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Biomedical subjects

E F Torrey

Publications and source records attributed to E F Torrey.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Differences in cerebrospinal fluid proteins between patients with schizophrenia and normal persons.

A survey of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins from normal persons and patients with schizophrenia reveals differences between the two populations. Computer-assisted densitometry of 68 proteins, resolved by two-dimensional electrophoresis and made visible by silver staining, shows six changes. Compared with their occurrence in the normal group, two proteins are increased in the schizophrenic patients by 22% and 27%, while four proteins are decreased by 29%, 46%, 20%, and 37% (p less than 0.005). Furthermore, two additional 40 000-Da proteins are found in CSF from 31.5% of the schizophrenic patients. Although these disease-associated proteins have not yet been found in 12 other neurological and psychiatric conditions, they have been found in patients with herpes simplex encephalitis (90%), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (67%), multiple sclerosis (13%), Parkinson's disease (12%), and a single case of Guillain-Barré syndrome. These two 40 000-Da proteins have never been found in CSF from any of 99 normal persons.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Endemic psychosis in western Ireland.

For over 200 years parts of Ireland have been thought to have a high prevalence of psychosis, and recent hospital and community studies have confirmed this impression. In an intensive study of a rural area, the authors found that 4% of the population over age 40 was actively psychotic, with diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder. Psychosis seems to be endemic in some rural, lower socioeconomic areas in Ireland. Possible etiological explanations are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

CSF copper concentrations in chronic schizophrenia.

The authors used a sensitive flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometric procedure to measure CSF copper concentrations in normal controls, former heroin addicts, and unmedicated and medicated chronic schizophrenic patients and found no significant differences in CSF copper levels between these groups. Schizophrenic women had significantly lower CSF copper levels than schizophrenic men, but no significant differences were found between control men and control women. There were no differences in CSF copper levels between patient subgroups with respect to diagnostic subtype (acute versus chronic, paranoid versus chronic undifferentiated), length of hospitalization, race, medication status, platelet monoamine oxidase values, or CAT scan abnormalities.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Cytomegalovirus antibody in cerebrospinal fluid of schizophrenic patients detected by enzyme immunoassay.

By means of enzyme immunoassay techniques to detect the presence of antibody to cytomegalovirus, the cerebrospinal fluid of 178 patients with schizophrenia, 17 patients with bipolar disorders, and 11 other psychiatric patients was compared with that of 79 neurological patients and 41 normal control subjects. The cerebrospinal fluid of 20 of the schizophrenic patients and 3 of the patients with bipolar disorders showed significant increases in immunoglobulin M antibody to cytomegalovirus; no difference was found in patients on or off psychotropic medications.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1982

Cerebrospinal fluid zinc concentrations in ex-heroin addicts and patients with schizophrenia: some preliminary observations.

Mean CSF zinc concentration was lower in a group of ex-heroin addicts than in groups of normal controls and neuroleptic-treated schizophrenic patients, but values were generally within the normal range of CSF zinc concentrations. There were no significant differences in mean CSF zinc concentrations between groups of drug-free schizophrenic patients, schizophrenic patients on neuroleptics, and normal controls. CSF zinc concentration may be influenced by differences in racial composition and related dietary and other habits of the groups studied.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Creatine kinase isozymes in the serum and CSF of schizophrenic patients.

Newly admitted psychotic patients often have elevations of serum creatine kinase (CK) enzymatic activity. Previous studies indicate that this increase consists of the muscle (MM) isozyme, and increases in the brain (BB) isozyme have not been observed. Using sensitive and specific radioimmunoassays that detect both active and inactive enzyme, we measured CK-MM and CK-BB in the serum and CSF of 100 patients with schizophrenia who were not newly admitted but whose conditions varied from acute to chronic to determine whether CK-MM or CK-BB appears in the CSF and whether CK-BB can be found in the serum of these patients. We found no unusual concentrations of either isozyme in CSF. We did observe a few elevations in serum CK-BB levels, but this test does not appear to be of diagnostic value for schizophrenic patients who are not newly admitted.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

The epidemiology of paranoid schizophrenia.

