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Biomedical subjects

H Meltzer

Publications and source records attributed to H Meltzer.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1968

Creatine kinase and aldolase in serum: abnormality common to acute psychoses.

Activity of creatine kinase and aldolase in serum increased in 14 of 16 patients with recent onset of a psychotic reaction, and in five of six patients treated with psychotomimetic drugs. There was either no increase of these enzymes or a slight increase in severely agitated (or depressed) non-psychotic hospitalized patients and chronic psychotic patients. The increase of the enzymes preceded the onset of the acute psychotic symptoms in at least three cases, was highest during the first 2 weeks of a psychotic episode, and sometimes recurred throughout the illness, particularly at times of stress. The creatine kinase in the serum is primarily of the muscle type.

Anxiety↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pituitary and adrenal hormone responsiveness to Synacthen in melancholic subjects versus subjects with minor depression.

Increased adrenal cortex responsiveness to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) has been suggested to contribute to increased cortisol secretion in dexamethasone nonsuppression and melancholia. To further examine this hypothesis, the following variables were examined in 68 patients with unipolar depression (minor, n = 24; simple major, n = 25; melancholic, n = 19): basal or post-Synacthen [ACTH(1-24), 250 micrograms IV] intact ACTH(1-39), beta-endorphin/beta-lipotropin, cortisol, and androstenedione concentrations, as well as the postdexamethasone (DST) plasma ACTH(1-39) and cortisol values. Melancholic subjects showed significantly higher baseline ACTH(1-39), beta-endorphin/beta-lipotropin, and androstenedione values compared with subjects with minor depression. No significant differences in post-Synacthen cortisol or androstenedione secretion between any of the groups or between [ACTH(1-39) or cortisol] DST nonsuppressors and suppressors were found. No significant relationships between DST and ACTH test results were observed. Abnormally increased post-DST cortisol values in melancholic subjects were highly predicted (> 68% of the variance) by post-DST intact ACTH levels. ACTH(1-39) values were significantly lower after Synacthen administration in melancholic subjects than in subjects with minor depression. These results are not consistent with the hypothesis that melancholia is characterized by an increased adrenocortical responsivity to exogenous ACTH compared with minor depression or that DST nonsuppression is due to adrenal hyperresponsiveness.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Relationships between basal hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid-axis activity and plasma haptoglobin levels in depression.

The present study was carried out in investigate the relationship between basal hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT)-axis function and the acute phase (AP) response in depression. Toward this end, the authors measured serum concentrations of basal thyroid-stimulating-hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3), and plasma levels of an AP protein, i.e. haptoglobin (Hp) in 38 depressed in-patients and in 11 normal controls. In depression, basal TSH was significantly and negatively related to Hp values, whereas in normal controls a trend toward a positive correlation between both factors was found. Depressed patients with increased Hp levels (> or = 250 mg/dl) showed significantly lower basal TSH levels than patients with normal Hp levels. No significant correlations were found between Hp plasma levels and either FT4 or FT3 serum concentrations. The results support the hypothesis that lower TSH secretion in major depression may be related to the AP response in that illness, and may constitute an expression of a coordinated neuroendocrine-immune response to nonthyroidal illness.

Acute-Phase Reaction↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Substance misuse and psychiatric comorbidity: an overview of the OPCS National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey.

There have been a number of national surveys of psychiatric morbidity which have included questions on drugs, alcohol and tobacco. These surveys have helped delineate the overlap between substance use and dependence and other psychological morbidity. There is a strong association reported between high substance consumption and other measures of psychological problems. This article provides an overview of a national household survey, a survey of institutional residents with psychiatric disorders and a national survey of a homeless population. All three surveys used comprehensive and complex sampling strategies and lay interviewers to conduct structured diagnostic interviews. The household survey included over 10,000 households, the institutional survey interviewed 755 individuals and the homeless survey of hostels, night-shelters, day centres and private-sector leased accommodation interviewed 1,061 individuals. This overview looks at patterns of nicotine, alcohol and other drug use in the different samples and examines interactions with other psychiatric morbidity. The survey reports that substance-related disorders are some of the commonest disorders in the community, with 5% of the household sample alcohol dependent, 7% alcohol dependent in the institutional sample and over 21% in the homeless sample recorded as alcohol dependent. Tobacco, alcohol and other drug use and dependence were dramatically higher in the homeless sample than in either of the other two samples. Substance use was significantly associated with higher rates of psychological morbidity as measured by the Clinical Interview Schedule Revised. Future service planning needs to take account of the striking disparity of prevalence of psychiatric disorders in different subsections of the population.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys of Great Britain--strategy and methods.

This paper describes the rationale and methodology of the first National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys to be carried out in Great Britain. The objectives of the surveys were to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among adults aged 16-64 living in Great Britain; to identify the nature and extent of social disabilities associated with psychiatric morbidity; to describe the use of health and social services by people with psychiatric morbidity and to investigate the association between mental illness and potential environmental risk factors in a household sample. Four separate surveys were carried out in order to meet the objectives; a private household sample (n = 10,108), a sample of institutions caring for the mentally ill (n = 1191), a sample of homeless people (n = 1166), and a supplementary sample of patients with psychosis living in private households (n = 350). A two-stage assessment procedure was used, in which all subjects were given the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R) administered by lay interviewers to assess neurotic symptoms and disorders and a psychosis screen, including the Psychosis Screening Questionnaire. Those who were positive on the psychosis screen were then interviewed by psychiatrists using the SCAN (incorporating the tenth edition of the Present State Examination). Large scale national surveys such as this augment the inadequate data on psychiatric morbidity that are routinely available and are, therefore, an important source of information upon which to base policy and generate aetiological hypotheses. These surveys provide a possible model for similar surveys in other countries.

Adolescent↗