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Biomedical subjects

F Schulsinger

Publications and source records attributed to F Schulsinger.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

A prospective study of young men at high risk for alcoholism: neuropsychological assessment.

As part of the first phase of a prospective longitudinal study on alcoholism, a battery of neuropsychological tests covering general intelligence, memory, attention, field-dependence, categorizing ability, and organizing and planning, was administered to 204 18-19-year-old males. Of these, 134 subjects are the sons of alcoholic fathers and are thereby themselves at high risk for becoming alcoholic. The remaining 70 subjects comprise a control group matched for several social and familial variables. The high risk group was found to have a relatively poorer vocabulary and to perform worse on tests of categorizing ability and organization and planning. All of these findings concur with other results from this study. The anticipated future alcoholics from among the high risk subjects may prove to be those who differed most on these tests.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

A prospective study of young men at high risk for alcoholism: school behavior and achievement.

From a large consecutive birth cohort in Denmark, 134 sons of alcoholic fathers (high-risk group) and 70 matched controls were selected for a prospective longitudinal study of alcoholism. A premorbid multidisciplinary assessment was conducted at age 19-20. Data were derived from three sources: a social worker interview, a psychopathological interview that also collected information about current drinking pattern, and a questionnaire sent to teachers. The high-risk group reported having experienced a more disturbed school career, and were rated by their teachers as having been more impulsive and as having had poorer verbal proficiency. These factors may be predictive of future alcoholism.

Achievement↗
PubMed1984

Cerebral ventricular size in the offspring of schizophrenic mothers. A preliminary study.

Within a prospective, longitudinal study of offspring of schizophrenic mothers, computed tomographic scan-derived measurements of ventricular size were evaluated for a subsample consisting of schizophrenics, borderline schizophrenics (DSM-III schizotypal), and mentally healthy individuals. Schizophrenics exhibited larger ventricular sizes and borderline schizophrenics smaller ventricular sizes than mentally healthy individuals. Ventricular size correlated with premorbidly obtained obstetric data. These results are interpreted as being consistent with the hypothesis that neurological insult may decompensate schizotypal individuals toward florid schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

The EEG after alcohol administration in men at risk for alcoholism.

The biologic sons of alcoholics constitute a group at high risk (HR) for alcoholism. A 0.5-g/kg dose of alcohol was administered to HR and control subjects aged 19 to 21 years. Blood alcohol concentration measurements failed to distinguish HR from control subjects, but quantitative measurements of EEG alpha activity differentiated them. The HR subjects exhibited greater increases in slow alpha energy and greater decreases of fast alpha energy after alcohol administration than controls; the HR subjects also showed greater decreases in mean alpha frequency after alcohol administration. These EEG findings suggest that subjects at high risk for alcoholism are physiologically more sensitive to alcohol than control subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

The interaction of seasonality, place of birth, genetic risk and subsequent schizophrenia in a high risk sample.

Birth occurring in winter months, which are high viral infection months, have been repeatedly shown to produce a slight excess of later-diagnosed schizophrenics. As a result, some researchers have speculated on the possible aetiological effect of viral infections on some forms of schizophrenia. The implications of the viral hypothesis were indirectly tested in the context of an ongoing prospective study of Danish children at high-risk (HR) for schizophrenia. A third-order analysis of variance interaction was hypothesized. Genetically vulnerable individuals, born in winter, in an urban environment (which increases the likelihood of the presence and transmission of viruses) would be more likely, as foetuses or neonates, to have suffered some CNS damage due to the infection; thus they would show higher rates of schizophrenia in the HR-urban-winter birth condition reached 23.3 per cent, considerably above population base rates (1 per cent) or rates for the HR subjects (8.9 per cent). Alternative explanations for the results were explored.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Behavioral precursors of schizophrenia spectrum. A prospective study.

In a prospective longitudinal study of children of severely schizophrenic mothers, premorbid behavioral data on individuals diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorder were compared with the same data on individuals diagnosed as not suffering from any mental disorder. Future schizophrenia spectrum individuals were passive babies who exhibited short attention spans. In school, they experienced interpersonal difficulties and displayed disturbing behavior, reflecting poor affective control. From clinical assessments at a mean of 15 years of age, formal cognitive disturbance and defective emotional rapport emerged as premorbid characteristics of schizophrenia spectrum disorder. These results seem to indicate that signs of defective emotional contact and formal thought disorder are important for the psychopathology of schizophrenia. Furthermore, the premorbid similarity of borderline schizophrenia and schizophrenia suggests a basic relationship between these two disorders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

A controlled double-blind study of femoxetine and amitriptyline in patients with endogenous depression.

The new selective serotonin (5-HT)-uptake inhibitor femoxetine was compared with amitriptyline in a double-blind clinical trial comprising 77 depressed patients. The depressive symptoms were evaluated with the Hamilton rating scale, and a global clinical evaluation. Both drugs showed an antidepressive effect and no significant differences were found. Femoxetine induced a significantly lower frequency of dry mouth and blurred vision; this difference is presumably due to the weak anticholinergic effect of this substance. A small but significant weight loss was observed in the femoxetine group but not in the amitriptyline group.

Amitriptyline↗
PubMed1982

Perinatal complications and clinical outcome within the schizophrenia spectrum.

In a prospective study of offspring of schizophrenic mothers, perinatal complications reported in midwife protocols were analysed for those offspring who, as adults, were diagnosed as schizophrenic, borderline schizophrenic or as not suffering from mental illness. The schizophrenics were found to have had the most complicated births, and the borderlines, the least complicated births. This difference is interpreted in terms of a 'diathesis-stress' model. It is proposed that birth complications can decompensate borderline individuals towards schizophrenic breakdown.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Effects of parental absence and institutionalization on the development of clinical symptoms in high-risk children.

Longitudinal data on 207 Danish subjects at high-risk for schizophrenia (they have schizophrenic mothers) were examined to assess the direct and indirect effects of parental absence and institutionalization on the development of schizophrenic symptomatology. Information on the amount of parental absence and institutional child care during the first through 10th year was collected in 1962. A psychiatric evaluation, consisting of a standardized interview and two questionnaires (PSE and CAPPS), was administered to the subjects in 1972. Factors were constructed relating to eight clinical symptoms from the interview and questionnaires. Path analyses were performed separately for males and females with maternal absence, paternal absence and institutionalization as the predictors and the clinical syndromes as the dependent variables. The analyses showed both direct effects of parental absence and indirect effects mediated by institutionalization. For males, the absence of a schizophrenic mother was related to decreased symptomatology, but only when it did not result in institutionalization. Institutionalization was related to increased symptoms in males but not females. These results are discussed in light of previous research, and explanations are offered for the differential effects by sex.

Adolescent↗