bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Coping: a genetic epidemiological investigation
Authors: Kendler Kenneth S. , Kessler Ronald C. , Heath Andrew C. , Neale Michael C. , Eaves Lindon J. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISThis study examines data on self-report coping behaviour, life events and symptoms of anxiety and depression in a general population sample of 827 female twin pairs. Factor analysis identified three almost uncorrelated coping factors: turning to others; problem solving; and denial. Turning to others and problem solving were negatively and denial was positively related to levels of anxiety and depression. Turning to others and problem solving buffered the depressogenic and anxiogenic effects of stressful life events, while denial exacerbated the anxiogenic effects of life events. Structural equation model-fitting indicated that twin resemblance in turning to others and problem solving could be explained entirely by genetic factors with an estimated heritability of 30 and 31%, respectively. For denial, twin resemblance could be best explained by familial–environmental factors accounting for 19% of the total variation. Genes may affect the vulnerability to psychiatric disorders in part by influencing coping behaviour.
Psychosocial family intervention in schizophrenia: a review of empirical studies
Authors: Lam Dominic H. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISThis paper reviews the recent empirical studies on psychosocial family intervention in schizophrenia. Six family educational intervention studies and five more intensive family work studies with 2-year follow-up have been included. A series of questions is asked relating to the effects of such interventions, the efficacy of the different educational models, the active ingredients of these multi-component treatment packages, and the contribution of this new generation of studies to our understanding of the mechanisms through which these interventions work. Suggestions for further research are made. Finally, from the published manuals, the common components of these diverse, multi-component treatment packages of different family-intervention studies are identified.
Assay-guided isolation of naturally-occurring neuroactive substances
Authors: McIlwain Henry 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisWays in which chemical techniques could be applied to the understanding of neural systems, their functioning and their disorders were devised only gradually during the present century. In a particularly successful procedure, now termed assay-guided isolation, neural defects were made good by means of tissue-extracts and the restoration of function was established as an assay-system to guide the chemical separation and identification of the active tissue constituent. Thiamin was so isolated, using an experimental polyneuritis assay; subsequent instances among other metabolites, hormones, neurotransmitters and nerve growth factors are recounted. Procedures of assay-guided characterization ensured that links were retained between specific, sparsely-occurring substances and chosen aspects of their biological roles while their chemical nature was first explored and then established. The procedures discouraged the too-facile postulating of hypothetical molecules and contributed to the distinctiveness of neurochemistry as a subject within the neurosciences.
Clinical correlates of septum pellucidum cavities: an unusual association with psychosis
Authors: Lewis Shôn W. , Mezey Gillian C. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisCavities in the septum pellucidum are widely regarded as incidental findings of little clinical importance. The prevalence of such cava on computerized tomography in a mixed sample of 22000 neurological and psychiatric patients is found to be 0·15%. A statistical association between this anomaly and a referral diagnosis of functional psychosis is reported, and 6 cases are described. These cases were male and characterized by an early history of developmental delay, with lifelong disturbances of emotion and behaviour prior to the onset in early adulthood of an atypical schizophrenia-like psychosis with disorders of speech and movement. It is suggested that septal cavities may signal an underlying abnormality of function relevant to the pathogenesis of these illnesses.
Positive symptoms and the organization within and between ideas in schizophrenic speech
Authors: Allen Heidelinde A. , Allen Derek S. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe study examined the performance of positive symptom schizophrenics vis à vis that of demographically well-matched negative symptom schizophrenics and normals in organizing words into ideas and ideas into integrated spoken discourse. This involved applying a series of analyses to speech produced when describing pictures in an unconstrained way. The results showed that, for the most part, positive symptom schizophrenics organized their speech, both within and between ideas, as well as negative symptom schizophrenics and normals. The results did, however, show an increased tendency by the positive speech disordered schizophrenics to omit referents for noun phrases requiring referents. This constitutes a specific failure to connect ideas and does, at least in part, explain what makes positive speech disorder (incoherence of speech) unintelligible. However, taken altogether, the results do not support the extant view that positive symptom schizophrenics suffer from a general loss of control in producing speech.
A test of the repression hypothesis in agoraphobics
Authors: Arrindell Willem A. , Emmelkamp Paul M. G. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisIn a recent study Turner et al. (1983) employed Bell & Byrne's (1978) Repression-Sensitization (R–S) scale to test the hypothesis that agoraphobics utilize repression as a method of avoiding anxiety-arousing forms of cognition. However, no support was found for this view. Rather, the R–S scores indicated general sensitization and attention to negative affect. In this paper it is argued that, on both theoretical and psychometric grounds, the R–S scale cannot be considered a suitable measure of the repression–sensitization process. A study was carried out in which a number of other defensivity measures were used in addition to the R–S scale. Weak support was found for Goldstein & Chambless’ (1978) view that a defensive cognitive style is characteristic of agoraphobic patients when compared with non-phobic psychiatric controls.
A scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire
Authors: Goldberg D. P. , Hillier V. F. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISThis study reports the factor structure of the symptoms comprising the General Health Questionnaire when it is completed in a primary care setting. A shorter, 28-item GHQ is proposed consisting of 4 subscales: somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression. Preliminary data concerning the validity of these scales are presented, and the performance of the whole 28-item questionnaire as a screening test is evaluated. The factor structure of the symptomatology is found to be very similar for 3 independent sets of data.
The clinical evaluation of obsessionality: a development of the Leyton Obsessional Inventory
Authors: Robertson John R. , Mulhall David J. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISThe Leyton Obsessional Inventory gives both an indication of the range of obsessional symptoms present and the degree of resistance and interference associated with each symptom. A new method is described in which the covariation of resistance and interference is represented in the form of a matrix. The results, using this method, can give a unique picture of the quality of the patient's symptoms from the clinical standpoint and provide useful guidelines for treatment and follow up. Automatic data-processing is offered for the convenience of clinicians and researchers wishing to utilize the test in this form.
The use of the Visual Analogue Mood and Alert Scales in diagnosing hospitalized affective psychoses
Authors: Luria Richard E. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISA consecutive series of 90 admissions of functional patients was examined with thePresent State Examination(PSE). Based primarily on PSE findings together with previously published diagnostic criteria, we identified 11 clear or index cases of schizophrenia, 12 of affective psychoses, and 12 of neurotic/personality disorders. All patients were given daily 2 analogue scales, one measuring mood and the other alertness. Among the index cases, the depressives were distinguished by low scores on both scales and the manics by high scores. There was little overlap in the distribution of the scores among the diagnostic groups, suggesting that these scales might be effective psychological markers of clear affectiveversusclear non-affective functional disorders.Among the undiagnosed cases, those with low or high scores on both scales resembled index affectives phenomenologically, clinically, and demographically. The scores of the ‘affective-like’ patients overlapped little with those of the ‘non-affective-like’ patients. The scales therefore might be practical diagnostic aids.
Psychiatrists' models of mental illness and their personal backgrounds
Authors: Toone B. K. , Murray R. , Clare A. , Creed F. , Smith A. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISSeventy-nine junior psychiatrists at the Maudsley Hospital answered 16 biographical questions and a 68-item questionnaire measuring attitudes to the psychoanalytical, biological, social, behavioural, and anti-medical models of mental illness. The psychoanalytical model was the most clearly defined and its adherents the most dogmatic, while those supporting the social model were the most eclectic. Sex, social class, education and political sympathy proved a poor guide to the orientation of the respondent. Individuals who had decided on a career in psychiatry before entering medical school were the most critical of the biological model. Biologically minded psychiatrists were older and, in contrast to Kreitman's findings, there was a shift from a psychoanalytical to a biological preference with increasing psychiatric experience. The importance of scientific attitudes in psychiatry was endorsed by biologically and behaviourally inclined psychiatrists but denigrated by supporters of the analytical approach. Adherents of the psychoanalytical model had as many academic qualifications as the biologically inclined, but had fewer publications and were less active in research. It appears that interest in psychoanalysis is antipathetic to the development of scientific attitudes conducive to research.
The question of hormonal influences on intellectual development: growth hormone
Authors: Meyer-Bahlburg H. F. L. , Feinman J. A. , MacGillivray M. H. , Aceto T. A. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISContrary to expectations based on findings of enhanced brain development and learning in rats after prenatal growth-hormone administration, a sample of patients with growthhormone deficiency of early onset did not show impairment of mental abilities when tested with standard intelligence tests. We conclude from our findings, as well as from other clinical reports, that growth-hormone deficiency of early onset does probably not interfere with normal human brain development.
MRI in schizophrenia: basal ganglia and white matter T1 times
Authors: Harvey I. , Ron M. A. , Murray R. , Lewis S. , Barker G. , McManus D. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISThe T1 relaxation time of the basal ganglia (putamen, globus pallidus and head of caudate) and of the frontoparietal centrum semiovale was compared between 49 schizophrenic patients and 36 healthy controls. Previous reports of increased T1 time in the basal ganglia were not confirmed, and group differences were not detected within the white matter. Within patients T1 values could not be related to tardive dyskinesia or other clinical features. Normal variation seen in basal ganglia T1 times is described for the first time: lowest values occur in the globus pallidus and highest in the caudate, and values within the putamen increase rostrally.
