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Biomedical subjects

C Maggini

Publications and source records attributed to C Maggini.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

TRH test in alcoholics: relationship of the endocrine results with neuroradiological and neuropsychological findings.

Neuroradiological, neuropsychological and neuroendocrine parameters were evaluated in 20 non-depressed alcoholic men after 4 weeks (N = 11) or after at least 1 year (N = 9) of abstinence from alcohol and in normal men (N = 9). With regard to normal controls, 4-week abstinent alcoholics showed larger lateral and third ventricles, without modification in the number of cerebral sulci, and altered scores of tests evaluating subcortical and frontal function. Furthermore, in these patients the TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and PRL (prolactin) responses to thyrotropin releasing hormone were higher than in controls, suggesting a reduced hypothalamic control of TSH and PRL secretion. Taken together, these findings suggest the presence of a frontal-subcortical disorder in alcoholics. Patients who had been abstinent from alcohol for at least 1 year were not distinguishable from controls for neuroradiological, neuropsychological and neuroendocrine findings, suggesting that the alcohol-related brain alterations are reversible after a long period of abstinence.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Sleep spindles in normal elderly: comparison with young adult patterns and relation to nocturnal awakening, cognitive function and brain atrophy.

Visual measurements of sleep spindles were carried out in 48 elderly and 20 young normal adults. Computed tomography brain scans and psychometric testing were also performed. Earlier findings of reduced spindle abundance, amplitude and duration in the elderly were confirmed. In addition, we demonstrated a linear increase in spindle density and duration across NREMPs in young adults that was absent in the elderly, indicating that age affects the temporal pattern as well as the quantity of spindles. Contrary to what seemed a highly plausible hypothesis, the amount of waking in the elderly was not inversely correlated with spindle abundance, confirming earlier observations (Feinberg et al. 1967) but in a much larger group. This finding suggests that spindle abundance does not reflect the integrity of the systems that maintain the brain in NREM sleep. We also were unable to show any clear evidence that relative preservation of spindles in the elderly is associated with relative preservation of cognitive skills: psychometric performance and spindle measures were, in most instances, not significantly correlated. However, the test of this hypothesis was limited by the high level of function and the narrow range of impairment of these Ss. One intriguing positive finding was the significant inverse relation between ratings of sulcal atrophy and spindle amplitude. This observation suggests an etiology for the reduced amplitude of the sleep EEG in old age. This change is one of the most striking effects of age on brain electrophysiology.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

[Chronic depressions (author's transl)].

The definition of chronic depression necessarily calls for a review of the concept of recovery which in psychopathology is not clearly and univocally defined. The percentage of chronic evolution among depressive patients either as a persistence of depressive symptoms or as an impairment of social and professional role, ranges from 12 to 15%. Chronic depression raises psychopathologic and nosographic problems as well as clinical ones. In fact chronic depressives are often not correctly diagnosed, inadequately treated and destined to be affected by an over increasing inability. The chronic evolution of depression may result as a concurrence of several factors: a neurotic personality, an inadequate antidepressant maintenance treatment, an inappropriated use of minor tranquillizers as the only treatment. The occurrence of physical impairement, the continuous nature of depression and the resistance of antidepressant treatment may be also considered. Moreover the psychodynamic mechanisms aroused by the depressive experience and the secondary advantages of the illness may plan an effective role maintaining depressive symptomatology.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1978

Controlled double-blind trial of camazepam, a new benzodiazepine derivative, versus chlordiazepoxide.

31 in-patients with anxiety entered at random in a double-blind clinical trial of chlordiazepoxide and camazepam, a benzodiazepine derivative. They were assessed by three different rating scales. Statistical evaluation of the results showed similar psychopharmacological activity of both drugs. It is concluded that camazepam is suitable for treatment of mild and severe anxiety states.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
PubMed1976

An integrated approach for the evaluation of psychotropic drug in man. I. Studies on amphetamine. Relationship between drug levels and psychophysiological measurements.

