Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

W Janke

Publications and source records attributed to W Janke.

54 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Neuropsychological studies in children with elevated tooth-lead concentrations. II. Extended study.

Results from neuropsychological tests, collected under double-blind-precautions, were evaluated for 115 schoolage children (mean age: 9.4 years) living in a lead smelter area (Stolberg, FRG). Tooth-lead concentrations (PbT) from shed incisor teeth as measures of longtime lead-exposure were available for these children (mean = 6.16 ppm; range: 1.9-38.5 ppm), and for 83 of them blood-lead concentrations (PbB) were available as well (mean = 14.3 micrograms/dl; range: 6.8-33.8 micrograms/dl). The following functional capacities were tested: intelligence (German WISC), perceptual-motor integration (Göttinger Formreproduktionstest = GFT, Diagnosticum for Cerebralschädigung = DCS), reaction performance (Wiener Determinationsgerät), finger-wrist tapping-speed, and repetitive cancellation-performance (Differentieller Leistungstest). In addition standardized behavior ratings were obtained by the examiners, the mothers, and the teachers. Multiple stepwise regression-analysis (forced solution) was calculated for outcome-variables and Pb-tooth, including age, sex, duration of labor, and socio-hereditary background as covariates. Significant (P less than 0.05) or near-significant (P less than 0.1) association was established between Pb-tooth and GFT-performance (errors), reaction-performance (false reactions), and four behavioral dimensions as rated by the mothers, namely distractability, restlessness, lack of information, and wasting of time; the proportion of explained variance never exceeded 6%, however. No significant association was found between PbT and WISC verbal-IQ after the effects of "socio-hereditary background" had been eliminated, although there was still a tendency for high level-children (PbT greater than 10 ppm) to be inferior to low level-children (PbT less than or equal to 4 ppm) by 4.6 IQ-points after correction for confounding. There was a near-significant, inverse relationship between finger-wrist tapping-speed and Pb-blood. The results are discussed within the framework of attention-deficit disorder, and compared to neurobehavioral Pb-effects from animal-experiments, which provide suggestive evidence for a causal relationship between developmental lead-exposure and certain neurobehavioral deficits.

Child↗
PubMed1983

Anxiolytic effects of drugs: approaches, methods and problems.

The paper reviews in the first part some of the most important contributions to pharmacological anxiety research of related scientific disciplines, namely human pharmacopsychology, animal behavioral pharmacology, neuropharmacology and pharmacopsychiatry. In the second part the main methodological problems encountered in research on psychopharmacology of anxiety are treated. The problems discussed refer to the assessment of anxiety, to the definition of the anxiety state and to the problem of unspecific drug actions and of response variability to drugs.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Behavioral effects of carbamazepine after single and repeated administration in emotionally labile subjects.

The sample investigated consisted of two groups of emotionally labile healthy male subjects who were given either 100 mg/day of the antiepileptic drug carbamazepine (n = 16) or placebo (n = 16) for 8 days. Subjects were selected on the basis of their scores in the neuroticism scale of the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI-A: N score greater than or equal to 6). By means of an extensive test battery (ratings of emotional state, emotional reactivity tests, performance tests, physiological parameters) at day 1 and day 8 of ingestion the psychotropic effects of carbamazepine were evaluated as well as the differences in effects after single and repeated administration. Behavioral effects could be demonstrated for carbamazepine after single administration, but the differences found were rather small and limited to four parameters. After several days of administration carbamazepine revealed clear effects on psychological parameters. It is concluded that a drug like carbamazepine needs more than a single administration to be effective in psychological tests, in contrast to tranquilizing, sedating, neuroleptic and stimulating drugs. Carbamazepine has this characteristic common with antidepressant drugs. The experiment demonstrated that carbamazepine is a drug which under the chosen dose level conditions has a positive influence on subjective emotional states, e.g. reduction of deactivation and emotional tension (anxiousness).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Interaction between physiological and cognitive determinants of emotions: experimental studies on Schachter's theory of emotions.

This study investigated the interaction between physiological arousal and situation-derived cognitions in the determination of feeling states that is proposed in Schachter's theory of emotions. The degree of bodily arousal was varied by disguised oral administration of a placebo or the sympathicomimetic agent ephedrine. The situational circumstances were varied by instructions offering cues for (a) no emotions ('neutral' control), or the feeling states called (b) 'anger', (c) 'happiness', and (d) anxiety'. The subjects were 72 male students. The dependent variables were blood pressure, heart rate, a list of bodily symptoms, and an adjective check list. The results within the 'anger' and 'happiness' condition were in accordance with Schachter's theory: depending on the type of situation, ephedrine-induced arousal either decreased or increased positive descriptions of mood. The emotional effects of the 'anxiety' condition, however, were independent of the drug-induced arousal level. Contrary to Schachter's theory, anxiety reactions occured also in a state of low physiological arousal and did not increase with increasing arousal.

