Biomedical subjects

C J Lauer

Publications and source records attributed to C J Lauer.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMed1990

Psychometric, polysomnographic, and neuroendocrine measures in subjects at high risk for psychiatric disorders: preliminary results.

We report on the psychometric, polysomnographic, and neuroendocrine status of 12 subjects at high familial risk for psychiatric disorders and of 10 healthy subjects not at high risk. The psychometric measurements in the high-risk probands revealed an accentuated 'stress personality' pattern and an increased neuroticism score. Their all-night EEG sleep tended to be shallower than that of the control subjects (i.e., decreased sleep efficiency, more frequent awakenings, less slow-wave sleep), whereas they did not differ on REM sleep parameters. The challenge of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system with corticotropin-releasing hormone after pretreatment with dexamethasone yielded no differences in cortisol secretion between the groups. On an intraindividual level, however, all subjects at high risk except one were found to be conspicuous in at least one of the three states examined.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Sleep electroencephalographic patterns and cranial computed tomography in anxiety disorders.

Sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) and cranial computed tomography (CT) were performed in 15 drug-free inpatients with an anxiety disorder. The sleep EEG of the patients was characterized by a decreased sleep efficiency and a shortened REM latency. Under visual inspection, four (27%) patients showed ventricular enlargement, while an increased ventricular brain ratio (VBR) was measured in five (33%). No clear associations between EEG sleep measures and ventricular size became obvious, although there is good evidence in the literature that sleep continuity, slow-wave sleep, or REM sleep are closely related to ventricular and/or sulcal widening in various neuropsychiatric disorders.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The electroencephalographic sleep pattern in schizophrenic patients treated with clozapine or classical antipsychotic drugs.

The effects of antipsychotic agents on sleep were tested by examining the nocturnal electroencephalographic recordings of 14 drug-naïve schizophrenic patients and comparing these with recordings from 12 patients treated with clozapine and 10 treated with classical neuroleptics (haloperidol: n = 7; flupentixol: n = 3). In both of the treated groups, sleep continuity measures and rapid eye movement (REM) density were significantly higher than in the drug-naïve group. Clozapine-treated patients showed significantly more stage two sleep, more stable non-REM sleep (stages two, three and four) and less stage one than patients treated with haloperidol or flupentixol. Clozapine had no effect on the amount of REM sleep. Although mean REM latency was almost twice as long in the clozapine compared with the other two groups, this difference was not statistically significant. The present study suggests considerable differences between the influence of typical and atypical antipsychotic agents on sleep. However, the results of this cross-sectional study should be confirmed using a longitudinal intraindividual approach.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Neuropsychological assessments before and after treatment in patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

In psychiatric patients the identification of cognitive deficits which predict a poor clinical outcome is important for the development of specific treatment strategies aimed at the amelioration of these impaired cognitive functions to increase the likelihood of full clinical remission. However, such attempts are absent in bulimia nervosa (BU), are scarce in anorexia nervosa (AN) and, furthermore, provide conflicting results. In the present prospective study we investigated the neuropsychological demands in 12 patients with AN and in 14 patients with BU before, during, and after a treatment period. At the initial testing session, both patients samples showed similar and impaired performance levels on tasks measuring attentional demands and problem solving abilities, while their mnemonic functions were preserved. At the final testing session, which took place 7 months thereafter, the impaired cognitive functions had improved to a similar degree in the AN and the BU subgroups. However, although the eating disorder symptomatology had ameliorated in parallel, no direct associations could be established with the initial neuropsychological demands and their rectification, respectively. On an individual level, 11 patients initially showed obvious cognitive deficits. However, the clinical characteristics of this subgroup differed not from that found in the 15 'good performers'. These findings indicate that the cognitive functions in the acute AN and BU are similarly impaired, but also ameliorate in a similar manner with clinical remission. Because no associations were obvious between cognitive and clinical rectifications, significant contributions of mediating factors (e.g., changes in metabolic brain turnover and in steroid hormones) are suggested.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The Munich vulnerability study on affective disorders: overview of the cross-sectional observations at index investigation.

BACKGROUND: An altered nocturnal sleep pattern and a dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system are neurobiological abnormalities typical for depression. A persistence of these neurobiological alterations during remission has been shown to be associated with an increased risk for a relapse. However, it remains unclear whether these persisting abnormalities are trait markers indicative of an increased vulnerability for affective disorders or only represent 'biological scars' acquired during past episodes. Thus, respective examinations need to be performed in the premorbid state in order to answer this open question. METHODS: In the present article we have summarized the various results of the index investigation of a prospectively designed study in which we investigated 54 healthy first-degree relatives (high-risk probands; HRPs) of patients with an affective disorder using polysomnography, the combined dexamethasone corticotropine-releasing hormone (DEX-CRH) test and psychometric measurements. RESULTS: In the cross-sectional part of this study the HRPs, as a group, exhibited a 'depression-like' sleep EEG profile and DEX-CRH test result, while their psychometric profile was characterized by elevated scores on the measures 'Rigidity' and 'Autonomic lability'. On an individual level, 35% of the HRPs were identified as conspicuous in at least two of the three areas under investigation. CONCLUSIONS: The question of whether these abnormalities do indeed reflect trait markers indicative of an increased vulnerability for depression will be answered by the longitudinal part of the study that allows for the retrospective identification of the premorbid status of those HRPs who develop an affective disorder during the follow-up period.

Adolescent↗