Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

H Heimann

Publications and source records attributed to H Heimann.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

[Nosologic specificity of psychopathologic findings in schizophrenic and depressed patients].

Different expert-rating scales (GAS, BPRS, SANS, Ham-D) were applied to assess the psychopathological findings in 40 schizophrenic and 40 depressive patients (classified according to DSM III-R guidelines). The data demonstrated that the schizophrenic sample did not display acute psychotic or negative symptoms as a specific symptomatology, and that depressive mood was not a specific symptom of the depressive sample. Hence, these types of research tools should mainly be used as a global measurement for determining the severity of psychiatric disorders, or for monitoring the progress of individual patients in order to illustrate disparate psychopathological qualities in nosologically different groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Evaluation of mimetic expression of schizophrenic and depressed patients by the psychiatrist].

Facial videos of schizophrenic and depressive patients and of healthy controls when watching both funny and horror films and during emotionally positive or negative interviews were rated by psychiatrists (experts) and students (novices). The observers' task was to rate joy, fear, sadness, and expressivity on a 7-point unipolar intensity scale. The soundless facial videos were presented to each observer for exactly 2.5 min. The observer groups did not differ significantly in their ratings except for sadness. Psychiatrists consistently rated expressed sadness as less intense than students. Facial expressivity and joy were rated as less intense in both patient groups in comparison with healthy controls. Depressives expressed significantly more sadness.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[Thiamine deficiency and brain atrophy in alcoholic patients].

CT brain scans of 65 alcohol-dependent inpatients were compared before and after 6 weeks of confirmed abstinence. Linear measurements revealed a significant reduction of the enlargement of the ventricular system in accordance with the re-expansion of the brain after alcohol abstinence (ANOVA, significant time effects). 22 patients showed a moderate or severe thiamine deficiency. CT findings on thiamine-deficient patients did not differ from those on patients without thiamine deficiency (ANOVA, no significant group effects). Correlations between thiamine deficiency and subcortical atrophy before treatment were not significant. The results are discussed in relation to the pathogenesis of reversible brain shrinkage in chronic alcoholics.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[Psycho-educational family group for psychiatric patients of various diagnoses].

The effectiveness of an eight-session psychoeducational group intervention with family members of psychiatric inpatients was evaluated in terms of benefits for the patients' clinical outcome, relatives' perceived burden and changes in qualitative aspects in family member-patients interactions. The study involved 12 inpatients and 16 immediate adult family members. At the nine-month follow-up the relapse rate was zero percent. Moreover, another effect was the decrease in family members' perceived burden. Additional findings also showed reductions in family members' facial expression of hostility in interaction with the patient. Results suggest that a psychoeducational intervention with family members of patients with different diagnoses may be effective as part of an inpatient treatment program.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Computer-based analysis of facial action in schizophrenic and depressed patients.

With a newly developed computer analysis the space coordinates of light-reflecting points, attached to a subjects' face, were recorded across time with high temporal and spatial resolution. Under different experimental conditions the facial actions of 20 schizophrenics, 20 depressives and 20 normal controls were analysed. Furthermore, raters watched the synchronously recorded video versions of the subject's face and rated them as to expressivity. The findings indicate that depressive and schizophrenic patients exhibited reduced facial activity in the upper part of their face in social interaction conditions. Schizophrenic patients showed reduced facial action responsivity across different conditions and emotions. All patients were judged to be less expressive than normal controls by raters, suggesting apparent disintegrated elements in facial activity, although when computer-analysed they exhibited the same amount of facial activity.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Findings significant with respect to short- and medium-term outcome in schizophrenia--a preliminary report.

1. The objective of the study was to determine the relationship of psychopathological, psychobiological, and clinical psychological variables to short- and medium-term outcome in schizophrenia. 2. The predictive power of several variables described as potential predictors in the literature were evaluated. To these we added clinical psychological variables; most of these had never been examined in a prospective study. 3. The sample consisted of a total of 45 patients. None of the patients was on medication and all were tested shortly after admission to the hospital. The following factors were regarded as outcome criteria: change in the GAS-score four weeks after admission, length of hospitalization after index admission, relapse nine months after admission and two years after discharge. 4. We found that the psychobiological data set as well as the clinical psychological data set had the highest predictive power with respect to short- and medium-term outcome. 5. An analysis of the single variables within the clinical psychological data set revealed that the patients with attention disorder and a low Stimulus Barrier Function (Bellak-scale) responded better to a four-week Haloperidol treatment. Patients with a low Stimulus Barrier Function at admission had, in comparison to this, a poor outcome after two years (relapse). (No patient was taking drugs regularly at this time.) The expressed emotion of the relative approached only significance (p less than .07) as a factor to be connected with relapse after two years. 6. As psychological factors the ANS activity and the CT were measured. The latter in order to evaluate possible atrophic alterations in the brain. 7. Higher activity of the ANS was found in those patients who were hospitalized for a longer period. Slight atrophic alterations of the brain (CT scan) were related to poor outcome after two years (relapse). 8. No significant relationship was found between the psychopathological state at admission and short- or medium-term course of the illness. 9. The findings are interpreted as showing the importance of psychobiological as well as clinical psychological variables in order to uncover the factors related to the heterogeneous course of the schizophrenic illness.

Emotions↗
PubMed1988

[Prenatal diagnosis of an adenomatoid malformation of the lung. Apropos of 2 cases].

