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Biomedical subjects

L Bellodi

Publications and source records attributed to L Bellodi.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Hypersensitivity to inhalation of carbon dioxide and panic attacks.

Thirteen healthy subjects with infrequent panic attacks and without agoraphobia who did not meet DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder, 43 patients with panic disorder, and 43 healthy control subjects who never experienced panic attacks underwent one vital capacity inhalation of 35% CO2. Healthy subjects with infrequent panic attacks reacted similarly to patients with panic disorder and more strongly than healthy subjects who never experienced panic attacks. The results suggest that (a) subjects with sporadic unexpected panic attacks and patients with panic disorder belong to the same spectrum of vulnerability and (b) CO2 hypersensitivity might be a trait marker of panic attacks rather than of a clinical diagnosis of panic disorder.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1995

Menstrual cycle-related sensitivity to 35% CO2 in panic patients.

In a double blind, random, cross-over design, 10 patients and seven controls inhaled one vital capacity of 35% CO2-65% O2 during their early-follicular and midluteal phases. Anxiety after CO2 intake was significantly stronger in the early-follicular phase than in the midluteal phase for patients. Controls had no anxiety reactions.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1995

Frontal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder: a neuropsychological study.

Converging evidence suggests there is a specific role of dorso-lateral-prefrontal cortex (DLPC) in schizophrenic disorders and of orbito-frontal cortex (OFC) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Here, 25 schizophrenic and 25 OCD patients were evaluated with Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Object Alternation Test; neuropsychological tools sensitive to DLPC and OFC damage, respectively; and compared with 25 subjects of a control group. Moreover, they all underwent Weigl's Sorting Test and the Word Fluency Test to assess global frontal functioning. The results indicated a DLPC deficit in schizophrenia and an OFC involvement in OCD. These data suggest that functional disorders of the central nervous system can be explored with neuropsychological instruments.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Alpha 2-adrenergic receptor sensitivity in panic disorder: I. GH response to GHRH and clonidine stimulation in panic disorder.

Baseline levels of GH and somatomedin C (SmC) and GH responses to GHRH (1 microgram/kg b.w.) and to clonidine (150 micrograms) were measured in 10 outpatients with panic disorder before and after 30 days of 2-2.5 mg of alprazolam therapy, and in 10 psychophysically healthy controls. Basal levels of GH were normal in the patients and those of SmC significantly elevated, both before and after therapy. Basal GH responses to GHRH stimulation were normal and did not change change after alprazolam treatment. Basal GH responses to clonidine stimulation were blunted in the patients and improved after therapy, in parallel with an amelioration of the psychopathology. Our data suggest that adrenoceptor sensitivity, investigated by the clonidine test, is reduced in panic disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Alpha 2-adrenergic receptor sensitivity in panic disorder: II. Cortisol response to clonidine stimulation in panic disorder.

The cortisol responses to acute administration of saline and of clonidine (Clon), 150 micrograms IV, were examined in 12 patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia, before and after 32 days of alprazolam therapy (2.5 mg/day), and in 12 normal controls. The responses in the Clon test corrected for the responses to saline differed in the two groups, and in patients were not changed by the therapy even though significant symptomatological improvement was achieved. The results suggest that presynaptic alpha 2- or postsynaptic alpha 1-beta-adrenoceptor sensitivity is impaired in panic disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

A family study of schizotypal disorder.

Direct, blind interviews were used to study the risk for and prevalence of DSM-III-R Axis I and II disorders in 93 first-degree relatives of outpatients with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) and outpatients with other personality disorders. Risks for SPD (at a slightly loosened diagnostic threshold) and schizoid personality disorder were significantly higher in the families of probands with SPD. Schizophrenia was present only among relatives of probands with SPD, accounting for a morbid risk of 4.1 percent. Neither familial risks for mood and anxiety disorders nor the prevalence of other Axis II disorders significantly differed in the two groups of relatives. It is suggested that SPD is a familial disorder representing a phenotypic expression of liability to schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Laboratory response of patients with panic and obsessive-compulsive disorders to 35% CO2 challenges.

OBJECTIVE: The DSM-III-R anxiety disorders section includes both panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. To evaluate the relationship between these two disorders, subject responses to inhalation of a 35% CO2 and 65% O2 mixture were assessed. METHODS: Twenty-three patients with panic disorder, 23 with obsessive-compulsive disorder, 12 with both obsessive-compulsive and panic disorder, and 23 healthy comparison subjects were given a single vital capacity inhalation of 35% CO2 and 65% O2 or a placebo mixture of compressed air. A double-blind, random, crossover design was used. RESULTS: Patients with panic disorder and patients with both panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder showed similar strong anxiogenic reactions to 35% CO2; while patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder alone did not differ from comparison subjects. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm that obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder are two distinct syndromes and that patients with these disorders have different sensitivity to CO2 inhalation.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1995

Sensitivity to 35% CO2 in healthy first-degree relatives of patients with panic disorder.

