Forty normal adult volunteers comprising an equal number of right- and left-handed males and females solved simple multiplication problems presented visually to one cerebral hemisphere while various competing stimuli were simultaneously presented to the other hemisphere. The contribution of sex of subject, handedness, hemisphere of presentation and the nature of the competing stimulus in relation to task performance was examined. Each of these variables was significantly associated with correct responses and errors, with few statistically significant interactions. Females and dextrals made more correct responses than males or sinistrals. Type of error depended upon which hemisphere received the problem, with the right hemisphere yielding more errors of commission and the left more errors of omission. Simultaneously presented identical or different arithmetic problems resulted in the most errors compared to the other competing stimuli.

Adult↗

PubMed1978

Effect of electroconvulsive therapy on cardiac rhythm, conduction and repolarization.

Because sympathetic stimulation has been implicated in the genesis of arrhythmias, we studied the effects on arrhythmias of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Fifteen psychiatric patients (male: 8, female: 7, age: 19-51, mean: 29.8) without known heart disease underwent 24-hout Holter recordings before, during, and after ECT (25 episodes). All patients were taking psychotropic drugs and received atropine (0.4-1.2 mg, mean: 1.1 mg IV), methohexital, and succinylcholine prior to ECT. Following ECT, mean maximum heart rate increased (106 +/- 3.2 to 142 +/- 6.0 beats/min, p less than .001), PR interval decreased (149 +/- 3.3 to 131 +/- 3.7 msec, p less than .001) and QTc interval increased (132 +/- 6.5 to 454 +/- 9.7 msec, p less than .001) compared to values obtained after atropine administration. Mean PVC or PAC frequently immediately after ECT or per 24 hours did not change significantly (PVC per 24 hours 6.8 +/- 3.2 to 10.4 +/- 6.4, NS; PAC per 24 hours 0.4 +/- 0.3 to 0.3 +/- 0.2, NS) and no complex arrhythmias were noted. Rate and PR changes suggest adrenergic effects of ECT and QTc increase may be due to imbalanced sympathetic discharge. Autonomic stimulation produced by ECT did not induce arrhythmias in these patients without heart disease. The possible antiarrhythmic role of psychotropic agents or premedication is unknown.

Adult↗

PubMed1978

Stereotactic amygdalotomy for convulsive and behavioral disorders. Long-term follow-up study.

58 patients, whose convulsions and behavioral disorders did not respond to nonsurgical therapy, were treated with stereotactic amygdalotomy between 1963 and 1973. A retrospective study was carried out by a psychiatric research team 1--11 years postoperatively. Using reliable objective methods of assessment they found that 50% operated primarily for seizures, 33% for uncontrolled conduct disorders and 50% with both conditions seemed improved after surgery.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1977

Effects of ACTH 4-10 on ECT-induced memory dysfunctions.

Double-blind studies of ACTH 4-10 and placebo were conducted in psychiatric patients receiving bilateral ECT to determine whether the polypeptide exerted anti-amnesic effects. Observations after a single ECT were suggestive of some positive effects, but studies between seizures after five or six ECTs showed no significant drug-placebo differences. Although the findings were largely negative, they do not rule out positive effects of ACTH 4-10 on memory. Possibly the designs and timing of the experiments and/or the dosages of ACTH 4-10 employed were unsuitable for demonstrating such influences.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗

PubMed1977

Follow-up of stereotaxic amygdalotomy for seizure and behavior disorders.

Stereotaxic amygdalotomy for the control of unmanageable behavior and/or intractable seizures is a controversial treatment approach with unknown risk-to-benefit ratios. Information about this subject was obtained from a retrospective follow-up study of 58 patients who received this form of treatment 1 to 11 years earlier (average 6 years). Assessments of the patients were made by invesgators external to the surgical treatment system, using structured psychiatric interviews, neuropsychological tests, and EEGs. In addition, global assessments were made, comparing pre- versus postoperative status. The objective data revealed no indication of worsening or damage with similar pre- and postoperative test scores and EEG features. Computer-scored interviews revealed considerable psychopathology in the ambulatory patients. Overall judgments of behavior, seizures, and functional levels indicated that more than a third of the group was probably improved, although the relationship of outcome to the surgery was indeterminate.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1976

Manic depressive illness: onset, diurnal temperature and season of birth.

Fifty-six carefully diagnosed manic-depressive patients were evaluated seeking a relationship between onset of the illness, diurnal temperature variation, and month and season of birth. With respect to diurnal temperature variation, we were able to discover no significant change in the difference between the high and low temperature as the time of onset of each episode of the illness approached, but there was a trend for the high-low temperature difference to decrease as time of onset approached. Occurrence of episodes was seasonally distributed with significantly more hospitalizations in winter and spring and fewer in summer and fall. The cohort of manic-depressive patients was not different from the Indiana population generally with respect to season of birth.

Bipolar Disorder↗

PubMed1975

Familial associations with EEG variants in manic-depressive disease.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) studies of 60 patients with bipolar manic-depressive disease disclosed an incidence of small sharp spikes plus a few other variations in 47% of the sample. In women these EEG features were significantly associated with a history of mental illness in the patient's mother or the maternal side of the family and an absence of mental disorder in the fathers. The reverse was true of women probands without these EEG characteristics. In the men small sharp spikes did not relate to parental psychopathology but half of the sisters of men with these EEG characteristics were found to be mentally ill. On the basis of these observations and previous work, we hypothesize that the small sharp spike EEG pattern might be an inherited characteristic related in some way to the familal transmission of manic-depressive disease.

Adult↗

PubMed1973