PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A L Hoff

Publications and source records attributed to A L Hoff.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Gender differences in corpus callosum size in first-episode schizophrenics.

Previous studies indicate differences between schizophrenics and normals in thickness and overall size of the corpus callosum, particularly in female subjects. The present study compares the area of the corpus callosum as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in men and women experiencing first-episode cases of schizophrenia. The corpus callosum area is also correlated with measures of neuropsychological function. The results of this study suggest that women who are first-episode schizophrenic patients have a smaller total corpus callosum area than female controls, with no difference noted for men. In normal controls, a larger corpus callosum was associated with better cognitive function, whereas in schizophrenics, no such relationship emerged.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Asymmetries in the superior temporal lobe in male and female first-episode schizophrenic patients: measures of the planum temporale and superior temporal gyrus by MRI.

Schizophrenia has been hypothesized to be associated with an underlying brain developmental anomaly, specifically affecting normal brain asymmetries. The most pronounced asymmetries are present on the superior surface of the temporal lobes, the left plane, as measured along the sylvian fissure (planum temporale) being longer than the right in the majority of normal individuals. These asymmetries encompass Wernicke's area, the anatomical substrate for language, and have been found to be less pronounced in individuals with developmental language problems, i.e. dyslexia. Since disordered language is one of the hallmarks of schizophrenia, the present study focuses on the planum temporale and related superior temporal gyrus. Eighty-five first-episode schizophrenic patients and 40 controls had measurements of the sylvian fissure taken from coronal slices. The pattern of asymmetry in controls was for the right length to be longer than the left in anterior slices, and for left to be longer than right in posterior slices (corresponding to the planum temporale). Schizophrenic patients as a group demonstrated less asymmetry (R > L) in anterior slices, and female patients showed a trend for less (L > R) asymmetry in posterior slices. In contrast to the report of Barta et al. (1990), the volume of the anterior superior temporal gyrus did not differ from controls in first-episode schizophrenic patients. Neither the presence of formal thought disorder nor auditory hallucinations defined a subgroup of patients with reduced size or lateralization of the planum temporal or superior temporal gyrus.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Increased prevalence of cavum septum pellucidum in schizophrenia.

A previous report that the presence of a cavum septum pellucidum was significantly more common in schizophrenic patients than in control subjects (DeGreef et al., 1992) stimulated the present study of an independent but similar population of first admission schizophrenic patients. A high prevalence of this developmental anomaly (44.8%) was found in the patients (n = 85), although it could also be detected in 29.8% of similarly aged control subjects (n = 47). This finding was not associated with corpus callosum, ventricular, or temporal lobe size or asymmetries.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Anomalous lateral sulcus asymmetry and cognitive function in first-episode schizophrenia.

This study examines the cognitive functioning of first-episode schizophreniform patients within several weeks of hospitalization and at 2 years into the illness. Differences between patients and controls are also reported for measurements of the length of the lateral sulcus, which borders the planum temporal, an area of the brain integral to language function. Neuropsychological test results are also correlated to magnetic resonance imaging structural variables at the time of first hospitalization. Findings on neuropsychological summary scales reveal a diffuse pattern of cognitive impairment in schizophreniform patients compared to controls, which appears to improve over time. An atypical pattern of anatomic lateral symmetry is found in female schizophreniform patients, with female appearing to have a reduction in the normally occurring left greater than right length of the lateral sulcus. Such atypical asymmetry of the lateral sulcus is also associated with better cognitive function, particularly in schizophreniform patients. These findings suggest that atypical lateralization in an area critical to language function may be related to cognitive function in schizophreniform illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Neuropsychological functioning of first-episode schizophreniform patients.

OBJECTIVE AND METHOD: This study compared 32 consecutively admitted first-episode schizophreniform patients, 26 patients with chronic schizophrenia according to the DSM-III-R criteria, and 25 normal comparison subjects on a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests to determine the degree of cognitive impairment existing at the onset of schizophrenic illness. Patients were tested within 2 weeks of admission to the hospital, after their medication had been stabilized. RESULTS: With age and education controlled, the first-episode and chronic patients performed significantly worse than the normal subjects on neuropsychological summary measures of executive function, verbal memory, spatial memory, concentration/speed, and global cognitive function and on left and right hemisphere function scales. The first-episode patients were as cognitively impaired as the chronic patients on all summary scales and many of the individual tests. Both groups showed relatively greater left than right hemisphere dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that substantial cognitive deficits, comparable to those of chronic patients, are present early in the course of psychotic illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Brain morphology in first-episode schizophrenic-like psychotic patients: a quantitative magnetic resonance imaging study.

