bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Computed tomography of the brain in patients with acute psychosis and in healthy volunteers
Authors: Nybäck H. , Wiesel F.‐A. , Berggren B.‐M. , Hindmarsh T. 
Published: August 2007

Evidence has been obtained by computed tomography (CT) that some chronic schizophrenic patients have enlarged cerebral ventricles and other brain abnormalities when compared to other patient groups and to healthy controls (Johnstone et al. (1976), Weinberger et al. (1979)). In order to investigate whether structural brain abnormalities can be demonstrated also in younger patients with acute psychosis we have undertaken a CT study in 46 patients and 46 healthy volunteers. Twenty‐eight of the patients fulfilled the Research Diagnostic Criteria for schizophrenia. Nineteen had not been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons before.The lateral and third ventricles were significantly wider in the patients than in the volunteers. In the volunteers there was a significant positive correlation between age and size of the lateral ventricles, whereas in the patients, particularly those fulfilling the criteria for schizophrenia, no such correlation was obtained. These results indicate that schizophrenia may be associated with pathophysiological processes which interfere with the normal age‐related enlargement of the ventricles. Signs of cortical atrophy, CSF circulation disturbances and reversed asymmetry of the occipital lobes were more frequent in the patient group than among the controls. These results are in accordance with previously published findings and indicate that structural brain abnormalities can be found in relatively young patients with acute psychosis.
An epidemiological approach to the improvement of mental health services in developing countries
Authors: Giel R. 
Published: August 2007

Developing proper criteria for case‐finding in the community and conducting surveys are already such major undertakings that we hardly ever achieve the ultimate goals of:(a) determining accurately the psychiatric needs of a population;(b) establishing the types and numbers of personnel required to satisfy these needs; and(c) defining their tasks, and developing training programmes for the workers who will carry out these tasks.
Lithium effects on calcium, magnesium and phosphate in man: effects on balance, bone mineral content, faecal and urinary excretion
Authors: Plenge P. , Rafaelsen O. J. 
Published: August 2007

Calcium, magnesium and phosphate metabolism was studied in lithium‐treated patients, using a metabolic balance technique. Two groups of patients participated in the study: 1) Patients who were to start on a prophylactic lithium treatment, and 2) Long‐term lithium‐treated patients whose treatment was to be terminated.Lithium treatment produced a positive balance in both calcium, phosphate and magnesium. By continuous lithium treatment the effect on magnesium wore off, whereas the effect on calcium and phosphate persisted. In urine, lithium induced a decrease in both calcium and phosphate excretion, whereas the excretion of magnesium was increased. Bone mineral content was measured by photon absorption, and lithium treatment resulted in a decrease in bone mineral content occurring within the first 6 months of lithium treatment. In the patients, bioavailability of the Li2CO3 preparation was found to be about 95 %, and the patients contained about one 24‐h dose of lithium just before the next dose of lithium was administered.
Pneumoencephalographic evidence of brain atrophy in acute and chronic schizophrenic patients
Authors: Haug J. O. 
Published: August 2007

Pneumoencephalography (PEG) was carried out in 50 patients of both sexes consecutively discharged from a psychiatric department with a diagnosis of acute schizophrenia. At clinical follow‐up with a mean observation time of 8 years the diagnosis was verified in 38 patients, while 12 were considered to have had a reactive psychosis. The PEG findings and clinical findings in these two groups are compared, and compared to corresponding findings in 101 chronic schizophrenics previously studied with the same method.Linear measurements were used in estimating the size of the ventricular system, which was safely within normal limits in all but three of the 50 patients. Mean ventricular size did not differ significantly in the two groups of acute psychoses. No case of cortical atrophy was found. More than half of the chronic schizophrenics had abnormal PEG's, the typical finding being a bilateral enlargement of the ventricular system. The mean size of all parts of the ventricular system was significantly higher than in the acute schizophrenics. A close correlation was found between mental deterioration and ventricular enlargement. The most reasonable explanation of these findings is that schizophrenia is an inborn error of metabolism, disturbing normal brain function and in the long run leading to degenerative changes of the nervous tissue.
