Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C Karson.
1. Patterns of fluid intake and urine output was examined in schizophrenia and normal controls. 2. Fluid intake and urine output were significantly higher in schizophrenic patients. 3. Bouts of drinking correlated significantly with fluid intake but did not differ significantly between schizophrenic patients and normal controls. 4. Schizophrenic patients drink more per bout compared to normal controls.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The plagiocephaly index, an index that reflects an underlying anatomic asymmetry of the brain, was assessed in ten schizophrenic patients and its values were correlated with the lateral distribution of quantitatively evaluated EEG. The correlations between the index and alpha power at F7 were significant, positive for frontal asymmetry (frontal bulging) and negative for occipital flattening. We then studied ten normal subjects in an attempt to illuminate the contribution of several cephalic and cranial variables to the imbalance of alpha-afterdischarges (AD) of VEP recorded at O1-O2. The asymmetry index of AD was computed and correlated with asymmetries of CT-derived measures of occipital bone thickness, occipital lobe width, mastoid area, and sulcal asymmetry (the asymmetry of intraparietal sulcus location from the longitudinal fissure). With the exception of the sulcal variable all measures significantly covaried with alpha AD. These findings caution that it may be important to determine cranial and brain parenchymal asymmetries where brain laterality is pertinent to studies of EEG.
We undertook a retrospective survey of assaultive behavior in 140 psychiatric inpatient research volunteers who had not previously responded well to neuroleptic treatment. Forty-one of 97 patients with schizophrenia became assaultive during their hospitalization, whereas only four of 43 patients with other diagnoses became assaultive (p less than .0001). Most assaults were not a significant threat to the attacked person, but a small number were highly dangerous. Assaultive patients were significantly younger, and a greater proportion had a previous history of violence, compared with nonassaultive patients. A previous history of violent behavior was linked to more previous hospitalizations, indicating that such behavior might be associated with a poor prognosis.
Specific links between the subjective feelings of inpatient staff members and the symptoms of their chronic psychotic patients were explored. The staff's feelings were assessed by a new structured interview. The patients' symptoms were measured by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Results suggest that differences among staff responses can be adequately described using four dimensions and each of these dimensions has a specific link with patient symptoms on the BPRS.
Platelet monoamine oxidase activity (MAO) was studied serially over time in 16 chronic schizophrenic patients when medication free and then when medicated. Thirteen of the 16 patients had significant decreases in platelet MAO activity following neuroleptic drug treatment. The change in MAO activity was found to be correlated with response to treatment and to dose of medication.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.