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Biomedical subjects

R L Martin

Publications and source records attributed to R L Martin.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

A prospective follow-up and family study of somatization in men and women.

The authors evaluated alternative criteria for somatization disorder in 277 female and 129 male psychiatric outpatients. In women, the diagnosis of somatization disorder based on DSM-III criteria was highly concordant with the diagnosis of Briquet's syndrome based on Guze's original criteria. There was familial aggregation for Briquet's syndrome in women but none among individuals of either sex who had somatization disorder without the full Briquet's syndrome. In men, the diagnosis of somatization disorder was rarer and less stable than in women. The findings show that somatization usually has a different clinical picture and different familial antecedents in men than in women.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1986

A follow-up and family study of Briquet's syndrome.

The study began with the systematic clinical evaluation of a cross-section of 500 of the clinic's patients. This was followed by a 'blind' follow-up of the index subjects and a 'blind' study of first-degree relatives. The present report deals with the diagnosis of Briquet's syndrome (hysteria, somatisation disorder) at index, at follow-up, and among first-degree relatives. The data indicate that the criteria used for the diagnosis of Briquet's syndrome select patients who show a high degree of diagnostic consistency over many years, although not all patients who meet these criteria at follow-up receive the diagnosis of Briquet's syndrome initially. Most importantly, the diagnostic criteria select cases associated with a strong familial increase in the risk of Briquet's syndrome and in the risk of antisocial personality. Both are increased among first-degree female relatives, while only antisocial personality is increased among first-degree male relatives.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗
PubMed1985

Diagnosis and prognosis in schizophrenia.

We showed that schizophrenia was a discrete disorder by using a quantitative clinical scale that discriminated schizophrenics from other subjects in a prospective follow-up and family study of 500 psychiatric outpatients. Four symptoms tended to occur together as a stable syndrome throughout the six- to 12-year follow-up: persecutory delusions, delusions of control, firmly fixed mood-incongruent delusions, and auditory hallucinations. Scale scores were computed as the number of these four symptoms that was present less one if there was a history of spending sprees with marked elation. More than 68% of the schizophrenics and fewer than 2% of nonschizophrenics had scores of +2 or greater. The distribution of scores was bimodal: persons with scores of +1 were relatively rare. Also, there was familial resemblance for the presence or absence of schizophrenia, but no additional resemblance for the number of schizophrenic symptoms. Despite this relative discreteness, scale scores were valuable for quantifying the certainty of diagnosis and predicting outcome.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Mortality in a follow-up of 500 psychiatric outpatients. I. Total mortality.

Total or all-cause mortality data were determined from a prospective study of 500 randomly selected psychiatric outpatients during a mean follow-up period of seven years. With the use of age-, sex-, and race-adjusted methods, a mortality nearly twice that expected from reference population rates was observed. Mortality was excessive among younger, but not older, patients; and among white men and women and black men, but not among black women. Certain psychiatric diagnoses (based on structured personal interviews performed at index and using explicit criteria) were associated with excess mortality: alcoholism, antisocial personality, drug addiction, homosexuality, organic brain syndrome, and schizophrenia. Excess mortality was not observed among patients with primary affective disorders, ie, disorders not antedated by nonaffective psychiatric illness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Mortality in a follow-up of 500 psychiatric outpatients. II. Cause-specific mortality.

In a six- to 12-year follow-up study of 500 psychiatric outpatients, death from natural causes occurred 11/2 times the expected rate, although the excess was not significant. Death from unnatural causes occurred 31/2 times the expected rate, a significant elevation. Suicide and homicide rates were particularly excessive. Unnatural mortality was excessive among younger, but not older, patients, and among all sex-race groups except black women, none of whom died unnaturally. Initial psychiatric diagnoses highly predictive of unnatural death included alcoholism, antisocial personality, drug addiction, and homosexuality. Secondary affective disorder was predictive of excess unnatural mortality, but in all cases of such death one of the four disorders associated with excess mortality antedated the affective disturbance. No patient with an index diagnosis of primary affective disorder died of an unnatural cause. Despite a frequent history of suicide attempts, hysteria was not associated with excess unnatural mortality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

The Drosophila ninaE gene encodes an opsin.

The Drosophila ninaE gene was isolated by a multistep protocol on the basis of its homology to bovine opsin cDNA. The gene encodes the major visual pigment protein (opsin) contained in Drosophila photoreceptor cells R1-R6. The coding sequence is interrupted by four short introns. The positions of three introns are conserved with respect to positions in mammalian opsin genes. The nucleotide sequence has intermittent regions of homology to bovine opsin coding sequences. The deduced amino acid sequence reveals significant homology to vertebrate opsins; there is strong conservation of the retinal binding site and two other regions. The predicted protein secondary structure strikingly resembles that of mammalian opsins. We conclude the Drosophila and vertebrate opsin genes are derived from a common ancestor.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1985

Alcohol misuse and depression in women criminals.

