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Biomedical subjects

B Vikander

Publications and source records attributed to B Vikander.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Neuropsychological changes during steady-state drug use, withdrawal and abstinence in primary benzodiazepine-dependent patients.

Impairment on neuropsychological tests during steady-state drug use and withdrawal, and after discontinuation of benzodiazepines, was studied in primary benzodiazepine-dependent patients. One group of patients was tested before and the other group after the initiation of a gradual tapering-off of the drug, and both groups were tested approximately 1 year later. At the initial assessment, both groups of patients showed impairment on most of the tests of general intelligence and on several of the tests in the Halstead-Reitan battery, as well as on a test of nonverbal memory, in comparison with healthy controls. At follow-up the patient groups had reached the level of the control group. This study confirmed earlier observations of neuropsychological deficits in long-term benzodiazepine-using patients and demonstrated that these changes are at least partly reversible by discontinuing drug intake.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Dependence on sedative-hypnotics: neuropsychological impairment, field dependence and clinical course in a 5-year follow-up study.

Despite some neuropsychological improvement in a group of 30 patients who had been hospitalized for primary abuse of sedatives or hypnotics 4-6 years earlier, the prevalence of intellectual impairment was still increased and about as high as before. As in alcoholic patients CAT scan of the brain showed an increased prevalence of dilatation of the ventricular system, but unlike alcoholics not of widened cortical sulci. Field dependence and visuo-spatial skills during treatment predicted abuse status at follow-up. Patients with improved drug habits had less pronounced withdrawal symptoms during treatment and a better social situation at follow-up than patients without improvement of drug habits. The results suggest that despite some neuropsychological improvement cerebral disorder diagnosed in patients abusing sedatives or hypnotics is often permanent through the years and that neuropsychological status is linked to long-term prognosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

A 4-6-year follow-up of 50 patients with primary dependence on sedative and hypnotic drugs.

The authors studied 50 of 55 patients originally hospitalized for primary sedative-hypnotic dependence 4-6 years after hospital discharge. Forty-two (84%) of the patients had resumed using sedative-hypnotics, 26 (52%) were abusing drugs at follow-up, and 21 (42%) had been readmitted for drug abuse. Three patients experienced delirious states and six experienced epileptic seizures associated with withdrawal. Physical signs of alcoholism had developed in 11 (22%); four (8%) had committed suicide. Social deterioration was noted in 24 patients. CAT scan results did not deviate from those found in a matched control sample.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1981

Effect of peroral thiamine treatment on thiamine contents and transketolase activity of red blood cells in alcoholic patients.

The thiamine contents, transketolase activity and "thiamine diphosphate effect" (TDP effect) of the transketolase activity were measured in the blood of alcoholic patients during withdrawal, before and after thiamine administration (50 mg) for 10 days. The results were compared with those of healthy volunteers. The alcoholic patients showed significantly lower thiamine contents, lower transketolase activity and higher TDP effect in the blood than the healthy volunteers. These biochemical parameters were not significantly changed after 10 days without any exogenous thiamine supplement except the hospital diet. When thiamine was administered in a dose of 50 mg for 10 days, the TDP effect normalized. The transketolase activity and thiamine contents, however, were only slightly increased, probably due to the fact that the apo-enzyme content and the thiamine-binding capacity were lower in the blood of the alcoholics. Thus the TDP effect seems to reflect the relative biochemical deficiency while transketolase activity and thiamine contents seem to be dependent on the amount of apo-enzyme and on the thiamine-binding capacity as well as the degree of thiamine deficiency.

Adult↗