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Biomedical subjects

D Kemali

Publications and source records attributed to D Kemali.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Increased noradrenaline levels in CSF and plasma of schizophrenic patients.

Noradrenaline (NA), dopamine (DA), and adrenaline (A) concentrations were determined by means of a specific and sensitive radioenzymatic method in plasma, CSF, and urine of schizophrenic patients and in a group of age- and sex-matched controls without history of mental disorder. NA levels were found to be significantly increased both in plasma and CSF of schizophrenics, particularly in paranoids. The increase in plasma NA concentration can probably be ascribed to the higher unspecific arousal level of these patients, whereas the increase of CSF NA levels probably reflects a rise of central noradrenergic activity. The physiopathological significance of this overactivity, however, is questionable.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Cell membrane predictors of response to lithium prophylaxis of affective disorders.

HLA antigens and RBC/plasma lithium ratio were studied in a sample of 49 patients, diagnosed as bipolar affective psychotics (n = 22), unipolar depressive psychotics (n = 18) and cycloid psychotics (n = 9), receiving prophylactic lithium for 1-4 years and maintained at lithium plasma levels of 0.6-1.2 mEq/1. Mean values of the ratio were found to be significantly higher in patients who responded to treatment when compared with non-responders, whereas the frequency of the HLA-A3 antigen was significantly higher in non-responders. The only 6 patients with a lithium ratio above the median and the absence of the HLA-A3 antigen coexistent with bipolarity and a family history of the illness were all good responders to treatment. Further research in this field will probably bring about the isolation of a subgroup of lithium-responsive patient with well-defined clinical and biological features. When patients were divided into two subgroups according to their lithium ratios (above and below the median), the HLA-A3 and Aw26 antigens were found to be significantly more frequent in those with ratios below the median. It can be hypothesized tha these antigens disturb transport in some way, leading to low lithium ratio values.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Transcultural aspects of depressive symptomatology.

The following is a presentation of the first results of a cross-cultural study of depressive symptomatology, within the framework of a larger research project which is still in progress. Southern Italian and northern Swedish depressed patients completed a self-rating scale for depression and were rated by the doctors using a subscale of the Comprehensive Psychological Rating Scale. In the doctors' ratings Italian patients scored higher for variables referring to motor retardation and hypochondriasis, and Swedish patients for variables referring to inability to feel and agitation. These findings were in line with expectations. In contrast, in the self-ratings Swedish patients scored higher for the variables weight loss, tachycardia and agitation and Italian patients for hopelessness and loss of interest and dissatisfaction. This discrepancy between results in self-ratings and doctors' ratings might reflect cultural differences either in the way patients in the two countries are able to express verbally their symptoms or in the way doctors from the two countries give weight to different symptoms. Taking the results of the two ratings together as a general measure of the severity of the depressive disorder, patients in the two places appeared to be quite alike. Since the two centers are engaged in comprehensive investigations of depressed patients, the last-mentioned finding suggests that the populations in the two centers are comparable as concerns severity.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Lysergic acid diethylamide: morphological study of its effect on synapses.

A morphometric analysis of the effect of LSD on synapses was performed in the habenulae and the interpeduncular nucleus of the frog. The OsO4-fixed nervous tissue was treated with ethanol phosphotungstic acid (EPTA). Intersection of lattice lines with synapses were counted as a proportion of the total length of lines. LSD-treated frogs had a higher total area of synaptic contact than control frogs. Exocytosis profiles were observed only in LSD-treated frogs Other qualitative changes in the ultrastructural characteristic of synapses were appreciable after LSD administration.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Computerized EEG in schizophrenics.

20 psychiatric patients without pharmacologic therapy and an homogeneous control group of 19 healthy subjects have been submitted to an electroencephalographic (EEG) investigation. Computerized spectral analyses of the main EEG frequency bands have been performed. The spectra have been determined by some geometrical descriptors: the relative activity, the barycentric frequency and the barycentric radius; also classic descriptors have been used as complementary ones. In the EEG profile significant differences between patients and healthy subjects have been found. Some differences have also been observed among subgroups of schizophrenic patients. The geometrical descriptors applied in the EEG analysis are suggested as a useful method in the description of the basic characteristics of the main EEG frequency bands.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

The comprehensive psychopathological rating scale (CPRS): communicability to, and inter-rater reliability among untrained raters.

Twenty-six, respectively twenty-three untrained Italian doctors participated in the rating of two patients with a preliminary Italian version of the CPRS. Despite an unfavourable setting, and some linguistic inaccuracies in the translation, a quite satisfactory degree of agreement was reached among the doctors. The Italian version of the CPRS has now been rewritten using a terminology more familiar to Italian psychiatrists.

Humans↗
PubMed1976

A dermatoglyphic study of 219 Italian schizophrenic males.

The quantitative and qualitative finger and palm ridge characteristics of a sample of Italian schizophrenic males showed minor deviations which were neither pathognomonic of the illness as a whole, nor of its Leonhard sub-groups. In essence there was a slight tendency for an increase in finger loops, particularly on middle fingers, with a decrease of whorls, and the palmar ridges tended to a more transverse course than usual. Compared with two sets of controls there was an excess of short schizophrenic males.

Body Height↗