Following an integrated approach based on the contemporary recording of drug plasma levels, central (CNS) and peripheral responses and performance tests, the effects of two different amphetamine formulations were evaluated in healthy volunteers. Interesting relationships were observed between amphetamine initial rate of entry into the blood stream and both incidence of side effects (S.E.) and rise in arterial blood pressure. Minimal thresholds for CNS (5 ng/ml) and peripheral (20 ng/ml) effects could also be determined. It appeared also that the personality of the subject may have some bearing on both incidence of side effects and performance. The described methodology seems valuable in valuating psychotropic drug effects in man through a comprehensive integrated approach.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

An automated diagnostic process (PDA) in clinical psychopharmacology. An exemplification of its use in a sulpiride versus haloperidol comparative trial.

One of the main unsolved problems, and one which produces divergent results in clinical psychopharmacology, is that concerning the selection of patients and their diagnostic definition. An automated diagnostic procedure (PDA) was set up in order to classify each patient into one nosographic category on the basis of a cross-sectional examination of his mental state. Such diagnostic procedure appears particularly suitable for multicenter drug trials, since it gives a profile and a diagnostic definition of patients, assessed by investigators from different areas and with different cultural, and clinical backgrounds. In a multicenter trial (sulpiride versus haloperidol) PDA offered a chance to re-examine and analyze the characteristics of each patient and therefore to control the criteria followed for the sample selection in the various experimental settings. The agreement between clinician and computer diagnosis was 78.9%; this agreement rises to 85.5% if the computerlabelled schizo-affective syndromes are considered within the schizophrenic group. Moreover, and attempt has been made to relate psychopathological patterns to drug responses.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Psychopathology of stable and unstable mixed states: a historical view.

The concept of mixed states was proposed at the end of last century by Kraepelin and Weygandt to confer unity to manic-depressive illness and to better differentiate this disease from dementia praecox. The concept has been further elaborated by the Hamburg and Vienna schools (Mentzos and Berner, respectively), and dichotomized in stable and unstable mixed states. Stable mixed states represent a condition of the synchronic copresence of symptoms of both polarities; unstable mixed states, or "mixed pictures," are characterized by the rapid cycling of these symptoms. The former represent clinical expressions of bipolar disorder, and the latter represent trans-nosological conditions with multiple outcomes. Current North American nosology retains the original Kraepelinian concept of stable mixed states and ignores the concept of unstable mixed states, which is very close to the concept of ultradian cycling proposed by Kramlinger and Post in 1996.

Austria↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Temperament and personality features in patients with major depression, panic disorder and mixed conditions.

METHOD: Forty-two patients with Panic Disorder (P), 18 with Major Depression (MD), 35 with both conditions (MIX) and 45 healthy subjects (C) were tested with the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire and the Structured Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders. RESULTS: A different prevalence of Dependent (P = 16.7%, MD = 5.6%, MIX = 41.4%, C = 2.1%) (P < 0.001), Obsessive-Compulsive (P = 4.8%, MD = 27.8%, MIX = 3.4%, C = 0%) (P < 0.001) and Histrionic (P =23.8%, MD = 0%, MIX = 31%, C = 4.2%) (P = 0.001) personality disorders (PD) was found among groups. Harm Avoidance (HA) (P < 0.001) and Reward Dependence (RD) (P <0.001) were higher in patients than in controls. As expected the patients with comorbid conditions (MIX) showed higher HA levels (P < 0.01) and a greater prevalence of PDs, particularly of Cluster C compared to patients with pure disorders. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that high HA and RD scores are associated with P, MD and MIX, and the former dimension is even higher in MIX patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Relationships between Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire Dimensions and DSM-III-R personality traits in Italian adolescents.

The predictions of Cloninger's neurobiologic learning model on the relationships between novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), reward dependence (RD), and persistence (P) and the traditional DSM-III-R personality disorders (PDs) were tested on a sample of 2,889 (1,475 males and 1,414 females) Italian high school students aged 16 to 18 years, using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders-self-report (SCID-II) and the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). All relationships were in the predicted direction for antisocial, narcissistic, avoidant, and obsessive-compulsive PD alone, and at least two were in the predicted direction for schizoid, histrionic, borderline-explosive, dependent, and passive-aggressive PD. Eight of nine relationships were in the predicted direction for NS, but only seven of nine for HA and RD. This study provides substantial support for Cloninger's neurobiologic learning model as a useful tool to describe and classify personality variants and, because of the supposed neurochemical implications, to link personality traits to the underlying neurochemical and neuroanatomic substrate.

Adolescent↗