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Biomedical subjects

J Levine

Publications and source records attributed to J Levine.

At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Computer-aided classification and assessment of patients in multicenter trials.

The automated diagnostic procedure appears to be particularly suitable for clinical psychopharmacological trials since it provides a diagnostic definition and a psychopathological profile of patients assessed by various investigators of different centers where a different kind of psychopathology as well as different cultural, clinical and psychopharmacological backgrounds may be present. Furthermore, this procedure offers the possibility of reexamining and analyzing the characteristics of the experimental sample as related to the responses to the drugs. It also provides a new approach for solving some of the problems which play an important role in determining divergent results in clinical psychopharmacology such as that of patients selection and diagnostic definition. In the present study the automated diagnostic procedure derived by the scores of each item of I.M.P.S. and by factor scores are evaluated comparatively. The data reported show that the automated diagnosis should be based on the scores of single aspects of the symptomatology rather than on the basis of the factor scores.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted↗
PubMed1978

"Idiopathic" Bence-Jones proteinuria.

During a prospective screening for proteinuria in diabetic patients, isolated Bence-Jones proteinuria was detected in 2 cases. The first patient, a 52-year-old black female, was seen for evaluation of a slow but progressive weight loss which was attributed to poor adjustment of insulin therapy. The patient gained weight after an increase of the daily insulin administration. She had plasmocytosis in a bone marrow aspirate, but no other evidence of myelomatosis. The second patient, a 59-year-old black male who was seen for routine evaluation of his diabetes, had no clinical or laboratory evidence of myelomatosis. Although precise definition of these cases as "benign" or "idiopathic" Bence-Jones proteinuria is impossible without prolonged follow-up, at the time of presentation they appeared to fit this classification. This observation is one further example that isolated Bence-Jones proteinuria may be seen without any evidence of malignant B-cell dyscrasia.

Bence Jones Protein↗
PubMed1978

High density lipoproteins--correlation with cardiovascular disease in hemodialysis patients.

1) HDL levels are low in hemodialysis patients. 2) Lipid abnormalities do not correlate with the presence of CVD in hemodialysis patients. 3) Smoking may not effect blood lipid levels in hemodialysis patients. 4) Nandrolone decanoate may not play a role in CVD in hemodialysis patients. 5) Longer time on hemodialysis does not result in a decrease in triglyceride or increase in HDL levels.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Community residents and mental health center staff: assessment of program and priorities.

Mental health professionals have emphasized the importance of establishing priorities and goals and gearing the delivery of mental health services to the needs of area residents. Sound View-Throgs Neck Community Mental Health Center of New York has made such an effort to involve the community residents and the mental health center staff in establishing priorities for development of the new program for services in the community. We have outlined the methods of gathering such information, and implementation of the conclusions derived from the survey which has resulted in developing comprehensive children's services and a geriatric program in our catchment area.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Premorbid social competence and paranoid-nonparanoid status in female schizophrenic patients.

The relation between premorbid social competence and paranoid-nonparanoid status was examined in a sample of 300 female schizophrenic patients. The subjects were drawn from the same state hospital employed in an earlier study conducted with male patients. The female paranoid patients were found to have better premorbid adjustment histories than the female nonparanoids. Tentative evidence was presented suggesting that the difference in premorbid social competence between paranoid and nonparanoid groups was greater for first and second admission patients than for patients with three or more admissions. The results were discussed in the context of their relation to previous research in this area. Differences between the female and male studies were noted, and the implications of sex differences in social competence were discussed both in terms of conventional measures of social competence and of the competence construct itself.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1976

Marital therapy in groups. A comparative evaluation of behavioral and interactional formats.

