bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Epidemic Hysteria in a Zambian School: “The Mysterious Madness of Mwinilunga”
Authors: Dhadphale Manohar , Shaikh S. P. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThe authors were sent to Mwinilunga from Ndola to investigate what was reported to the local press as ‘mysterious madness'. The condition was actually an outbreak of epidemic hysteria which was triggerred off by a group of girls who were having educational and emotional problems prior to the epidemic.A change in the administrative policy of rigidly segregating the sexes apparently prepared an emotionally charged background for the rapid spread of the illness. The salient features and management of the epidemic are discussed.
Comparison of Research Diagnostic Systems in an Edinburgh Community Sample
Authors: Dean C. , Surtees P. G. , Sashidharan S. P. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryFour research diagnostic schemes are compared in one community sample. The prevalence of psychiatric disorder ranged from 8.7 per cent (ID-Catego, threshold and definite) through 13.7 per cent (RDC, probable and definite) to 20.3 per cent (Bedford, borderline and definite). The main comparison made is between the PSE/ID/Catego and SADS/RDC systems. Sixty-one per cent of cases are identified as such by both these schemes. There is poor agreement about labelling; only 56 per cent of cases of depression and 16.7 per cent of cases of anxiety are so diagnosed by both systems. A post hoc check list was used to identify Bedford cases; all bar one were found to fulfil RDC and PSE case criteria. The results are compared with those from other centres which have used the same diagnostic criteria in community studies.
The Clinical Description of Forty-Eight Cases of Sexual Fetishism
Authors: Chalkley A. J. , Powell Graham E. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThis study surveys the discharge register of a large London teaching hospital over 20 years and presents data on its 48 cases of clinical sexual fetishism. An attempt was made to answer two questions: (1) What are the clinical problems these patients present? They have more to do with the perception of fetishes as personally or socially unacceptable than with ‘objective’ restrictions placed on sexual activity. (2) What is the classification used to describe? The data have not enabled any conclusions to be drawn about the existence of particular fetishist syndromes. Certainly, a fifth or more of the sample had fetishes for clothes or rubber or rubber items, or wore or stole a fetish or fetishes; but this information is insufficient to allow one to assume that these patients had something significant in common, and leaves open the question of what more precisely each individual was attracted to.
Canada: Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
Authors: Letemendia F. J. J. , Burra P. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThe medical school at Queen's University offers a 4-year M.D. degree course. Because the majority of graduating students consistently choose family medicine as a career, it was decided that the overall objective of the undergraduate course should be to provide the students with the skills and knowledge required to deal with the psychiatric disorders commonly found in general medical practice. The teaching of psychiatry is limited to the second, third and fourth medical years, and teachers are clinicians rather than nonpractising experts in particular fields related to medicine.
Abnormal Metabolite in Alcoholic Subjects
Authors: Wolf Stewart , Felver Michael E. , Altschule Mark D. , Werthessen Nicholas T. , Gerner Robert , Veech Richard L. 
Published: August 2008

Summary2,3-butanediol appears in the blood of some alcoholics following ethanol ingestion. Whether it be a genetic trait or a phenomenon of induction remains to be determined. It may be associated in some way with depression.
Subjective Side-Effects of Amitriptyline and Lithium in Affective Disorders
Authors: Abou-Saleh M. T. , Coppen A. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThe prevalence of subjective side-effects was studied in 258 control subjects, 65 drug-free depressive in-patients and 94 lithium-treated out-patients. It was shown that drug-free depressives reported more side-effects than both control subjects and lithium-treated patients. Side-effects were studied during amitriptyline therapy. Depressed patients on no medication complained of only slightly fewer side-effects than when they had received amitriptyline. There was a significant positive correlation of Hamilton depression scores and side-effects scores at baseline. Side-effects and affective morbidity over two years were investigated in 94 patients with recurrent affective disorders on long-term lithium therapy. Psychological variables were also investigated in 74 of these patients. Subjective side-effects reported by lithium-treated patients including those specific to lithium were related to their affective morbidity and personality variables. Patients on lithium complained significantly less of headache and unilateral headache than controls.
Life Events Precipitating Mania
Authors: Kennedy Sidney , Thompson Ruth , Stancer Harvey C. , Roy Alec , Persad Emmanuel 
Published: August 2008

