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Biomedical subjects

M Alpert

Publications and source records attributed to M Alpert.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Facial asymmetry while posing positive and negative emotions: support for the right hemisphere hypothesis.

The purpose of this report was to examine facial asymmetry during the expression of positive and negative emotions. In addition, methodological factors in the study of facial asymmetry were considered. Subjects were 16 neurologically-healthy right-handed adult males, videotaped while posing eight facial expressions (positive and negative) under two conditions (verbal command and visual imitation). Separate asymmetry ratings of the two sides of the face were made by judges viewing normal or mirror-reversed versions of the videotape. There were no effects of valence, condition, or videotape orientation on the asymmetry ratings, and, in general, expressions were produced significantly more intensely on the left than the right side of the face. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the right cerebral hemisphere is dominant for the expression of facial emotion of both valences.

Dominance, Cerebral↗
PubMed1988

The spectrum of closed-head injuries in facial trauma victims: incidence and impact.

Little is known of the incidence of closed-head injury (CHI) associated with facial trauma. To study this problem, we conducted a retrospective review of 200 consecutive admissions to the University of Michigan Medical Center Emergency Department from 1980 to 1985 for treatment of acute facial fractures. All patients were admitted within 48 hours of injury (93% within 24 hours). Medical records were reviewed for age, sex, description, and circumstances of facial injury; assessment of loss of consciousness and anterograde amnesia; and associated intracranial or extracranial injuries. Seventy-three percent of the patients were men (mean age, 27.8 years). Etiologies, in descending order, were road traffic accidents (52%), assaults (22%), sports (14%), falls (7%), other injuries (3%), and gunshot wounds (2%). The incidence rate of CHI in our study was 55%. More than 90% of the head injuries were associated with the loss of consciousness of less than one hour. Risk factor analysis failed to demonstrate that an increased risk of CHI is associated with age, sex, or number of facial fractures. However, there was a one and one-halffold increased risk associated with patients involved in automobile accidents.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1988

Posed facial emotional expression in brain-damaged patients.

Posed emotional facial expression was examined in brain-damaged adults with right (RBD) or left (LBD) hemisphere cerebrovascular lesions and in matched normal controls (NC). Subjects were videotaped while posing eight facial expressions (positive and negative) under two elicitation conditions (verbal command and visual imitation). Expressions were rated by four naïve judges for intensity, category accuracy, and valence accuracy. RBDs were significantly more impaired than LBDs or NCs on category and valence accuracy, while LBDs posed expressions with significantly more intensity than RBDs or NCs. These findings held for positive emotions only. The results for category accuracy replicate an earlier report (Borod et al., 1986) which utilized a different rating procedure. Finally, expressions posed to visual imitation were rated as more intense and more accurate than those posed to verbal command.

Brain Damage, Chronic↗
PubMed1987

The Family Rorschach with families of schizophrenics: replication and extension.

Using a modified version of procedures outlined by Shapiro and Wild (9), this study evaluates the use of a Family Rorschach technique as a means of distinguishing families of schizophrenic patients from those of psychiatrically hospitalized, nonschizophrenic individuals. The patients were diagnosed using Research Diagnostic Criteria, and families were matched for age, intelligence, and socioeconomic characteristics. Results showed that the families with schizophrenic offspring scored significantly lower (that is, they had more communication and attentional difficulties) than those with nonschizophrenic offspring; offspring gender and family constellation had little effect on scores. Subsequent analyses indicated that lower scores were not simply a reflection of the psychoticism of the patient. These findings suggest that families of schizophrenics have interpersonal communication difficulties that compromise their ability to maintain a shared focus of attention. The findings are consistent with the suggestion that deviant patterns of family communication in interaction with genetic vulnerability in an offspring may result in the development of a schizophrenic disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

The effect of stress on the linguistic generalization of bilingual individuals.

Spanish-English coordinate bilinguals were subjects in a GSR linguistic conditioning experiment using strong and mild buzzer conditions and spoken stimuli. Each subject was randomly assigned to one of two lists of words and one of two levels of buzzer sounds. A Spanish word from the Spanish list and an English word from the English list functioned as a conditioned word (CS). The lists were Spanish and English words related semantically and phonemically and unrelated to the CS. Generalization was studied under conscious and unconscious conditions. We found that both buzzer conditions resulted in significantly greater GSR responses to semantic and phonemic words than to words unrelated to the CS. Generalization to semantic words was not significantly greater than to phonemic words. There was a tendency toward greater phonemic than semantic generalization in the strong buzzer condition. The opposite was observed regarding the mild buzzer. The results were the same in both lists and languages. Under a conscious and unstressful condition, generalization to semantic words was found to be more prominent than to phonemic words. This suggests that under normal condition semantic generalization is mediated by conscious cognition. We concluded that strong emotion produces an increase in phonemic, as compared to semantic, generalization in both languages. Hence, primitivization of the subjects' cognitive and linguistic functioning is assumed to have occurred. These results are important in understanding the deleterious effect that stressful situations may have on linguistic functioning and cognition in bilinguals.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Prevalence of schizophrenia in an urban population.

