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Biomedical subjects

L F Jarvik

Publications and source records attributed to L F Jarvik.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Morphine, experimental pain, and psychological reactions.

This study examines the effects of morphine (10 mg/70 kg body weight) versus placebo (isotonic saline) on experimentally induced cold pressor pain threshold and tolerance, on self-reports of psychological states and drug effects, observer ratings of psychological states, and performance on timed cognitive-motor tasks in 20 non-drug using, normal male volunteers (21-28 years of age). Morphine increased both threshold and tolerance for cold pressor pain, and also increased "euphoric" and decreased "clear thinking" responses on the respective scales. Morphine, in contrast to placebo, increased scores on depression, fatigue, and cognitive loss-dysfunction scales and decreased scores on carefree and "friendliness" scales. Three sets of psychological variables were observed to covary significantly: Measures of anxiety and hostility; reports of fatigue and cognitive dysfunction; and reports of carefree feelings and perceptions of clear thinking. While measures of hostility, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction covaried positively, reports of carefree feelings and perception of clear thinking covaried negatively with increased pain threshold and tolerance. Anxiety, contrary to reports in the literature, also covaried positively with the pain measures. The results were interpreted as supporting a relationship between increased arousal of the nervous system and decreased pain sensitivity in conjunction with the known analgesic effects of morphine.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

X chromatin and chromosome examination in aged women.

X chromatin frequencies were compared between aged, middle-aged and young women and statistically significant decrease in frequency was found in the aged as compared to the middle-aged and the young women. For a subsample of aged women results of chromosome examinations were also available which allowed comparison of the frequencies of X chromatin and monosomy C; no significant correlation emerged. This latter finding indicates that karyotypic analysis is necessary for the determination of monosomy C; and that X chromatin counts from buccal mucosal cells cannot be substituted for the examination of karyotypes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

"Critical loss" in the eighth and ninth decades.

Data from the last survivors of the New York State Psychiatric Institute Twin study were examined to determine if the previously identified relationship between "critical loss" and 5-year survivorship still held true for persons in their eighth and ninth decades of life. Twenty-two subjects (age range 83 to 99 years) were tested in 1973 and by 1978, 12 had died, making it possible to retrospectively examine the relationship between survivorship and critical loss. "Critical loss" did not distinguish survivors from decedents, but presence or absence of OBS did distinguish the groups, with seven of eleven decedents and none of eight survivors being so diagnosed. Survivors did not differ significantly from non-survivors in annual rate of decline on any of the three "critical loss" tests (Vocabulary, Similarities, Digit Symbol Substitution), though survivors had higher mean scores on all three tests.

Aged↗
PubMed1981

First-year medical students and the aging patient: a curricular model.

First-year medical students at UCLA are introduced to the special health problems of the elderly by a process in which they interview symptomatic volunteers at both extended care and ambulatory care facilities. In. addition, they interview healthy elderly volunteers to gain information on gerontology and lifespan development, with supplementation from selected readings, films, lectures and panels. This curricular model seems effective in reducing prejudice about the aged and in training future physicians to render humane competent care in the field of geriatrics.

Aged↗
PubMed1981

Diagnosis and treatment of dementia in the aged.

Dementia affects an estimated 5 percent of the population 65 years of age and older, with 20 percent being affected at 75 years or older. Although the most common forms, primary degenerative and multi-infarct dementia, currently lack specific treatments, it is estimated that a thorough diagnostic evaluation will uncover a treatable cause in 10 percent to 20 percent. The differential diagnosis includes benign senescent forgetfulness, depression, adjustment disorder, paranoid states, amnestic syndrome, delirium, drug effects, systemic illnesses and intracranial conditions. The approach to each patient involves a history, physical examination, mental status evaluation and laboratory tests that focus on identifying treatable conditions. When no specific treatments are available, however, symptomatic treatments, including pharmacotherapy, environmental management, family supports and psychotherapy, can offer relief for both patients and their families and improve the daily functioning of the elderly patient with dementia.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

Organic brain syndrome and aging. A six-year follow-up of surviving twins.

