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Biomedical subjects

B Everitt

Publications and source records attributed to B Everitt.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Hypothalamic neurosecretory systems and their messenger molecules.

The distribution and cellular localization of several transmitters, transmitter synthesizing enzymes and peptides in the arcuate, paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei are described with special focus on coexistence of messenger molecules. The role of these compounds in various neuroendocrine events is discussed.

Animals↗

Which boys respond to stimulant medication? A controlled trial of methylphenidate in boys with disruptive behaviour.

Thirty-eight boys, referred for psychiatric treatment because of serious problems of behaviour, underwent a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of methylphenidate and placebo. Methylphenidate was an effective treatment over a 3-week period. A good response to methylphenidate was predicted by higher levels of inattentive and restless behaviour, impaired performance on tests of attention, clumsiness, younger age and by the absence of symptoms of overt emotional disorder. DSM-III and ICD-9 diagnoses of 'hyperactivity' were not good predictors. The results support the validity of a construct of hyperactivity in describing childhood psychopathology, but emphasize the need for a refinement of diagnostic criteria.

Attention↗

Conduct disorder and hyperactivity: II. A cluster analytic approach to the identification of a behavioural syndrome.

Sixty boys, aged from 6 to 10 years, were studied after their referral to psychiatric clinics for antisocial or disruptive behaviour. Their scores on reliable measures of hyperactivity, defiant behaviour, emotional disorder and attention deficit were taken for the home, school and clinic settings; and subjected to two techniques of cluster analysis. Both gave a similar set of clusters, one of which had high scores on all measures of hyperactivity and attention deficit. Membership of this cluster was associated with a lower IQ, a younger age of problem onset and referral, an abnormal neurological examination, a history of developmental delay, smaller family size, poor peer relationships and a high rate of accidental injuries; and it predicted a good response to stimulant medication in a controlled trial. Other research on the classification of hyperactivity is discussed, and proposals are made for the criteria of a rather narrow definition of 'hyperkinetic conduct disorder'.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗

Role for lateral tegmental noradrenergic neurons in the vasopressin response to hypertonic saline.

Lesions to the dorsal and ventral noradrenergic pathways were achieved by injecting 6-hydroxydopamine in the periaqueductal midbrain or lateral pons, respectively. Four to 6 weeks after surgery the rats were anaesthetized with pentobarbitone, and hypertonic saline was administered into the peritoneum. Rats with lesions of the ventral noradrenergic pathways showed a significant reduction in the saline-induced rise in plasma vasopressin concentrations, while lesions to the dorsal pathway or control injections were without effect.

Animals↗

Psychiatric interviewing techniques. IV. Experimental study: Four contrasting styles.

The development and definition of four contrasting interview styles is described. The four styles were designed using different permutations of techniques which, on the basis of an earlier naturalistic study, appeared to be most effective in eliciting either factual information or feelings. A 'sounding board' style utilized a minimal activity approach; an 'active psychotherapy' style actively sought to explore feelings and to bring out emotional links and meanings; a 'structured' style adopted an active cross-questioning approach, and a 'systematic exploratory' style aimed to combine a high use of both fact-oriented and feeling-oriented techniques. Quantitative measures based on video-tape and audio-tape analysis showed that two experienced interviewers could be trained to adopt these four very different styles and yet remain feeling and appearing natural. An experimental design to compare the four styles is described.

Attitude↗

Personality, stress, smoking, and genetic predisposition as synergistic risk factors for cancer and coronary heart disease.

Risk factors for cancer have been found in the past to act synergistically in a number of studies. However, these studies were not always designed to test the hypothesis of synergism, and have sometimes failed to equate for important variables, which might influence the results. The present study tests the hypothesis that psychosocial variables and physical ones (personality/stress, smoking, and genetic predisposition) interact in a synergistic fashion in the causation of lung cancer and coronary heart disease (CHD).

Adult↗