The treated one-year prevalence and point-prevalence of schizophrenia, schizoaffective psychosis, and paranoid state in the city of Salford were derived from the Salford Psychiatric Case Register. The high rates found are attributed primarily to the effects of selective migration from the area. A breakdown of the use of health services in the area by patients with these diagnoses is given; hospital care was found to be the major form of treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Influence of atrioventricular synchrony on hemodynamics in patients with normal and low ejection fractions following open heart surgery.

The authors wished to test the hypothesis that atrioventricular synchrony has a relatively greater effect on hemodynamic parameters in postoperative patients with low ejection fractions compared to those with normal ejection fractions. Temporary pacing wires were placed on the right atrium and right ventricle of patients undergoing open heart surgery. Duplicate thermodilution cardiac outputs were determined during atrial pacing and ventricular pacing at 100 beats/min. Mean left atrial and systemic blood pressures were monitored. Thirteen patients with ejection fractions of 45 per cent or less (range 24 to 45%, mean 37.3%) were included in the low ejection fraction group, and 27 patients with ejection fractions of 59 per cent or greater (range 59 to 80%, mean 66.8%) were considered in the normal ejection fraction group. All hemodynamic parameters improved significantly when changing from ventricular pacing to atrial pacing in both the normal ejection fraction group and low ejection fraction group (P less than 0.05). The magnitude of change between the groups showed no significant difference for all parameters except left atrial pressure, which decreased by a greater percentage in the low ejection fraction group with atrial pacing (P less than 0.001). The atrial contribution to hemodynamic enhancement is important in patients with normal and low ejection fraction following open heart surgery. Patients with low ejection fractions do not sustain a relatively greater reduction in cardiac output, stroke volume index, or systemic blood pressure with loss of atrioventricular synchrony when compared to patients with normal ejection fractions.

Cardiac Output↗
PubMed1985

A comparison of the effects of atenolol and metoprolol on attention.

Additional side-effects of two beta-blockers, atenolol (hydrophilic) and metoprolol (lipophilic), were measured in 18 normal male volunteers in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study. A saccadic eye movement reaction time (RT) task, a manual RT version of the Stroop Colour-Word Task, the Span of Apprehension Task, and the Continuous Performance Task were presented on a graphics display screen. Standard cognitive effects were replicated on all measures. Atenolol was noticeably, but not significantly, superior to metoprolol in visual alerting and in angular breadth of visual information processing, both with saccadic RT.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Multiple contributions to clinical presentation of flat affect in schizophrenia.

Flat affect has long been recognized as a central manifestation of schizophrenia, and has more recently been appreciated as a stable and prognostically important attribute of this disorder. Yet, because it is thought to be difficult to evaluate, flat affect has been deemphasized in criterion-based diagnostic systems. Results of this study suggest that the clinical evaluation of flat affect may be contaminated by a number of behaviorally similar processes. The components we identified included right hemisphere dysfunction, retardation and extrapyramidal effects, as well as the sequelae of hospitalization. Thus, in the clinical evaluation of flat affect, a multivariate approach in which these different components are considered separately might improve the reliability of evaluation and make this important sign more useful.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed1985

A study of 15 matricidal men.

The authors studied 15 men who committed matricide. The majority were diagnosed as having chronic schizophrenia and had been living alone with their mothers. Other diagnoses included substance-induced psychosis and impulse disorders. Specific psychodynamic and environmental factors can be identified for each diagnostic category. The authors conclude that the matricidal impulse evolves through successive stages of psychological development; therefore, the motives for matricide are varied and correlate with the level of psychological development or regression.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Effect of enflurane on cerebellar cGMP and on motor activity in the mouse.

The effect of enflurane on the cerebellar content of the intracellular mediator cyclic 3', 5'-guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and on motor activity was studied in mice. Seizures, as an index of increased motor activity, associated with an increase in cerebellar cGMP content were induced with isoniazide or picrotoxin. Enflurane 0.28-1.68 vol% produced a dose-dependent, reversible decrease in cerebellar cGMP (by about 50% at 0.28 vol%) and delayed or prevented both the increase in cerebellar cGMP and the convulsions induced by isoniazide. Enflurane also protected against picrotoxin-induced convulsions, but not against strychnine-induced convulsions which presumably do not involve cerebellar mechanisms. These results indicate that enflurane affects the cerebellar mechanisms controlling motor activity and it is postulated that this action contributes to the decrease in muscle tone induced by enflurane.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Schizophrenic children's utilization of images and words in performance of cognitive tasks.

Hospitalized schizophrenic (N = 15) and nonschizophrenic (N = 18) youngsters were compared on measures of verbal and imagery development as well as on four paired-associate learning tasks involving combinations of word and picture stimuli pairs. The results showed the schizophrenic group to be similar to the controls on verbal and full-scale intelligence measures but significantly inferior on performance measures. The schizophrenic group also showed a general disadvantage in paired-associate learning, with a trend toward specific differential difficulty with words as stimulus items. Results suggest the presence of nondominant hemisphere deficit in the target group and also provide weak support for theories of dominant hemisphere dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Association Learning↗