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Biomedical subjects

G Parker

Publications and source records attributed to G Parker.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Publishing in the parish.

A consecutive series of 500 papers submitted to the 'Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry' is evaluated to provide information on Journal publication procedures, to assess the Journal peer review process and to examine factors associated with the outcome of submissions. While the majority of submissions was by psychiatrists and psychologists, the highest acceptance rates were for papers presented by psychiatric registrars and by psychiatrists. Of the submissions for which a final decision had been made, 50% were accepted for publication and very few papers were accepted without revision. Regional differences in submission rates were noted and, more importantly, regional differences in acceptance rates were quantified. A subsidiary analysis suggested that the latter differences reflected a general pattern and were not peculiar to, or a reflection of, Journal policy.

Australia↗
PubMed1983

Parental 'affectionless control' as an antecedent to adult depression. A risk factor delineated.

The view that depressives perceive themselves as having been exposed to an insufficiency of parental care and to parental overprotection was confirmed in a case-control study of 125 neurotic depressives, using a subjective measure of perceived parental characteristics, the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). An interaction effect was noted, with the depressives scoring the same-sexed parent more deviantly. A discriminant analysis established that low parental care scale scores were the best discriminators, with raw care scores of less than 10 being highly sensitive in discriminating depressives from controls. Sixty-seven percent of the patients and 37% of the controls scored one or both parents to the "affectionless control" (low care--high protection) PBI quadrant, representing a relative risk of 3.4. It is concluded that the PBI delineates and quantifies a risk factor to certain grades of depressive experience.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Life event scales for obstetric groups.

Although associations have been described between life events and the incidence of perinatal complications, research has been limited by the lack of life event scales appropriate to obstetric groups. We report the development of such scales for primiparous and multiparous women. High ranking items from existing general life event scales as well as items relevant only to pregnant women were included. The degree of resultant distress was rated by visual analogue scales, and the frequency of each life event was assessed. High internal consistency was demonstrated for each of the scales and their general utility is suggested by the similar rank ordering of ratings in the primiparous and multiparous samples. Approximately one-third of the highest rating items on the scales were pregnancy related, supporting the view that scales measuring the stress of life events should include items relevant to the particular group of respondents.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Multiple dose pharmacokinetics of ketoconazole and their effects on antipyrine kinetics in man.

Ketoconazole 200 mg was given twice daily for five days to eight subjects. The serum pharmacokinetics were examined with the first dose on day 1 and with the ninth dose on day 5. The serum half life of ketoconazole was 74.8 +/- 13.9 min (mean +/- S.D.) on day 1, and 155.9 +/- 32.7 min on day 5. On day 1 the area under the serum concentration time curve was 626.9 +/- 230.1 mg/l.min, and 1441 +/- 897.3 mg/l.min on day 5. Antipyrine kinetics were determined before and after the course of ketoconazole. There was no significant change in the clearance and half life of antipyrine. Ketoconazole in the doses used in this study does not appear to alter hepatic microsomal enzyme activity in man. The increased ketoconazole half life and area under the serum concentration time curve on day 5 were in part caused by food. Other mechanisms for these changes such as saturation of a tissue compartment or a change in the elimination of ketoconazole during chronic dosing, may also be responsible.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Plasma concentrations and central nervous system effects of the new hypnotic agent zopiclone in patients with chronic liver disease.

Eight healthy individuals and seven cirrhotic patients received 7.5 mg zopiclone orally. Two further cirrhotics received 3.75 mg. Plasma concentrations of zopiclone and psychometric tests including reaction time and critical flicker fusion threshold and electroencephalographic tracings were performed at regular intervals after drug administration. Peak plasma levels of zopiclone were similar in the two groups but the time to peak was delayed in the cirrhotics. Plasma zopiclone half-life was 8.53 +/- 0.83 h in the cirrhotics and 3.50 +/- 0.33 h in the healthy individuals. In the group of cirrhotics there was a negative correlation between zopiclone half-life and serum albumin concentration (r = -0.87). Zopiclone caused sedation in both groups. Reaction time was prolonged and critical flicker fusion threshold reduced in both groups. Recovery was delayed in the cirrhotics compared to the healthy subjects but was complete by 8 h. The size of the changes was somewhat greater in the cirrhotics but baseline observations differed between the groups. The mean dominant frequency was lower in the cirrhotics and fell slightly in that group after zopiclone administration. The response to zopiclone is delayed and exaggerated in cirrhosis. Precautions are therefore required when using this drug in patients with chronic liver disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

A comparative study of neurotic depression in symptomatic volunteers and psychiatric patients.

A comparative study of neurotic depression in 66 symptomatic community volunteers (SVs) and 43 formal psychiatric patients is reported. Compared to the psychiatric patients the SVs were older and there was a less marked female preponderance. Thier depression was of a longer duration and vegetative symptoms (e.g. appetite and weight loss) were less marked. They were less likely to have made a suicide attempt in the past, less likely to be single or divorced, and much less likely to have experienced a disruption in an intimate relationship in the preceding year. On personality measures the SVs rated as having a more internal locus of control and a higher self-esteem. An Index of Definition cut-off point of 5 or more on the PSE for a neurotic depressive 'case' is supported by the finding that only 2% of the patients, compared with 26% of the SVs, did not rate as 'cases'.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Depression in general practice attenders.

