Nothing to whoop about.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems↗
Biomedical subjects
G W Brown
Publications and source records attributed to G W Brown.
Cognitive coping response to crises and onset of depression.
This paper consider the relationship between cognitive coping responses to severe life events and related difficulties and the risk of onset of case depression in a sample of 150 mothers living in Islington, North London. A period between a first interview and a followup interview 12 months later was covered, and any onset in the follow-up period examined. Three types of 'negative' cognitive response to a severe life event/difficulty complex were related to an increased risk of depression. These were inferred denial, self-blame and pessimism. One 'positive' cognitive factor, that of downplaying, was inversely related to onset. A negative cognitive response to crises was found to be associated with the most serious of the events, defined by their match with an ongoing marked difficulty. However, both matching severe events and a negative cognitive response were required to model onset of depression. Negative cognitive coping responses were also related to type of event: all were related to crises involving partners. In addition, self-blame was associated with crises involving children's behaviour, and there was some evidence that denial was related to pregnancy/birth crises, and pessimism, to health/death crises. A negative cognitive response was also associated with other risk factors such as prior vulnerability and failure to receive support in the crisis. However, when these were taken into account a negative response to a crisis was still required in modelling onset of depression. Issues of possible bias are addressed.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Social factors and comorbidity of depressive and anxiety disorders.
Differences in rates of depression across and between populations can be considerable and are largely determined by psychosocial factors. Such findings have important implications for comorbidity. On the basis of multiplying independent probabilities, the proportion of comorbid conditions increases as base rates of the disorders increase in a population. If such a chance combination has clinical implications, it would appear to be a "fact" of significance irrespective of biological underpinnings. In a recent survey of 404 women living with at least one child in an inner-city area, the rate of both anxiety and depression was highly related to the childhood experiences of neglect and abuse. However, adversity in adult life (e.g. widowhood or divorce), which might be expected to relate to current stressors, was only related to the rate of depression. The two risk factors had a considerable impact on comorbidity by increasing the rate of each disorder and thus the probability of their occurring together. They had a lesser impact as "common antecedents". If both influences are considered, such adversity explains around half of the comorbidity. This is a conservative estimate of the impact of psychosocial factors.
Adult↗
A survey of anaesthesia for caesarean section.
In 1993 a postal survey of maternity hospitals within the UK was carried out to obtain data on the types of anaesthesia used for caesarean section. The poor response rate (79/226, 35%) reflects the paucity of data available in many centres. The data returned indicated a wide range of anaesthetic practice: from units with a general anaesthesia rate less than 10% to those with a general anaesthesia rate approaching 90%. Overall, during the 11-year period covered by the survey there was a significant reduction in the percentage use of general anaesthesia (77% in 1982 declining to 44% in 1992), but because of a 51% increase in the caesarean section rate the real reduction in the actual number of general anaesthetics used was modest (13%). If this holds true nationally, then factors other than a simple change from general anaesthesia to regional anaesthesia must contribute to the reduced maternal mortality from anaesthetic causes.
Journal Article↗
Loss, humiliation and entrapment among women developing depression: a patient and non-patient comparison.
This paper is part of a series dealing with the role of life events in the onset of depressive disorders. Women who developed depression in a general population sample in Islington in North London are contrasted with a National Health Service-treated series of depressed patients in the same area. Findings among the latter confirm the importance of a severely threatening provoking event for onset among the majority of depressed women patients. The results for the two series are similar except for a small subgroup of patients characterized by a melancholic/psychotic condition with a prior episode. The severe events of importance have been recognized for some time by the traditional ratings of the Life Events and Difficulty Schedule (LEDS). However, the full descriptive material collected by the LEDS has been used to develop a new refined measure reflecting the likelihood of feelings of humiliation and being trapped following a severely threatening event, in addition to existing measures of loss or danger. The experience of humiliation and entrapment was important in provoking depression in both the patient and non-patient series. It proved to be associated with a far greater risk of depression than the experience of loss or danger without humiliation or entrapment.
Adolescent↗
Stability and change in low self-esteem: the role of psychosocial factors.
