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Biomedical subjects

A Roy

Publications and source records attributed to A Roy.

At least 397 records · Page 22Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

CSF somatostatin and abnormal response to dexamethasone administration in schizophrenic and depressed patients.

Low levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) somatostatin and abnormal response to dexamethasone are two neuroendocrine disturbances reported to appear in depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders. We measured the levels of CSF somatostatin in patients with schizophrenia (n = 44) and depression (n = 19). In view of in vitro and animal evidence of the ability of somatostatin to inhibit stimulated corticotropin secretion, we also administered the dexamethasone suppression test to a subgroup of the patients with schizophrenia (n = 16) and the total depressed group. Lower levels of CSF somatostatin were found in dexamethasone nonsuppressors regardless of diagnosis and were negatively correlated with maximum postdexamethasone cortisol level in the total and depressed patient groups. These data suggest a functional relationship between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hyperactivity and reduced CSF somatostatin level.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Longitudinal measurement of plasma homovanillic acid levels in schizophrenic patients. Correlation with psychosis and response to neuroleptic treatment.

The plasma levels of homovanillic acid (HVA), a major circulating dopamine (DA) metabolite, were measured in schizophrenic patients during five weeks each of double-blind placebo-controlled neuroleptic treatment (N = 16) and withdrawal (N = 11). Both neuroleptic treatment and withdrawal were associated with time-dependent changes in the plasma levels of HVA; treatment was associated with decreases and withdrawal with increases. The levels of plasma HVA measured longitudinally during both conditions were highly correlated with psychosis ratings. Moreover, changes in individual mean weekly levels of plasma HVA were predictive of treatment response, including changes in both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. These data are consistent with the suggestion that the mechanisms of action of antipsychotic drugs involve, in addition to short-term DA receptor blockade, a slowly developing decrease in presynaptic DA activity.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Diazepam-binding inhibitor. A brain neuropeptide present in human spinal fluid: studies in depression, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.

Diazepam-binding inhibitor is a novel peptide purified to homogeneity from rat and human brain. Diazepam-binding inhibitor is present, though not exclusively, in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-containing neurons where it is believed to inhibit GABAergic neurotransmission mediated by GABA by binding to the benzodiazepine-GABA receptor complex. Since an impairment of central GABAergic tone has been postulated to be associated with a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, we measured human diazepam-binding inhibitor immunoreactivity in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients suffering from endogenous depression, schizophrenia, and dementia of the Alzheimer's type. Patients with major depression had significantly higher concentrations of human diazepam-binding inhibitor immunoreactivity in CSF when compared with age- and sex-matched normal volunteers, while no difference in CSF diazepam-binding inhibitor immunoreactivity was found in schizophrenics or patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type when compared with controls. The possibility is discussed that the increased CSF human diazepam-binding inhibitor immunoreactivity observed in depressed patients may represent a functional disinhibition of GABAergic neurotransmission associated with depression.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Urinary monoamines and monoamine metabolites in subtypes of unipolar depressive disorder and normal controls.

An examination was made of urinary catecholamine and metabolite outputs in 28 unipolar depressed patients and 25 normal controls. The total group of depressed patients had significantly higher urinary outputs of norepinephrine (NE) and its metabolite normetanephrine (NM), and significantly lower urinary outputs of the dopamine metabolite dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), than controls. Patients who met DSM-III criteria for a major depressive episode with melancholia (N = 8) had significantly higher urinary outputs of normetanephrine than controls, whereas patients with a major depressive episode without melancholia (N = 7) and dysthymic disorder patients (N = 8) had levels comparable with controls. We postulate that the higher urinary outputs of norepinephrine and its metabolite, normetanephrine, reflect dysregulation of the sympathetic nervous system in depression.

3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid↗
PubMed1986

Measurement of color thresholds.

It is generally believed that some degree of defective color vision is frequently acquired along with certain ocular and systemic disorders. Precise definition of the nature and extent of the color defects has not been possible because of the limitations inherent in the tests currently available for clinical use. We undertook to define the defects in terms of thresholds of discrimination to each color, plotted on a color circle similar to Munsell's uniform chromaticity scale diagram. Furthermore, we were able to construct a symmetrical-type of colorimeter which plots thresholds directly on a printed circle without having to read and interpret scales or dials. Good correlation of subtle defects with certain disorders was confirmed, and may eventually be helpful in diagnosing and following some types. This system of threshold measurement was found to provide more information about color vision than any one of the conventional tests, or all of them combined.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Relative activity of metabolic pathways for norepinephrine in endogenous depression.

