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Biomedical subjects

S Paradiso

Publications and source records attributed to S Paradiso.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Vegetative and psychological symptoms associated with depressed mood over the first two years after stroke.

INTRODUCTION: In patients with acute physical illness, symptoms used in the diagnosis of major depression such as sleep or appetite disturbance may be nonspecific for depression. This study was undertaken to examine the association of depressed mood with other depressive symptoms to determine which symptoms were most useful in the accurate diagnosis of major depression after stroke. METHODS: Using a structured mental status examination, 142 patients with acute stroke were followed at three, six, twelve, and twenty-four months. RESULTS: The median number of vegetative and psychological symptoms among patients with depressed mood was more than three times the respective rates among nondepressed patients at all time points over two years. Autonomic anxiety, morning depression, subjective anergia, worrying, brooding, loss of interest, hopelessness, and lack of self-confidence were significantly more frequent among depressed patients than nondepressed patients throughout the entire two-year period. Some symptoms such as anxious foreboding and loss of libido, as well as self-depreciation, feelings of guilt, and irritability were no longer significantly more common among depressed compared with nondepressed patients after six months. Standard DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and modified DSM-IV diagnostic criteria which included only specific symptoms of depression (i.e., symptoms which were significantly more frequent among depressed than nondepressed mood patients) yielded similar frequencies of major depression diagnosis. There were only a few patients (i.e., 2% to 3%) with depressive symptoms without a depressed mood (perhaps "masked" depression). CONCLUSIONS: Vegetative and psychological depressive symptoms are significantly more common in depressed patients over the first two years after stroke and DSM-IV criteria do not overdiagnose major depression even in this population with chronic physical illness. The symptoms which characterize major depression appear to change between the subacute and chronic post-stroke periods.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Cerebellar size and cognition: correlations with IQ, verbal memory and motor dexterity.

The objective of this study was to examine the structure/function relationship between in vivo cerebellar size and higher cognitive function in a sample of healthy young subjects. The design of the study involved correlation of in vivo cerebellar volume measurements with measures of general intelligence (WAIS-R V&P FSIQ, Vocabulary, Block Design, and Digit Span subtests), motor dexterity (Halstead-Reitan Finger Tapping), verbal (WMS Logical Memory), and visual (Rey-Osterrieth Figure) memory covaring for cerebrum size. A similar analysis was performed using left temporal lobe volumes as a control region. The sample consisted of 62 healthy subjects (30 females, 32 males) enrolled as controls at the MHCRC at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. This independent sample does not overlap with the groups studied in our previous report on the relationship between cerebellar and brain size and IQ. Cerebellar and total brain size were estimated through automatic, atlas-based volume measurements using MR images obtained with a T1-weighted three-dimensional SPGR sequence on a 1.5-T GE Signa scanner and locally developed software. Cerebellar volume significantly correlated with Finger Tapping (left hand: r = 0.218, p < 0.05; right hand: r = 0.211, p < 0.05) and with memory retention of complex narrative material (r = 0.27, p < 0.02). Cerebellar volume correlated with general intelligence in the expected direction (r = 0.19, p < 0.07). This study confirms previous work indicating that the cerebellum may make a contribution to several aspects of cognition. Cerebellar volume significantly correlated with the ability to retain already encoded information in the verbal domain and with fine motor dexterity. Cerebellar volume positively correlated with general but the relationship did not reach statistical significance. The structural/functional relationship between cerebellum and verbal memory abilities is consistent with evolutionary theory for the phylogenetical increase in the size of the cerebellum.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Self-reported aggressive behavior in patients with stroke.

This study represents a first attempt to identify some of the clinical and pathoanatomical correlates of violent outbursts in patients with cerebrovascular accident. Subjects were selected from a population of patients hospitalized with acute stroke. Although we did not have behavioral measures of violent behavior, patients who reported having had violent outbursts were identified based on clinical ratings on a structured interview. Subjects were asked if they had experienced episodes of anger accompanied by behaviors ranging from shouting to violence during the time since their stroke. These patients were compared with controls matched for demographic variables. Violent patients had higher total Present State Exam and Hamilton-D scores. The percentage of patients with cognitive impairment in the angry outburst group (66%) was greater than the control group (22%). Outburst patients had a higher frequency of left-hemisphere lesions (46.7%) compared with controls (29.4%). When lesion volumes were statistically equated, proximity of lesion to the frontal pole was one of the factors related to the self-reported irritable/violent behavior. To determine whether depression explained our findings, we carried out two-way analyses of variance with angry outburst and major depression group membership as factors. Effects of left anterior lesion location and cognitive impairment on violence remained present. These findings suggest that the potential for anger and violence in patients with stroke has multiple clinical and neuropathological correlates, including greater cognitive impairment and left anterior hemisphere lesions.

Aggression↗
PubMed1995

The heterogeneity of temporal lobe epilepsy. Neurology, neuropsychology, and psychiatry.

The present paper introduces the reader to the behavioral variability of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The neurobiological variability is evidenced by reviewing neurological, neurophysiological, and neuropsychological investigations. The behavioral variability of persons affected by epilepsy with a temporal focus is proposed to be an expression of the neurobiological complexity of temporal lobe epilepsy. The aim of this paper is to encourage endeavors in behavioral taxonomy. Efforts to foster homogeneity through improved classification are considered fundamental in behavioral science and should be applied to epilepsy. The achievement of a behavioral taxonomy may help in both understanding the mechanism(s) of these behavioral disorders and targeting more specific treatments.