Low self-esteem, defined as negative evaluation of self (NES), has been shown to play a significant role in the development of depression at a case level (Brown et al. 1986). This study investigated the stability of this risk factor in 102 women over a 7-year period and examined psychosocial factors that might influence change. At the end of the 7 years about half of those originally identified as having NES no longer had it, but very few moved in the reverse direction to NES. Level of depressive symptomatology also decreased but this was not a sufficient explanation for the substantial improvement in self-esteem. Life changes that involved an improvement in the quality of close relationships or an increase in work status appeared to be the most important factors in positive NES change. Ratings made at the time of first contact of environmental difficulties and positive evaluation of self (measured independently of NES) were related to positive NES change, but only via their link with positive life changes occurring in the 7-year follow-up period.
Adult↗
Comparison of propofol and increased doses of thiopentone for laryngeal mask insertion.
Conditions for insertion of the laryngeal mask were assessed following induction of anaesthesia with either propofol 2.5 mg/kg, thiopentone 5.0 mg/kg or thiopentone 6.0 mg/kg in 120 patients premedicated with diazepam 10 mg. Insertion following induction with thiopentone 5.0 mg/kg and 6.0 mg/kg resulted in a greater incidence of gagging (P < 0.001 and P < 0.05, respectively) compared with propofol 2.5 mg/kg.
Adolescent↗
[Role of interpersonal factors in the triggering and evolution of depressive disorders: summary of a research program].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Adult↗
Life events and endogenous depression. A puzzle reexamined.
BACKGROUND: Research has failed to find the expected clear-cut difference in the presence of events provoking onset in endogenous and nonendogenous depression. METHODS: A longitudinal study of 127 depressed female patients from two psychiatric departments were studied using the Present State Examination and the Life Event and Difficulty Schedule. Two earlier patient series using the same measures were employed to check findings, and two general population series were used to estimate the expected rate of life events. RESULTS: A large proportion of patients experienced a severely threatening event before onset, with the exception of a group defined by a British diagnostic category (a relatively small group of patients with melancholic/psychotic depression who were not experiencing their first episode). The results were broadly replicated in the two other patient series. The proportions of patients who experienced ongoing major difficulties did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: The relative size of this melancholic/psychotic group of patients with a prior onset may well have varied markedly from study to study in previous research, and this may help to explain the puzzling variability in findings concerning the role of stressful events in endogenous depression.
Adolescent↗
Isolation of the genes encoding the 51-kilodalton and 28-kilodalton subunits of Crithidia fasciculata replication protein A.
The genes encoding the 51-kilodalton subunit (p51) and the 28-kilodalton subunit (p28) of replication protein A (RP-A), designated CfaRPA1 and CfaRPA2 respectively, were cloned from the trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata by screening a genomic DNA library in the expression vector lambda gt11 with antibodies raised against purified C. fasciculata RP-A. CfaRPA1 has a single open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 467 amino acids and a molecular mass of 52.0 kDa. The predicted p51 polypeptide has sequence similarity to the corresponding subunits from human, Xenopus laevis, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but is lacking a segment of approximately 20 kDa from its amino terminus, accounting for its smaller molecular weight when compared to the large subunits of RP-A from these other organisms. CfaRPA1 contains a zinc-finger motif that is also found in the RP-A large subunits from human, frog, and yeast. CfaRPA2 contains a single large open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 258 amino acids and a molecular mass of 27.5 kDa. The predicted polypeptide has significant sequence similarity to the middle subunit of RP-A from human cells, mouse cells, and the budding yeast S. cerevisiae. Northern hybridization analysis of polyadenylated RNA from C. fasciculata indicates that both cloned genes are expressed as polyadenylated transcripts. CfaRPA1 hybridized with a 2.30-kb transcript and CfaRPA2 hybridized with a 1.44-kb transcript.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA): a retrospective interview measure.
