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Biomedical subjects

P Toren

Publications and source records attributed to P Toren.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Case study: emergence of transient compulsive symptoms during treatment with clothiapine.

Serotonergic dysregulation in obsessive-compulsive disorder has been repeatedly demonstrated. Recent reports on the emergence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients treated with clozapine support a hyposerotonergic hypothesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The authors report the emergence of de novo compulsive symptoms in a drug-naive 8-year-old schizophrenic child, shortly after the initiation of treatment with clothiapine. Clothiapine, an atypical antipsychotic agent, shares with clozapine its strong antiserotonergic properties. It seems that antagonistic activity of atypical neuroleptics at postsynaptic serotonergic receptors might be responsible for the development of iatrogenic obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Antipsychotic Agents↗
PubMed1994

Clozapine treatment in very early onset schizophrenia.

Very early onset schizophrenic patients only partially benefit from conventional antipsychotic treatment and are at increased risk for developing tardive dyskinesia (TD). Clozapine, which lacks extrapyramidal side effects including TD, has been proved effective for adult schizophrenic patients who are resistant to other neuroleptics. Clozapine, therefore, may offer an alternative treatment for these patients. The authors report four successful trials of clozapine in children aged 10 to 12 years old with schizophrenia, the youngest group reported on to date, who were unresponsive to conventional neuroleptic treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

The delusion based will: the question of validity.

The psychiatric evaluation of the testamentary capacities of a delusional person may be hindered by (a) the cognitive, emotional and situational factors affecting the evaluator during the execution of her or his task, and (b) the sometimes very difficult challenge of proving testament invalidity due to the presence of delusions. As an illustration, this article presents a specific case which was recently brought to court in Israel.

Delusions↗
PubMed1994

Verapamil is not an antidepressant in patients resistant to tricyclic antidepressants.

The effects of a calcium channel blocker (verapamil, 160-320 mg/day for 4 weeks) were studied in seven unipolar major-depressed patients resistant to treatment with tricyclic antidepressants. This regimen of verapamil did not alter either the Hamilton rating scales for depression and anxiety or the Beck depression inventory score in these patients. Thus, verapamil appears devoid of antidepressant properties in patients resistant to tricyclic antidepressants.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Survey of smoking habits and attitudes of patients and staff in psychiatric hospitals.

One hundred and six staff members and 150 patients of three psychiatric hospitals in Israel were administered a smoking habit and attitudes questionnaire. Upon analyzing the data, staff members and patients made up a very high percentage of smokers, 48.1 and 76%, respectively. The staff was not knowledgeable enough about the hazards of smoking. Nurses generously used cigarettes in order to appease the patients. Furthermore, the patients admitted being encouraged to smoke by the staff. According to these findings, a patient hospitalized in the psychiatric hospitals surveyed is significantly exposed to the pro-smoking atmosphere and the hazards of smoking.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Determination of interchain crosslinkages in insulin B-chain dimers by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry.

New methodology for identifying and locating crosslinkages in peptides is described. Pepsin is used to cleave insulin and B-chain dimers of insulin into fragments under conditions which retain the original peptide crosslinkages. After partial separation by HPLC, the peptides are analyzed by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FABMS) to determine their molecular weights. The molecular weights of peptide fragments expected from the pepsin digests of human insulin and related model compounds are calculated from the amino acid sequence of the intact peptide. Digestion products are identified by matching their molecular weights, as determined by FABMS, with calculated molecular weights. Locations of interchain crosslinkages are deduced after the peptide fragments have been assigned to specific segments of the parent peptide. The validity of the method has been established by correctly identifying structurally important products in the pepsin digests of model compounds such as human, bovine, and porcine insulins. Procedures developed with the model compounds were used to identify crosslinkages in peptides of unknown structure isolated from an insulin A-chain/B-chain combination reaction mixture. Evidence is presented for formation of three different types of crosslinkages, disulfide, lanthionine, and sulfoxide.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Thyroid function in attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

In view of the recent conflicting findings regarding the causative role of thyroid abnormalities in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), we performed a replication study to clarify the issue and establish clinical guidelines. Thyroid tests were performed in 43 ADHD children and 28 age- and gender-matched controls. Sixteen ADHD children showed total triiodothyronine (TT3) levels which were slightly above the upper limit of normal, but no significant difference in TT3 values was noted between the ADHD and the control groups. Moreover, none of the ADHD subjects had abnormal levels of total thyroxine, free thyroxine, thyroid stimulating hormone or total triiodothyronine reuptake. The present study supplies additional evidence for the lack of an association between thyroid function and ADHD, and counters the suggestion that thyroid function be routinely screened for in ADHD children.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The prevalence of mitral valve prolapse in children with anxiety disorders.

Studies in adults have suggested a comorbidity of mitral valve prolapse and anxiety disorders, especially panic disorder. The nature of the association between these disorders is yet unclear. In the last years, case studies have appeared, reporting on the comorbidity of anxiety disorders and mitral valve prolapse in children. The present study evaluated the prevalence of mitral valve prolapse in children with anxiety disorders as compared to normal controls. The study group consisted of 52 children, 6-18 years old, with a diagnosis of panic disorder (9.6%), separation anxiety disorder (65.4%) and/or overanxious disorder (61.5%). Fifty-one normal age- and gender-matched healthy children served as controls. All participants were evaluated for the presence of mitral valve prolapse by cardiac auscultation and echocardiography. None of the 52 children with anxiety disorder and one of the 51 control children (1.96%) had mitral valve prolapse. There appears to be no association between childhood anxiety disorders and mitral valve prolapse. Whether children with panic disorder proper show a greater prevalence of mitral valve prolapse remains an open question. Implications to the association of mitral valve prolapse and panic disorder are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neurocognitive correlates of anxiety disorders in children: a preliminary report.

Children with anxiety disorders have been suggested to possess a specific cognitive scheme that underscores negative information and leads to the formation of a negative view of themselves and of the world. The aim of the present study was to assess the neuropsychological processes of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, as compared to healthy matched controls. Nineteen children (6-18 years) with anxiety disorders and 14 age-matched healthy controls participated in the study. Both groups scored within normal range on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). All children underwent neuropsychological assessment with the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) (Verbal Processing), the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test (ROCF) (Nonverbal Processing), and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) (Executive Functions). The anxiety group scored lower than the control group on all measures of the CVLT and had a significantly greater number of errors, perseverative responses, and incorrect answers after negative feedback on the WCST. No differences were detected for the ROCF. We conclude that in children and adolescents, anxiety disorders may be associated with lowered linguistic abilities and cognitive flexibility, as measured by neuropsychological paradigms. Anxiety does not appear to be associated with nonverbal processes.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effects of target and distractor familiarity on visual search in anxious children: latent inhibition and novel pop-out.

Children and adolescents (ages 6-17 years) diagnosed as having an anxiety disorder were compared to matched controls on a two-stage serial visual search task in which they identified presence or absence of a unique shape presented with homogeneous distractors. Response time was examined as a function of prior experience with either target, distractor, or both, allowing for a within-subject assessment of latent inhibition (LI: slower responding to a target that was formerly a distractor against a background of distractors that were formerly targets as compared to a novel target with distractors that were formerly targets) and novel pop-out effects (NPO: faster responding to a novel target against a background of familiar former targets as compared to the condition in which both the target and distractors were novel). There were robust LI and NPO effects for both anxious and control children. However, the predicted interaction between diagnosis and LI condition was not obtained. In general, the results suggest that children with diagnosed anxiety disorder do not differ from controls on basic information processing as assessed by this visual search task.

Adolescent↗