Brain↗
PubMed1994

Patterns of academic competence in adults with epilepsy: a cluster analytic study.

Cluster analysis was used in the attempt to derive a meaningful taxonomy of academic competence in 117 adults with temporal lobe epilepsy. Reading, spelling and arithmetic achievement scores from the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised were subjected to hierarchical complete linkage cluster analysis, and the stability of the obtained solution was examined by the application of two additional clustering procedures. A six cluster solution was obtained, and tests of internal validity showed membership in four of the clusters to be extremely stable (Moderate and Marked Reading/Spelling Underachievement, Above Average Achievement, Reading/Arithmetic Underachievement), while the remaining two clusters showed some exchange of cases (Arithmetic Underachievement, Average Achievement). Modest evidence of external validity was found through the comparison of specific clusters to the Average Achievement group on measures of neuropsychological function, neurological and demographic characteristics. It is concluded that cluster analysis may be helpful in developing taxonomies of psychosocial impairment in epilepsy, and may facilitate an understanding of the determinants of variable quality of life outcomes associated with epilepsy.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[High resolution electrophoresis of serum aand amniotic fluid].

In a sample group of 92 women undergoing prenatal echo-guided transabdominal amniocentesis between the 12th and 23rd week of pregnancy the Authors analysed amniotic fluid and maternal serum using the recently developed method of high resolution protein electrophoresis in order to identify the presence of particular proteins in the amniotic fluid which are pathognomonic for a number of maternofetal pathologies. The results obtained in normal and pathological pregnancies or in the case of twins showed a marked dispersion in amniotic fluid of total protein concentrations depending on the period of gestation; in addition, albumin, alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 2-glycoprotein acid, alpha 2-macroglobulin and beta 2-protein were also found. Plasma levels of prealbumin, albumin, alpha 1-glycoprotein acid and IgG were slightly reduced, whereas there was a marked increase in ceruloplasmin, transferrin and fibrinogen; C3 and haptoglobin levels were normal. It is therefore possible to ascertain that amniotic fluid proteins analysed by high-resolution 15-band electrophoresis did not vary qualitatively or quantitatively until the 23rd week of gestation and in those cases of twin or pathological pregnancies examined no anomalous band was found in the protein electrophoresis of maternal serum or amniotic fluid which might prove useful in prenatal diagnosis.

Amniotic Fluid↗
PubMed1990

[Early ultrasonic amniocentesis. 147 cases].

The results of 147 amniocenteses are analysed. The authors found chromosome abnormalities in 1.4% of the cases (two Down's syndromes were diagnosed) and no short and/or long-term materno-foetal complications were encountered.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Electrical activity of the human uterus in vivo in the phases of the menstrual cycle.

The Authors established a method for detecting the electrical activity in the human uterus in vivo in order to observe possible variations in the two phases of the menstrual cycle. The results of surveys on six women, both in the follicular and in the luteal phase, as well as the spectral analysis, indicated an increase of frequency and intensity in the follicular phase.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Proposal of new gradual dilation metal dilators.

The Authors suggest a new conceived line of metal cervical dilators, testing them on a group, made up of 69 patients, who will undergo Voluntary Pregnancy Interruption (VPI). Comparing the results with those obtained within a further test-group, made up of 69 women who have undergone a cervical dilation, performed by traditional Hegar dilators, it has been noticed that the new dilators are less traumatic on the cervical canal of the uterus; they can be used more easily and a wider employment is foreseen.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1986

[Research on the psychological view of maternity in women in the puerperium].

The aim of our research was to observe the ways in which the hospital and the social environment react towards delivery and birth and how pregnant women experience this event from the psychological point of view. A questionnaire was submitted to 58 puerperas at their third-fifth day. From the analysis of the results we can observe that the hospital structure tends to treat this experience as a mechanical and routinary event; this particularly jouful moment which should be a time of celebration is often undervalued. As a matter of fact the hospital does not create an atmosphere of joy which should accompany any event connected with birth and which should be transmitted to the child offering him a sense of confidence from the very first moment of his life. Women are generally the victims of a culture of terror, originated by an ideology of "institutionalism" which tends to regard the process of birth as a medical phenomenon and not as a natural one, and so they prefer to hand over all responsibility to the specialist, instead of taking charge of it themselves. We have also noticed that women very rarely undertake psycho-physical training before the delivery; the reasons may be the culture of terror or also because the training techniques are considered inadequate for the psychological aspects. We have observed that most of all, women are frightened by the delivery itself and of giving birth to a deformed child. Women lack an experience of psychological growth which would help them to reach an emotional maturity. This is necessary to help the child to develop his infinite potential and abilities which he already possesses from the moment he is born and which will help him to face whole heartedly the fascinating albeit painful adventure that is life.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Preliminary observation on human tubal electrical activity in vivo.

The authors have set up a new technique for recording the human tubal electrical activity in vivo. A polyethylene catheter was used with six couples of electrodes placed on the tube of 5 women during simple laparohysterectomy. The slow electrical activity was recorded by means of a 8-channel paper amplifying recorder for 3-5 days from surgery. The fimbria showed frequencies between 1.25 and 3.3 c/min, the ampulla showed higher frequencies (1-5 c/min), the isthmus showed little electrical activity. The propagation signal velocity ranges between 0.25 and 0.5 cm/sec. The amplitude ranges between 50 and 200 V. The propagation occurs mainly in the distal-proximal direction.

Adult↗