered by genetic complexity as well as by difficulties in defining the phenotypes. Genetic mapping efforts using sib pairs, twins and individual large families has revealed preliminary or tentative evidence for susceptibility loci for a number of psychiatric disorders. Illnesses include the prion disease familial fatal insomnia (FFI), alcoholism, anorexia nervosa, autism, bipolar affective disorder, dyslexia, enuresis nocturnal, epilepsia, obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), schizophrenia, as well as the dementias, Alzheimer's disease and frontal lobe dementia, and mental retardation. The genes and proteins related to the newly discovered transmitter in the central nervous system, nitric oxide (NO), and its genes and proteins are also reviewed. The number of mapped human genes now exceeds 30,000 of the estimated total number of 60,000 to 100,000 genes. This rapid development will facilitate gene mapping, as well as efforts to isolate and identify the genes responsible for symptom susceptibility in many of the etiologically unclear psychiatric diseases with complex genetic origin.

Two female patients with acute intermittent porphyria, who received oestrogen skin pads as supplementary treatment for postmenopausal discomfort, developed severe psychiatric disorders with persistent confusion, aggression and paranoid reactions. Some decades earlier they had reacted with symptoms of acute porphyria following oral contraceptive usage. There is well documented evidence of the advisability of restrictiveness in the use of oestrogens in conjunction with acute porphyria, particularly in cases of patients with a history of hormone-related symptoms of acute porphyria. The putative mechanisms by means of which oestrogens may exert effects on neurotransmitters and peptides are discussed in the article. The authors would be grateful to hear from colleagues abroad who have treated patients with similar symptoms following postmenopausal treatment with oestrogens.

Psychiatric research in the five Nordic countries has yielded a substantial body of work during recent years-e.g., on Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and neurotransmitters. Owing to their geographic position and the reliability of their demographic records, the Nordic countries are uniquely suited to epidemiological studies-e.g., of mental disorders over time. Research spans both the fields of biological and clinical community psychiatry in all five countries, though the emphasis varies somewhat: the focus in Sweden and Denmark being more on biological psychiatry, while in Norway and Finland it is more on community, adolescent, and emergency psychiatry.

The light which reaches the eye affects us both visually and non-visually. New results of treatment for depression show that strong artificial light has physiological effects on man. A study describes successful treatment of depressed patients with light and simultaneous normalization of disturbed hormonal daily rhythms. The research results are based on new methods in the modern science which deals with the effects of biological rhythms and is called chronobiology. Anachronobiology pertains to the favourable and catachronobiology to the adverse effects of the rhythms.

Forty HIV-1-sero-positive and 15 HIV-1 antibody negative homosexual or bisexual men were examined by means of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 20 neuropsychological tests. Subcortical, mainly frontal cerebral pathological aberrations were detected in 75 per cent of the patients on examination with ultra low field MRI computer assisted classification. No such changes were found among controls. The extent of the subcortical aberrations detected correlated with severity of immune deficiency, stage of infection (CDC classification), duration of infection, and reported neuropsychological symptoms. Neuropsychological testing showed impairment in memory function, concentration capacity, and fine motor control in the patients but not in the controls.

The use of MRI in clinical psychiatry is evaluated on the basis of over four years' experience. Of 931 psychiatric patients examined, 156 were found to manifest pathological cerebral conditions, a frequency of 17 per cent, as compared with 2 per cent (2/101) among apparently healthy controls. The occurrence of intracerebral lesions, with exclusively psychiatric symptoms, is illustrated with case reports. The importance is stressed of early examination with neurodiagnostic imaging techniques in cases of psychiatric disorders where any of the following symptoms or preliminary diagnoses are present: atypical psychiatric features, first episode psychosis, late onset depression, dementia, HIV and other infections in conjunction with psychiatric symptoms, hysteria, and alcohol or drug abuse. The findings suggest MRI to be a useful supplementary diagnostic tool for improving the care of the psychiatric patient, while relieving the burden both on the patient's family and on mental health care resources.