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Biomedical subjects

A M Brickman

Publications and source records attributed to A M Brickman.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Striatal size and relative glucose metabolic rate in schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) shares social deficits and cognitive impairment with schizophrenia, but is not typically characterized by frank psychosis. Because striatal size and functional activity have both been shown to be associated with psychotic symptoms, we carried out the first study of SPD to assess the caudate and putamen for comparison with findings in schizophrenia. METHODS: Patients with SPD (n = 16), schizophrenic patients (n = 42), and age- and sex-matched normal control subjects (n = 47) were assessed with magnetic resonance imaging. All of the patients with SPD and subsamples of the schizophrenic patients (n = 27) and control subjects (n = 32) were also assessed with positron emission tomography using fluorodeoxyglucose F-18. RESULTS: The relative size of the putamen in controls was significantly larger than in patients with SPD and significantly smaller than in schizophrenic patients, while the relative size of the caudate was similar in all 3 groups. Compared with control values, relative glucose metabolic rate in the ventral putamen was significantly elevated in patients with SPD and reduced in schizophrenic patients. When subsamples of schizophrenic patients (n = 10) and patients with SPD (n = 10) both of whom never received medication were compared, this pattern was more marked, with the highest value for the putamen being found in patients with SPD for the ventral slice and the lowest value for the right dorsal putamen. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with SPD showed reduced volume and elevated relative glucose metabolic rate of the putamen compared with both schizophrenic patients and controls. These alterations in volume and activity may be related to the sparing of patients with SPD from frank psychosis.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Hemispheric asymmetry for selective attention.

A letter-identification task, previously demonstrated to show activation of the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus with fluodeoxyglucose position emission tomography, was administered to 20 normal volunteers. The letter to be detected could appear alone as a big stimulus or as a small one stimulus surrounded by flanking letters. To test for a hemispheric specialization for filtering processes, the stimuli were displayed horizontally, either in the left or in the right hemifield, or vertically, either above or below the fixation point. In addition, to study the effect of cognitive processes on selective attention resources, we varied the feedback conditions, by delivering or not delivering a blue flash in cases of misses or mistakes. The results show a significant interaction between the type of stimulus (alone or surrounded by flankers) and the hemifield of presentation (left or right) only in the condition where the subjects were presented stimuli horizontally without any feedback. In this condition, reaction times (RTs) were shorter in the left hemifield than in the right hemifield for single stimuli, whereas for stimuli surrounded by flankers, the opposite pattern was observed, that is, shorter RT in the right hemifield than in the left one. The present findings suggest a hemispheric specialization for selective attention, in particular at the subcortical level.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Visual target detection paradigm for the study of selective attention.

The current protocol can be used to examine selective attention. It has been used to acquire behavioral performance data in neurologically healthy normal control subjects and schizophrenic patients. A modified version, also described here, has been used to acquire functional neuroimaging data in normal subjects using positron emission tomography. Subject response accuracy and reaction times are recorded while subjects detect visual stimuli in either hemifield (left vs. right of a fixation point) or along the vertical meridian (above or below fixation). The lateralized presentation of stimuli permits the study of hemispheric specialization for selective attentional processes. Attentional load is manipulated by presenting larger-sized target stimuli alone (i.e., the letter 'O') or smaller-sized target stimuli surrounded by flanking letters. This protocol report includes a description of subject exclusion criteria, procedural details, relevant experimental conditions and variables, suggestions for data analysis, expected results, and a discussion of the protocol's significance for attentional research along with suggestions for future research.

Attention↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pilot tolerability studies of hydroxychloroquine and colchicine in Alzheimer disease.

Anti-inflammatory drugs may be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer disease (AD). In preparation for therapeutic trials, we conducted pilot feasibility studies of hydroxychloroquine alone and in combination with colchicine in subjects with AD. A total of 20 subjects with probable AD were treated with hydroxychloroquine 200 mg twice daily for 11 weeks, or hydroxychloroquine 200 mg twice daily plus colchicine 0.6 mg twice daily for 12 weeks; subjects were monitored for adverse medical, cognitive, or behavioral effects. Neither regimen caused adverse effects on cognitive or behavioral assessment scores. There were no significant side effects in subjects receiving hydroxychloroquine alone; 2 subjects receiving the two drugs together experienced diarrhea. We conclude that these regimens of anti-inflammatory therapy are well tolerated in subjects with AD, indicating the feasibility of large-scale therapeutic trials of these agents.

Aged↗