The interaction of alcohol misuse and major depressive syndromes was examined in 66 convicted women felons. At an initial (index) evaluation and during a 6-yr follow-up, alcohol misuse and depression, although both highly prevalent, were not significantly related. Alcohol misusing and nonmisusing depressives had similar rates of treatment for depression. Follow-up alcohol misuse, occurring in one-quarter of those reinterviewed, was not predicted by an index history of depression even among index alcohol misusers. Nonsignificant trends did suggest some association between the two symptom groups. Depressive subjects with a history of alcohol misuse had a greater rate of depression during follow-up than nonmisusing index depressives. Follow-up misusers had a greater rate of follow-up depression than nonmisusers. Alcohol-related depression could not be discounted simply as a consequence of alcohol misuse. Depression in the context of alcohol misuse was highly predictive of future depression and suicide attempts. The relative independence of alcohol misuse and depression in this group underscores the complexity of their interaction, especially in a population with multiple disorders such as women criminals. The contention that phenomenologically defined major depressive disorders are heterogeneous is supported.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Frequency and differential diagnosis of depressive syndromes in schizophrenia.

The frequency, differential diagnosis, and implications of depression occurring in the course of schizophrenia are considered in light of recently reported findings from a follow-up and family study of 500 psychiatric outpatients (the St. Louis 500 Study). Problems in diagnosis are illustrated in an interview of a schizophrenic patient with a history of depression. Nearly 60% of the schizophrenics studied had suffered a depressive syndrome during the course of their schizophrenic illness, supporting the observations of others. The majority of patients with a history of depression who were otherwise diagnosable as schizophrenic had a course of illness consistent with schizophrenia during follow-up. The pattern of illness among first-degree relatives suggested that intercurrent depression did not represent a biologic unity with primary affective disorder. Intercurrent depression should not be overinterpreted in excluding a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Methodological and conceptual problems in the study of mortality in psychiatry.

The study of mortality has a long tradition in Psychiatry. The specificity required to define risks associated with particular disorders and to monitor the effects of changing patterns of treatment necessitates rigorous attention to methodology. The strengths and limitations of particular study designs and how these must be considered when interpreting results are reviewed. Sampling of the study population involves deciding whether to define a group retrospectively or prospectively, the type of psychiatric population to be utilized (eg inpatients or outpatients), and whether cases are to be chosen randomly as to diagnosis or with selection for certain profiles. Ascertainment of death is critical in mortality studies. Once the index population is defined, cases lost to final ascertainment significantly weaken the study. Cause of death as determined by coroner's verdict is readily obtained but of questionable accuracy. Results may be influenced by the method of psychiatric assessment and diagnosis, especially whether case record or interview data is used, and whether multiple or only single diagnoses are determined. With computerization improved statistical analysis are now possible. There is no perfect mortality study design. Any particular design involves a trade-off of advantages and disadvantages.

Humans↗
PubMed1983

A follow-up and family study of schizophrenia.

The Washington University Psychiatry Clinic, St Louis, study began with the systematic clinical evaluation of a cross section of 500 of the clinic's patients. This was followed by a "blind" follow-up of the index subjects and a blind study of first-degree relatives. This report deals with the diagnosis of schizophrenia at index, at follow-up, and among the first-degree relatives. The results indicate that the criteria used for the diagnosis of schizophrenia select patients who show a high degree of diagnostic consistency over many years, although not all patients who meet these criteria after follow-up receive the diagnosis of schizophrenia initially. Most important, the diagnostic criteria select cases associated with a strong familial increase in the risk of schizophrenia (nearly fivefold). The follow-up results indicate also that Feighner-positive schizophrenics often experience intercurrent depressions, but that the presence of such depressions does not affect the familial incidence of either schizophrenia or primary affective disorders.

Depressive Disorder↗
PubMed1983

Enzymic differentiation in cultured foetal hepatocytes of the rat. Induction of serine dehydratase activity by dexamethasone and dibutyryl cyclic AMP.

Serine dehydratase activity is absent from the rat foetal liver and normally appears in the immediate postnatal period. In foetal hepatocytes cultured from livers of various gestational ages, enzyme activity can be induced only in the simultaneous presence of dexamethasone and dibutyryl cyclic AMP in the culture medium. Adrenalin and glucagon can replace dibutyryl cyclic AMP. Actinomycin D and cordycepin both repress the response, a result that suggests the induction of enzyme synthesis involves the initial transcription of the enzyme gene(s). Inducibility is assessed in cultures prepared from foetuses aged between 15 and 19 days of gestation after 48 h of culture. No induction is obtained in cells from 15 day foetuses, only a marginal induction from 16 day foetuses, and a substantial induction from older foetuses. In cultures from older foetuses, 6-18 fold inductions are already demonstrable after 24 h of culture. While hepatocytes from more mature foetuses are able to acquire inductibility during culture, cells taken from 15 day foetuses do not develop in the same manner in spite of being maintained under identical conditions. These results suggest that a differentiation event occurs in vivo at about day 16 of foetal development which renders the hepatocyte inducible when cultured. Cells taken prior to this stage do not appear to acquire inducibility. This system represents a case of enzymic differentiation and requires the simultaneous presence of two inducer molecules. The mechanism of induction may represent a unique system in cellular differentiation.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Birth order and maternal age effect in dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Birth order and maternal age were unrelated to dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) in a study of 42 probands with clinically diagnosed DAT and 42 age-matched control subjects. Mean birth order in both groups did not differ significantly from the general population. The mean maternal age for the DAT probands was neither significantly different from that for the controls nor from that for the 1920 U.S. Caucasian population. Since the diagnostic criteria for the DAT group were only clinical, an additional 14 probands with DAT confirmed by autopsy were studied. Mean maternal age did not differ significantly in this group from the controls, the general population, or the clinically diagnosed DAT group. It was concluded that maternal age and birth order bear no special relationship to DAT in this sample.

Aged↗