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Biomedical subjects

M Fink

Publications and source records attributed to M Fink.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Neuroendocrine measures in psychiatric patients: course and outcome with ECT.

Measures of neuroendocrine function--plasma cortisol and its response to dexamethasone, and plasma thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and its response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH)--were employed in 50 hospitalized male veteran psychiatric patients with diagnoses of unipolar or bipolar melancholia, secondary depression, or schizophrenia. Of 20 cases of unipolar melancholia, 17 (85%) exhibited hypercortisolism; 14 (70%) failed to suppress plasma cortisol after dexamethasone; and 4 (31%) of 13 tested had an abnormal TSH response to intravenous TRH. Two patients with secondary depression also exhibited hypercortisolism; no other patients evinced abnormal neuroendocrine test results. These measures were repeated in 14 unipolar depressed patients after a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Improvement in psychopathology was directly related to normalization of measures of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function. The TSH response to TRH was not systematically altered. After a followup period of 1 to 9 months, there was a good correlation between the measures of HPA function and the clinical outcome. These findings encourage further study of HPA function measures as outcome criteria for depressed patients receiving ECT.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Pharmacoelectroencephalographic study of brotizolam, a novel hypnotic.

The effects on the quantitative EEG and behavior of two doses (0.1 and 0.3 mg) of the novel sedative compound brotizolam were compared to those of 10 mg flurazepam and placebo in a crossover study in 11 normal men. The effects of 0.1 mg brotizolam were equivalent in intensity and duration to those of 10 mg flurazepam, while the 0.3-mg dose of brotizolam was approximately three times as active. The relative physiologic equivalence of doses of brotizolam and flurazepam is 1 to 100. In its EEG profile, brotizolam is classified as a hypnotic-sedative substance. Its suggested use is as a substitute for established benzodiazepines that have hypnotic, sedative, and anticonvulsant activities.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1981

[Therapy of Bartter syndrome with indomethacin].

In two children with typical clinical and laboratory findings of the B. S., the therapeutic effect of the prostaglandin synthetase inhibitor indomethacin could be unequivocally proved in balance studies performed under inpatient conditions. Under this medication, the serum potassium rose significantly and the potassium balance became positive. In parallel to this, the plasma renin (and in the case in which it could be regularly investigated also the plasma aldosterone) fell significantly. In one of the two patients, the hypertensin-test was performed before and under indomethacin treatment; the initial angiotensin resistance could be eliminated by Indocid. Both children have now already received Indocid for twenty-four and sixteen months. The preparation was adequately tolerated, and the clinical symptoms of B. S. have largely subsided. Noteworthy is a substantial catching up of growth in one of the two patients. Despite normal renin and aldosterone values, there was no complete normalization of the serum potassium, indicating that besides the elevation of certain renal prostaglandins in the pathogenesis of B. S. described by several authors, an additional (probably superordinate) mechanism is likely to play a role.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

EEG and behavioral profile of flutroline (CP-36,584), a novel antipsychotic drug.

The pharmacologic profile of flutroline, a tetrahydro-gamma-carboline compound, predicts an anti-psychotic compound with greater potency and longer duration than established clinical antipsychotic compounds. In normal male volunteers, it elicited EEG, behavioral, and plasma prolactin release profiles similar to established antipsychotic compounds. Peak activity occurred in 4--5 h. But the clinical activity projected from these studies is one-fifth that of haloperidol. In relation to the available clinical findings, the pharmaco-EEG data are better predictors of the clinical activity of flutroline than its preclinical profile.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

A theory of convulsive therapy in endogenous depression: significance of hypothalamic functions.

The repeated induction of seizures (convulsive therapy) relieves the symptoms of severe depressive mood disorders, particularly those accompanied by vegetative symptoms. Neuroendocrine abnormalities characterize patients with endogenous depression, and the abnormalities are reversed by convulsive therapy. Tests of neuroendocrine functions provide criteria for the classification of such cases, and probably will be useful in defining suitable cases for convulsive therapy. We postulate that the antidepressant efficacy of convulsive therapy results from the increased release and more widespread cerebral distribution of hypothalamic peptides with behavioral effects. Such a hypothesis provides a basis for clinical trials of centrally active peptides in cases of endogenous depression, and for studies of neuroendocrine functions as predictors of outcome in convulsive therapy.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1980

Convulsive therapy and endogenous depression.

