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Biomedical subjects

J Bartko

Publications and source records attributed to J Bartko.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Relationship of psychobiological variables to recidivism in violent offenders and impulsive fire setters. A follow-up study.

Fifty-eight violent offenders and impulsive fire setters were followed up for an average of 3 years after release from prison. Recidivists who committed a new violent offense or arson had significantly lower cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and homovanillic acid concentrations and blood glucose nadirs after oral glucose challenge than did nonrecidivists. A discriminant analysis, based on the blood glucose nadir and cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid concentration, correctly classified 84.2% of the subjects.

Adult↗

Psychobiological concomitants of history of suicide attempts among violent offenders and impulsive fire setters.

Psychobiological data on 58 violent offenders and impulsive fire setters were analyzed for associations with history of suicide attempts. Subjects with a history of suicide attempts serious enough to require an admission to a medical facility had significantly lower mean cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol concentrations than subjects who had not made such attempts. A linear discriminant function analysis based on psychobiological and behavioral variables correctly classified 79% of the subjects according to the suicide attempt history positive and negative outcomes.

Adult↗

Automatic and effortful processing in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Twenty-five boys with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and 23 age-matched controls were compared on verbal memory tasks differentiating automatic versus effortful information processing. Automatic processing tasks included the recognition of new or old words in a list and the recognition of frequency of occurrence of words in a list. Effortful tasks included free recall of lists of both related and unrelated words. Hyperactive boys did not differ from controls in automatic processing capabilities but demonstrated significantly poorer effortful processing. Intercorrelations of the variables revealed high correlations between scores on effortful measures and also raise questions about the purity of automaticity in some tasks employed. Stepwise discriminant analysis demonstrated that free recall of related words (an effortful task) best discriminated between groups. Effort-related processing in hyperactive and normal children is discussed in relation to variables of motivation, affect, arousal, and other higher-order cognitive processes.

Arousal↗

The use of ambulatory services by persons with and without phobia.

The delivery of ambulatory mental health and general health services to persons with phobias (unweighted n = 1,689) and without phobias during a 6-month period are examined. The phobics were part of a larger study of 18,572 subjects, drawn as a representative sample of the population in five locations, as part of the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program (ECA). Among phobic conditions, agoraphobia most often leads to use of services related to emotional problems, especially in the specialty mental health sector. There were no significant differences between male and female subjects in their use of the various sectors for a mental health reason. The highest age group of agoraphobics that used health services most often was 25-44 years old, and the group that used them least often was 65 years and older. Agoraphobics with four or more symptoms of panic use services in higher proportions than agoraphobics with zero to three panic symptoms. The authors observe that a very large proportion of phobics report seeking no help from any source.

Adolescent↗

The diagnosis of childhood hyperactivity. A U.S.-U.K. cross-national study of DSM-III and ICD-9.

The unequal prevalence of hyperactivity in Britain and the U.S. was investigated with a cross-national diagnostic study. Case histories of 6-11-yr-old boys were evaluated by British and American research teams as well as British and American clinician panels using both ICD-9 and DSM-III. Interrater agreement was acceptably high only for the specially trained research teams. ICD-9 generated fewer diagnoses of Hyperkinetic Syndrome than did DSM-III of Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity. The difference was greatest for U.K. clinicians. Diagnostic scheme and clinician training both contribute to the difference in reported rates.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

Five antidepressant treatments in depressed patients. Effects on urinary serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid output.

The 24-hour urinary serotonin (5-HT) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) outputs were repeatedly measured in 21 patients with major affective disorders after a minimum of three weeks free of drug treatments and at steady state during subsequent antidepressant treatments or during the second week after a series of electroconvulsive treatments (ECTs). The 5-HIAA outputs were more variable over time than the outputs of major catecholamine metabolites, previously studied by us. Patients with rapid mood cycles excreted large amounts of 5-HT. Lithium carbonate and ECTs reduced the outputs of 5-HT and 5-HIAA, respectively. Lithium carbonate also stabilized the output of 5-HT. No common effect of different antidepressant treatments on indole outputs was found.

Antidepressive Agents↗

Reliability of norepinephrine and major monoamine metabolite measurements in CSF of schizophrenic patients.

Concentrations of norepinephrine, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol, homovanillic acid, and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were quantified in the CSF of 28 drug-free schizophrenic patients. Fifteen patients provided more than one drug-free sample on separate occasions. Considerable intraindividual variability over time was found in the concentrations of norepinephrine and these major monoamine metabolites in the repeated samples. This was not explained by assay errors or changes in the patient's global psychosis ratings. The variability in the present sample for CSF 5-HIAA concentrations was almost twice as wide as has been reported for patients with affective disorder. Variables that contribute much of the variability of norepinephrine and major monoamine metabolite concentrations in drug-free CSF samples from schizophrenic patients remain unknown and cannot be controlled.

Adult↗

[Toxoplasmosis of sheep in the lowland region of Western Slovakia].

The author describes the serological demonstration of toxoplasma antibodies in sheep of ten flocks kept in the lowland region of western Slovakia. The results of serological examination by the complement-fixation reaction (CFR) were positive in different degrees in nine flocks. In the remaining flock the blood of the sheep was not found to contain such antibodies. At the locality L. the author selected a small group of serologically positive sheep from the group of animals to be slaughtered and he studied the CFR values of antibodies in the course of nine months. Toxoplasma strain denoted as H-1 was isolated from the brain of a ram of this group which had a 1 : 256 antibody titre in the blood. This strain was found to be highly virulent for white mice. Toxoplasma antibodies were also identified in the blood of exposed workers, in the blood of dogs, mice and sewer rats. The patho-anatomic picture and isolation of toxoplasma strains from the brain of dead sheep or their foetuses which had the antibodies in the blood before death -- all this demonstrated the occurrence of congenital infection.

Animals↗