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Biomedical subjects

D K Zucker

Publications and source records attributed to D K Zucker.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1987

Associations between patient religiosity and alcohol attitudes and knowledge in an alcohol treatment program.

Studies, carried out in generalized populations, have shown inverse relationships between degree of religiosity and attitudes towards drinking, knowledge about alcohol, amount of alcohol consumed, and physical complications of alcohol abuse. Within a population of chronic male alcoholics, we found that the more religious patients had a more anti-alcohol attitude; however, none of the other correlations was statistically significant. Within this population, the least religious patients were more likely to change their attitude toward alcohol and to increase their knowledge of the deleterious effects of alcohol after 4 weeks of treatment on an inpatient rehabilitation unit.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Variables associated with alcoholic blackouts in men.

Alcoholic blackouts are among the most frequently reported symptoms in the progression of alcoholism. The exact etiology of blackouts remains unknown, but relationships to memory disturbance, seizure disorders, underlying psychiatric conditions, head trauma, and drug use have all been suggested. We studied 72 alcoholics admitted to an alcohol inpatient treatment program. Seventy-five percent of the patients had experienced blackouts. Patients who had had blackouts experienced other alcohol-related symptoms such as a need to drink upon awakening, alcohol cravings, tremors, and hallucinations more frequently and they were more likely to have had a past history of depression and to have been arrested for driving while intoxicated than alcoholics who had never experienced blackouts. No significant differences were observed between patients who had experienced blackouts and those who did not in mild to moderate memory disturbance, seizure disorder, a variety of psychiatric conditions, head trauma, or drug use. No significant differences were found between the two groups in most drinking history variables. The present study does not lend support to most hypotheses made about the etiology of alcoholic blackouts. Blackouts in alcoholics were significantly associated with other symptoms resulting from excessive alcohol use.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Blood-brain barrier changes with kainic acid-induced limbic seizures.

Rats were treated with kainic acid (KA) i.v. to produce increasingly severe limbic seizures that were monitored with a behavioral rating scale. At various times after the induction of seizures, the animals; blood-brain barriers (B-BB) were studied with alpha-[14C]aminoisobutyric acid ([14C]AIBA) autoradiography. Using optical density ratios, a coefficient was devised to assess the functional integrity of the B-BB in discrete anatomic regions and to quantitatively compare these measurements among different groups of experimental animals. In animals that exhibited only mild seizures, the B-BB was not different from controls. Animals with severe limbic seizures, however, showed alterations. For as long as 2 h after delivery of KA, the B-BB appeared normal; from 2 to 24 h, the permeability to [14C]AIBA was markedly increased throughout the brain, especially in limbic regions; from 24 h to 7 days the B-BB returned to normal except for a small residual change in limbic structures. These findings were confirmed with Evans blue dye studies of the B-BB. A correlation between focal accentuation of B-BB alterations and neuropathologic changes was found. These experiments indicted that recurrent limbic seizures may lead to a breakdown in the B-BB independent of systemic metabolic derangements. Marked focal metabolic and electrical changes, however, occurred in several limbic structures several hours before the blood-brain barrier was altered.

Aminoisobutyric Acids↗
PubMed1983

Tricyclic antidepressants and delirium.

Some patients who take tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) develop delirium. Charts were reviewed of 125 inpatients whose TCA plasma levels had been assayed. Delirium was documented in 10 cases. The occurrence of delirium was statistically related to age, race, and loge plasma TCA levels.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

B12 deficiency and psychiatric disorders: case report and literature review.

Although an association of psychiatric symptoms with vitamin B12 deficiency is well accepted, the incidence and nature of these symptoms is not established. To help illuminate the natural history of this illness we review the literature regarding psychopathology associated with B12 deficiency and examine 15 cases, including one of our own, that meet specified criteria for B12-responsive psychosis. In the accepted cases the most common psychiatric symptoms were organic brain syndrome, paranoia, violence, and depression. Several of the patients were not anemic and had no neurologic deficit. Examination of blood smears or obtaining of serum B12 levels should be considered for patients with the symptoms described.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Behr syndrome: a clinicopathologic report.

Two sisters had Behr syndrome; autopsy was performed on one. The autopsy revealed central atrophy of the optic nerves and total disarray of the normal laminar pattern of the lateral geniculate nucleus, dropout of neurons, and gliosis. There were numerous axonal spheroids in the neuropil. Similar spheroids with cell loss and gliosis were also observed in other thalamic nuclei and, rarely, in the pallida. We raise the possibility that Behr syndrome is a manifestation of a heterogeneous group of disorders, and suggest relationship of this particular disease to infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy.

Brain↗
PubMed1978

Dural mesenchymal chondrosarcoma. Case report.

A dural mesenchymal chondrosarcoma is reported in a 19-year-old man. This tumor had features of angioblastic meningioma (meningeal hemangiopericytoma), by light microscopy. However, ultrastructurally this tumor could be distinguished from angioblastic meningioma, and its similarity to extracranial mesenchymal chondrosarcoma was confirmed.

Adult↗