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I Pelc

Publications and source records attributed to I Pelc.

68 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Correlation between inhibition, working memory and delimited frontal area blood flow measure by 99mTc-Bicisate SPECT in alcohol-dependent patients.

Recently detoxified non-neurological alcoholic patients appear to be impaired in cognitive tasks measuring inhibitory processes as well as working memory (involving storage and manipulation of information). The aim of this study was to investigate in alcoholic participants the relationship between these two cognitive functions and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) studied at rest in regions of interest selected on the basis of recent PET studies which explored inhibitory and working memory in normal subjects. Twenty non-neurological alcoholic patients and 20 normal volunteers were selected for a neuropsychological exploration, including assessment of inhibition processes (by means of the Hayling test) and working memory (by means of the Alpha-span task). rCBF of alcoholics was also evaluated with a semi-quantitative method using a 99mTc-Bicisate single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) procedure. Alcoholic patients performed worse than controls in the alphabetical condition of the Alpha-span task (involving manipulation and storage of information), and on the Hayling test. Significant correlation emerged between inhibition performance and both the bilateral inferior (left BA 47, r = -0.40; right BA 47, r = -0.599) and median frontal gyrus (left BA 10, r = -0.55; right BA 10, r = -0.59), but not with the region of reference (occipital/cerebellum, r = -0.13). Coordination of storage and manipulation was correlated with bilateral median frontal (left BA 10/46, r = -0.50; right BA 10/46, r = -0.45), but not with bilateral parietal area (left BA 7, r = -0.12, right BA 7, r = -0.18). These results suggest a relationship between inhibition and working memory deficits in alcoholic patients, and regional rCBF measured in frontal areas. Clinical implications of these data related to alcohol relapse are discussed.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) personality profile and sub-typing in alcoholic patients: a controlled study.

Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) personality profile was used to compare alcohol-dependent patients with non-psychiatric control subjects, and a search made for sub-types of alcoholics with different TCI profiles, using the criteria age of onset of alcohol-related problems, paternal dependence on alcohol and familial antecedents of alcohol dependence. Alcohol-dependent patients (n = 38) were characterized by higher Novelty-Seeking [corresponding to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition) group B personality type] and lower Self-Directedness than non-psychiatric control subjects (n = 47). Lower Self-Directedness indicates a higher probability of personality disorder in the alcohol-dependent population. Only age of onset of alcohol-related problems delineated the two sub-populations with different TCI profiles: early-onset alcoholics (< or =25 years of age, n = 19), but not late-onset ones (n = 16), in comparison with control subjects, were associated with higher Novelty-Seeking. Both early and late-onset patients scored lower on Self-Directedness than control subjects. Self-Directedness and Cooperation scores were lower in early-onset than in late-onset patients. These results in part support Cloninger's typology, and the TCI data add to evidence concerning a higher probability of personality disorder in alcohol-dependent patients, particularly those with early-onset.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Alcoholics and drug addicts at the emergency room of the hospital. Analysis of the staff behavior and patients' progressions.

The statistical analysis of a large sample (1.707 cases) was carried out using objective variables. These variables consist of the key points in the progression of alcoholics and drug addicts within two emergency departments situated in general hospitals. This study pinpoints a lack of therapeutic work at the emergency room where neither medical diagnoses nor psychopathological analyses seem to be done.

Alcoholism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Epidemiological study of psychiatric and psychosocial emergencies at the University Hospital of the Free University in Brussels (AZ-VUB)].

This epidemiological study in a psychiatric emergency ward demonstrates the existence of a population in Psychosocial Crisis. An operational definition of Psychosocial Crisis is proposed on the basis of psychopathological and psychosocial scales. Suicide attempts are extremely frequent in this population. It appears to be very difficult to bring a prospective study in an emergency ward to a successful conclusion.

Belgium↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Long-acting neuroleptics and therapeutic relationship.

A pharmacological treatment with long-acting neuroleptic (LANs) is not a substitute for the psychological treatment, but it facilitates it on the condition that patient care is not reduced to an automatic injection ritual: the patient should be encouraged to express his fears or prejudices in regard to the LAN, whereas the psychiatrist should prefer flexibility to the rigidity of dosage and intervals. Since the introduction of LANs in his University Hospital a decade ago, the author has noticed an increased motivation of the doctors from the inpatients' Department to follow-up their patients personally, an increased participation of nurses to a dual vs. triangular patient-nurse vs. physician-nurse relationship (hence a less massive fixation of chronic psychotics to one therapist), a decreased anxiety of relatives regarding their responsibility of ensuring that the patient does take his tablets, and a greater incentive for patients to attend the consultations in order to get their injection. Claims of an increased dependence are not established by the literature; in most cases, the refusal of the LAN reflects psychosis.