SummaryA study of 20 manic patients, with patient and matched control comparisons, showed a two fold increase in life events during the 4 month period before admission to hospital. Life events, independent of affective illness and having significant objective negative impact (i.e. traumatic) were significantly more common. These findings are considered in relation to social relationships, family history of affective illness and the use of psychotropic medication.
Failure to Replicate Evoked Potential Observations Suggesting Corpus Callosum Dysfunction in Schizophrenia
Authors: Shagass Charles , Josiassen Richard C. , Roemer Richard A. , Straumanis John J. , Slepner Stephen M. 
Published: August 2008

SummarySomatosensory potentials (SEPs) evoked by vibrotactile finger stimulation have been reported to be the same in both hemispheres in schizophrenics, whereas they are asymmetrical in normals, with the contralateral hemisphere leading the ipsilateral (Jones and Miller, 1981). These findings were taken to indicate that the corpus callosum is nonfunctional in schizophrenics. To attempt replication of these results, vibrotactile SEPs of 6 schizophrenics and 6 normal controls were recorded with both bipolar and monopolar derivations. Assymetrical bipolar SEPs were obtained in both schizophrenics and controls; previous observations of schizophrenic-control differences were not replicated. Acceptable evidence of ipsilateral early SEPs was not obtained; the test procedure seems inappropriate for measuring callosal conduction time.
Left Hemisphere's Inability to Sustain Attention over Extended Time Periods in Schizophrenics
Authors: Niwa Shin-ichi , Hiramatsu Ken-ichi , Kameyama Tomomichi , Saitoh Osamu , Itoh Kenji , Utena Hiroshi 
Published: August 2008

SummaryEach hemisphere's ability to sustain attention over extended time periods was investigated in 14 schizophrenics and 17 controls using dichotic detection tasks. Schizophrenics produced significantly higher rates of omission errors, as compared to that of commission errors. The rates of omission errors for schizophrenics fluctuated markedly, while the rates of commission errors remained fairly constant. Primarily due to the fluctuation of omission errors, the detection index decreased progressively when schizophrenics were engaged in right-ear tasks. These results suggest that schizophrenics demonstrate a deficit concerning ‘response set’, especially in the left hemisphere. It is feasible that there may be a correlation with disturbances in integration mechanisms of both hemispheres in schizophrenics.
Abnormal Dexamethasone Suppression Test in Normal Females
Authors: Hällström Tore , Samuelsson Sverker , Balldin Jan , Wålinder Jan , Bengtsson Calle , Nyström Ernst , Andersch Björn , Lindstedt Göran , Lundberg Per-Arne 
Published: August 2008

SummaryEighty women taking part in a population study were subjected to a dexamethasone suppression test (DST) intended as a diagnostic aid for melancholia. The women were selected systematically from two age strata, 38 and 50 years. Fifteen subjects (19 per cent) were found to be non-suppressors. High post-dexamethasone serum Cortisol concentrations were not the result of elevated concentrations of the main Cortisol binder, transcortin. There were no differences between suppressors and non-suppressors as regards depressive symptoms, strain experience, body mass, gynaecological history, drug use, smoking, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, number of leucocytes, activity of serum aminotransferases and γ-glutamyltransferase, serum iron, bilirubin, ferritin content, serum growth hormone or serum prolactin. However, the non-suppressors reported a significantly lower (P <0.01) orgasmic capacity in a questionnaire inquiry about two weeks before the DST. The outcome of the study indicates that DST as the presently recommended procedure for out-patients has a lower specificity for melancholia than has been reported previously.
Verbal Participation and Group Therapy Outcome
Authors: Fielding John M. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThe relationships between patients speaking out and measured outcome were investigated over 18 months in an out-patient group. The parameters of therapeutic progress were derived from the Symptom Check List and individualized repertory grid rating scales. Each patient's verbal participation was compared to that of other group members and to his own participation over other measurement phases. Speaking out phases were associated with more chance of change and improvement, while silent phases were associated with less chance of change and an increased likelihood of negative change. This study demonstrates the use of a relatively non-disruptive measurement model in testing clinical hypotheses in single psychotherapy groups.
Employability of the Mentally Disabled in the 1970s
Authors: Morgan Roger , Gopalaswamy A. K. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryOf 156 discharged patients, the forty who succeeded in open employment had shown before they left hospital a combination of significantly less clinical disability, less abnormal behaviour, better work performance and better relationships with other people. We specify the approximate levels of these variables that were required to get and hold a job in the 1970s.
Insulin Secretion during the Glucose Tolerance Test in Antisocial Personality
Authors: Virkkunen Matti 
Published: August 2008