Neuroendocrine regulation in depressed postmenopausal women and healthy subjects
Authors: Amsterdam Jay D. , Winokur A. , Lucki I. , Snyder P. 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACT ‐ Results from prior studies utilizing gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) in affective illness have been contradictory. There have been no systematic investigations of multiple pituitary hormonal responses to GnRH infusion in either depressed or healthy post‐menopausal women. Potential abnormalities in the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐gonadal (HPG) axis may be limited to postmenopausal women who lack the estradiol feedback influence at the pituitary level.We therefore studied 18 depressed and nine healthy postmenopausal women with the GnRH infusion test and measured LH, FSH, prolactin, growth hormone, and thyrotropin responses. Our findings confirmed earlier reports of a lower basal LH concentration in postmenopausal depressed subjects. GnRH stimulated release of LH, FSH, and prolactin in both patients and controls; however, there were no differences in the mean peak hormone values between groups.
The Crichton Visual Analogue Scale for the assessment of behaviour in the elderly
Authors: Morrison D. P. 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTA visual analogue scale has been constructed to allow relatives and professionals to rate the behaviour of elderly patients. The scale has been shown to have good inter‐rater reliability, test‐retest reliability and validity. It is suggested that the scale can provide a quick and convenient initial assessment of the patient either at home or in hospital, and possibly also a measure of change.
Personality changes in the aged: A longitudinal study with the MNT‐scale
Authors: Nilsson L. V. , Persson G. 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTThe three personality dimensions validity, solidity and stability according to Sjöbring were measured by means of the MNT scales in representative samples of 70‐year‐old men and women in Gothenburg, Sweden. They were followed up when 75 and 79. A longitudinal study was performed with regard to changes in means, standard deviations and sex differences. The means at 70 of the surviving subjects were compared with those of subjects who had died before the age of 79. The personality dimensions were, on the whole, unchanged between 70 and 79 except for a small increase in stability in men, implying a decrease in personal involvement, and a small decrease in validity in women implying lower levels of mental energy. There was also a decrease in solidity in men between 75 and 79 implying an increased tendency to dissociation. Variability and sex differences did not change. Men with low validity at 70 had an increased mortality. Cross‐sectional studies would have given misleading results of the personality development in these age groups.
Patterns of neuroleptic use among the institutionalised elderly
Authors: Gilleard C. J. , Morgan K. , Wade B. E. 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTA survey was conducted of neuroleptic use amongst the residents of Local Authority homes for the elderly, and elderly patients in geriatric, psychogeriatric and general hospital wards in one of the London boroughs. Some 13% of the residents and patients surveyed were found to have received neuroleptics in the 24 h preceding the survey. Marked variation between homes and between wards and hospitals was observed, although for the sample overall associations were observed between disturbed behaviour and mood and the likehood of receiving neuroleptics. Issues regarding the use of neuroleptics in the non‐psychotic elderly are discussed.
Predictors of the outcome of disability pension for alcohol abusers
Authors: Hörnquist J. O. , Elton M. , Östlund R. 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTA multi‐variate multiple regression analysis was carried out to screen the crucial characteristics of alcohol abusers immediately prior to pension in order to indicate their subsequent trends. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were performed in the younger and older subgroups, as well as in 56 first‐time pension applicants, in a region of the county of Östergötland in Sweden. In the analyses, changes, over a 2‐year interval, of composite scores on overall well‐being, psychiatric status, need satisfaction and intellectual capacity, together with changes in alcohol consumption and gamma‐GT‐value, functioned as dependent variables. Eighty‐five parameters of the abusers’ quality of life at pension served as independent variables. The features that were seen, in various constellations, to be significantly related to non‐improvement rather than to improvement were: an abrupt change‐over from a previously active life, longer education, middle age, tendencies to passivity and to social confinement, worse observed psychiatric status in contrast to less bad reported status, relatively better self‐rated well‐being, remaining intellectual resources, black‐outs, a lower current alcohol consumption, lower gamma‐GT, S‐NAP, S‐ALAT‐ and S‐protein‐values together with more elevated P‐IgA, P‐ALP‐, S‐creatinine‐ and S‐Ca‐corrected values. The results are discussed with reference to their general applicability, plausible mechanisms in a pension situation, previously launched hypotheses, and the methodological limitations of the study. It is concluded that a literal application of the results in practice must be made with caution.