Antipsychotic Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Profile of psychiatric emergencies in general hospital wards].

Statistical study, using objective variables, was carried out to draw the profile of psycho-social cases at the emergency unit of Publics hospitals. The study analyses the attitude of the nursing and medical staff. This paper looks the problem throw three parameters: the symptoms, the diagnosis and the final destination. The most important conclusion is: staff seems to see his work with emergencies cases like a shunting problem and not like a beginning of therapeutical work.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Existential events and depression. Comparative study of several types of depressed patients].

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the occurrence of life events and depression with a special emphasis on their impact (assessed through a 0-100 point scale) on psychopathological risk. In order to assess this influence, three groups of 50 depressed patients and three groups of 50 controls filled up a 53 items life stressfull events schedule. Results show that the way in which life events were construed is more relevant than their actual number in explaining the subject vulnerability as well as in predicting high risk subjects.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Interventions with a patient in a psychologic or social crisis in the hospital of the psychiatric district].

Three questions have been analysed in the study on patients in a state of psychosocial crisis : Who is coming? Who is intervening? Where are they sent? Three epidemiological studies have been taken into account : one study on 16 medical surgical centers in Brussels, the second study on two public emergency services linked to psychiatric services and the third one on a psychiatric district of a popular suburb in Brussels. The study stresses the importance of alcoholism and analyses the differences in population, intervention and response brought by the hospital or the district.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Etiopathogenic elements of alcoholism].

Various factors contribute to a predisposition towards the excessive consumption of alcohol: socio-demographic factors, a disturbed family background or certain neurological disorders in childhood, a family background of heavy drinking or total abstinence, or a genetic predisposition towards the biochemical reactions of excessive drinking. Alcohol dependence is the last of several stages which begin with drinking on "social occasions" during adolescence or even childhood, which may lead to certain people drinking excessively in certain social surroundings; this may easily become a habit if the subject moreover suffers from psychological problems inducing him to consume greater quantities more frequently to overcome inhibitions or to escape. This increased consumption leads in turn to psychological dependence, and toxicomania becomes apparent since if drinking is suddenly stopped, giving rise to neuro-vegetative disorders, these only disappear when further alcohol is consumed. This vicious circle is completed by psychological problems affecting personal relationships and professional activities. Thus for the alcoholic, for whom at the outset drinking was usually merely a social habit, the consumption of alcohol has become an escape from the reality of his situation, often drinking solely to avoid withdrawal symptoms, and therefore the appropriate therapy in these cases is detoxication.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Pharmacological approach to the treatment of drinking problems].

Many pharmacological agents have been proposed for the treatment of drinking problems. However, there are many pitfalls in the assessment of the clinical interest of those drugs. In this paper, we propose a new classification of drugs of interest for treating alcohol abuse and related problems. We also review the major clinical studies about those pharmacological agents and discuss some peculiar aspects of those trials think to be important to develop better strategies for the evaluation of pharmacotherapy of alcoholism.

Alcohol Deterrents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ): validation in a French-speaking control population].

Among the dimensional scales that measure personality, Cloninger's TPQ (Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire) holds a place apart in the literature, because the hypotheses it relies on are partially biological. The questionnaire (100 forced binary items) includes three axes: "Novelty Seeking", "Harm Avoidance" and "Reward Dependence", each theoretically bound to a preferential neuromediator, respectively dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Each axis includes four minor subscales. The study presented here is the analysis of 104 control volunteers from both genders (59 males). This database is the first to be published with a French-speaking population. The comparison with Cloninger's normative database shows many similarities: the mean values for the 3 axes are relatively close. The population studied here is younger and this factor could play a role in the somewhat higher mean novelty seeking scores found here. The three axes show a normal distribution. Skewness and kurtosis are between -1 and +1 for all the subscales, except here for NS2. Factorial structure is quite similar to Cloninger's results. The three first axes correspond to the variables isolated in the first studies and the fourth one includes the same subscales as in the large American database. Inverse correlation between age and novelty seeking, positive correlation between female gender and harm avoidance and reward dependence were also found. However, no correlation was found between novelty seeking and male gender. A correlation was found between level of instruction and NS1 only, not with the whole NS axis. Eighty-seven % of volunteers presented with at least one standard deviation on at least one axis and 68% on at least two. This does not seem to have been described previously. It can be a sign of the difficulty of human beings to show a balanced personality. In conclusion, the database presented here shows many similarities with Cloninger's normative database. This underscores its value for comparisons in clinical trials in the future.

Adult↗