PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C M Swartz

Publications and source records attributed to C M Swartz.

101 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Postictal prolactin elevations in rats.

Electrically induced seizures were followed by temporary elevations in serum prolactin over baseline in rats, while electrical irritation made no change. Naloxone 4 mg/kg i.p. pretreatment preserved this pattern but attenuated all levels including baseline by about 50%. While atropine 0.1 mg/kg s.c. did not change baseline levels, the prolactin levels after electrical irritation without seizure were about the same as those following a genuine seizure; atropine apparently facilitated stress-induced prolactin release. Seizures did not raise post-haloperidol prolactin levels above their high baseline levels.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Dexamethasone suppression testing of alcoholics.

Fourteen (33%) of 43 men hospitalized for alcohol abuse showed abnormal cortisol levels at 4 pm, 17 hours after administration of 1 mg of dexamethasone (median, five days after admission). Most (but not all) of these nonsuppressors showed multiple signs of alcoholic physical deterioration; there may be more than one mechanism by which alcohol abuse can lead to an abnormal result of this test. Suppressors and nonsuppressors reported similar alcohol consumption, symptoms of depression, and occurrence of depression among close relatives. Only two patients (5%) showed abnormal cortisol levels at 8 am, nine hours after administration of dexamethasone. These results suggest that, as a screen for primary depressive illness among recently abstinent alcohol abusers, the 4 pm cortisol level is not specific enough, but the 8 am level might be useful in patients who have no alcoholic relatives.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Dependency of tricyclic antidepressant efficacy on thyroid hormone potentiation: case studies.

Two patients are described who depended on potentiation of tricyclic antidepressant effectiveness by thyroid superfunction for remission of an episode of unipolar depression. In one case, the excess thyroid hormone was the product of hyperthyroidism; whenever the hyperthyroidism was treated, the remission induced by imipramine was negated. In the other case, triiodothyronine was exogenously administered. These case studies suggested that some patients may require larger doses than 25 microgram of triiodothyronine per day for effective antidepressant potentiation. Some endocrinological similarities between hyperthyroidism and depressive illness are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

A learning aid for DSM-III: computerized prompting of diagnostic criteria.

To help overcome many of the difficulties of learning and using the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatry, a system was developed for reviewing its contents as appropriate to individual clinical cases. It is faithful in format and contents to this Manual. This system is now being regularly used by medical students, residents, and psychiatrists on a voluntary basis, as a teaching aid. It also allows measurement of how the interpretation of DSM-III criteria differs among these groups. This system can be used on relatively inexpensive microcomputers.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Absence of nimodipine premedication effect on memory after electroconvulsive therapy.

While highly efficacious for affective disorders, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is sometimes accompanied by troublesome although temporary cognitive dysfunction. We speculated that the efficacy of ECT can be separated from its cognitive dysfunction by administration of nimodipine, a calcium channel blocker that crosses the blood-brain barrier and has prevented electroshock-induced amnesia in animal studies. However, in our single-blind repeated-measures trial on 8 patients, nimodipine 30-60 mg orally 2 h prior to ECT was indistinguishable from placebo in effects on verbal learning and retrograde and anterograde memory during the 2 h after ECT.

Adult↗