The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale was used to study depressive symptoms in 251 people routinely attending their general practitioners. Lower social class and female sex were weak predictors of higher Zung scores. Sociodemographic influences on responses to particular Zung scale items are reported. Using a cut-off score of 40, 53 subjects (21%) were found to be significantly depressed (24% of females and 15% of males) with the point prevalence data for males and females being strikingly similar to data obtained in another Sydney general practice study using a differing methodology. Zung scale scores of our subjects were compared with those of 43 neurotic depressive patients assessed at initial psychiatric referral. While the total Zung scores of the two groups were very similar, depressives in the general practice sample scored as having a less marked mood disturbance, were less irritable, were less likely to cry and less likely to report weight loss. We suggest that either these symptoms may be less severe in general practice 'cases' than in 'cases' of depression referred to a psychiatrist, or that differences reflect demographic differences of the samples.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Fluorescein dilaurate--tubeless test for pancreatic exocrine failure.

The usefulness of fluorescein dilaurate as an indicator of pancreatic exocrine failure has been assessed in 70 patients and normal volunteers. The test consisted of a comparison of urinary fluorescein excretion after ingestion of fluorescein dilaurate with that after ingestion of unesterified fluorescein. The test was easy to perform and acceptable to the patients. The sensitivity of the test was 95%. There was a false-positive rate of 11% in a group of patients who had steatorrhoea which was non-pancreatic in origin. The test can be a useful screening test for the exclusion of pancreatic exocrine failure as a cause of steatorrhoea and can be conducted in outpatients.

Celiac Disease↗
PubMed1982

Parental representations of transsexuals.

The parental representations of 30 male-to-female transsexuals were rated using a measure of fundamental parental dimensions and shown to be of acceptable validity as a measure both of perceived and actual parental characteristics. Scores on that measure were compared separately against scores returned by matched male and female controls. The transsexuals did not differ from the male controls in their scoring of their mothers but did score their fathers as less caring and more overprotective. These differences were weaker for the comparisons made against the female controls. Item analyses suggested that the greater paternal "overprotection" experienced by transsexuals was due to their fathers being perceived as offering less encouragement to their sons' independence and autonomy. Several interpretations of the findings are considered.

Female↗
PubMed1982

Cloning of developmentally regulated flagellin genes from Caulobacter crescentus via immunoprecipitation of polyribosomes.

Immunoprecipitation of Caulobacter crescentus polyribosomes with antiflagellin antibody provided RNA for the synthesis of cDNA probes that were used to identify three specific EcoRI restriction fragments (6.8, 10, and 22 kilobases) in genomic digests of Caulobacter DNA. The RNA was present only in polyribosomes isolated from a time interval in the Caulobacter cell cycle that was coincident with flagellin polypeptide synthesis. The structural gene for Mr 27,500 flagellin polypeptide was assigned to a region of the 10-kilobase EcoRI restriction fragment by DNA sequence analysis. Analysis of mutants defective in motility further established a correlation between the Mr 27,500 flagellin gene and the flaE gene locus [Johnson, R. C. & Ely, B. (1979) J. Bacteriol. 137, 627-634]. The other EcoRI fragments that hybridize with the immunoprecipitated polyribosome-derived cDNA probe are also temporally regulated and have features that suggest they encode other polypeptides associated with the flagellum. Modifications were required to adapt the procedure of immunoprecipitation of polyribosomes for use with Caulobacter and should be applicable to the production of specific structural gene probes from other prokaryotic systems.

Bacteria↗
PubMed1982

Re-searching the schizophrenogenic mother.

Numerous studies of schizophrenics have defined a dominant, overprotective but basically rejecting mother as the schizophrenogenic mother of the literature. While such a maternal style has been incriminated as a causal influence on the development of schizophrenia and/or a response to schizophrenia or prodromal schizophrenic disturbance in a child, case-control studies raise doubt as to whether such a maternal style is over-represented at all in the families of schizophrenics. The present paper reviews the evolution of the concept and its critical evaluation, principally by American workers, and then attempts to integrate that research with British studies of expressed emotion. The British studies have looked principally a the course, rather than at the onset, of schizophrenic disturbance and demonstrated that exposure to high levels of expressed emotion in a key relative is predictive of schizophrenic relapse. The review suggests that the key components of expressed emotion--critical comments and overinvolvement--parallel the rejecting and overprotective characteristics imputed to the schizophrenogenic mother of the literature. While expressed emotion has been shown to predict relapse, causality has not, as yet, been demonstrated and several noncausal links are explored. As such research has the potential to promote key advances in the clinical management of schizophrenic patients, the review attempts to draw attention to the way in which findings from the regions complement each other.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Parental representations and affective symptoms: examination for an hereditary link.

Parental characteristics of low care and overprotection have been linked with several grades of depression and anxiety in studies of clinical and non-clinical groups. The possibility that such associations could be spurious ones, brought about by an hereditary influence, was examined in a non-clinical group of adoptees (n = 109). If an hereditary influence accounted for previous findings no associations between such parental characteristics and higher levels of trait depression and anxiety would be expected. Instead associations were found to be as strong as those in the earlier studies, providing further indirect support for the possibility of a causal process linking such parental representations with the expression of certain affective disturbances in adulthood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Seasonal variation in depressive disorders and suicidal deaths in New South Wales.

Month of admission data to psychiatric facilities in New South Wales, 1971-76, were examined for some 23,000 patients with a depressive disorder to determine if seasonal variations in admissions, described in the northern hemisphere, exist there. In addition, data were examined on month of occurrence of some 3,000 deaths due to suicide and self-inflicted injury, over the same period. Seasonality was demonstrated for three 'psychotic' depressive disorders, but not found for neurotic depression, further supporting the binary view of depression. A peak incidence in spring was found for MDP-mania and reactive depressive psychosis, while the peak incidence for MDP-depression was was in late winter. It is suggested that the increase in certain affective disorders around spring may follow a rapid increase in luminance, and in stimulation of the pineal gland. Suicidal deaths of males did not show significant seasonality, while those of females showed two incidence peaks, the significant one occurring in spring.

Australia↗