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Biomedical subjects

F Post

Publications and source records attributed to F Post.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Solvent damping of internal processes in myoglobin studied by specific heat spectroscopy and flash photolysis.

We address the question of dynamic coupling between protein and solvent by comparing the enthalpy relaxation of the solvent (75% v/v glycerol-water) to internal ligand binding in myoglobin. When the solvent relaxation is slow compared to intramolecular events we observe decoupling of protein motions from the solvent. In the opposite limit there is a significant contribution of the solvent to internal friction. The solvent enhances the apparent activation energy of transitions in myoglobin. This result is discussed in terms of a generalized Kramer's law involving a dynamic friction coefficient.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Averaged evoked responses in relation to cognitive and affective state of elderly psychiatric patients.

Averaged cortical evoked responses to auditory and somatosensory stimuli were recorded in elderly depressives, dements, patients with a combination of depression and dementia and normal elderly controls. The subjects were also given a battery of cognitive tests and clinical ratings at stated intervals. The latency of the auditory response was significantly longer in dements than in controls. Depressives had intermediate latencies which did not return to normal after recovery. Although somatosensory stimulu produced the results that pointed in the same direction, the mean response latencies were not statistically significant. Mixed cases were too few for separate statistical analysis but their latencies fell between those of the dements and those of the depressives. Significant correlations emerged between latencies of auditory responses and some cognitive tests, but not with measures of depressive symptomatology. The delay in response to auditory stimuli may be a useful adjunct to diagnosis: in depressives it may reflect organic cerebral change playing a part in the emergence of depressive symptoms in old age.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Psychological test performance and sedation thresholds of elderly dements, depressives and depressives with incipient brain change.

As expected, dements, depressives and patients with a mixed psychopathology were differentiated from one another on the sedation threshold measure and on a number of psychological tests. In depressives responding to treatment significant changes in physiological and psychological measures, which had been reported in an earlier study could not be replicated except for an increase of psychomotor speed. In the present sample of patients there were significant correlations between various psychological measures and between them and the levels of the sedation threshold, suggesting that sedation thresholds and psychological tests measured related cerebral functions. Evidence obtained from the earlier investigations to the effect that cerebral age changes short of those occurring in dementia may facilitate the occurrence of depression in late life was only weakly confirmed by the replication study.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

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Electroconvulsive Therapy↗
PubMed1977

The effect of cyclandelate in depressed and demented patients: a controlled study in psychogeriatric patients.

In a double-blind clinical trial the effects of the vasodilator drug cyclandelate (in a dose of 1200 mg daily) were studied in a group of patients with depressive illnesses or dementing conditions. The measures used before treatment and after six weeks' treatment were: clinical rating, psychometric tests (Paired Associate Learning Test, Digit Copying Test, Digit Substitution Test, and Serial Learning Test), cortical evoked potentials, the sedation threshold and the Gresham Questionnaire. In the depressive group there were no significant differences in the changes in scores at six weeks in three groups: those who received cyclandelate plus amitriptyline, those who received placebo plus amitriptyline, and those who received neither placebo nor cyclandelate. In the demented group there were significant changes in favour of the placebo on two measures (Digit Copying test, and one component of the auditory evoked response). The results do not support the previously reported views claiming, in a number of studies, a significant improvement in the performance of both demented and normal elderly subjects treated with cyclandelate. The significance of these findings is discussed.

Aged↗
PubMed1975

The use of an interactive computer terminal in the assessment of cognitive function in elderly psychiatric patients.

The use of a teaching machine is the assessment of mental function has been described by Gredye and his colleagues. This report concerns its use in testing 56 elderly patients suffering from functional psychiatric disorders of dementia. After a diagnostic interview patients were tested on the teaching machine as well as on the Mill Hill, Progressive Matrices, Paired Associate Learning Test and Digit Copying Test. After a fixed period all tests were repeated and clincal progress rated. Results showed a significant correlation (P less than 0.01) between teaching-machine scores and those on the standard psychological tests. The correlation between the machine scores on the two occasions was high (r equals 0.58) but this was complicated by practice effects and by low 'ceiling' of the test. It is concluded that the test provided a relatively reliable and valid measure of cognitive function but that its value would be increased by providing a parallel form and by extending its level of difficulty.

Age Factors↗