A comparison of cerebral atrophy in CT scan findings among alcoholic groups
Authors: Ishii Tomoyuki 
Published: August 2007

ABSRACTSeventy‐five alcoholic patients and 94 control subjects were examined by CT scans and measured by 11 measurement items on CT. The alcoholics were classified and compared. Enlargement of ventricles was recognized in the alcoholics. The degree of enlargement of ventricles was extremely striking in alcoholic dementia. The increasing tendencies toward cerebral atrophy in a given age stratum were almost parallel in the controls and the alcoholics, with a difference in the degree of atrophy. It was suggested that the enlargement of the ventricular system in the alcoholics might be induced in the initial stage of alcohol dependence, and that physiological atrophy due to aging might progress thereafter. The results of multivariate canonical analysis of these CT items suggested that the CT indicators effective for evaluating alcoholic cerebral atrophy were the transverse diameter of the third ventricle. Ventricle index and Evans’ index.
Psychotherapy in Peptic Ulcer Disease
Authors: Sjödin Ingemar 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTPsychotherapy in Peptic Ulcer Disease. A controlled outcome study. By Ingemar Sjödin, Department o f Psychiatry, Sahlgren's Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden. Thesis defended 20th May 1983.Problem. Although the peptic ulcer disease (PUD) has long had the post on of a psychosomatic disorder, the approach to treatment has been principally somatic. Many PUD‐patients are not helped sufficiently by medical treatment alone. The purpose was to study the significance of a psychosomatic mode of treatment in respect of effect, mechanisms of therapeutic action and prognostic variables.Methods. Short‐term psychotherapy administrated in one‐hour weekly sessions with a limit of ten added to medical treatment was compared to medical treatment only by randomizing PUD‐outpatients into two treatment groups consisting of 50 and 53 patients respectively. Assessments were made by independent raters and self‐ratings before intake, after the three months treatment course and at follow up after 15 months. Changes in the severity of symptoms, social dysfunction and the mode of handling of problems focused in the therapy were the main criteria of outcome.Results. There were only two droup‐outs. The patients in both groups improved somatically and mentally during treatment to a similar extent, except for pain, dyspepsia and self‐rated social maladjustment where the psychotherapy group was superior. At follow up there was a significant difference in favour of the psychotherapy group in most symptoms, coping ability, self‐confidence and belief in own capacity to resolve the problems. Globally rated, 42 per cent had improved in the psychotherapy group vs 28 per cent in the control group. The ability to cope with problems was improved in 58 per cent vs 28 per cent. Confounding factors such as use of drugs, smoking and drinking habits, treatment outside the programme and exposure to life events could not account for the different outcome. Due to alexithymic personality traits, in more than half of the patients the psychotherapy had to develop through phases of symptom‐orientation and support before conflicts could be focused, but in about one third the psychotherapy could be conflict‐oriented from the start.Conclusions. The findings are in agreement with a psychosomatic approach according to which treatment is more effective if it covers both somatic and psychological aspects of a disorder. Psychsomatic treatment of PUD, of the type described in this study, may be given in primary care and be supervised by psychiatrists.
Parental losses
Authors: Laajus S. 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTIn a review article parental losses (PL) of children in different age and sex groups are psycho‐analytically examined from the view point of the triangular family relationship, cognitive development of the children and their ability to mourn, delinquency, schizophrenia and affective illnesses, and lastly the controversies about and objections to bereavement study findings. It is concluded that many methodological problems make it difficult to compare study findings. Some unchallengable laws have been found, but any single explanation of their aetiological meaning could not be shown. It is obvious that many psychosocial variables are involved in the interpretation of PL.