The development of a retrospective, investigator-based interview measure of Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA) used with two community samples of adults in London is described. The component ratings are shown to have satisfactory inter-rater reliability and also validity as determined by agreement between sisters' independent accounts. The association between the different childhood scales is explored as well as the relationship of childhood experiences to adult depression. Methodological issues concerning investigator-based versus respondent-based measures of childhood are discussed and a case made for use of the former. Advantages of using the CECA, a retrospective, time-based measure of childhood, are outlined.
Adult↗
Clinical and psychosocial origins of chronic depressive episodes. I: A community survey.
BACKGROUND: We consider how far it is possible to predict a chronic course of a depressive disorder from psychosocial and clinical material available at the point of onset. METHOD: A population survey found 404 working-class mothers living in an inner-city area of London. The majority were interviewed three times over a 3-year period. RESULTS: Chronicity (more than 12 months' duration) was strongly related to both childhood adversity (parental indifference, family violence or any sexual abuse) and current adult interpersonal difficulties. The lack of positive events during the course of the episode was also independently related to chronicity, but to a lesser degree. Clinical characteristics were relatively unimportant compared with psychosocial factors. CONCLUSIONS: The childhood risk factors were particularly important (judged by a path analysis), and a challenge for future research will be to establish the intervening processes involved with this distal link.
Adolescent↗
Clinical and psychosocial origins of chronic depressive episodes. II. A patient enquiry.
BACKGROUND: We consider how well the psychosocial and clinical factors found to predict a chronic course for depressive episodes in the community, held for female psychiatric patients. METHOD: A consecutive series of depressed patients, aged 18 to 60, treated as in-patients, out-patients or day-patients at psychiatric departments of two London hospitals, were interviewed initially and at follow-up two years later. RESULTS: Indices of childhood adversity and current interpersonal difficulties predicted episodes taking a chronic course (of more than 12 months' duration). Half of the episodes associated with one or the other factor were chronic, compared with 22% of those with neither. The patients were at higher risk than the community series (75% v. 34%) and this explains their much greater rate of chronicity. There was also some evidence that social support reduced risk. Clinical features and the presence of a personality disorder were unrelated to chronicity. CONCLUSIONS: Similar psychosocial factors are important for predicting chronicity in both community and patient series.
Adolescent↗
Periodic expression of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA replication genes during the trypanosomatid cell cycle.
In trypanosomatids, DNA replication in the nucleus and in the single mitochondrion (or kinetoplast) initiates nearly simultaneously, suggesting that the DNA synthesis (S) phases of the nucleus and the mitochondrion are coordinately regulated. To investigate the basis for the temporal link between nuclear and mitochondrial DNA synthesis phases the expression of the genes encoding DNA ligase I, the 51 and 28 kDa subunits of replication protein A, dihydrofolate reductase and the mitochondrial type II topoisomerase were analyzed during the cell cycle progression of synchronous cultures of Crithidia fasciculata. These DNA replication genes were all expressed periodically, with peak mRNA levels occurring just prior to or at the peak of DNA synthesis in the synchronized cultures. A plasmid clone (pdN-1) in which TOP2, the gene encoding the mitochondrial topoisomerase, was disrupted by the insertion of a NEO drug-resistance cassette was found to express both a truncated TOP2 mRNA and a truncated topoisomerase polypeptide. The truncated mRNA was also expressed periodically coordinate with the expression of the endogenous TOP2 mRNA indicating that cis elements necessary for periodic expression are contained within cloned sequences. The expression of both TOP2 and nuclear DNA replication genes at the G1/S boundary suggests that regulated expression of these genes may play a role in coordinating nuclear and mitochondrial S phases in trypanosomatids.
Animals↗
Replication protein A from the trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata is inactive in the primosome assembly step of SV40 DNA replication.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Animals↗
Aetiology of anxiety and depressive disorders in an inner-city population. 1. Early adversity.
A survey of an inner-city population of working-class and single mothers is described and the prevalence of anxiety and depression reported using two related diagnostic schemes, Bedford College caseness and DSM-III-R. This acts as an introduction to an analysis which indicates that adverse experiences in childhood and adolescence (involving parental indifference, and sexual and physical abuse) considerably raise risk of both depression and anxiety conditions (with the exception of mild agoraphobia and simple phobia) in adult life.
Adult↗