Thirteen patients with endogenous depression, compared to 25 normal controls, had a significantly greater ratio of the urinary excretion of norepinephrine plus its metabolite normetanephrine to either the sum of the two urinary norepinephrine metabolites 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol plus vanillylmandelic acid or to the sum of urinary norepinephrine and all of its metabolites. As urinary levels of norepinephrine and normetanephrine are derived from an extraneuronal metabolic pathway, while levels of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and vanillylmandelic acid are more representative of total norepinephrine metabolism, these results suggest that there is a shift in endogenous depression to extraneuronal metabolic pathways for norepinephrine and its metabolites.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Suicide and aggression in schizophrenia. Neurobiologic correlates.

In this study of schizophrenic patients, we were unable to find an association between past history of suicide attempt and levels of CSF amine metabolites, response to DST, and ventricular size by CT scan, neurobiologic variables each of which have been reported to be associated with attempted suicide in some patient groups. Our data, however, demonstrate the marked responsiveness of measures of aggressive behavior to neuroleptic treatment, suggesting a dopaminergic involvement in these behaviors when observed in the presence of overt psychotic symptoms. Some support for an association between decreased CNS serotonin function and aggressive behavior was found in drug-free schizophrenics, although difficulty in separating illness from trait factors is an important confounding variable. The need for clinical interventions required to treat severely disturbed and aggressive behavior in the schizophrenic patients studied could not be predicted by any of the neurobiologic variables.

Aggression↗
PubMed1986

Successful treatment with streptokinase of renal vein thrombosis associated with oral contraceptive use.

The case of a 25-year-old diabetic female presenting with acute right main renal vein thrombosis associated with oral contraceptive usage is described. Rapid diagnosis with ultrasound and resolution of the thrombosis was accomplished with streptokinase. Ultrasound may be the diagnostic test of choice in selected patients with renal vein thrombosis. Streptokinase was an effective therapy in this case of acute renal vein thrombosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

The corticotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test in chronic schizophrenia.

During a drug-free period a group of schizophrenic subjects (N = 9) showed normal mean basal plasma ACTH and cortisol levels in association with normal plasma ACTH and cortisol responses to an infusion of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). Administration of fluphenazine had no effect on basal ACTH and cortisol levels or their responses to CRH (N = 8). These data differ from those previously reported in depressed patients, who showed elevated basal cortisol values in association with a blunted ACTH response to CRH, and add to a growing body of literature which suggests that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal regulation is less disturbed in schizophrenia than in depression.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1986

Reduced CSF concentrations of homovanillic acid and homovanillic acid to 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid ratios in depressed patients: relationship to suicidal behavior and dexamethasone nonsuppression.

Depressed patients who had attempted suicide (N = 19) had significantly lower CSF homovanillic acid (HVA) levels than patients who had not attempted suicide (N = 8) and control subjects (N = 41). Intergroup levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were not significantly different. The ratio of CSF HVA to CSF 5-HIAA was significantly lower in both patient groups than in control subjects, and patients who had attempted suicide had CSF HVA/5-HIAA ratios that were nearly 50% those of the control subjects. The combinations of nonsuppression on the dexamethasone suppression test and either a low CSF HVA level or a low CSF HVA/5-HIAA ratio were significantly more common among patients who had attempted suicide than among those who had not.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Plasma MHPG in depressive disorders and relationship to the dexamethasone suppression test.

Plasma levels of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) were measured in 51 depressed patients and 43 normal control subjects. There were significantly higher plasma MHPG levels in the combined patient group with current or past melancholia (N = 28) than in nonmelancholic (N = 12) or dysthymic (N = 11) patients, in unipolar melancholic (N = 16) versus bipolar melancholic (N = 4) patients, and in patients with a major depressive episode who failed to suppress cortisol after the dexamethasone suppression test (N = 24) versus patients with normal suppression (N = 16). Anxiety symptoms correlated significantly with plasma MHPG levels. These results substantiate previous evidence that dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system occur together in a subgroup of depressed patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Suicidal behavior in chronic schizophrenic patients: a follow-up study.

A follow-up study was carried out of suicidal behavior among 127 chronic schizophrenic patients. We were able to obtain follow-up information for 100 of the 127 patients (78.7%). Over the mean follow-up time of 4 1/2 years, 6 of these 100 patients (6%) had committed suicide and 16 other patients (16%) had attempted suicide. Chronic schizophrenic patients who attempted suicide during the follow-up period, compared with those who did not, had had significantly more psychiatric admissions. Using the data obtained at the time of the index admission we were unable to accurately predict the 6 schizophrenic patients who were known to have subsequently committed suicide.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Pre-menopausal and post-menopausal depressed women.

In a consecutive series of 28 depressed women, pre-menopausal (n = 13) and post-menopausal (n = 15) patients were compared. Post-menopausal women had significantly higher levels of plasma norepinephrine, plasma 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol, post-dexamethasone plasma cortisol, cerebrospinal fluid 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and corticotropin-releasing hormone. However, when biologic measures were adjusted for age by analyses of covariance there were no significant differences. Pre-menopausal women had had significantly more life events before the onset of depression than post-menopausal women. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