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Biomedical subjects

D Schalling

Publications and source records attributed to D Schalling.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Neuropsychological test performance and CSF levels of monoamine metabolites in healthy volunteers and patients with Alzheimer's dementia.

Fifteen patients (51-78 yrs) with mild to moderately severe Alzheimer's dementia and 18 healthy subjects of the same age were examined by clinical rating scales and a battery of neuropsychological tests. Levels of the monoamine metabolites homovanillic acid (HVA), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl glycol (MHPG) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were determined in the lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Correlations between clinical, psychological and biochemical measures were calculated in order to elucidate whether monoaminergic mechanisms are of importance for the maintenance of cognitive abilities in normal and pathological aging. The patients' performance was severely impaired in all neuropsychological tests. The mean levels of monoamine metabolites, however, did not differ between patients and volunteers. The correlations between psychological test scores and CSF metabolite levels were generally low, but mostly negative, associating a poor performance to a high activity of brain monoaminergic neurons. Thus, among the volunteers high 5-HIAA and MHPG levels correlated with poor performance in the Picture completion and the Trail making tests--measures of visuo-perceptual and visuo-motor skills. In the demented patients poor performance in the memory tests was associated with high levels of HVA and 5-HIAA. The results indicate that monoamine neuron activity is not a primary determinant for cognitive abilities in healthy elderly subjects or in demented patients. The slight negative correlation between cognitive function and metabolite concentrations in the patients may reflect a disturbance in a dopaminergic-cholinergic balance due to degenerative changes of central cholinergic pathways.

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Personality correlates of platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity in female and male subjects.

Associations between platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity and scale scores from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Impulsiveness-Venturesomeness-Empathy inventory and the Karolinska Scales of Personality were studied in 32 female and 29 male students (age range 17-19 years). There were significant negative correlations between MAO activity and extraversion-related scales for male subjects; in the female group the correlations were also negative but nonsignificant. When comparing subgroups with low, intermediate, and high platelet MAO activity subjects, consistent trends were observed in the direction of higher scores in the impulsivity scales, the sensation seeking-related Monotony avoidance scale, and the Indirect Aggression scale for both female and male low MAO activity groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Cognitive sex differences: speed and problem-solving strategies on computerized neuropsychological tasks.

Skill, strategy, and laterality measures obtained through computerized neuropsychological tasks, a reaction time (RT) test, and a visuospatial problem-solving test, the Perceptual Maze Test, were analyzed in relation to sex and handedness of 56 high-school students. Boys were significantly faster than girls on most RT subtasks (including a response-inhibition task) and made more two-choice RT response errors for right-sided stimuli, which may be interpreted as resulting from a less cautious strategy. In maze performance, boys were superior to girls. An analysis of separate phases of the maze-solution process suggested that boys preferentially used an impulsive-global strategy. Girls, using a more reflective-sequential task-solving strategy, were significantly slower, without hitting more targets. Compared to all other groups, left-handed girls (strongly left-handed) had lower performance on maze tasks with no target information, particularly in left-sided solution pathways. Results were interpreted as reflecting differences in hemispheric competence and activation patterns between the sexes. Signs of a less differentiated lateralization and slight dysfunction of visuospatial skills in the left-handed girls were discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Skin conductance habituation and cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in suicidal patients.

The concentration of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and psychophysiologic variables, such as habituation of the skin conductance response, were measured in 35 drug-free, suicidal inpatients. Twenty-four patients were hospitalized after a suicide attempt, and another 11 had suicidal ideation. The suicide attempters were classified into nonviolent (drug overdoses taken orally, or a single wrist cut) and violent (all other methods). As in previous studies, the suicide attempters had significantly lower CSF concentrations of 5-HIAA compared with healthy, matched controls. The distribution of habituation rate was bimodal (slow and fast habituators). All violent attempters were fast habituators, as were all four patients who in a one-year follow-up were found to have completed a suicide (all by violent methods). The lowest frequency of fast habituators was found in the group of patients with suicidal ideation. There was no correlation between CSF 5-HIAA and habituation rate. A combination of these two variables yielded a highly significant correlation with type of suicide behavior, both retrospectively and prospectively.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Neuropsychological test performance, brain morphological measures and CSF monoamine metabolites in schizophrenic patients.

Twenty-three drug-free patients with an acute schizophrenic psychosis were studied by clinical rating scales, neuropsychological tests, computed tomography (CT) of the brain and analysis of monoamine metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The psychological tests used were the Swedish version of the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence scale (WBI) and the Block Design test. The patients' performance in the Block Design test was negatively correlated to the width of the third and lateral ventricles. Test profiles indicative of schizophrenic cognitive impairment and left hemisphere dysfunction correlated significantly with a wide third ventricle, but not with the size of the lateral ventricles. Patients with a test profile indicative of left hemisphere dysfunction also had wider Sylvian fissures than the remaining patients. Neuropsychological test scores did not correlate with the CSF levels of the monoamine metabolites HVA, MHPG and 5-HIAA. Positive psychotic and autistic symptoms did not correlate with psychological test results, monoamine metabolites or with CT measures. The association between neuropsychological impairment and enlargement of the brain ventricles is in line with previous findings indicating that a subgroup of schizophrenic patients may be identified by neuropsychological and morphological methods.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Smooth pursuit eye tracking, neuropsychological test performance, and computed tomography in schizophrenia.

Smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM) were measured in 18 patients who met Research Diagnostic Criteria for schizophrenia. Some degree of SPEM impairment was present in most patients. Deviant eye tracking was not related to ratings of severity of illness, but was related to recurrent episodes of hospitalization, antipsychotic medication, and lower ratings in anxiety and delusions. Worse SPEM tended to be associated with larger lateral ventricles as assessed on computed tomography. Three patients with reversed occipital asymmetry had more deviant eye tracking than the remaining patients. Eye movement impairment was related to worse performance in Finger Tapping and in the Trail-Making Test, and to fewer perceived alternations of a Necker cube, suggesting that frontoparietal disturbances are related to poor pursuit eye tracking in schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Regional cortical dysfunction in schizophrenic patients studied by computerized neuropsychological methods.

18 RDC-diagnosed schizophrenic patients (11 men, 7 women) were compared to 84 normal men with three computerized neuropsychological methods, assumed to reflect lateralized and frontal cortical functions: (1) Bilateral Finger Tapping and Finger Alternation, (2) Bilateral Trail Making, and (3) passively perceived Necker cube reversals. Schizophrenics differed from normals by (1) inferior Tapping/Alternation but only in the right hand, (2) inferior Trail Making, most pronounced for Form B, and (3) lower frequency of Necker cube reversals. Patients with previous neuroleptic medication and prior psychiatric hospitalizations were inferior in Trail Making and had fewer Necker cube reversals. The findings were interpreted in line with recent models of schizophrenia involving a left-hemisphere dysfunction/over-activation and a frontal dysfunction.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Personality traits in a group of severely obese patients: a study of patients in two self-chosen weight reducing programs.

The Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) test, were used in 98 obese patients. Both female and male patients showed higher scores in Somatic anxiety, Muscular tension, Impulsiveness, Monotony avoidance and lower scores in Socialization when compared to control groups for each sex. The obese patients were given the choice of treatment with either a combined behavioural modification program or jaw fixation. These groups differed significantly with regard to Psychasthenia, with higher scores in those who chose behavioural treatment, and to Monotony avoidance with higher scores in those who chose jaw fixation.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Bilateral skin conductance activity, clinical symptoms and CSF monoamine metabolite levels in unmedicated schizophrenics, differing in rate of habituation.

Bilateral skin conductance (SC) and heart rate (HR) were recorded for 18 RDC-diagnosed unmedicated recently admitted psychotic patients (13 schizophrenic and 5 paranoid) and for age- and sex-matched controls, during rest and tone stimulation (85 dBA, 1000 Hz, 1 sec duration and 0.25 msec rise time). Schizophrenics had more SC spontaneous fluctuations and faster HR, indicating higher arousal. SC spontaneous fluctuations were more frequent in left hand and showed an increasing trend over the session. Several SC measures indicated higher responsivity and a more irregular responding pattern in schizophrenics. These patients had higher levels of the noradrenaline metabolite (MHPG). Paranoid psychotic patients had a more stable SC habituation course than controls, and higher levels of the dopamine (HVA) and serotonin metabolites (5-HIAA). Schizophrenic nonhabituators had fewer positive psychotic symptoms than habituators, suggesting that poor habituation is not due to interference by symptoms. It may be related to higher arousal, or to deficient information processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Smoking, pain tolerance, and physiological activation.

The effects of tobacco smoking and beta-blockade on psychophysiological measures, i.e., heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), skin conductance (SC), and sensitivity to electrical pain stimulation was studied in a group of 33 male moderate smokers. Using a method of limits threshold determination technique, measures of pain threshold (PT), and tolerance level (TL) were obtained. The results were analyzed in relation to smoking habits, personality measures, and subjective effects. There was no significant effect of smoking on pain sensitivity. Smoking caused a physiological activation as indicated by an increase in HR and systolic BP. beta-Blockade counteracted the smoking-induced increase in HR and systolic BP, but did not influence PT or TL. Subjective effects of smoking were not affected by beta-blockade. The findings suggest that physiological activation is not related to effects of smoking on pain.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1982

Rorschach ratings in depressed and suicidal patients with low levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in cerebrospinal fluid.

In order to explore the psychodynamics of a previously observed association between a low concentration of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and an increased tendency to suicidal behavior, blind ratings of Rorschach variables were compared between depressed and/or suicidal patients with low (less than 80 nanomoles/l) and normal (greater than 80 nanomoles/l) CSF 5-HIAA. In 14 patient pairs matched for sex, age, body height, and interview-based ratings of severity of depression, the low 5-HIAA subjects had significantly more anxiety and more hostility in the Rorschach ratings. Their anxiety tolerance was lower, and they were significantly less efficient in their handling of conflict. The results support the hypothesis that biochemical variables may be of importance for certain psychodynamic mechanisms suggested to be relevant for psychopathology, including suicidal behavior.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Cortisol in the CSF of depressed and suicidal patients.

Cortisol concentrations in CSF were measured by radioimmunoassay in healthy controls, depressed patients, patients who had attempted suicide but were not depressed, and obsessive-compulsive patients. The factors that contributed most to the variance in CSF cortisol levels were a diagnosis of depression, height, and important life changes during the six months preceding the investigation. Depression was by far the most important factor. The depressed patients had significantly higher CSF cortisol levels than the controls. In obsessive-compulsive and depressed patients treated with clomipramine hydrochloride, the levels were significantly correlated with mean urinary cortisol excretion. Of the three monoamine metabolites measured, only 5-hydroxy-indoleacetic acid level was weakly correlated with CSF cortisol level. This correlation was confined to the depressed patients and could be accounted for by the common correlation with height.

Adjustment Disorders↗