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Biomedical subjects

G Winokur

Publications and source records attributed to G Winokur.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

Possible linkage between group-specific component (Gc protein) and pure depressive disease.

Genetic linkage was studied in pure depressive disease, a subgroup of unipolar depression defined by absence of familial alcoholism and/or antisocial personality. Rigorous research criteria were used for diagnosis and the diagnoses were made blind, i.e. without the knowledge of the genetic marker results. Under the assumptions of full penetrance and of all examined individuals' having passed the risk period, two out of eight families investigated showed a possibility of linkage, using the lod score method, with the Group-Specific Component (Gc protein) locus, one of the 17 polymorphic markers tested. The results, being based on a small amount of data, are presented as a hypothesis only; important possible implications of Psychiatry, however, indicate the desirability of testing the hypothesis.

Alpha-Globulins↗
PubMed1977

The efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy and antidepressants in depression.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), antidepressants, and neither treatment were compared by reviewing 609 hospitalizations for depression from 1959 to 1969. The groups receiving ECT had a significantly (p less than 0.001) greater percentage of patient who had marked improvement or a complete response (49%) than either adequate or inadequate antidepressant therapy groups (27%) or the group which received neither ECT nor antidepressants (25%). If antidepressant failures who require ECT are included in the evaluation, the percentage total improvement with ECT (90%) is significantly (p less than 0.001) greater than the adequate (74%) or inadequate (60%) antidepressant groups, or neither treatment (60%). At the end of 7 weeks of hospitalization, 74% of the ECT group had been discharged, significantly more (p less than 0.001) than the adequate antidepressant group, 54%. Delusional depressed patients responded much mor frequently to ECT.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1976

Mortality in depressed patients treated with electroconvulsive therapy and antidepressants.

The treatments of 519 depressed patients hospitalized from 1959 to 1969 were compared in a three-year follow-up study with particular reference to mortality. The electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) group had a significantly lower mortality than the inadequate antidepressant treatment group (P less than .05) and the group that received neither ECT nor antidepressants (P less than .025). Although the adequate antidepressant treatment group had a low mortality, statistically significant differences between this and other treatment groups could not be documented. Nonsuicidal deaths (P less than .005), and particularly myocardial infarctions (P less than .01), were significantly more frequent in the inadequately treated group compared to the adequately treated group. The superiority of adequate treatment is especially striking among men and among the older age groups. The results underscore the importance of adequate treatment of depression, especially in the older man.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1976

A linkage study of depression spectrum disease: the use of the sib-pair method.

Genetic linkage was studied in depression spectrum disease, a subgroup of unipolar depressive illness defined by presence of familial alcoholism and/or antisocial personality, using a version of the sib pair method of Penrose. Rigorous research diagnostic criteria were used and the diagnoses were made blind, i.e., without knowledge of the genetic marker results. Possibility of linkage was suggested (p less than 0.005) with the alpha-haptoglobin (alpha-Hp) and third complement component (C3) loci. However, the likelihood that these two markers are not on the same chromosome, and the limitations of the sib pair method, permit these findings to be treated as suggestive only and indicate that these two promising markers should be investigated further, using a more definitive method of linkage detection such as the lod score method.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Duration of illness prior to hospitalization (onset) in the affective disorders.

Onset defined as duration of illness prior to index admission was studied in manic and unipolar depressive patients. The manic patients were far more likely to have an acute onset when defined in this way. Of considerable interest is the fact that depression spectrum disease patients, i.e. those patients with a family history of alcoholism in a first-degree relative, were much less likely than other depressive patients to have an acute onset of their illness. In this case, the acute onset was defined as having occurred within 1 month of hospitalization.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1975

Alcoholism and the hyperactive child syndrome.

Comparisons were made between alcoholics and nonalcoholics in a sample of Danish adoptees (mean age 30) and it was found that the alcoholics, as children, were more often hyperactive, truant, antisocial, shy, aggressive, disobedient, and friendless. The literature suggesting a relationship between the hyperactive child syndrome and subsequent alcoholism is reviewed, as well as a possible relationship between these disorders and antisocial behavior. The adoptive parent of the two groups did not differ with regard to socioeconomic class, psychopathology, or drinking histories. However, 10 of the 14 alcoholics had biological parents who were alcoholic, with no known alcoholism among the biological parents of the nonalcoholics. As adults, the alcoholics differed from the nonalcoholics only with regard to drinking history, use of drugs, and overt expression of anger.

Adoption↗
PubMed1975

The Iowa 500: suicide in mania , depression, and schizophrenia.

Long-term (30-to 40-year) follow-up data for 76 manic patients, 182 depressives. 170 schizophrenics, and 109 controls showed that 10 per cent of the schizophrenics, 8.5 percent of the manics, and 10.6 percent of the depressives who were decreased had died by suicide. None of the controls had committed suicide. The authors suggest that suicide is a significant outcome factor in all three of these illnesses and is likely to occur at an earlier age in schizophrenia than in the other illnesses.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

The Iowa 500: field work in a 35-year follow-up of depression, mania, and schizophrenia.

This paper reports a follow-up and family study being carried out at the University of Iowa College of Medicine on primary affective disorders and schizophrenia in patients hospitalized thirty-five years ago. The purpose of this project is to obtain objective data to shed light on our understanding of these two major functional psychoses -- their diagnostic validity, clinical features, course and outcome, heterogeneity, life histories, related illnesses and characteristics of familial association. This research started with 525 patients selected from inpatients consecutively admitted to the Iowa Psychopathic Hospital between 1934 and 1944, and with a stratified random sample of 160 surgical patients admitted to the University General Hospital during the same period. A specially designed structured interview form -- the Iowa Structured Psychiatric Interview (ISPI) -- is used to follow up all living index patients, and as many of their living first-degree relatives as possible. At this time, over one-third of the estimated total study population of three thousand patients and relatives have been personally interviewed, and the preliminary findings are reported here.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1975

Paranoid vs hebephrenic schizophrenia: clinical and familial (genetic) heterogeneity.

By the use of familial and genetic methods, data are presented which suggest that hebephrenic and paramoid schizophrenia are separate illnesses. The two entities have different clinical pictures and different outcomes. Hebephrenia shows a higher familial risk for schizophrenia than paramoid schizophrenia and most available data reveal that hebephrenia breeds true in the family. The relevance of the possibility that schizophrenia is composed of more than one autonomous illness to some current pharmacological theories and treatment studies is presented.

Adult↗