OBJECTIVE: The authors tested the hypothesis that hyperreactivity to CO2 in healthy subjects represents an underlying familial vulnerability to panic disorder. METHOD: One vital-capacity inhalation of 35% CO2 and 65% O2 was administered to each of 84 patients with panic disorder, 23 healthy first-degree relatives of probands with panic disorder, and 44 healthy subjects with no family history of panic disorder. RESULTS: The first-degree relatives of the probands with panic disorder reacted significantly more than the healthy subjects and significantly less than the probands. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest an association between family history of panic disorder and hyperreactivity to 35% CO2 in healthy subjects.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1995

Age at onset of panic disorder: influence of familial liability to the disease and of childhood separation anxiety disorder.

OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated the relation of age at onset of panic disorder to liability to panic disorder and agoraphobia. METHOD: Two hundred thirty-one outpatients with panic disorder were compared with 131 surgical outpatients on demographic variables and familial risk of psychiatric disorders. The distribution of patients' ages at onset of panic disorder and several covariates were entered in a stepwise survival analysis. RESULTS: The patients with panic disorder had a significantly higher rate of childhood separation anxiety disorder and higher familial risks of panic disorder/panic disorder with agoraphobia and alcoholism. A family history of panic disorder with agoraphobia and the presence of childhood separation anxiety disorder influenced age at onset of panic disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Age at onset of panic disorder may reflect genetic penetrance, and separation anxiety disorder may be an individual predictor of earlier onset of panic disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

[18F]FDG PET study in obsessive-compulsive disorder. A clinical/metabolic correlation study after treatment.

BACKGROUND: We used [18F]FDG and PET in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to evaluate cerebral metabolic involvement before and after treatment with serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors. METHOD: In 11 untreated, drug-free adults, regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (rCMRglu) was compared with that of 15 age-matched normal controls. RESULTS: rCMRglu values were significantly increased in the cingulate cortex, thalamus and pallidum/putamen complex. After treatment a significant improvement in obsessive-compulsive symptoms on the Y-BOC scale (t = 3.59, P < 0.01) was associated with a significant bilateral decrease of metabolism in the whole cingulate cortex (P < 0.001). Clinical and metabolic data were significantly intercorrelated (Kendall's tau = 0.65; P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that OCD is associated with functional hyperactivity of a selected neuronal network and that treatment to reduce symptoms may have a selective neuromodulatory effect on cingulate cortex.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Subclinical impairment of lung airways in patients with panic disorder.

Lung function was assessed in 17 panic patients and 20 healthy controls. Panic patients had abnormal values for some dynamic lung volumes, namely Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR), Expiratory Flow at 75% of Vital Capacity (FEF75) and Maximum Mid-Expiratory Flow Rate (MMEF). Such functional abnormalities might indicate subclinical obstruction of lung airways, possibly relevant to the mechanisms related to panic disorder (PD).

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Lack of association between obsessive-compulsive disorder and the dopamine D3 receptor gene: some preliminary considerations.

Controversial results possibly suggesting an association between Tourette's Syndrome (TS) and excess of homozygosity at a Msc I polymorphism in the Dopamine D3 receptor (DRD3) gene have recently been reported. Since a relationship between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Tourette's Syndrome (TS) has been suggested, in this study we assessed the frequency of this 2-allele polymorphism in a sample of 97 OCD patients and in 97 control subjects. No statistically significant differences in allele or genotype frequencies were found. Thus this mutation in the coding sequence of the DRD3 gene is unlikely to confer susceptibility to OCD.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Plasma interleukin-1 beta concentrations in panic disorder.

Plasma interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) concentrations were measured in 10 outpatients with panic disorder before and on days 30 and 32 of treatment with alprazolam (2-2.5 mg/day). IL-1 beta concentrations were found to be significantly higher in patients than in control subjects both before and during therapy. Thus, IL-1 beta levels may be a marker of panic disorder that is not related to the current level of symptomatology.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Carbon dioxide/oxygen challenge test in panic disorder.

The effects of a single inhalation of a 35% CO2/65% O2 gas mixture were examined in 71 patients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia and 44 normal control subjects. Compared with the placebo condition, inhalation of air, the CO2/O2 mixture elicited a clear anxiety reaction only in panic disorder patients, who experienced a sudden rise of subjective anxiety as well as of several panic symptoms. Respiratory symptoms and the fear of dying best distinguished the patients from the control subjects. Baseline anxiety was not the key factor in explaining this differential reaction. The clinical features of panic disorder (namely, frequency of panic attacks, agoraphobia, anticipatory anxiety, and duration of illness) were not significantly related to the response to the challenge test, suggesting that CO2 reactivity might be a trait marker of panic disorder.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1994

An assessment of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test as an indicator of liability to schizophrenia.

In order to test the hypothesis that a poor performance in the Wisconsin test (WCST) may be an indicator of liability to schizophrenia, we compared the WCST performances of patients with DSM III-R schizophrenia, normal controls, and patients with schizotypal personality disorder (SZT PD). While schizophrenic patients performed significantly worse than subjects in the other two groups, schizotypal and normal subjects showed no significant differences in the WCST execution. Moreover, patients with SZT PD with or without positive family history for the schizophrenic spectrum had similar WCST performances. Our observations are in keeping with other studies employing the WCST in paradigms of heightened liability to schizophrenia, and suggest that a poor performance in the test is more probably a feature of the disease process, than a trait marker of vulnerability to the illness demonstrable in high-risk subjects.

Adult↗