Multiple Dopamine Receptors in Brain and the Pharmacological Action of Substituted Benzamide Drugs
Authors: Jenner P. , Marsden C D 
Published: August 2007

Abstract Neuroleptic drugs are believed to control schizophrenia by blocking brain dopamine receptors, although most act also on a number of other neuronal systems in brain. Substituted benzamide drugs in general, are more specific for the dopamine system. Brain dopamine receptors, however, are not a single entity. They can be divided on the basis of their linkage to adenylate cyclase. Substituted benzamide drugs are selective antagonists of the adenylate cyclase independent dopamine receptor population. They may be selective antagonists of one sub‐population of these adenylate cyclase independent receptors, for unlike typical neuroleptics the receptor interaction of substituted benzamide drugs with brain dopamine receptors depends upon the presence of sodium ions.The specificity of substituted benzamide drugs for brain dopamine receptors is reflected in their behavioural profile. Typical substituted benzamide drugs do not cause catalepsy and, in general, only weakly inhibit motor phenomena. This inability to act in vivo cannot be entirely explained by the poor penetration of these drugs into brain.The unique properties of the substituted benzamide drugs might explain their clinical value in the treatment of schizophrenia and in the treatment of dyskinesias.
Adrenoreceptor interactions of the enantiomers and metabolites of mianserin: are they responsible for the antidepressant effect?
Authors: Pinder R.M. 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTMianserin is a tetracyclic antidepressant whose postulated mechanism of action involves release of noradrenaline mediated via cortical α2‐adrenergic autoreceptor blockade. This property resides stereoselectively in the S(+)‐enantiomer of mianserin, which is also more potent in behavioural tests indicative of antidepressant activity, and in the reversal of clonidine‐induced effects. Cortical receptor binding studies have indicated that although a similar stereoselectivity prevails for the inhibition of both α2‐binding (clonidine) and α1‐binding(prazosin), mianserin and its enantiomers are more potent antagonists at α2‐ than at α1‐binding sites. However, no stereoselectivity is apparent for the antagonism of cortical α2‐heteroreceptors controlling serotonin release. Following chronic administration, (±)‐ and S(+)‐mianserin, but not the R(‐)‐enantiomer, produce functional supersensitivity at α2‐autoreceptors which is unaccompanied by changes in clonidine binding. Neither mianserin nor its enantiomers alter the sensitivity of α2‐heteroreceptors following chronic administration. Like mianserin and its S(+)‐enantiomer, but unlike R(‐)‐mianserin and the 8‐hydroxy metabolite, the desmethyl metabolite inhibits noradrenaline uptake in vitro. 8‐Hydroxymianserin and, to a lesser extent, desmethylmianserin release noradrenaline from cortical slices via α2‐autoreceptor antagonism, but only the 8‐hydroxy metabolite blocks α2‐autoreceptors and α2‐heteroreceptors in synaptosomal preparations. It is likely that S(+)‐mianserin, desmethylmianserin, and 8‐hydroxymianserin contribute substantially to the overall facilitating effect of mianserin on noradrenergic transmission in vivo. As yet it is unclear whether this effect is exclusively responsible for the antidepressant activity of mianserin or whether the stereoselectivity also shown by the mianserin enantiomers towards serotonin receptors plays a complementary role.
Changes in sleep EEG architecture during the treatment of depressed patients with mianserin
Authors: Mendlewicz J. , Dunbar G. C. , Hoffman G. 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTThe effect of mianserin on sleep variables was studied in a single‐blind non‐controlled trial. Ten depressed hospital in‐patients received placebo for one week and then mianserin 60 mg at nightfor four weeks. Acute changes seen on starting mianserin treatment included increases in sleep period time, total sleep time, sleep efficiency index, and stage II sleep, together with reductionsintotal time awake and latency for rapid eye movement sleep. The changes in sleep efficiency index, total time awake, stage II sleep, and latency for rapid eye movement sleep persisted over the duration of the study. Clinically, treatment with mianserin improved overall sleep pattern and ameliorated their depression.
