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Biomedical subjects

J Zubin

Publications and source records attributed to J Zubin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Pupillary constriction during haloperidol treatment as a predictor of relapse following drug withdrawal in schizophrenic patients.

It has been proposed that the autonomic nervous system is dysregulated in schizophrenia. We hypothesized that measures of autonomic function, even during neuroleptic stabilization, might predict relapse following withdrawal of medication. Previously, shorter latencies to maximum pupillary constriction have been reported to differentiate acutely hospitalized schizophrenic patients from control subjects. Pupillary light reactions were recorded weekly from 19 chronic schizophrenic inpatients who were initially maintained on haloperidol and subsequently were withdrawn from medication under double-blind, placebo-controlled conditions. Patients were then classified as either relapsed or nonrelapsed (clinically stable) during the drug-free period. During the treatment phase, a shorter latency to maximum pupillary constriction significantly distinguished patients who were later to relapse from the nonrelapsers. The potential use of autonomic activity as an indicator of prodromal sensitivity was supported. In addition, these findings emphasize the need for classification of drug-free patients according to clinical status.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Beat-by-beat cardiac responses in normals and schizophrenics to events varying in conditional probability.

Anticipatory cardiac deceleration and poststimulus acceleration were studied in schizophrenic inpatients and controls during performance of a counting task. Reduced cardiac responding has been reported for schizophrenic patients for paradigms using relatively long intertrial intervals. During a relatively fast rate of stimulus presentation (3-s interstimulus interval), changes in cardiac interbeat interval were measured in 20 inpatient male chronic schizophrenics and 18 control volunteers. Subjects counted an infrequent tone which was always followed by at least one frequent tone. Control subjects showed significant anticipatory cardiac deceleration preceding the unpredictable tones, whereas patients did not show a differential cardiac deceleration. Control subjects showed poststimulus acceleration that was inversely proportional to the conditional probability of events, whereas patients exhibited greatly reduced poststimulus acceleration; patterns for both groups resembled findings previously observed for event-related potential and pupillary dilation data. Analysis of cardiac cycle time indicated significant variation in primary bradycardia associated with the delay between stimuli and immediately preceding R-waves in controls (replicating Lacey & Lacey, 1980), with only an immediate bradycardia at stimulus reception for patients regardless of cardiac cycle time. The data reinforce the notion that the manner in which information is used by schizophrenics, as reflected by cardiac responsivity, differs both quantitatively and qualitatively from that of controls.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1992

Dissociation of neurocognitive deficits in a monozygotic twin pair concordant for schizophrenia.

Cognitive impairment varies markedly among schizophrenic individuals, although the reason for this is unknown. A monozygotic twin pair concordant for schizophrenia was evaluated using electrophysiological and neurobehavioral measures. Each twin showed a distinctive pattern of deficits; furthermore, clinical course and electrophysiological activity were not consonant with social and neurobehavioral functioning. Results suggest complex interrelationships between neurocognitive functioning and clinical presentation in schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Cardiac responsivity in individuals at high risk for alcoholism.

Heart rate was recorded from male siblings over the age of 30 who were members or either alcoholic or control families. Brothers from alcoholic families included both those with a diagnosis of alcoholism (n = 66) and those without such a diagnosis (n = 18). Control brothers (n = 33) were chosen for absences of any Axis I psychopathology including alcoholism in all first- and second-degree relatives. Subjects were engaged in two auditory tasks. All subjects were presented with high- and low-pitched tones with varying probabilities. In the first task (counting), subjects were told to count only the number of high tones. In the second task (choice reaction), subjects were asked to perform a simple motor response to each high or low tone. Prestimulus levels, anticipatory deceleration and acceleration were compared between the three groups. All members of the affected families, whether alcoholic themselves or not, were found to have a significantly higher baseline heart rate than members of control families. In addition, differences in the anticipatory deceleration were greater in control brothers than in brothers from the affected families for the counting task.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Hospitalization and the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. The influences of age and education.

The study investigated the relationship between length of hospitalization and increasing cognitive deficit in schizophrenics. Using Halstead-Reitan Battery data obtained from 245 schizophrenic patients, multiple regression analyses were performed using age, education, and length of hospitalization as independent variables and various summary test indices as dependent variables. These analyses showed that there was not a statistically significant change in percentage of explained variance when length of hospitalization was entered into the multiple regression equations. On the basis of these analyses, it was concluded that the association between increasing deficit and length of hospitalization experienced by schizophrenic patients is no greater than what would be anticipated on the basis of aging.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Personality resemblance in relatives of male alcoholics: a comparison with families of male control cases.

The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) was administered to members of nuclear families in which alcoholism was segregating and another set of nuclear families in which no psychiatric illness, including alcoholism, was present. Intraclass correlations were calculated for pairs of relatives from the alcoholic families and compared with those obtained for control families. For particular traits, the correlations obtained for pairs of relatives from both family types were larger than those previously reported for dizygotic twins. Particularly striking was the absence of positive correlations for siblings discordant for alcoholism as contrasted with individuals concordant for alcoholism. The results suggest that removing the discordant effects of psychopathology tends to increase the overall similarity between relatives. Finally, particular traits were found to be significantly correlated in both family types, suggesting that some personality characteristics may reflect greater genetic mediation, whereas others, not found in common across families, may reflect differences in familial environmental factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Event-related potential characteristics in children of alcoholics from high density families.

