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V Zarcone

Publications and source records attributed to V Zarcone.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

No linkage between D2 dopamine receptor gene region and schizophrenia.

The dopamine hypothesis is one of the major etiological hypotheses of schizophrenia. The well-established role of genetic factors in schizophrenia together with reports of increased D2 dopamine receptor densities in untreated schizophrenic patients support the D2 dopamine receptor gene as a strong candidate gene for schizophrenia. The recent cloning of the D2 dopamine receptor gene made it possible to test the involvement of the D2 dopamine receptor locus (DRD2) in a large Swedish and a smaller Californian schizophrenia pedigree. Using multipoint linkage analysis between schizophrenia and a genetic map that includes the DRD2 locus and assuming a dominant mode of inheritance, we were able to exclude the DRD2 locus with a lod score of -4.14 for the penetrance of 0.72 and with a lod score of -3.05 for the lower bound penetrance of 0.56. The area of exclusion (lod score, less than -2.00) extended 27 centimorgans. These results provide strong evidence against linkage of the D2 dopamine receptor gene region to schizophrenia in the two pedigrees investigated. We conclude that the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia in these pedigrees is not due to aberrations in the DRD2 locus or the porphobilinogen deaminase locus. Our results do not support the D2 dopamine receptor hypothesis of schizophrenia. However, they cannot exclude the possibility that other genes regulating aspects of D2 dopamine expression might be involved in the etiology of schizophrenia, such as the expression of two D2 dopamine receptor subtypes by alternative RNA splicing.

California↗
PubMed1983

History of drug abuse and dangerous behavior in inpatient schizophrenics.

The alcohol and drug use histories of 85 schizophrenic inpatients were examined in relation to measures of dangerousness while in hospital (physical and verbal assaults and episodes of seclusion and restraint). Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed significant relationships between each dangerousness measure and certain drug abuse history factors. Assault was most closely related to a drug abuse factor containing a history of blackout episodes and assaultiveness while drinking, whereas seclusion and restraint were most closely related to histories of becoming "loud" while on drugs. Overall measures of dangerousness appear to relate best to histories of becoming loud or assaultive while taking drugs.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

REM sleep time and digit span impairment in alcoholics.

In a group of 20 abstinent alcoholics, the amount of REM sleep was correlated with the degree of Digit Span scatter from the modified verbal mean of the WAIS. The Digits Backward component was more strongly related to REM time than was the Digits Forward component, suggesting an association between reduced REM sleep time and short-term memory impairment.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

REM phase deprivation and schizophrenia II.

Nine schizophrenic patients with active symptomatology were compared with seven patient controls in their response to two nights of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation. The control subjects demonstrate "normal" increases in total REM and percentage REM time increase on recovery nights compared to base line nights. The schizophrenic subjects differ substantially from the control subjects in both these measurements and show no perceptible change from base line nights on recovery nights. The effects of medication, anxiety, sleep loss, ceiling effects, and intensity change were not considered adequate to account for the above results. However, many questions, such as the specificity of this rebound failure to the schizophrenic patients and the possibility of a sleep disturbance factor operating independently of psychiatric diagnosis, remain to be answered.

Adult↗
PubMed1973

Narcolepsy.

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Adolescent↗