Expressed emotion and early onset schizophrenia: a one year follow-up
Authors: Stirling John , Tantam Digby , Thomas Philip , Newby David , Montague Linda , Ring Noreen , Rowe Steven 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISKey relatives of 33 first or early admission psychotic patients (mainly schizophrenics) were interviewed to determine household levels of expressed emotion (EE). The patients were followed up for 12 months from index admission, during which time 13 (39%) experienced psychotic relapse. There was no association between relapse rate and household EE, but correlations between individual components of EE and pre-morbid measures suggest that level of criticism may be related to less acute onset of index episode, greater elapsed time since first signs of illness, and poor adjustment in the realm of work/study. The results are discussed in the context of continuing uncertainties about the precise nature of the relationship between EE and relapse.
The pattern of cerebral activity underlying verbal fluency shown by split-dose single photon emission tomography (SPET or SPECT) in normal volunteers
Authors: Shedlack K. J. , Hunter R. , Wyper D. , McLuskie R. , Fink G. , Goodwin G. M. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISUptake of 99mTc-Exametazime, a marker of relative regional cerebral blood flow has been determined with Single Photon Emission Tomography (SPET or SPECT) in 20 healthy, elderly female subjects during neuropsychological challenge. Each subject was studied under basal conditions after injection of 125 MBq 99mTc-Exametazime. Without moving the head of the subject, they were scanned again after injection of 375 MBq 99mTc-Exametazime. The second injection was made in 10 subjects during a test of verbal fluency, usually regarded as a test of the integrity of function of the left frontal cortex. In the other 10 subjects the second injection was made during simple verbalization (counting). This method of splitting the normal full dose of 99mTc-Exametazime allows a novel comparison between basal and active conditions for different brain regions. Verbal fluency was associated with reduced uptake bilaterally in the region of the basal ganglia and in left temporal (peri-sylvian) cortex when compared with calcarine cortex, an unstimulated reference sensory area. By contrast, counting produced relative activation, greatest in frontal and parietal areas. Thus, a clinically relevant neuropsychological test can be characterized metabolically by a pattern of regional brain activity, whose localization cannot readily be predicted from classical studies of brain lesions. Reduction of regional uptake may suggest an important role for de-activation or inhibition of function in human cognition. The involvement of basal ganglia and temporal areas is of particular interest in relation to the investigation of functional psychiatric illness.
The pathways to psychiatric care: a cross-cultural study
Authors: Gater R. , Almeida E. Sousa De B. , Barrientos G. , Caraveo J. , Chandrashekar C. R. , Dhadphale M. , Goldberg D. , Al Kathiri A. H. , Mubbashar M. , Silhan K. , Thong D. , Torres-Gonzales F. , Sartorius N. 
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSISThis paper describes the referral pathways taken by 1554 patients newly referred to the mental health services in 11 countries, and documents factors associated with delays in referral. The pathways in centres relatively well provided with psychiatric staff were dominated by general practitioners and to a lesser extent hospital doctors: the relatively less well resourced centres showed a variety of pathways with native healers often playing an important part. Delays were remarkably short in all centres regardless of psychiatric resources, but in some centres we found longer delays on pathways involving native healers. Somatic problems were a common presentation in all centres, and in some centres there was a tendency for patients presenting with somatic problems to have longer delays than those with symptoms of depression or anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of an ongoing programme of WHO research activities aimed at improving the quality of mental illness care available in community settings.
The effects of social changes in chronic schizophrenia: a study of forty patients transferred from hospital to residential home
Authors: Pryce I. G. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisVarious clinical and social measures were applied to forty long-stay schizophrenic patients before and after transfer from hospital to a residential home and similarly to twenty-five patients retained in hospital. The results are used to test specific hypotheses concerning the relationship between social changes and clinical state in chronic schizophrenia.
The relation of deviant symptoms and behaviour in a normal population to subsequent delinquency and maladjustment
Authors: Watt David C. , Taylor Terence 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisA survey of more than 6000 school children in 1961 established norms for symptomatology and behaviour at ages 5–15. A follow-up to 1968 identified all children from the survey attending a child guidance clinic or appearing in court within that time. Those thus identified contained a significantly high proportion of boys who were reported as having more than 3 deviant items (i.e. occurring in approximately 10% of subjects in 1961). Specific health and behavioural items were found to have been reported in 1961 in proportions which were significantly different for children later appearing in child guidance clinic from those appearing in court. The amount of concern expressed by their parents over psychological and behavioural items distinguished court from clinic boys, while the concern shown by parents over items of physical health showed little difference in these 2 groups.