Sons and daughters (ages 8-14) of male alcoholics without psychiatric problems were compared with sons and daughters of controls employing two auditory paradigms to elicit event-related potentials (ERPs). All of the children of alcoholics were from high density families (each father had an average of 3.7 first and second-degree relatives meeting criteria for alcoholism). Subjects were presented with high- and low-pitched tones with global probabilities of 25% and 75% of total trials, respectively. Subjects were instructed to count silently the number of "high" tones (rare targets) but not the number of "low" tones (non-targets) and report the number heard. In a second auditory paradigm (Choice Reaction task), subjects were asked to perform a different motor response to each high or low tone. The amplitude of the P300 component was influenced significantly by event probability (decreased amplitudes were associated with increased event probability). A greater rate of decrease in P300 amplitude occurred among the high risk children as event probability increased. In addition, greater negativity beginning at approximately N250 was observed for both tasks at the frontal electrode for the high risk children as compared to controls. This enhanced frontal negativity is interpreted in terms of a maturational lag hypothesis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Suiting therapeutic intervention to the scientific models of aetiology.

There appear to be three central themes: first, the contrast between quantitative knowledge and qualitative; second, the fact that biological factors are allowed for but psychosocial are neglected; and third that we have not come very far in matching treatment to aetiological theories. Psychotherapy is really the treatment side of the psychosocial model for aetiology (ecological, developmental and learning). We should not overlook the fact that a good therapist is really a teacher who opens up new options which the patient was not previously aware of, and which aid the patient in finding his or her own coping strategies that will provide 'natural healing'. The poorer therapist may, perhaps, lean too heavily on the phenothiazines alone believing that something must be 'done to' the patient who is nothing more than a mass of circuits and chemicals, rather than enlisting his or her help to try new strategies for coping. This could all be related to our plea that we not overlook the qualitative side of things. Perhaps, we will one day quantify the interactional aspects of patients and therapists so that we know why the same therapy, e.g. cognitive behavioural, works with one therapist and not another. Of course, too often we assume that it is poor matching between the type of therapy used and the particular patient, when, in fact, it may be a poor match between therapist and patient. This is again, another example of those intangible qualitative factors that are so important.

Humans↗
PubMed1988

Event-related potentials as markers for alcoholism risk in high density families.

One hundred sixty-eight adult siblings and parents from affected and control families were tested for ERP characteristics using two tasks involving an auditory oddball paradigm. Significant within family differences among affected families suggest that risk for developing alcoholism may be seen even in adult subjects who have had experience consuming alcohol. Further, analysis of quantity and recency of drinking in the past seven days were not correlated with either amplitude or latency of P300, suggesting that the within-family differences observed reflect relative risk for developing alcoholism rather than experience with alcohol.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Static ataxia as a psychobiological marker for alcoholism.

Sons and daughters of male alcoholics were compared with the sons and daughters of controls on two measures of static ataxia. Increased sway was seen in the children of the alcoholic fathers who had an average of 3.7 first- and second-degree relatives meeting criteria for alcoholism. The possibility that static ataxia may be a psychobiological marker for the more genetically mediated variant of alcoholism is discussed.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1987

Chronicity in schizophrenia: fact, partial fact, or artifact?

Clinical experience has appeared to support the view that persons with repeated episodes of schizophrenia can expect to have a chronic course with residual symptoms and lasting deficits in such areas as work, social relations, and self-care. However, the authors' review of recent long-term follow-up studies and of the clinical experiences of early researchers strongly challenges this pervasive expectation. This report suggests that there is considerable heterogeneity in the long-term outcome of schizophrenia, with marginal or deteriorated states more the exception than the rule. Among the contributors to the misperception of chronicity are biased sampling, both past and present, as well as a multitude of environmental and psychosocial factors that affect patient outcome.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed1986

Biological markers for alcoholism: a vulnerability model conceptualization.

As the foregoing review indicates, we have made considerable progress in identifying a number of promising metabolic, behavioral, and neurophysiological markers for assessing risks for developing alcoholism. As previously noted, the term "marker" has been extended beyond its current usage in genetic marker studies where typically a blood marker has been used to elucidate the genetic transmission of particular diseases. In these studies the "ideal" marker is one which is itself an inherited characteristic that is polymorphic (there exist two or more discrete forms that are commonly found in the population), has an established mode of inheritance, is unaffected by the presence of the episode (e.g., the ABO system is unaffected by presence of a disorder), and is localizable to a particular chromosome. Few potential markers satisfy all these requirements, yet it is important to keep this in mind as we search for "markers" for vulnerability to developing alcoholism. We have proposed a vulnerability model for alcoholism in an attempt to sort out which potential markers hold promise for identifying individuals who are at risk. We have chosen to look at vulnerability from both biological and psychosocial perspectives realizing that some people may carry biological markers as part of their genetic heritage yet never develop episodes of abusive drinking because they lack psychosocial vulnerability. For example, women appear less likely to develop alcoholism than men because of cultural factors that reduce the chance that they will become heavy drinkers. The greater risk for heavy drinking among men than women appears, however, to be independent of the particular cultures. As mentioned earlier, among the 30 cultures assessed for male and female drinking practices, in no instance did women drink more than men, and in 16 men drank more than women. In the vulnerability model proposed, we assume that alcoholism is not a continuous disorder but that vulnerability, whether biological or psychosocial, is. This vulnerability may remain latent throughout life or may become manifest when triggers sufficient to produce an episode occur. These triggers may be life events or changes in the internal milieu. For example, biological changes may well produce a major affective disorder which in turn may lead to alcohol abuse. That some individuals have only one major episode of abusive drinking and never return to excessive use of alcohol attests to the fact that alcoholism should not be conceived of as a lifelong disease. Therapeutic intervention should be aimed at preventing its initial occurrence or its recurrence.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adoption↗