SummaryIn 23 young male adults with antisocial personality, mostly guilty of violent crimes, insulin measurements during the glucose tolerance test showed an enhanced insulin secretion only in those with unsocialized aggressive conduct disorder. The hypothesis that in antisocial personality there are at least two aetiologically different groups is supported.
The Place of Psychodynamics in Psychiatry
Authors: Farrell B. A. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThere is a difference of opinion among psychiatrists in this country about the place of psychodynamics in their subject. They appear to be divided roughly into two groups, the “cons” and the “pros”. This paper considers what the attitude of psychiatrists ought to be to psychodynamics, and it does this by selecting and examining the epistemological standing of one example of psychodynamic work. The example is contained in a book by Dr David Malan, entitled Individual Psychotherapy and the Science of Psychodynamics. The examination of this example brings out in what ways the two groups, the cons and the pros, are both wrong and right; and the way in which, therefore, the current difference of attitude is inappropriate, but understandably connected with the uneasy situation in which psychiatrists find themselves.
Sadistic Fantasy, Sadistic Behaviour and Offending
Authors: MacCulloch M. J. , Snowden P. R. , Wood P. J. W. , Mills H. E. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThis paper explores the genesis of sadistic behaviour in men and its relationship to crime. Sixteen male special hospital patients, each with a diagnosis of psychopathic disorder, formed the basis of this descriptive study. In only three cases were the crimes explicable in terms of external circumstances and personality traits. The offences of the remaining 13 cases became comprehensible only when the offender's internal circumstances were explored: investigation revealed repetitive sadistic masturbatory fantasies which had spilled over into overt behaviour because the patients had felt impelled to seek and create increasingly dangerousin vivo‘try-outs' of their fantasies. The paper discusses the crucial link between sadistic fantasy and behaviour.
Lithium Levels in White Blood Cells and their Relationship to Observed Side Effects
Authors: Ong Yong Lock 
Published: August 2008

