Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R H Gerner

Publications and source records attributed to R H Gerner.

67 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Relationship between EEG sleep patterns and clinical improvement in depressed patients treated with sleep deprivation.

The effects of a single night of total sleep deprivation were observed in 16 primary depressed patients. Responders to treatment were rated as significantly more depressed and revealed a more "depressed" EEG sleep pattern prior to sleep deprivation than did nonresponders. Following sleep deprivation, patients who improved experienced a rebound in REM sleep during the second night of recovery sleep.

Adult↗

Routine thoracic radiography for psychiatric inpatients.

Screening chest x-rays are routinely obtained for psychiatric as well as other patients. The authors present data that suggest that this practice no longer has a sound medical basis and should be eliminated or modified. It is unlikely that routine radiography of the chest is of practical benefit to adult psychiatric patients who are clinically healthy and are under age 40.

Adolescent↗

Effects of a dopamine agonist piribedil in depressed patients: relationship of pretreatment homovanillic acid to antidepressant response.

Piribedil, a compound that stimulates dopamine receptors in a relatively specific fashion, was administered to 11 hospitalized depressed patients. The dopamine agonist significantly decreased rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and percent REM sleep and increased REM latency. Piribedil decreased the probenecid-induced accumulation of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) in CSF. A range of mild to moderate antidepressant effects was noted; one patient worsened and one developed recurrent manic episodes. The degree of improvement in depression was negatively correlated with pretreatment values of HVA in CSF (r = -.66, P less than .05). These data suggest that the heterogeneity of clinical response may be related to biological differences in depressed patients and that those with low initial dopaminergic function respond best to increased dopamine receptor stimulation.

Adult↗

A dopaminergic mechanism in mania.

The authors present a case study that explores the relationship of dopamine function and manic illness through the use of two drugs with relatively specific effects in stimulating and blocking dopamine receptors--piribedil (ET--495) and pimozide, respectively. Piribedil, as well as d-amphetamine, was associated with manic episodes, while pimozide had an antimanic effect. These observations suggest that dopaminergic mechanisms may be involved in the mediation of manic episodes in at least some patients.

Bipolar Disorder↗

Lithium does not inhibit the parathyroid hormone-mediated rise in urinary cyclic AMP and phosphate in humans.

To test the hypothesis that lithium is a general inhibitor of hormone-activated adenylate cyclase, we infuse parathyroid hormone (PTH) into human subjects prior to and during lithium carbonate administration. PTH infusion caused a significant increase in urinary cyclic AMP and urinary phosphate excretion. There was no significant difference in these responses in the lithium compared to the control period. In four patients with primary hyperparathyroidism, lithium had no significant effect on serum calcium or phosphate or on tubular reabsorption of phosphate. The data do not substantiate the hypothesis that lithium (at therapeutic concentrations) is a general inhibitor of hormonally-activated adenylate cyclase, nor do they support its potential clinical utility in primary hyperparthyroidism.

Adenylyl Cyclase Inhibitors↗

The TRH stimulation test and reverse T3 in depression.

Blunted TSH response to TRH and elevation of reverse T3 (rT3) have been reported in depression, though the relationship between these two abnormalities has not been clear. The authors measured basal levels of T4, T3, rT3 and the TSH response to TRH in a group of 28 depressed men and women, unipolar and bipolar subtypes. No significant difference was found between these two subtypes of depression with respect to mean basal hormonal levels or magnitude of the TSH response to TRH. Two males had slight, but significant elevations of rT3 though only one of them had a blunted TSH response to TRH levels and the TSH response to TRH. Finally no significant correlation was found between rT3 levels and the TSH response to TRH.

Adult↗