Personality traits and platelet monoamine oxidase in tobacco smokers
Authors: Von Knorring Lars , Oreland Lars 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisA study was made of the smoking habits of an unselected series of 1129 18-year-old men from the general population. Their smoking habits were related to personality traits, intellectual level and platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO). Regular smokers were found to be extraverts, sensation seekers who were easily bored and with a strong tendency to avoid monotony. They also had a lower than average intellectual level, and were more prone to the abuse of alcohol, glue, cannabis, amphetamine and morphine. Furthermore, they had a low platelet MAO.The results are discussed in relation to the pharmacological reasons for smoking and favour the hypothesis that tobacco smoking is related to arousal-seeking behaviour. Ex-smokers had personality traits, intellectual levels and platelet MAO of the same magnitude as non-smokers: this may be the reason why they were able to give up smoking.
Predicting relapse in schizophrenia: the development and implementation of an early signs monitoring system using patients and families as observers, a preliminary investigation
Authors: Birchwood Max , Smith Jo , Macmillan Fiona , Hogg Bridget , Prasad Rekha , Harvey Cathy , Bering Sandy 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisRecognition of prodromal symptoms of schizophrenia offers the potential of early intervention to avert relapse and re-hospitalization (Carpenter & Heinrichs, 1983). The present study investigated how a strategy to detect prodromal signs might be effectively applied in the clinical setting. A standard monitoring system was developed involving completion of a new early signs scale (ESS) measuring changes in key symptoms phenomenologically (self-report) and behaviourally (observer report). The ESS was subject to rigorous psychometric evaluation and tested in a prospective pilot investigation. The ESS reliably identified early signs and predicted relapse with an overall accuracy of 79%. Several different patterns of relapse were identified. Observer reports compensated for loss of insight in some patients. In two cases where early signs indices were detected, prompt increases in medication appeared to arrest relapse and avert readmission. The ESS offers itself as a reliable, valid and administratively feasible measure and demonstrates considerable potential as a cost-effective procedure for secondary prevention.
The ‘well control’ artefact in case/control studies of specific psychiatric disorders
Authors: Schwartz Sharon , Link Bruce G. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisAn appropriate choice of controls in case/control studies of specific psychiatric disorders is crucial for valid risk-factor assessment. One suggested approach to control-group selection, the use of a well control group, is the focus of this paper. While using well controls has intuitive appeal, this paper shows that such a procedure can lead to ambiguous and biased results.
Exposure to recurrent combat stress: combat stress reactions among Israeli soldiers in the Lebanon War
Authors: Solomon Zahava , Mikulincer Mario , Jakob Beni R. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThis study examined the impact of repeated exposure to combat on combat stress reaction (CSR). Sodliers diagnosed with CSR during the Lebanon War (N = 382) were compared with a matched control group of soldiers who fought in the same units but did not manifest symptoms of CSR (N = 334). CSR in the Lebanon War was found to be related to the psychological outcome the soldier experienced in previous wars. The CSR rate in the Lebanon War was higher in soldiers who had experienced an episode of CSR in a previous war than in soldiers with no past combat experience. However, CSR rates were lower among soldiers who had not had an episode of CSR in a previous war than among soldiers with no prior combat experience. High intensity of combat in Lebanon was found to increase both the detrimental and favourable effects of prior combat experience.
Neuropathological basis for drawing disability (constructional apraxia) in Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Förstl H. , Burns A. , Levy R. , Cairns N. 
Published: July 2009

SynopsisThe performance on four drawing tasks was studied in a sample of patients with verified Alzheimer's disease in order to examine the relationship of ‘constructional apraxia’ to neuropathological changes in the parietal lobe and in other brain areas. Twenty-three patients were able to attempt to copy pentagons, a spiral and a three-dimensional drawing of a house, 22 patients were able to draw a clock-face spontaneously. The results were rank-ordered by two independent raters. The values obtained in the different drawing tasks were correlated significantly with each other, with global estimates of cognitive performance (CAMCOG, Mini-Mental State), with a shorter duration of illness, higher brain weight (in the subsample of female patients), higher counts of large neurons in the parahippocampal gyrus and hippocampus, but not in the parietal lobe. This suggests that there is no specific relationship between ‘constructional apraxia’ and neuropathological changes in the parietal lobes of patients with advanced Alzheimer's disease, but that there is a correlation between widespread brain changes and several neuropsychological deficits, one of them being drawing disability.