SummaryA strong correlation was obtained between white blood cell (WBC) lithium concentrations and the severity of observed side effects in a group of 40 patients receiving prophylactic lithium therapy. However, there was no significant correlation between these levels and the specific side effect of hand tremor, although WBC concentrations were higher in patients with greater tremor. These results contrasted with those for plasma and red blood cell (RBC) lithium concentrations, which showed no relationship to side effects. This suggests that WBC lithium concentrations may be a more sensitive index of side effects than conventional plasma estimations.
Plasma Serine to Cysteine Ratio as a Biological Marker for Psychosis
Authors: Waziri Rafiq , Wilson Rick , Sherman Arnold D. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryIn a study of plasma amino acids in psychiatric patients, serine to cysteine (S/C) ratio was higher (S/C = 1.57±0.28) in 57 psychotics compared to 27 nonpsychotics (S/C = 1.06±0.23). This difference was highly significant at P <0.001. Psychotic patients were given a psychosis score (p score) of 1–4, The S/C ratios of individual patients were significantly correlated to their p scores (r = 0.65, P <0.001). S/C ratios were not related to diagnosis, age, sex, food intake and medications. When the initial S/C ratio and p scores of 22 patients were compared to their S/C ratio and p score at the time when they were improved and ready to be discharged, there was a concomitant fall both in S/C ratios and p scores suggesting the high S/C ratios may be indicative of a state rather than a trait characteristic. Our findings lead us to the conclusion that S/C ratios may provide a marker for the presence of psychosis and an index of its severity.
Suppression of Bulimic Symptoms with Methylamphetamine
Authors: Ong Yong Lock , Checkley Stuart A. , Russell G. F. M. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryEight patients with bulimia nervosa were given methylamphetamine or placebo intravenously under double blind controlled conditions. In every patient, methylamphetamine reduced self-ratings of hunger and amount of food eaten as measured under laboratory conditions. This shows that the food intake of patients with bulimia nervosa can be modified by experimental drugs. The symptom of bulimia (rapid, excessive and distressing eating) which may be followed by self-induced vomiting or purgation was seen in four patients after receiving placebo but in none after receiving methylamphetamine. These findings suggest that the severe symptom of bulimia may be amenable to drug treatment. Further studies are needed to explore the mechanism by which methylamphetamine appears to prevent bulimia.
Cavernosal Alpha-Blockade: A New Technique for Investigating and Treating Erectile Impotence
Authors: Brindley G. S. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryIntracavernosal injection of phenoxybenzamine, in a dose too small to have significant general effects, caused full erection lasting between half an hour and 30 hours in 3 of 4 potent men (2 normal, 2 anorgasmic) and in 6 of 11 impotent men. In the remaining potent man and 3 of the remaining impotent it caused the penis to be stiff enough for intromission. Six of the eleven impotent men have had sexual intercourse, for the first time for months or years, while under the drug.The practical implications of this new discovery are discussed.
Follow-up Study of Schizophrenic Patients Initially Treated with Home Care
Authors: Pai Shaila , Roberts Elizabeth J. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryA follow-up enquiry was carried out after two years on 54 patients who had earlier participated in a controlled experiment on home-care through a community nurse in Bangalore. Thirty seven of these patients could be contacted, of whom 21 had undergone the experimental care (home care) and 16 were from the control group, which had been treated by hospital admission. It was found that the experimental subjects had maintained a significantly better clinical status than the controls, and had been readmitted less often.
An Algorithmic Method for Management of Mental Health Problems in Developing Countries
Authors: Essex B. , Gosling H. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryA new problem-oriented cross-cultural method has been developed to identify the appropriate management of mental health problems in primary-care settings. It is designed to be used by multipurpose health workers in out-patient clinics in many developing countries. Presenting mental health problems in many cultural settings can be placed into one or more of eight behaviourly determined categories. After this initial categorization an algorithmic process is used to determine the sequence of observations which must be made in order to identify the appropriate management. The system allows for variations in available resources and local constraints. We outline the design principles of this algorithmic method and the rules for using it, and describe a training programme developed to teach people to adapt it and use it effectively. The evaluation studies that have been done in different developing countries confirm that the method is acceptable and efficient, and gives management decisions with a high degree of repeatability.
Asymmetrical Transfer: An Inherent Weakness of Repeated-Measure Drug Experiments
Authors: Millar Keith 
Published: August 2008