Since the introduction of seizures as a therapy in psychiatry in 1934, much has been learned about the target populations, modes of induction, means to make the treatment safer, and the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic process. The repeated and spaced induction of seizures relieves the symptoms of severe depressive psychoses. The presence of vegetative symptoms is a predictor of good outcome, and brain stem stimulation is a feature of successful treatment. The safest inductions are those using barbiturate and succinylcholine anesthesia, hyperoxygenation, unilateral electrode placements, and minimal inducing currents. Patients with severe depression present neuroendocrine abnormalities, which return to normal with convulsive therapy. Recently, peptides of hypothalamic origin have been identified which have behavioural and mood altering effects. From these experiences, we suggest that the antidepressant efficacy of convulsive therapy results from the increased release and greater penetration into the brain of hypothalamic peptides with behavioral effects.

Depression↗
PubMed1980

[The radiological diagnosis of bronchial atresia (author's transl)].

Congenital atresia of the apico-dorsal segmental bronchus of the left upper lobe in a 10-year-old boy is described. The radiological features of bronchial atresia are described in detail and the view is expressed that the diagnosis can be made on plain films of the chest with tomography. According to present day concepts, treatment is not indicated in the absence of symptoms.

Bronchi↗
PubMed1980

EEG and behavioral effects of pirenzepine in normal volunteers.

Effects of pirenzepine on quantitative EEG, heart rate, blood pressure, critical flicker-fusion frequency, vigilance measures, and symptom reports were studied in 23 adult male volunteers under thirty years of age. Oral single doses ranged from 12.5 to 150 mg. Placebo-controlled studies were done in twelve subjects at 100 mg and in ten subjects at 150 mg. Pirenzepine administration was associated with reduced heart rate, dry mouth, and difficulty in focussing near vision. No systematic central activity of the compound was demonstrated at these doses.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Efficacy of ECT.

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Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed1979

[Pseudo-hyperkalaemia in myeloproliferative diseases (author's transl)].

In two patients in the blast phase of chronic myeloid leukaemia there was a marked rise in serum potassium levels, while plasma potassium was at the lower range of normal and there were no signs of hyperkalaemia clinically. After reduction of the pathological cells under cytostatic treatment the serum potassium levels returned to normal. This in-vitro phenomenon seems to be more common in patients with marked thrombocytosis and leukaemia than has previously been thought. In such patients hypokalaemia may be undetected because serum potassium levels arenormal. Pseudo-hyperkalaemia exists when the potassium level is normal in plasma obtained by centrifugation immediately after the blood sample has been taken, without addition of plastic spheres and at once separated from the blood cells.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Normal prolactin responses in tardive dyskinesia.

Tardive dyskinesia has been hypothesized to be caused by a neuroleptic-induced dopamine hypersensitivity in the nigrostriatal system. This study evaluated with dopamine antagonists the possibility that such dopamine hypersensitivity extends to the tuberoinfundibular dopamine (TIDA) system, which regulates, by inhibition, pituitary prolactin secretion. Plasma prolactin concentrations in six patients with tardive dyskinesia were assessed in four conditions: During chronic haloperidol therapy; serially after abrupt haloperidol withdrawal; while unmediated; and in response to an acute dose of 0.5 mg IM haloperidol. In all four conditions, prolactin responses did not differ from those observed in normal subjects and schizophrenic patients without tardive dyskinesia. It is concluded that there is no evidence for post-synaptic dopamine hypersensitivity in the TIDA-pituitary pathway in patients with tardive dyskinesia, consistent with other reports assessing hormonal responses to dopamine agonists in such cases. It is further suggested that neuroleptic-induced dopamine hypersensitivity does not occur in the TIDA-pituitary system in humans, since it was not manifest in these tardive dyskinesia patients who would be thought particularly prone to develop it.

Adult↗