Epidemiological data available on paranoid schizophrenia are noteworthy for their paucity and poor quality. Although it is commonly said that the paranoid subtype is less common in developing countries, published studies are contradictory. It has also been said that paranoid schizophrenia occurs more frequently among educated persons, but the evidence is not conclusive. Two Scandinavian studies suggest that the paranoid subtype increased in frequency during this century. Assertions that some cultures produce large numbers of paranoid persons are of great interest since schizophrenic symptomatology is partly dependent on culture. The most famous such culture, the Dobuans, are found to be a product of ethnographic bias and probably do not exist as described. This leaves the question of cultural influence on paranoid schizophrenia wide open. Two studies on the seasonality of paranoid schizophrenic births found that their birth pattern does not differ from the seasonal pattern previously established for schizophrenic births as a whole. It is concluded that the epidemiology of paranoid schizophrenia is an area of potentially fruitful inquiry and one that is mostly terra incognita.

Africa↗
PubMed1981

HLA-A2 antigen in schizophrenic patients with reversed cerebral asymmetry.

The frequency of HLA-A2 was examined in 32 black and 22 white schizophrenic patients separated into two groups according to whether they had normal or reversed cerebral hemisphere asymmetries as determined by computed tomography. The black patients with reversed asymmetry had a significantly greater frequency of HLA-A2 as compared to black patients with normal asymmetry and a black normal control group. There were no significant differences for any other A, B or C antigens. These findings also held when only the 22 black patients without evidence of brain atrophy were studied. The results for the white patients were in the same direction but did not reach statistical significance. These findings suggest that, at least for black schizophrenic patients, reversed cerebral asymmetry is associated with an increased frequency of HLA-A2.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1980

Raised cytomegalovirus-antibody level in cerebrospinal fluid of schizophrenic patients.

The serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 60 schizophrenic patients and 26 controls were analysed for viral antibody against cytomegalovirus (CMV), vaccinia virus, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV), and type A influenza virus. A CSF/serum antibody ratio more than 2 standard deviations above the mean of the controls suggested local antibody production in the central nervous system. 68% of the patients had an increased CSF/serum antibody ratio for CMV antibody, 14% for vaccinia antibody, 4% for HSV antibody, and 15% for influenza virus antibody.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

HLA antigens in schizophrenia:differences between patients with and without evidence of brain atrophy.

A survey of 14 published studies found no consistent association between specific HLA antigens and schizophrenia. Since these studies lacked diagnostic or biological criteria, an investigation was undertaken using recognized diagnostic criteria and CT scan findings. Typing for HLA antigens at loci A, B and C was carried out on 130 patients. Among 92 black schizophrenic patients there was an increase of HLA-A2 which remained significant even after correcting for the number of antigens studied. When the patients for whom CT scans were available were divided according to the presence or absence of evidence of brain atrophy, there was an increase of A2 in the black schizophrenic patients without evidence of atrophy, which remained significant after multiplying by the number of antigens studied. However, there was no significant increase of A2 in those with evidence of atrophy. Similar trends held for the white population but they failed to reach significance. The need for HLA studies on biologically defined groups of schizophrenic patients is stressed.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Neurological abnormalities in schizophrenic patients.

A test for graphethesia and the face-hand test were performed on 84 schizophrenic inpatients: 8% of the acute-subacute group vs. 49% of the subchronic-chronic group were abnormal (p less than 0.001). Abnormalities tended to be more pronounced on the right hand, consistent with other recent lateralization findings suggesting that schizophrenia involves the left cerebral hemisphere. Those patients with positive findings had been psychotic longer and were more likely to have been referred to a psychiatrist prior to age 17. The possibility of drug-related symptoms remains a confounding issue. No differences between those who tested positive and negative were found for family history of schizophrenia, history of childhood CNS infection or trauma, premorbid asociality, CSF, EEG, or computerized axial tomography scan findings.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Lateral cerebral ventricular enlargement in chronic schizophrenia.

To investigate if cerebral ventricular enlargement is associated with chronic schizophrenia, computerized tomography scans from 73 psychiatric patients were compared with 56 asymptomatic volunteers all less than 50 years old. Ventricular size was significantly greater in the subgroup of 58 chronic schizophrenic patients than in the controls. Of the chronic schizophrenic patients, 40% were outside the control range; 53% exceeded 2 SDs of the control mean. Neither duration of illness nor length of hospitalization correlated with ventricular size. The 44 chronic schizophrenic patients who had never been treated with electroshock therapy (EST) had larger ventricles than controls. A group of seven nonchronic schizophrenic patients also had enlarged ventricles; the eight patients who were either schizoaffective or nonschizophrenic did not differ from controls. This study shows that lateral cerebral ventricular enlargement is associated with chronic schizophrenia; it suggests that this is not a result of treatment.

Adult↗