Background: Depression is a common health problem, ranking third after cardiac and respiratory diseases as a major cause of disability. There is evidence to suggest that university students are at higher risk of depression, despite being a socially advantaged population, but the reported rates have shown wide variability across settings. Purpose: To explore the prevalence of depression in university students. Method: PubMed, PsycINFO, BioMed Central and Medline were searched to identify studies published between 1990 and 2010 reporting on depression prevalence among university students. Searches used a combination of the terms depression, depressive symptoms, depressive disorders, prevalence, university students, college students, undergraduate students, adolescents and/or young adults. Studies were evaluated with a quality rating. Results: Twenty-four articles were identified that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Reported prevalence rates ranged from 10% to 85% with a weighted mean prevalence of 30.6%. Conclusions: The results suggest that university students experience rates of depression that are substantially higher than those found in the general population. Study quality has not improved since 1990

Background: Few comprehensive epidemiological studies of the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been undertaken in Arab countries, and none has been carried out in Egypt. A community-based survey was conducted in the Assiut Governorate to estimate the prevalence and clinical profile of PD. Methods: A community-based study was carried out, with random sampling of 7 districts, involving 6,498 inhabitants. Out of this sample, 578 subjects dropped out, leaving 3,066 males (51.8%) and 2,854 females (48.2%). There were 3,660 urban residents (61.8%) and 2,260 (38.2%) from the rural community. Patients were evaluated using a screening questionnaire, the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale and the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale for PD. Results: Thirty-nine subjects were found to have parkinsonism, giving a crude prevalence rate of 659/100,000 inhabitants. Of these subjects, 33 were diagnosed with PD (21 males), with a mean age of 66.9 8 8.4 years, a crude prevalence rate of 557/100,000 and an age-specific prevalence rate ( 6 50 years old) of 2,748/100,000. There were more males than females (3,395 vs. 1,989/100,000), but the difference was not signifi- cant. The highest age-specific prevalence rate was recorded among subjects 70–79 years old (7,263/100,000). There was a significantly higher prevalence among rural than urban inhabitants (973 vs. 301/100,000) and among illiterate than literate persons (1,103 vs. 280/100,000). The clinical profile of our patients was similar to that of other populations but was characterized by a high prevalence of mood/cognition dysfunction and gastrointestinal symptoms; there were few reported perceptual problems. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of PD was high, especially in older adults.

There is very little published information about the prevalence, patterns, and predictors of peripheral neuropathies. The current study is a community-based survey was conducted in the Assiut Governorate to estimate their prevalence and clinical profile. Material and methods: A door-to-door study was carried out on 42 223 persons from rural and urban communities in the Assiut Governorate, Egypt. There were 13 288 (31.5%) subjects from the urban and 28 935 (68.5%) from the rural area. All subjects filled in a questionnaire designed specifically for diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy. Positive cases were then given a complete medical and neurological examination, routine laboratory tests, neurophysiology, and neuroimaging (magnetic resonance). Results: The crude prevalence rate (CPR) of peripheral neuropathy was 3181/100 000 inhabitants. There was a significantly higher prevalence in the rural compared with the urban population (3795 versus 1844/ 100 000) and in females than males (4473 versus 1943/100 000; P,0.001 for both). The most common type reported was entrapment neuropathy (736 cases with CPR of 1743/100 000), particularly carpal tunnel syndrome (1686/100 000). Diabetic neuropathy was the most common non-compressive neuropathy with a CPR of 649/100 000. Type II diabetes was recorded in 241 patients with a CPR of 571/100 000. Compressive radiculopathy had a crude prevalence of 358/100 000; traumatic and iatrogenic radiculopathy had a prevalence rate of 149/100 000. Less common conditions were: uremic neuropathy (21/ 100 000) hepatic neuropathy (14/100 000), Bell’s palsy (28/100 000), Guillian–Barre’ syndrome (12/ 100 000), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (12/100 000), hereditary sensory motor neuropathy (12/100 000), and idiopathic neuropathy (92/100 000). Conclusion: The overall prevalence of peripheral neuropathies was high in comparison to other studies. Entrapment neuropathy, diabetic neuropathy, and spondylotic radiculopathy were the most common. Overall, the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy was higher in the rural than in the urban population.

The aim of the study was to compare the longterm efficacy of high versus low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), applied bilaterally over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), on cognitive function and cortical excitability of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Forty-five AD patients were randomly classified into three groups. The first two groups received real rTMS over the DLPFC (20 and 1 Hz, respectively) while the third group received sham stimulation. All patients received one session daily for five consecutive days. In each session, rTMS was applied first over the right DLPFC, immediately followed by rTMS over the left DLPFC. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Instrumental Daily Living Activity (IADL) scale and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were assessed before, after the last (fifth) session, and then followed up at 1 and 3 months. Neurophysiological evaluations included resting and active motor threshold (rMT and aMT), and the duration of transcallosal inhibition (TI) before and after the end of the treatment sessions. At base line assessment there were no significant differences between groups in any of the rating scales. The high frequency rTMS group improved significantly more than the low frequency and sham groups in all rating scales (MMSE, IADL, and GDS) and at all time points after treatment. Measures of cortical excitability immediately after the last treatment session showed that treatment with 20 Hz rTMS reduced TI duration. These results confirm that five daily sessions of high frequency rTMS over the left and then the right DLPFC improves cognitive function in patients with mild to moderate degree of AD. This improvement was maintained for 3 months. High frequency rTMS may be a useful addition to therapy for the treatment of AD.

Objective.—To evaluate the therapeutic effects of peripheral repetitive magnetic stimulation (rMS) on recovery of traumatic brachial plexopathy. Patients and methods.—Thirty-four patients with traumatic brachial plexopathy were studied. Strength of different muscles of upper limbs was evaluated neurologically. Nerve conduction studies (NCS), upper limb F-waves and visual analogue scales (VAS) for shoulder pain were obtained for all patients. These were randomly assigned into two groups with a ratio of 2:1; each patient received conventional physical therapy modalities and active exercises as well as real or sham rMS applied over the superior trapezius muscle of the affected limb daily for 10 sessions. Patients were reassessed with the same parameters after the 5th and the 10th session, and 1 month after rMS treatment. Results.—No significant between-group differences were recorded at baseline assessment. Significant improvement was observed (time X groups) after real rMS in comparison to the sham group (P = 0.0001 for muscle strength and 0.01 for VAS of shoulder pain). These improvements were still present at 1 month after the end of treatment. In accordance with the clinical improvement, a significant improvement was recorded in the neurophysiological parameters in the real vs the sham group.