SummaryWhen subjects act as their own controls in drug experiments there is a risk of asymmetrical transfer between treatment conditions, with the result that treatment effects are determined largely by order of administration. In such cases the effect of a drug may be reduced or exaggerated, and prior treatment with a drug may affect placebo conditions. Asymmetrical transfer is probably much more common than is generally realized. Suggested causes include inadequate wash-out between treatments, state-dependent learning, adoption of learning strategies, and practice effects. The problem is illustrated by the re-analysis of a paper on the effects of benzhexol on memory, published recently in this journal (Potamianos and Kellet, 1982). The advantages of separate-group experimental design are reconsidered.
Social Factors and Affective Disorder: An Investigation of Brown and Harris's Model
Authors: Campbell Elizabeth A. , Cope Susan J. , Teasdale John D. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThe aetiological model proposed by Brown and Harris was examined in a sample of 110 working class women with children in Oxford. Using the same methodology as Brown and Harris, the role of provoking agents in the onset of affective disorder was found to be very similar to that which they originally described. Lack of an intimate relationship with a husband or boyfriend was found to act as a vulnerability factor, increasing the risk of psychiatric disorder in the face of a provoking agent. There was a trend for women with three or more children aged 14 or under to have an increased vulnerability. However, unemployment was not found to be a vulnerability factor. These results provide general support for Brown and Harris's causal model.
Cognitive Dysfunction and Tardive Dyskinesia
Authors: Struve Frederick A. , Willner Allen E. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryFrom a prospective study of tardive dyskinesia (TD), psychiatric patients with neuroleptically—induced “persistent” TD were contrasted with controls on a neuropsychological measure of abstracting ability. A significant association is demonstrated between impaired cognitive performance and TD, even when the neuropsychological measure was obtained in advance of TD onset.
High-Dose Neuroleptics: Uncontrolled Clinical Practice Confirms Controlled Clinical Trials
Authors: Bollini Paola , Andreani Amato , Colombo Fabio , Bellantuono Cesario , Beretta Paola , Arduini Anna , Galli Tebaldo , Tognoni Gianni 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThe strategy of high-dose intramuscular haloperidol as routinely applied in a general hospital psychiatric ward to 74 successive patients, 33 of whom stayed only up to seven days, and a further 34 up to 15 days, led to a complete recovery in only six, and complete lack of change in 23. Adverse reactions were recorded in 42, severe enough to stop treatment in eight; there were three deaths. In view of this risk-benefit analysis, systematic application of this high dose strategy to get a more rapid turnover of patients is unjustified.
Impact of Lithium Therapy on Core Psychotic Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Authors: Zemlan Frank P. , Hirschowitz Jack , Sautter Frederic J. , Garver David L. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryThe authors have previously reported that a sub-group of schizophrenic-like patients respond favorably to lithium therapy: furthermore, psychotic patients who respond to lithium demonstrate appreciable improvement during the first seven days of treatment. The present study investigated which symptoms of schizophrenia improved quickly during lithium treatment. We found that patients who do respond to lithium show significant improvement in the core symptoms of psychosis—hallucinations, delusions and formal thought disorder—during the first seven days of treatment, thus allowing early identification of 88 per cent of schizophrenic patients who ultimately respond to lithium and 91 per cent of those who do not.
Schizophrenic Patients and their Families a Survey in a Psychiatric service based on a DGH Unit
Authors: Gibbons J. S. , Horn S. H. , Powell J. M. , Gibbons J. L. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryWe identified the population of schizophrenic patients under 65 in a geographically defined area. The number using psychiatric services based on a new District General Hospital unit in the course of one year was 364, a prevalence of 2.2 per 1000 adult population. Half the patients lived in supportive private households, most often with spouses or mothers. More women than men married and retained supporters. Patients and their primary supporters were interviewed separately. The PSE Catego programme classed 47 per cent of patients as psychotic. Supporters reported disturbed behaviour in 65 per cent of patients, and restricted social performance in 78 per cent. There was evidence of hardship (emotional and physical ill-health, problems with children) in 90 per cent of households. Supporters' subjective distress was directly related to the presence of psychosis and disturbed behaviour and inversely related to the duration of the illness. Drop-out and failure to take medication appeared to be causes of the relatively high prevalence of psychosis.
Classification of Anxiety
Authors: Tyrer Peter 
Published: August 2008

SummaryCurrent psychiatric classifications of anxiety are examined critically. In the European literature a specific cluster of symptoms is diagnostic of anxiety neurosis and their subsidiary classification is based on precipitating factors and duration of symptoms. In the American literature, exemplified by DSM-III, greater emphasis is placed on symptomatic classification and panic is given separate diagnostic status, both alone and in conjunction with agoraphobia. In both classifications generalized anxiety is at the bottom of a diagnostic hierarchy so that all other symptoms take precedence. It is argued that neither classification properly identifies a discrete syndrome of pathological anxiety that is recognizable in clinical practice.