Treatment of depression in cancer patients
Authors: Maguire Peter , Hopwood Penelope , Tarrier Nicholas , Howell Tony 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTOne hundred and fifty‐two women undergoing mastectomy were randomly assigned to routine care or routine care plus monitoring by a specialist nurse. The nurse detected and referred 76% of her patients for psychiatric help. Only 15% of the routine care subjects that warranted help were referred. Twelve to eighteen months after surgery, morbid anxiety and depression were less common in the monitored (5% and 5%) than in the control (30% and 50%) group. This difference appeared to be due primarily to psychiatric treatment which included antidepressant medication, anxiolytic drugs, and supportive psychotherapy. Few affective disorders remitted without such treatment. In a further study, the effects of antidepressant medication plus cognitive therapy and cognitive therapy alone were compared. Both treatments alleviated depression in the short term but the improvement was sustained in the long term only in those given combined treatment.
BRIEF HISTORY OF ITALIAN PSYCHIATRIC LEGISLATION FROM 1904 TO THE 1978 REFORM ACT
Authors: Maj Mario 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTA brief survey is given of the evolution of Italian psychiatric legislation. The following acts are examined: the 1904 law, stating that people affected by mental derangement must be kept in custody and treated in mental hospitals when they are dangerous to themselves or to others or create public scandal; the 1909 regulations, in which various aspects of mental hospital organization are dealt with; the 1968 law, sanctioning the institution of voluntary admission; the 1978 Reform Act. It is emphasized that the 1978 Italian mental health law is the only one, in the Western industrialized world, in which: 1) patient's dangerousness is not used as a criterion for commitment, and compulsory admission is restricted to therapeutic emergency cases; 2) it is established that compulsory admission of psychiatric patients must be implemented in general hospitals; 3) prolonged hospitalizations are discouraged, by stating that compulsory treatment should last as a rule seven days; 4) it is sanctioned the abolishment of mental hospitals. Moreover, stress is laid on the law's attention to community‐based facilities, described as the places in which preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitative interventions relevant to mental diseases should be implemented as a rule.
DSM‐III Schizophrenia: Is there Evidence for Familial Transmission?
Authors: TSUANG MING T , KENDLER KENNETH K , GRUENBERG ALAN M 
Published: August 2007

AbstractTo resolve some recent controversies as to whether there is any evidence of familial transmission in DSM‐III schizophrenia, a blind study of first degree relatives of 332 DSM‐III schizophrenics was conducted. A comparison group of first degree relatives of 318 surgical patients who were free of psychiatric symptoms were also studied. The morbidity risks of schizophrenia and related illnesses were estimated among these relatives.The risk of DSM‐III schizophrenia in the relatives of schizophrenics was 3.7 + 0.7 which was significantly higher (p < .01) than among the relatives of surgical controls (0.2%+ 0.2) with a relative risk of 18.5 (3.7/0.2). When broad criteria of schizophrenia were used by including all schizophrenia‐related illnesses, the risks were approximately 9.0% and 1.0% respectively in the families of schizophrenics and controls with a relative risk of 9.0. These results will be discussed in the light of relevant literature. It is concluded that there is an evidence for familial transmission in DSM‐III schizophrenia.
Suicidal communication of persons attempting suicide and responses of significant others
Authors: Wolk‐Wasserman D. 
Published: August 2007

ABSTRACTForty consecutively admitted suicide attempt patients in an intensive care unit, their therapists, and 70 significant others of 37 of the patients, were investigated by means of 300 semi‐structured interviews. The patients belonged to three diagnostic groups: neurosis, alcohol and drug abuse, and prepsychosis/psychosis. Thirty‐seven of the patients had communicated their suicidal intentions to people around them. All patients used protracted indirect verbal communication. Immediately before the suicide attempt, most of the neurotics continued often to use indirect verbal communication, amplified by demanding behaviour. Drug and alcohol abusers, moreover, also employed direct verbal communication, and prepsychosis/psychosis patients indirect non‐verbal communication. The majority of significant others understood the patients' suicidal communication and responded with near‐total silence. Ambivalence about continuing the relationship characterised most partners of patients in all diagnostic groups, and also persons other than partners in the abuse group. Ambivalence about helping the patient, and aggression expressed by significant others were most prevalent in the abuse group.