The development of organic brain syndrome (OBS) was studied in a small group of survivors from a longitudinal investigation of aging twins. At the time of initial evaluation, the frequency of moderate to severe OBS was 25%. Among the 22 survivors who had a second psychiatric evaluation after approximately six years, the corrected rate for the development of OBS among those without it at the initial examination was 16%. Thus, the vast majority of those diagnosed as being without OBS at about the age of 80 years remained asymptomatic in subsequent years, supporting the view that OBS is not a necessary concomitant of old age, but the result of disease for which prevention and cure should be sought. Persons originally diagnosed as having OBS had the higher mortality, an observation in accord with prior reports in the literature. In the present study, the increased mortality was related to the severity of OBS but apparently independent of coexisting physical illness, again supporting the argument that OBS represents pathological as distinct from physiological aging.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

Depression, physical health and somatic complaints in the elderly: a study of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.

The relationships between depression, measured by the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), somatic symptoms based on self-reports, and health based on medical evaluations, were investigated in 60 depressed older persons (median age 64.5 years) in relatively good physical health. No relationship was found between health ratings and depression scores, but a significant association emerged between a Somatic Symptom subscale, specifically the single item of fatiguability, physicians' ratings of health, and depression scores. Results of factor analyses of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale were similar to those reported in previous studies and indicated a factor structure apparently based on the positioning of the positively and negatively worded items. It is suggested, therefore, that further investigations be carried out to evaluate the possible response bias on this scale.

Aged↗
PubMed1979

Anxiety, aging and the third emergency reaction.

Severe anxiety, unlike severe depression, is not common among the aged. In view of the multitude of stresses accompanying later life and considering the fact that lack of success in mastering stress typically produces anxiety, one should expect a high frequency of anxiety among the aged. To explain the deficit, it is proposed that those who survive into old age have developed strategies to successfully deal with stress, that among these strategies is a passive stance, termed "freeze," and that "freeze" is a third emergency reaction, one which was omitted from the fight-flight paradigm of emergency reactions.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1978

Chromosomes in patients receiving methadone and methadyl acetate.

Chromosomes of peripheral leukocytes were examined in 28 addicts participating in a Veterans Administration-Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) cooperative study of methadyl acetate vs methadone. Blood samples for 72-hour leukocyte cultures were drawn after nearly 40 weeks of maintenance therapy while subjects were receiving active medication. For comparison, ten nondrug users were also studied. The frequency of chromosome damage was not greater in subjects maintained on methadyl acetate or methadone than in nondrug users.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Hypodiploidy and serum immunoglobulin concentrations in the elderly.

Chromosome analyses and Ig level determinations were carried out on seventeen aged men and women, 83--100 years of age. In men, significant correlations were found between hypodiploidy and IgA (gamma = 0.95) and between monosomy C and IgG (gamma = 0.79) while in women, monosomy G and IgG were significantly correlated (gamma = 0.73). The emergence of significant correlations between chromosome loss and Ig levels in this study provides support for a relationship between age-associated chromosomal changes in T cells and the immunologic response of B cells.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Gerovital-H3: a clinical trial as an antidepressant.

Twenty-five volunteers, all in their fifth decade or beyond, all with mild to moderate, nonpsychotic depression of at least several months' duration participated in a double-blind study of Gerovital vs placebo. There was no significant difference between the Gerovital and placebo groups; both groups showed significant improvement on self-rating as well as observer rating scales.

Aged↗
PubMed1977

In vitro effects of imipramine on proliferation of human leukocytes.

The effects of imipramine hydrochloride on cell proliferation were investigated in leukocyte cultures derived from normal volunteers. Nine different doses of imipramine were added in vitro at random for 4, 24, 48, and 68 hours, the three lowest concentrations being within the range of plasma levels reported in psychiatric patients receiving the drug therapeutically. Cell proliferations, as measured by mitotic index, was affected by both the concentration and the duration of drug exposure; the higher the dose and/or the longer the drug in culture, the lower the mitotic index. Imipramine concentrations corresponding to therapeutic plasma levels had no effect on mitotic index regardless of the length of exposure.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Marijuana exposure in vivo and human lymphocyte chromosomes.

Sequential chromosome examinations of peripheral lymphocte cultures were carried out on 21 adult male volunteers who smoked natural blend marijuana cigarettes containing about 1%, 2%, or no delta9-THC. For a limited number of subjects, blood samples from a single venipuncture were cultured independently in two cytogenetic laboratories, and later the slides were exchaged for re-analysis. There were significant differences between laboratories in the absolute break frequencies recorded. These inter-laboratory differences were demonstrated for both techniques of cell culture and metaphase analysis. Neither laboratory found a statistically significant increase in break frequencies asssociated with marijuana smoking. The present study, therefore, failed to detect a measurable effect of marijuana smoking on chromosomal aberrations in subjects experienced in the use of the drug.

Adult↗