A comparative evaluation was conducted in a community mental health center between two types of brief, marital therapy in groups. The experimental group of four couples was exposed to behavioral methods based on social learning principles. The primary interventions were (1) training the spouses in discriminating and monitoring the occurrence of pleasing events and behaviors; (2) behavioral rehearsal of communication skills using prompting, modelling, feedback, and "homework" assignments; and (3) contingency contracting. The comparison group of five couples was led in an interactional format with the leaders encouraging ventilation of feelings, problem-solving through discussion, and mutual support and feedback. Both groups were led by the same three clinicians. Outcome was measured on multiple levels before, during and immediately after treatment. Follow-up assessments were conducted at one, two, and six months after treatment. Response measures included the self report by clients on marital satisfaction; on consumer satisfaction with the treatment experience; on their observations of pleasing behaviors given and received as recorded on wrist counters; and direct observation of client via "live" time-sampling and coding of videotapes of problem-solving discussions before and after treatment. Results showed few differences between groups on the self-report measures; however, there were significant improvements by both groups on these measures after treatment which were maintained into the follow-up evaluation. The direct observational data indicated that the members in the behavioral group displayed significantly more positive and mutually supportive verbal and nonverbal behaviors in their interaction as a result of treatment.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1976

Infrared identification of maleic acid in pharmaceutical maleate salts.

Difficulties are encountered in the USP melting point identification test for maleic acid extracted from chlorpheniramine maleate. A general procedure is described for the isolation and infrared identification of the maleic acid moiety of pharmaceutical salts from drug substances or dosage forms. This procedure permits the concurrent infrared identification of the amine moiety.

Amines↗
PubMed1976

The initiation of long-term pharmacotherapy in schizophrenia: dosage and side effect comparisons between oral and depot fluphenazine.

This report focuses on two comparisons between oral and depot fluphenazine specifically FPZ decanoate: 1) can equivalent dosages for the two drugs be established and do these equivalencies change over six months of treatment; 2) what are the side effects seen with the two drugs during the early weeks of administration. Patients in the study receive either oral or depot FPZ as the active treatment but in order to preserve double blind conditions, they are also given the other treatment in placebo form. No dosage equivalence is established by the protocol, however, if dosage is adjusted, both forms must be changed and in the same direction. During the first weeks of treatment there is a linear relationship between the two dosage forms but a range of relatively low dosages of the oral compound (5-20 mg) is associated with a single dose (25 mg/q 3 weeks) of FPZ decanoate. At higher dosages of the oral drug the relationship is linear. Side effects of some kind are noted in over 60 percent of patients in both treatment groups after four weeks of treatment, while symptoms of at least moderate severity occur in almost 40 percent. Only symptoms involving the extrapyramidal system and sleep disturbance are observed in more than 20 percent of the patients. Benztropine was prescribed only if needed and was administered to 65% of patients. In general, those receiving benztropine had more side effects than those who did not. These differences reached significance for extrapyramidal symptoms and depression. Based on these data, we conclude that at the dosages used in this study there are no side effect differences between these two forms of fluphenazine in the early weeks of administration. Dosage equivalence between the two drugs can be set within the range of 5-60 mg/day oral and 12.5-100 mg/three weeks depot.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1976

Altered platelet function in diabetes mellitus.

An increased sensitivity of platelets to aggregation from ADP and epinephrine is described in diabetics with or without vascular disease. This sensitivity correlates with elevated levels on von Willebrand factor (vWF), which, in turn appears to be influenced by growth hormone. VWF activity correlates with previously described "plasma factor" activity. Platelets from diabetic subjects are more sensitive than platelets from normal subjects to arachidonic acid-induced aggregation. This sensitivity is abolished by aspirin, which is a prostaglandin synthetase (cyclo-oxygenase) inhibitor. Platelets from diabetc subjects synthesize increased amounts of PGE2-like material (iPGE) in response to ADP, epinephrine, collagen, and arachidonic acid. The latter finding suggests that a fundamental mechanism for increased platelet aggregation in diabetes is increased prostaglandin synthetase activity. Therapeutic endeavors that would lower growth hormone levels, vWF activity, and/or prostaglandin synthetase activity may be of benefit in the prophylaxis of diabetic vascular disease. Prospective studies are needed to explore these hypothesis, as are more studies on the precise mechanisms and platelet aggregation in diabetes mellitus.

Adenosine Diphosphate↗