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Biomedical subjects

A Bury

Publications and source records attributed to A Bury.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Deficits in gray matter volume are present in schizophrenia but not bipolar disorder.

Studies using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging have provided strong evidence that patients with schizophrenia as a group have structural brain abnormalities, including enlarged ventricles and sulci as well as smaller cortical gray matter volumes. This study was undertaken to investigate whether the brain abnormalities found in schizophrenia could be distinguished from those seen in bipolar disorder. The MR scans of 23 patients with schizophrenia were compared to those of 17 healthy community volunteers and 14 patients with bipolar disorder. Images were processed using computer-based image processing techniques to generate quantitative measures of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), gray matter and white matter volumes. Compared to the community volunteers, the schizophrenia group had larger total CSF volumes while the bipolar group had larger ventricles. Smaller cortical gray matter volumes were found in the schizophrenia group, but not in the bipolar group. The schizophrenia group had regional deficits in gray matter volumes in comparison with both the community volunteers and the bipolar group. These findings suggest that the brain tissue abnormalities found in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may be distinguishable using MR imaging.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Reproductive fitness in familial schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Reproductive fitness is an important factor in understanding inheritance in genetic disorders. The purpose of this study was to determine whether fitness is reduced in familial schizophrenia (FS) and if fitness in siblings differs from the norm. METHOD: The number of offspring in 36 subjects with RDC schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SZ) and their 101 siblings from large FS families was compared with age-adjusted census figures. RESULTS: Fitness in the SZ group was significantly reduced: 23% of expected in males and 51% of expected in females. Fitness of unaffected siblings was within census expectations. However, female siblings with schizophrenia spectrum features had increased fitness over census norms. Reduced fitness was correlated with low marital rates, poor functioning and positive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that reduced fitness is an important genetic force in FS and is likely inherent to the illness. Sex differences are important and would need to be considered when examining maternal and paternal transmission of schizophrenia. The results support a proposed high mutation rate for schizophrenia, consistent with a dynamic mutation mechanism.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Testing Liddle's three-syndrome model in families with schizophrenia.

While the symptoms of schizophrenia can be grouped into positive and negative syndromes, increasing evidence suggests that three clusters of symptoms are present. Liddle (1987a) described a three-syndrome model comprised of reality distortion, psychomotor poverty and disorganization symptom clusters. This model was assessed in the present study using a sample of 72 members of five families segregating schizophrenia. A wide range of psychopathology was present across a spectrum of diagnoses. Data on symptoms used in Liddle's model were derived from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and a mental status examination. Factor analysis of the data indicated the presence of three clusters of symptoms. The psychomotor poverty or negative symptom cluster was confirmed in the familial sample. However, the other two factors differed somewhat from the Liddle model. Hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking and inappropriate affect formed one factor; suspiciousness and stereotyped thinking formed the other. These three symptom clusters may be comparable to the catatonic, hebephrenic and paranoid classical subtypes of schizophrenia. The implications of Liddle's model for genetic studies of schizophrenia require further investigation.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Electrogastrography: responses to food and sham feeding and relationships with gastric emptying of solids in men].

Cutaneous electrogastrography is a non invasive method to study gastric electromechanical activity. The aim of this work was to determine the amplitude of electrogastrographic (EGG) activity a) during fasting, b) after a meal, c) following vagal stimulation by sham feeding, and to determine the relationship between gastric emptying of solids and EGG activity. EGG activity was recorded in eight healthy subjects in various experimental conditions, twice after sham feeding, twice after a meal, and once during the simultaneous scintigraphic assessment of gastric emptying of the solid component of a meal. During one of the sham feeding tests, subjects were intubated and acid secretion was measured. The EGG signal amplitude was continuously monitored and an intercorrelation function (IF) was calculated using the Fast Fourier Transforms of electrical activity recorded by 2 cutaneous electrodes placed on the epigastric area. During fasting, IF was usually of low amplitude with occasional short increases of amplitude. Sham feeding without intubation rarely induced an early and brief increase in IF amplitude (2 of 8 subjects). Sham feeding-induced acid secretion was negatively correlated with IF amplitude (r = 0.78, P = 0.02) suggesting a motor inhibition associated with vagally stimulated acid secretion. When given orally, meals induced an increase in IF amplitude, but there was major intra- and interindividual variations. There was no significant correlation between the IF increase and the half emptying time for solids (r = 0.62, P = 0.10). This study shows that the high variability of EGG activity during fasting considerably hampers the analysis of changes induced by any stimulus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Copying strategies and memory on the Complex Figure Test in psychiatric patients.

We assessed three copying strategies on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test among 50 psychiatric patients. The strategies were featural (detail-focused), contextual (framework-focused), and mixed. Reliable classification of each patient's copying strategy showed 7 patients used a featural and 7 patients used a contextual strategy. The remaining 36 used a mixed strategy involving both elements. Analysis indicated that patients who met DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia tended to use a mixed strategy. Nonschizophrenic patients also favoured the mixed approach. Moreover, when subjects were divided into groups based on their strategies, there were no differences in copying accuracy. However, the groups differed on immediate and delayed recall of the Complex Figure Test. Patients who adopted a featural strategy on the copy trial had the lowest recall scores. "Process" variables may be important in understanding neurocognitive functioning in schizophrenia; however, there is little evidence that schizophrenic patients use copying strategies consistent with lateralized impairment of brain function.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Metal complexes of antiinflammatory drugs. Part VII: Salsalate complex of copper(II).

The preparation and properties of the Cu(II) complex Cu(SAS)2.H2O are reported for the antiinflammatory drug Salsalate (SAS). The diffuse reflectance spectra and magnetic moments are consistent with a dinuclear structure as found for [Cu(aspirinate)2(H2O)]2. The Cu(II) complex exhibits an increased superoxide dismutase activity compared with the parent drug molecule in the nitroblue tetrazolium assay.

Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal↗