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Biomedical subjects

H Sass

Publications and source records attributed to H Sass.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

[Does the evaluation of affect crimes deal with a psychopathologic problem?].

The reformulation of the sections 20, 21 StGB (concerning the defense of insanity in the German law) brought a renewed interest in the controversy about the disease concept and the assessment of responsibility in forensic psychiatry. Although the opinions of Kurt Schneider are still very influential, there are competing conceptions based on positions of normal psychology, social psychology or motivational psychology. The controversial issues are discussed and an integrating approach is proposed, though the psychopathological analysis is still regarded as the most important aspect. The question, whether one of the categories of the sections 20, 21 StGB is qualified and whether the intensity of the psychological disturbance indicates a reduced responsibility, must be answered regarding the empirical knowledge of mentally ill, abnormal and sane individuals. Instead of the former concept of disease, which was based on a known or postulated somatic pathology, a psychopathological system of reference for each category of the sections 20, 21 StGB has to be developed for the assessment of the disfunction during the offense. As an example, two catalogues of positive and negative criteria are proposed for the detection of a "profound disturbance of consciousness" in crimes of passion.

Dangerous Behavior↗
PubMed1984

Transcription-dependent localization of U1 and U2 small nuclear ribonucleoproteins at major sites of gene activity in polytene chromosomes.

The location and dynamics of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) were studied in salivary gland polytene chromosomes of Chironomus tentans by immunofluorescence with specific snRNP antibodies. Monoclonal antibody against the snRNP Sm antigens reacted at all sites of transcription (puffs and Balbiani rings). The amount of snRNP immunofluorescence was strictly dependent on transcription, increasing in parallel with gene activation and decreasing upon repression. Identical patterns of localization and transcriptional dependence were observed with antibodies specific for U1 or U2 snRNPs. These latter results show that the involvement of U1 and U2 snRNPs in transcription-related processes involves a high proportion, rather than small subsets, of active gene loci. In addition, the colocalization of U1 and U2 snRNPs at loci known to contain only one messenger RNA transcription unit (e.g. Balbiani ring 2) raises the possibility that both of these snRNPs interact with the same transcript. Finally, the lack of immunofluorescence at repressed loci indicates that snRNPs are not structural components of the chromatin (DNP) fiber, and also shows that unused snRNPs are not stored in chromatin. These latter points, and the growing evidence for the involvement of U1 snRNP in splicing, suggest that nascent pre-mRNA is the major chromosomal binding site for snRNPs.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

The dexamethasone suppression test and thyroid stimulating hormone response to TRH in RDC schizoaffective patients.

The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) brought to light significantly more non-suppression of cortisol secretion in RDC schizoaffectives of the depressed (89%) and of the manic type (67%) than in RDC schizophrenia (25%). However, only in the RDC endogenous depressives, whose pathological DST rate was 57%, was the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) response to thyrotrophin releasing hormone (TRH) found to be significantly "blunted". It is suggested that the DST results can be interpreted as partially validating DSM-III's wide major affective disorder since this concept also encompasses all cases with mood-incongruent psychotic features. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that the coupling of DST non-suppression and TSH "blunting" may be important for defining a valid depressive subgroup within these extended clinical boundaries for affective illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

[How stable are borderline diagnoses?].

Borderline diagnostic terms are still being routinely and rather unreliably made in many centers. In the present sample of probands with various borderline states other diagnoses from the entire spectrum of psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia, were also found. Thus, in those cases with multiple admissions, a borderline diagnosis demonstrated only little stability over time. There was a strong tendency for borderline cases towards a diagnosis of schizophrenia and vice versa. Indeed, probands, with both borderline and schizophrenic diagnoses had no clear-cut course characteristics. It is suggested that the criteria of DSM-III for borderline personality disturbance be provisionally used for research purposes.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Interbands of polytene chromosomes: binding sites and start points for RNA polymerase B (II).

Polytene chromosomes of different chironomids, i.e., Chironomus tentans, C. melanotus and Glyptotendipes barbipes were isolated from salivary glands in a native state. These chromosomes were treated in vitro either mechanically or with different ionic strengths to modify them structurally as to yield different degrees of decondensation of the compact bands. Treated and untreated polytene chromosomes were lightly fixed with formaldehyde and stained by indirect immunofluorescence for RNA polymerase B. The distribution of this enzyme in bands, interbands, puffs and centromeric heterochromatin was scored and compared with that of histone H2B. The results indicate that failure to observe an antigen in condensed regions of chromatin does not necessarily imply its absence. Decondensation of bands, for example, leads to massive uncovering of histone H2B antigen, which appears to be masked in the bands of untreated polytene chromosomes. No evidence, however, of a corresponding unmasking of RNA polymerase B molecules was observed, indicating that few if any enzyme molecules are trapped in bands. Thus binding sites for RNA polymerase B and start points for transcriptional activity of the enzyme appear always to be the interband regions.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Immunoelectron microscopic localization of RNA polymerase B on isolated polytene chromosomes of Chironomus tentans.

