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Biomedical subjects

J K Levy

Publications and source records attributed to J K Levy.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Consultation-liaison psychiatry and HIV-related disorders.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and related disorders are increasingly and unsettlingly prevalent. The authors describe neuropsychiatric, psychosocial, and ethical-legal problems associated with HIV infections that are commonly encountered in a consultation-liaison psychiatry setting. Because of HIV's potential for undermining cognitive function, they recommend a systematic neurobehavioral assessment for the differential diagnosis of emotional disturbance, including a test battery that also identifies neurotoxic effects of pharmacological agents. Among significant psychosocial and ethical-legal problems are patient's reactions to AIDS, their fears of social abandonment, staff burn-out, antibody testing, confidentiality, and the use of life-support measures. The consultation-liaison psychiatrist's awareness of the complexities of HIV-related neuropsychiatric symptoms and psychosocial issues can be of enormous benefit to medical caregivers and to the patients themselves.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Management of delirium in terminally ill AIDS patients.

Delirium is the most common neuropsychiatric complication of hospitalized AIDS patients. Typically, delirium is multifactorial in etiology and a complete evaluation to rule out all treatable, contributable medical conditions should be the first stage in the approach to a delirious AIDS patient. While a search for probable cause is underway, the next goal of treatment should be sedation. To help clinicians recognize and manage delirium in advanced HIV disease, we describe our experience with 206 AIDS patients.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Psychostimulant response in AIDS-related complex patients.

Methylphenidate or dextroamphetamine was used to treat 17 of 32 patients with AIDS-related complex who were referred for neuropsychiatric evaluation of symptoms representative of cognitive and/or affective dysfunction. All 17 patients were found to have some degree of cognitive impairment. Psychiatric diagnoses included organic mental disorder (8), adjustment disorder (5), and major depression (4). The 17 patients were receiving no other psychoactive or neurotoxic medications nor were they receiving concomitant investigational antiviral or chemotherapeutic agents. Clinical response to psychostimulant therapy was rated using the Efficacy Index of the Clinical Global Impressions. Pharmacotherapy with either psychostimulant was clinically effective in improving affective parameters in 89.5% (15) of the 17 patients, with 79% (13) of the 17 achieving a moderate to marked response. No adverse side effects were encountered.

AIDS-Related Complex↗
PubMed1988

Response of HIV-related depression to psychostimulants: case reports.

Four depressed and cognitively impaired patients with HIV-related disease had a marked therapeutic response to treatment with psychostimulants. Use of dextroamphetamine and methylphenidate brought a prompt remission of depressive and cognitive dysfunctions without adverse side effects. The results suggest the need for further evaluation of psychostimulants in the treatment of HIV patients whose depression proceeds from an affective disturbance (either primary or secondary) or from a specific organic mental disorder. The importance of neuropsychiatric assessment of depressed HIV patients is stressed, and diagnostic and treatment guidelines are given.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1979

Effect of macular ablation on vertical optokinetic nystagmus in the squirrel monkey.

After macular ablation in squirrel monkeys, a significant improvement of the slow-phase eye speed of vertical optokinetic nystagmus (VOKN) was found. This findings is in contrast to the result of our previous study in which horizontal optokinetic nystagmus (HOKN) was not improved following macular ablation. The different influence of macular ablation on HOKN and VOKN could be due to the directional characteristics of vestibular and visual interaction relative to the direction of gravity and to the difference in horizontal and vertical vestibulo-oculomotor neural pathways, including vestibular end-organs. The vertical directional dominance which was observed preoperatively was similarly observed in the postablative status; the upward slow-phase nystagmus was easier to provoke than the downward nystagmus by application of an identical stimulus.

Acoustic Maculae↗
PubMed1979

Effect of exercise upon locomotor balance modification after peripheral vestibular lesions (unilateral utricular neurotomy) in squirrel monkeys.

In this study, we placed unilateral utricular nerve section and measured the locomotor equilibrium function (deviation counts of the animal's trotting gait) by the squirrel monkey platform runway test. We applied physical exercise, both preoperatively (3 weeks) and postoperatively. 21 young adult squirrel monkeys were randomly assigned to three groups (7 each): rotating cage exercise (continuous trotting in the motor-driven rotating cage) group, rail-traversing exercise (60 running shuttles on the rotating rail) group, and control nonexercise group. After the statistical analyses on data it was found that the physical exercise showed some effect; however, the type, daily amount, and number of days applied must be quite substantial.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Locomotor dysfunction after surgical lesions in the unilateral vestibular nuclei region in squirrel monkeys.

The present experimental results in squirrel monkeys indicated that the performance of psycho-physically advanced locomotor task (squirrel monkey rail test) was severely impaired after the placement of the medium to relatively large surgical lesions in the unilateral vestibular nuclei area, and therefore, confirmed that this brain-stem structure is essential for the signal relay and/or input coordination. The severest locomotor disability was found 10-14 days after the surgery; thereafter, squirrel monkeys showed very gradual and only limited degree of performance recovery. The post-ablative performance levels were no better than 1/5 of their pre-ablative performance levels.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Comparative toxicity of netilmicin and gentamicin in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus).

Netilmicin was found to be less toxic than gentamicin when administered at comparable dosage levels to squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). This finding is based upon data obtained from the following determinations: length of survival period; change in body weight; observation of general change in behavior after daily injection; ataxia, as measured by the squirrel monkey platform-runway test; acoustic reflex threshold; levels of blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine (and pathology of the kidney); and microbiological antibiotic assay.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1977

Electrodermal response in the squirrel monkey.

An effort to find evidence of electrodermal response in the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus), as found in man, some infra-human genera of Simiae, and some lower mammals and amphibians, failed to locate an example. Given anatomical considerations, the availability of this response in Saimiri was suspected. In this study, using the skin conductance (constant voltage) method, monophasic electrodermal response as a result of novel or startle stimuli presentation was detected and a range of skin conductance level for test cases was determined.

Animals↗