Anger↗
PubMed1978

[Studies on the effect of oxprenolol on experimentally induced anxiety (author's transl)].

This experiment studied the question of whether the receptor blocking agent oxprenolol (20 mg) influences somatic and subjective responses to experimentally induced anxiety. 72 male students were Ss in a two-factorial design with type of drug (oxprenolol, placebo) and type of situation as the two factors. Anxiety was induced by the signaled application of shocks to one arm, under condition A with and under condition B without time control (clock available or not). Condition C was a control condition with neither shock nor time control. Heart rate, blood pressure and verbal reports of emotional experience were measured. An analysis of variance revealed the following: Oxprenolol showed physiological effects typical of a receptor blocking agent. The drug positively affected emotional experience not related to the experimentally induced anxiety but did not affect the emotional responses induced by the anxiety-provoking conditions. For explaining the results the possible meaning of the variable "internal vs external control of emotional responses" was considered.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

[Experimental psychophysiological studies on the effects of fenetylline and mefenorex].

16 male subjects were tested 1--7 h after the application of either 40 mg of the anorectic mefenorex, 50 mg of the stimulant fenetylline or a placebo by a battery of psychophysiological and psychological methods. Two problems of basic psychological interest were investigated: 1. covariation of appetite and central stimulation; 2. indicators of activation assessed by different parameters. The results concerning the first problem were inconclusive. The results with respect to the second show that pharmacological substances may cause dissociation of different indicators of activation.

Amphetamines↗
PubMed1975

[The spectrogram of trace elements in newborns and infants].

In 15 newborn infants and 34 sucklings the spectrogram of 25 cations in whole blood, serum and urine was determined by emission and atomic absorption spectrometry. The values ascertained by this method are tabulated and compared with the mean normal values of adults. Already known basic values are supplemented and the distribution patterns of not yet determined trace elements are demonstrated. Highly significant deviations from the normal values of adults were established in the whole blood of the newborn with regard to zinc, copper and chromium. The same differences became manifest when we compared materanal and infantile whole blood. In serum, on the contrary, no differences were observed. In urine, however, significant differences occured in numerous cations. The sucklings of the 1st trimenon showed highly significant deficits in manganese and copper values in whole blood.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

[Pharmacopsychologic studies on normal subjects for the prediction of the therapeutic efficiency of psychotropic drugs].

The paper deals with some basic problems and possibilities of predicting the therapeutic efficiency of psychotropic drugs from studies in normal humans. Comparing drug studies with normal subjects and patients it seems evident that from a methodological and economical point of view studies with normal subjects have many advantages. However, the practical importance of drug studies with normal subjects is limited unless the therapeutic efficiency of a drug can be predicted. There are some arguments which deny the possibility of prediction, e.g. referring to the lack of comparability of dosages, administration regimens, situational parameters and psychosomatic states between normal subjects and patients. Discussing such arguments it is pointed out that perfect comparability of all these factors is not a necessary prerequisite of prediction. A number of theoretically possible models for predicting therapeutic efficiency is suggested. For some of them there already exists some empirical evidence. The first model takes into account the inter- and intra- individual variability of behavior. It is suggested that a state corresponding to the psychosomatic state of patients be approximated, or simulated, in the normal subjects by suitable selection procedures of subjects or by manipulation of the experimental conditions. The usefulness of such a model for predicting therapeutic efficiency has been shown in many studies with anti-anxiety agents. In another model the drug profiles of normal subjects and patients are compared and the prediction is based upon drug effects in normal subjects which can also be seen in patients and which have a high correlation to the patients' improvement. A further model assumes that improvement is partly the result of learning processes. The prediction of therapeutic efficiency is, therefore, based upon the properties of a drug to facilitate or inhibit learning processes. The final two models proposed, predict limitations of therapeutic efficiency. The one model takes into account side-effects; the other the variability of drug response due to situational and person-parameters.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Problems in assessing emotional reactions in the aged by means of experimental methods].

This paper critically discusses the usually used assessment methods (self-report measures) of emotional behaviour in old persons and presents a "reactive approach" to measure emotions in old and young subjects. "Reactive" means the registration of emotional changes to defined emotion inducing stimuli or situations. Advantages, problems, and limitations of the reactive approach are discussed in relation to some results of an experiment using 12 stimuli of different emotional qualities to assess emotional reactivity in 20 young (25-35 years) and 20 old (65-75 years) subjects.

Adult↗