Biomedical subjects

A L Pottash

Publications and source records attributed to A L Pottash.

78 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

The dexamethasone suppression and thyrotropin-releasing hormone tests and response to treatment in unipolar depression.

We examined retrospectively the response to tricyclic antidepressants and/or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in twenty-seven inpatients with major depressive disorder, primary unipolar subtype who had a thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) test and dexamethasone suppression test (DST) prior to treatment. Thirteen failed to suppress on the DST and had a blunted thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) response to TRH; nine had one test abnormality; and five had neither abnormality. Physicians selected ECT for patients with abnormalities on both tests significantly more frequently than for patients with one or neither test abnormalities. Fourteen of nineteen tricyclic trials and nine of ten courses of ECT resulted in unequivocally positive clinical response. There were no statistically significant relationships between tricyclic response and either test abnormality.

Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hedonic deficit in chronic schizophrenia.

Forty-two chronic schizophrenic patients were evaluated for extent of hedonic deficit and compared with a demographically matched sample of normals. Schizophrenics rated themselves as experiencing significantly less pleasure on four of ten pleasure factors. When the schizophrenic sample was divided into depressed and non-depressed subgroups, the depressed subgroup was found to account for these differences in pleasure between schizophrenics and normals. Psychobiological implications of these results are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Nortriptyline plasma levels and clinical response in patients with familial pure unipolar depression and blunted TRH tests.

We studied the efficacy of nortriptyline (NT) when given in doses which produce tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) levels within the proposed therapeutic "window" in a select patient group to assess the "window" hypothesis in a group of patients that was biologically homogeneous with respect to the TRH test and clinically homogeneous with respect to RDC, DSM III, and Winokur criteria. Pharmacokinetic and dose differences were controlled for by administering a NT dose-prediction test, giving the indicated dose, allowing levels to reach steady state and changing the dose, if necessary, to maintain NT levels within the range of 90-130 ng/ml. Using this protocol nine of ten patients responded to NT. This rate of response for a severely depressed patient group is comparable to response data for ECT and recent European data using regular NT levels to change doses of NT and assess appropriate NT trial duration.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cortisol secretion and urinary MHPG in unipolar depression.

The authors examined the relationship between both pre-dexamethasone 8:00 AM serum cortisol level and the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) with urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl glycol (MHPG) excretion in a group of fifteen men and fourteen women with unipolar depression. No significant difference was found between the mean MHPG excretion for either male or female DST suppressors or non-suppressors. No significant correlation was found between the pre-dexamethasone 8:00 AM serum cortisol level and urinary MHPG. These results do not support the hypothesis that DST non-suppression in depression is related to central noradrenergic deficiency.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Plasma levels of tricyclic antidepressants in panic disorder.

Five patients with panic disorder were placed on low doses of imipramine. All patients had shown dramatic improvement after three weeks of treatment, when plasma levels of imipramine and desipramine were measured. Plasma levels corresponded to the low doses being administered. This result implies that the mechanism of action of tricyclic antidepressants is different in patients with panic disorder than in patients with depressive disorder.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Thyroid stimulating hormone and growth hormone responses to thyrotropin releasing hormone in anorexia nervosa.

Ten female patients who satisfied objective criteria for the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa were given 500 microgram of thyrotropin releasing hormone. Thyroid stimulating hormone and growth hormone responses were measured in duplicate by radioimmunoassay. These patients had a low normal delta thyroid stimulating hormone but a delayed peak response. In addition, these patients had pathological growth hormone release in response to thytotropin releasing hormone infusion. Both delayed peak thyroid stimulating hormone and growth hormone response to thyrotropin releasing hormone have been reported for patients with hypothalamic disorders.

Adolescent↗