Introduction: Despite the general agreement that normal jealousy is heterogenous, little is known about this specific topic.

Methods: In the present study, we explored the possibility of distinguishing between four subtypes of “normal” jealousy (depressive, anxious, obsessive, and paranoid) amongst a cohort of 500 healthy university students by means of a specifically designed questionnaire, “Questionario della gelosia” (QUEGE). QUEGE is a self-report instrument of 30 items which explores the presence, frequency, and duration of feelings and behaviors related to jealousy. It was devised to investigate four hypothetical psychopathological profiles: depressive, paranoid, obsessive, and anxious.

Results: The factor analysis identified five rather than four clear-cut factors: self-esteem, paranoia, interpersonal sensitivity, fear of being abandoned, and obsessionality. Women showed statistically significant lower levels of self-esteem and higher levels of obsessionality than men. Younger age (<25 years) was associated with lower self-esteem and higher levels of paranoia and obsessionality, while being single was associated with lower self-esteem and higher levels of obsessionality.

Conclusion: The present study provides evidence of the reliability and validity of the QUEGE instrument, which seems to identify the presence of five psychopathological dimensions within the jealousy phenomenon in the general population.

Objective: To examine changes in quality of life (QOL) and global clinical status after 30 days of adjunctive treatment with tolcapone, a reversible inhibitor of catechol-O-methyltransferase, in patients with fluctuating Parkinson's disease.

Methods: This 30-day, multicenter, open-label, community-based study enrolled fluctuating Parkinson's disease patients to receive tolcapone 100 mg TID as an adjunct to levodopa/carbidopa. The primary end point was QOL change assessed using the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ)-8. Clinical change was assessed using the investigator-rated Clinical Global Impression of Improvement Scale (CGI-I).

Results: Fifty-six physicians enrolled 202 patients; 138 (68%) were ≥65 years of age and 116 (57%) had Parkinson's disease for ≥5 years. The mean PDQ-8 total score improved from 42.1 to 34.8 after 30 days of tolcapone (P<.0001). Sixty-nine percent of patients improved on the CGI-I. Physicians planned to continue tolcapone beyond the 30 days in 72%, most commonly because of positive changes in motor function and overall general improvement. No patient discontinued because of liver adverse events.

Conclusions: Adjunctive tolcapone treatment was associated with statistically significant improvement in QOL in fluctuating Parkinson's disease patients. A majority of patients experienced clinical benefits and continued treatment beyond the end of this study. No liver-related adverse events were reported.

Background: Alcohol abuse and/or dependence, alcohol use disorders (AUDs), and problem and/or pathological gambling (PPG) frequently co-occur with each other and other psychiatric disorders. However, prior studies have not investigated the relative influence of AUDs on the associations between PPG and other psychiatric disorders.

Methods: Nationally representative data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (n=43,093; United States residents ≥18 years of age) was used to examine the influence of AUDs on the associations between gambling and other psychiatric disorders and behaviors. The main outcome measures were co-occurrence of past-year AUD and Axis I and II disorders and severity of gambling based on the 10 inclusionary diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling.

Results: Among non-AUD respondents, increasing gambl ing severity was associated with increasingly elevated odds for the majority of Axis I and II disorders. Among AUD respondents, this pattern was typically not observed. Alcohol-by-gambling-group interactions for PPG were also found and the odds of these disorders was significantly increased in non-AUD respondents with PPG, but either unchanged or significantly lower in AUD respondents with PPG.

Conclusions: Gambling-related associations exist with multiple psychiatric disorders, but particularly in those without AUD. These associations have important implications with respect to conceptualization, prevention, and treatment of psychiatric disorders in individuals with gambling and/or AUDs.

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the associations between residual symptoms of depression and specific self-reported symptoms in several cognitive domains.

Methods: The study investigated 117 patients with partially or fully remitted major depressive disorder (MDD) after treatment with antidepressant medications.

Results: Fatigue was significantly associated with inability to focus, alertness, and feeling “blue”; low interest and difficulty with concentration were associated with apathy. No associations were found between deficits in the cognitive domains considered and residual symptoms such as self-blaming, feeling worthless, feeling hopeless, having suicidal thoughts, difficulty with sleep, and lack of appetite.

Conclusion: Among MDD remitted patients endorsing residual symptoms such as fatigue and feeling “blue”, deficits in a range of cognitive domains should be carefully assessed and treated.