Brain morphology was examined using magnetic resonance imaging in 30 first-episode patients with a schizophreniclike psychosis, 15 chronic schizophrenics, and 20 neurological controls. Statistical analyses of computer-generated measurements of regions of interest were controlled for gender, age, social class, and total brain volume. Lateral ventricular size was increased in both first-episode and chronic schizophrenic patients, with greater significance on the left than on the right side. Only the chronic patients, however, had reduced temporal lobe size, which also was greater on the left side. No major correlations of regional brain morphological measurements with cognitive functioning were found, although some measurements of verbal memory were correlated with parahippocampal size. This is a report of a preliminary study that suggests that some morphological brain changes may be present at the time of first treatment for a psychotic illness, whereas others may occur later in the course of illness. Future prospective studies may determine the clinical significance of these changes and whether they progress with the development of illness chronicity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Familial thyroid disease and delayed language development in first admission patients with schizophrenia.

One hundred consecutive first admission patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophreniform disorder were compared with 100 randomly selected community controls. Childhood histories of physical, medical, and perinatal trauma, as well as physical and cognitive development, were examined by structured interviews with all available mothers of patients and controls. The prevalence of specific psychiatric disorders and several medical illnesses among first degree and more distant relatives was determined by family history questionnaires. The patient group did not have an excess of childhood head injuries, serious infections, or perinatal/birth complications compared with controls. With social class level taken into account, it was found that the acquisition of reading skills occurred significantly later in patients than controls. Family histories of schizophrenia and thyroid disorders were significantly more frequent among patients than controls. These data fail to indicate any childhood physical or medical environmental trauma that could lead to an increased risk for schizophrenia, although patients were substance abusers to a greater extent than controls. This study also confirms the already known contribution of familial factors and suggests an association of the inheritance of thyroid disorders with schizophrenia. Delayed development of reading skills suggests that precursers of illness may appear early in life before psychosis is evident.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Mania with associated organic factors.

Thirty-nine patients with bipolar illness preceded by organic factors were compared to age and sex matched bipolar controls. The patients with pre-existing organic factors were older at onset of their bipolar illness, had fewer depressive episodes, less family history of affective disorder, and were symptomatically different in a number of respects. The nosology of such disorders is discussed and the literature reviewed.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Interacting sex and familial sinistrality characteristics influence both language lateralization and spatial ability in right handers.

In 1981 McKeever and Hoff found a pattern of sex-familial sinistrality (FS)-visual field interaction on an Object Naming Latency Task. The FS - females and FS + males performed more symmetrically. Also in 1981, Hécaen, DeAgostini, and Monzon-Montes found a substantially lower incidence of aphasia following left hemisphere lesions in FS - females and FS + males. Both findings suggest a less strict left hemisphere dominance in FS - females and FS + males. We report a replication of the McKeever and Hoff findings and also evidence of a pattern of sex-FS interaction in spatial visualization ability wherein FS - females and FS + males perform better than FS + females and FS - males.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

EEG abnormalities in bipolar affective disorder.

Forty-six patients with bipolar illness were evaluated with scalp-recorded electroencephalograms. Familial pattern of psychopathology was evaluated between groups with clinically normal and abnormal EEG tracings. Those with abnormal EEGs were noted to have a significantly negative family history of affective disorder when compared to the EEG normal group. These results may support the concept of some patients with mania having an acquired illness which occurs independent from its genetic loading.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Failure to detect organic factors in mania.

Forty patients from an outpatient lithium clinic were studied who had a clear history of organic abnormalities which predated their affective symptomatology. In the course of reviewing the clinical histories regarding these patients, it was observed that only 37.5% of the patients had ever received a clinical diagnosis of organic affective syndrome. Variables associated with a failure to consider a diagnosis of organic affective syndrome were investigated.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cognitive function in manics with associated neurologic factors.

Researchers studying cognition in mania have assumed that mania is a homogeneous entity. Recent preliminary evidence indicates that some manic syndromes may be preceded by medical, pharmacological, and neurologic antecedents. While DSM-III suggests that mild cognitive impairment may be associated with these manic syndromes, studies to date have not documented this assertion. We compared bipolar patients with antecedent neurologic factors (neurologic manics, NM) to bipolar patients without such histories (primary manics, PM) on standard neuropsychological measures and clinical parameters to ascertain whether cognitive testing could be used as an adjunctive diagnostic tool in defining this subgroup of patients. Results indicated that the NM group was more dysfunctional in intellectual functioning and course of psychiatric illness than the PM group.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Failure to differentiate bipolar disorder from schizophrenia on measures of neuropsychological function.

30 inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia were compared to 35 inpatients with bipolar affective disorder, manic type, on a large group of neuropsychological measures. Separate factor analyses were performed on measures of verbal, spatial, and speed variables in order to generate summary scales. Controlling for the effects of age, education, sex, duration of illness, number of previous hospitalizations, and medications at time of testing, there were no significant differences between diagnostic groups on the three factors or on individual test variables. Patients on medication performed more poorly on speed variables than those off medication. These findings call into question the notion of differential patterns of cognitive deficit among psychotic diagnoses.

Adult↗