Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Durivage.
This paper reviews risk factors associated with assaultive behaviour. The author will look at specific risk factors to evaluate when assessing patients with an aggressive potential and he will examine patient-staff relationships that might trigger assaultive behaviour. The author believes that a better knowledge of risk factors allows us to develop preventive attitudes, and these will be discussed in the latter part of this paper.
The purpose of this research was to determine whether brain stimulation reward and exploration are induced by activation of the same set of neurons along the medial forebrain bundle. The behavioral version of the collision test was utilized with electrodes in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA). A collision effect obtained between LH and VTA in one behavior at the exclusion of the other was treated as evidence of the involvement of two different sets of fibers. In 4 rats, a collision effect was observed only in self-stimulation, whereas in 1 rat, a collision was obtained in exploration at the exclusion of self-stimulation. Three animals showed no collision in either behavior. These data suggest that coexistence of self-stimulation and exploration following medial forebrain bundle stimulation can be explained by current spread on two different sets of fibers.
With the use of moveable electrodes, 28 rat mesencephalic sites were examined for self-stimulation behavior (SS). The relative importance of each site in SS was established according to (1) a traditional method which consists of comparing sites based on the rates of responding (2) a psychophysical procedure based on the pulse frequency required at each site in order for the stimulation to elicit a criterion behavioral performance. It was shown that anatomical conclusions reached by the use of behavioral output procedures depend purely on the arbitrary choice of stimulation parameters. It was also demonstrated that the combination of moveable electrodes with psychophysical measurements results in enhanced mapping resolution and enables one to trace the boundaries of behaviorally relevant structures and pathways with significantly better confidence.
We report a clinical and biochemical survey of 23 patients with Friedreich's ataxia from southern Italy. They were studied clinically and by means of a clinical rating scale devised by us (Inherited Ataxias Clinical Rating Scale). Laboratory tests, based on the Quebec Cooperative Study, were also performed on our patients. No major clinical or biochemical differences were found between Italian and Canadian patients. Investigation of CSF monoamine metabolites showed that HVA decreased after probenecid and metoclopramide loading.
HLA antigen typing was carried out in a family with an autosomal dominant form of spinocerebellar degeneration [possibly olivoponto cerebellar atrophy (O.P.C.A.)--Type 1]. Eleven ataxic patients, three possibly ataxic subjects, two unrelated spouses and 13 clinically normal at risk siblings were typed for ABO and Rh blood groups, HLA-A and HLA-B antigens, C4 component of the complement and a number of other serum proteins (Clq, beta-1A, beta-1C, C5, beta-lipoproteins). No solid evidence for linkage between the ataxia gene and the HLA or C4 loci could be demonstrated in this family. Certain serum proteins, and particularly beta-lipoproteins were found to be significantly reduced in some sub-groups of subjects.