RNA polymerase B (or II) was localized by immunoelectron microscopy in ultrathin sections of polytene chromosomes isolated from larval salivary glands of Chironomus tentans. The enzyme was found at decondensed sites (puffs and interbands), whereas no detectable RNA polymerase B was present in condensed loci (bands). Within each of the large puffs the highest enzyme concentration was observed wherever the chromatin was in the most decondensed state. Otherwise the enzyme appeared homogeneously distributed within puffs and interbands. This immunoelectron microscopic study, along with the recently published immunofluorescent and autoradiographic analysis of isolated Chironomus chromosomes (Sass, 1982) unequivocally demonstrates that RNA polymerase B is present in most, if not all interbands.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

[Diagnostic criteria for borderline schizophrenia on the basis of the SSDBS (symptom schedule for the diagnosis of borderline schizophrenia). A comparison between borderline syndrome, schizophrenias and affective diseases].

In the present study the SSDBS, a reliable instrument for detecting borderline schizophrenia developed by Khouri and co-workers (1980), was used to determine the number of probands with this diagnosis in an index sample composed of heterogeneous borderline syndromes as well as in schizophrenic, manic and depressive control groups. On this basis, significant differences between borderlines, on the one hand, and those with mania and depression, on the other, came to light--even after controlling for Schneider's first rank symptoms-, whereas none occurred between borderline patients and probands with schizophrenia. The research problem of SSDBS-symptom overlap with the symptomatology found in the schizophrenics of the present investigation as well as the possibility that other borderline concepts not based on the SSDBS might overlap more with morbid affectivity was then discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

RNA polymerase B in polytene chromosomes: immunofluorescent and autoradiographic analysis during stimulated and repressed RNA synthesis.

The distribution of RNA polymerase B (or II) in native and fixed polytene chromosomes isolated from salivary glands of Chironomus tentans and C. pallidivittatus was investigated by both indirect immunofluorescence and autoradiography. The chromosomes, especially the Balbiani rings (BR2, BR1 and BR3), were examined during periods of stimulated and repressed RNA synthesis. In repressed BR2a and, after the salivary gland chromosomes had been stretched, in various chromosomal segments, it was possible to establish unequivocally that RNA polymerase B is not confined to puffs, but also occurs in interbands. The enzyme was absent from the bands, or at least there was not enough of it to be detected with indirect immunofluorescence. It was shown that the distribution of the indirect immunofluorescence in the chromosomes concurs with that of the 3H-uridine or 3H-UTP labeling. However, RNA polymerase B molecules remain associated with the chromosomal template even after an in vivo alpha-amanitin or actinomycin D treatment to inhibit RNA synthesis. Following heat shocks (37 degrees C to 39 degrees C), transcriptively active RNA polymerase B is still found in interbands, in the BRs and in other puffs that have collapsed as a result of the heat treatment; the greatest enzyme concentrations, however, are in the stimulated heat-shock puffs.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Effects of DMSO on the structure and function of polytene chromosomes of Chironomus.

Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) controlled puff induction and repression (or non-induction) in larval polytene chromosomes of Chironomus tentans were studied for the case of the Balbiani rings (BR). A characteristic reaction pattern, involving BR 1, BR 2, and BR 3, all in salivary gland chromosome IV was found. In vivo exposure of 4th instar larvae (not prepupae) to 10%n DMSO at 18 degrees C first evokes an over-stimulation of BR 3 while DMSO-stimulation of puffing at BR 1 and BR 2 always follows that of BR 3. After removal of the drug, a rapid uniform collapse of all puffs occurs, thus more or less restoring the banding pattern of all previously decondensed chromosome segments. Recovery proceeds as BR's and other puffs reappear. By observing the restoration, one can locate the site from which a BR (puff) originates. BR 2, which is normally the most active non-ribosomal gene locus in untreated larvae, here serves as an example. As the sizes of BR 3, BR 1 and BR 2 change, so do the quantities of the transcriptional products in these gene loci (and vice versa), as estimated electron-microscopically in ultrathin sections and autoradiographically in squash preparations. In autoradiograms, the DMSO-stimulated BRs exhibit the most dense concentration of silver grains and therefore the highest rate of transcriptional activity. In DMSO-repressed BRs (and other puffs) the transcription of the locus specific genes is not completely shut off. In chromosomes from nuclei with high labelling intensities the repressed BRs (and other puffs) always exhibit a low level of 3H-uridine incorporation in vivo. The absence of cytologically visible BR (puff) formation therefore does not necessarily indicate complete transcriptional inactivity. Typically, before the stage of puff formation the 3H-uridine labelling first appears in the interband-like regions.

Animals↗