Two cases of pulmonary cystic adenomatoid malformation are presented. The first case presented with bilateral pulmonary cystic involvement associated with oligoamnios and feto-placental anasarca. A peculiar feature of this case was the elevated level of alphafetoprotein in the amniotic fluid. In the second case, the pulmonary involvement was limited to one lobe. There was coexistent aplasia of the diaphragm. Premature rupture of the amniotic membranes necessitated a therapeutic abortion at 21 weeks of pregnancy. In connection with these two cases, a discussion based on the data in the literature.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

[Changes in slow evoked potentials in depressed patients treated with amitriptyline and oxaprotiline].

Using a simple S1S2-R paradigm, acoustically evoked potentials, CNV, and PINV were recorded in 59 patients with major depressive disorder before and during a 4 week double blind pharmacological treatment with either amitriptyline (AT) or oxaprotiline (OT). In parallel, 30 healthy subjects were investigated 3 times, in identical intervals of 2 weeks. In the depressed state patients exhibited significantly smaller CNVs than the controls. In the AT-group clinical improvement and drug plasma levels of nortriptyline (NT, the principal metabolite of AT and an active antidepressant by itself) were positively related to increases in CNV-area; in the OT-group the reverse was true: increase in CNV-area was related to smaller OT plasma levels and less favourable outcome. The control group displayed a steady decline in CNV area during the 3 test sessions. N1P2 amplitude and PINV were not significantly different between groups and exhibited only minor variations during treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Differential effects of a new dibenzo-epine neuroleptic compared with haloperidol. Results of an open and crossover study.

Fluperlapine (NB-106-689) was tested on 26 schizophrenic patients in an open and crossover study. In addition to its good antipsychotic effect, it also alleviated the apathic and depressive syndromes. Six patients who had shown only slight or no improvement after 4 weeks of haloperidol therapy responded positively to fluperlapine. The alleviation of the anergic syndrome was especially impressive. The therapeutic response of the depressive-apathic syndromes could represent an important extension of pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia. The virtual lack of extrapyramidal motor side effects with fluperlapine supports an intensification of the search for other nonclassic dibenzo-epine neuroleptics.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Psychophysiological aspects of depressive syndromes.

Compared to 30 healthy controls, 59 drug free patients with primary major depression exhibited significantly higher rates of heart beat, respiration, and eye blinking; longer simple and associative reaction times; fewer spontaneous fluctuations of skin resistance, a lower salivation rate, a faster habituation rate of skin resistance orienting response, and a smaller CNV area in the EEG. Skin resistance level, speech pause time, N1P2 amplitudes of acoustically evoked potentials and the postimperative negative variation (PINV) in the EEG did not differ between groups. All deviations are nosologically unspecific; they can be regarded as signs of overarousal, as deficits, or as the result of protective inhibition. In all subjects the investigation was repeated twice, while the patients were treated with either amitriptyline or oxaprotiline, repetition of measurement influenced several variables, but most patient/control differences remained unaffected--irrespective of the drug applied.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

[The anxiolytic action of phenoxypropanolamine derivatives in comparison with propranolol, diazepam and placebo].

The hypothesis that the phenoxypropanolamine derivative CGP 361 A possesses anxiolytic activity was examined in 80 female healthy volunteers. Each volunteer received the treatment under double-blind conditions as part of a 1-way analysis of variance design. The medication factor had 4 levels (CGP 361 A, propranolol, diazepam and placebo). Stress was induced by asking subjects to deliver a free speech in front of a video camera. The anxiety was measured using adjectives list, state-trait-anxiety inventory and visual analogue scales. The physiological equivalents observed were pulse rate and skin resistance. The results support the hypothesis that a single dose of 10 mg CGP 361 A has a higher anxiolytic effect than 10 mg propranolol, 5 mg diazepam and placebo, with the peripheral beta-blocking effects (established by pulse rate) being no stronger than with propranolol. No subjective or objective sedation has been determined under the different drug conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

[Specificity and lack of specificity in psychiatric diseases].

The definition of a set of empirically accessible psychiatric variables on an international scale expresses the hope for nosologically more specific therapeutic methods. This is demonstrated by the example of the German translation of DSM III and by examples of biological markers for psychiatric syndromes. To begin with these are introduced as nosologically specific, but turned out to be nonspecific as a rule. Some examples of newest psychiatric research literature and results of our psychophysiological studies on endogenous psychoses and depressive syndromes show that a deeper understanding of the pathophysiological meaning of coherencies between psychopathological and pathophysiological basics is rendered more difficult by the fixation of the view of psychiatrists on nosological specificity. By means of some quotations from the works of Emil Kraepelin it is proved that already Kraepelin saw those complex conditions in regard to pathophysiological aspects and relativized his originally simple, causally determinated nosology. The interrelation between the physiological and the psychological level of effects is demonstrated by a simple example for the sedating effect of individual dosages of a compound on the healthy subject. While sedation turned out to be stable within subjects (same dosages given on different days) in the Electroencephalogram, it cannot be shown for the subjective and performance effects, measured with psychological tests. Statistical evidence of the psychological effect was only found across the whole group of subjects, because single subjects react on different days not in the expected way on the psychological level. That means, between the physiological and the psychological level there is no simple monocausal and linear relationship. We not only find an inhibited orienting response, indicated by the reduced skin conductance response, in depressive but also in schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenics with inhibited psychophysiological reactivity to environmental stimuli in the electrodermal system show depressive inhibition on the psychopathological level and withdrawal tendency. Schizophrenic and depressive patients show in the EEG a reduced expectancy wave (CNV) and a stronger post-imperative negativation (PINV) when they loose control over aversive imperative stimuli. Schizophrenic and depressive patients show an increased sensation threshold for warm stimuli, but not for cold stimuli, which means a lack of basic positive perceptions regarding temperature. These psychophysiological results with schizophrenic and depressive patients point at a fundamental dysregulation of psychophysical parameters in relation to the environment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Arousal↗